Hello everybody, today we return with another audio-focused Dev Diary. We’ll be talking about sound design and implementation, with a specific view on the less obvious aspects that go into this. Our hearing is sometimes described as our ‘shadow sense’ – sound and listening by and large affect and work at the subconscious level. Our ears are never turned off; even when we are asleep, our ears and brains continue processing sounds. For sound design, this means that a lot of our work is designed to be subtle and go unnoticed.

So in this Dev Diary, us at The Chinese Room’s audio team want to explain the processes and thinking that go into designing sounds and audio systems that one might take for granted: environmental audio, UI sound design, player traversal, combat and the mix process. These all contribute to making the world of Bloodlines 2 feel alive and believable. There is a lot of craft and passion that goes into getting even the smallest of details just right, so I’m proud to let some of the audio team members have the opportunity to show and discuss their work in progress.

• Audio Director Daan Hendriks

Combat Audio Systems
Here's a short video demo to show off some of the techniques and processes we used when designing the combat sounds and how we used some of the V:tM lore to inform our creative sound design work.

• Sound Designer Marcus Bagshawe

Holiday Break
And with that, the Dev Diaries will take a holiday break and return on the 15th of January next year. We look forward to the new year, and can’t wait to show you everything we have planned for 2025. This includes showing off how you can customise Phyre, more information about the weapons system, the planned DLCs and most importantly: the release! From us at Paradox and TCR we wish you all a pleasant holiday season, full of food and fangs!​