The document provides details from the game Shogun 2: Total War describing the setting, mood, genre, and narrative conveyed through the soundtrack. For the setting of a snowy Japanese mountain siege, Japanese instruments were likely recorded in a studio. String instruments set the initial calm mood, while brass, flutes, and high pitches conveyed the impending violence. Sounds of swords clashing, arrows firing, and people shouting were also recorded separately in a studio and combined to depict the real-time strategy war genre and fighting narrative elements. Voice recordings were made in a studio, while other sounds like swords were possibly recorded with microphones and edited to remove background noise.

1. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
Game Title
Shogun 2: Total war
Provide detailed descriptions from chosen examples that establish…
Clearly state what production technique(s) you think have
been used to create specific soundtrack elements
Setting
The setting is of a siege on a snowy Japanese mountain. There is a city surrounded
by an army of samurai warriors. One man steps forward from the army and the city,
the two then engage in a fight. And after a winner emerges the army start charging
towards the city
To give the Japanese setting there is a large
amount of recordings of Japanese instruments
used these instruments would have been
recorded in a sound studio. The snowy setting is
more subtle like little crunches in the snow that
could have been part of a ambient recording.
Mood
The mood changes from a relaxed and peaceful mood at the beginning of the cut
scene and then quickly changes to a darker and more violent mood. The mood is
also quite exhilarating at the point of the samurai fight
The calming string instruments are used for the
beginning and then to show the mood of the
impending battle and some of the more violent
scenes there is the use of brass instruments and
some high pitched flutes, all of which would have
been recorded in a sound studio.
Game genre
The genre of this game is a RTS this is shown by the mass amounts of people and the
fighting shown in scene. There is also a map that shows the split up Japan and many
things that imply war
Narrative
The narrative is of Japan being at war. The story starts with someone talking about
The fighting nature and war part of the game is
shown through the fight scenes with sounds of
swords clashing arrows being fired and the shouts
of people charging into battle. The swords could
have been recorded with a microphone and then
had any background noise edited out, whereas
the bow could have been recorded the same way
or by making a similar sound and editing it. Lastly
the roar of charging people could be either many
individual recording played at the same time or to
get a large group of people to shout at the same
time in a recording room.
The voice would have been recorded in a sound

2. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
harmony but his talk quickly ends by saying the reign of the old Shogun is over and
then it turns to a city being surrounded by soldiers and the preparation of a massive
battle. Two samurais one from each side meets each other outside the city and fight
to the death. The samurai from the invading army wins and as he walks back to his
army he is shot from behind by archers. After this the general orders his men to
charge the city.
studio. The rest of the narrative is shown through
sound effects that were mentioned earlier such as
the sound of swords the battle cry.