Site-02 Transmission #11 | SCP audio stingers and chase themes

Attention Site-02.

Welcome to Site-02 Transmission #11! In this post, we will be discussing and showcasing the new SCP audio stingers and chase themes that we have been working on for our upcoming 14.2 update, which will aim to vastly improve the lighting, music, and atmosphere of our game.

Foreword

Reasoning

Before we start, let's provide context. Prior to the 12.0 update, we utilised the horror stingers and chase track from SCP: Containment Breach, “Bump in the Night,” by Kevin MacLeod. This was kept in the game for a long time and was never considered for replacement. However, during the refactoring of the Character Class Manager (CCM), which took place during 12.0’s development cycle, the code was disabled and was not reintroduced in that update outside of 173’s stare ambiance. However, after the update, there was little time for our limited audio team to focus on the audio stingers. There were always more important audio effects that took priority, such as SCP-049’s ability sounds, SCP-106’s breathing and jumpscare sounds, the Experimental Weapons and their unique locker, and various Heavy Containment Zone sounds, including the Bulkhead and Waterfall. This was a feature we always wanted to bring back and had written plans for. The original idea was to include it as part of a larger audio update, but we weren't able to dedicate enough time to fully commit to that project. It eventually became clear that the opportunity might not come soon enough, so we decided to make it a separate focus. Circumstances aligned favorably after 14.1; the audio department had no major tasks to complete, a substantial portion of the community was lobbying for the return of this feature, Halloween was approaching, and our audio engineer, Sixxy, was available to work. As a result, we decided we could make the reimplementation of stingers a priority for 14.2!

Jumpscares and Chase Themes

There are two types of audio that will play when a human encounters an SCP: horror stingers (this includes jumpscares) and chase themes. Stingers will play upon first seeing a SCP and have a few variants depending on how immediate the danger is (mainly evaluated from proximity to the SCP). Chase themes play after a stinger and are a looping soundtrack that will continue for as long as the relevant SCP is still in line of sight. The soundtracks contain different layers which will be added and removed dynamically depending on SCP-specific conditions (such as being targeted by Good Sense of the Doctor from SCP-049, or being traumatised by SCP-106), but generally, all SCPs get their own set of chase themes. Now, without further delay, let's dive into each of the individual tracks.

Showcase

SCP-049

SCP-049’s themes were our first testing grounds. Due to Sixxy (the audio engineer behind all the stingers for 14.2) having past experience working with SCP-049 after creating all of their new sound effects during the 13.0 update cycle, we had a good base to model the theme around. As a result of that process, we also had some extra audio materials that could be integrated into the theme. Some examples include the ‘sirens’ for Good Sense of the Doctor or the sounds of crows for the jumpscare. SCP-049’s chase theme has two variants. The main theme consists of the baseline and drums, while the second layer plays only when the player is a target of Good Sense of the Doctor.

SCP-939

SCP-939’s track is designed to reflect the animalistic nature of a hunter. It uses drums and a guitar to create a tense track, giving