Bee/Mosquito sound in Summer

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by Sheila, Mar 23, 2016.

?

Remove buzzing ambiance in summer?

  1. *LOUD BUZZING NOISES* (Yes)

  2. No

  3. Don't care

  4. Yes, but change it for cicada noises

Results are only viewable after voting.
  1. ssokolow

    ssokolow Cosmic Narwhal

    Yeah. Anyone who's played pretty much any Japanese game with seasons like Harvest Moon is likely to associate summer in sprite/anime settings with cicadas. They are a staple of Japanese cultural symbolism in the same way that nosebleeds are used to represent arousal.

    (They're also heavily used in anime when the show wants it to be clear, from a few seconds of panning and cutting, that not only is the scene being set, it's taking place in summer.)
     
    • Xylia

      Xylia Tiy's Beard

      I would assume these are the reasons that CA didn't use cicadas.

      Let's see... CA intentionally put your farm on the west side instead of the east (which is the exact opposite of at least one HM game that I know of) which means that the exit to your farm is east instead of west, and several other changes I remember people noting from HM.

      I think he deliberately is trying to change little things to set his game apart from HM but yet keep it in the same genre with a similar format.
       
      • ssokolow

        ssokolow Cosmic Narwhal

        I probably should have been more clear that I was agreeing with their recognizability and elaborating.

        I'm not really big on insect sounds as ambient background, period. I just think that, if we have to have them, I could learn to tolerate a cicada chorus in the distance. (No lone ones up close though. The ones we get around here are ANNOYING.)
         
        • Sheila

          Sheila Void-Bound Voyager

          You know, cicadas don't exist only in Japan.
          I live in South America and I've heard cicadas a multitude of times, although they're different from the chorus I linked.
          If @ssokolow 's profile is anything to go by, he's from Canada. You can probably find them all around the world even if different species.
          Again, I'm tired of repeating this, but this is a fantasy game, let's stop assuming that it's set in North America because as far as I know NA has neither dwarves/fairies/monsters nor magic :)
           
            Last edited: Apr 12, 2016
          • ssokolow

            ssokolow Cosmic Narwhal

            I'm actually in the province of Ontario, about an hour and a half away from where that video I linked was taken. I just didn't go into that level of detail in my profile because I worry about over-sharing and withhold information until I have reason to share it.

            EDIT: I decided to check Statistics Canada and Ontario has nearly half of Canada's entire population, so I don't think it should be significantly more risky to just say "Ontario, Canada" in my profile.
             
              Last edited: Apr 12, 2016
            • soulnova

              soulnova Space Hobo

              I signed up specifically to look for an alternative for this. Can we like... replace that track manually or something? It makes me hate summer so much.
               
              • lordofdragonss

                lordofdragonss Void-Bound Voyager

                Nooo, It's one of my favorite ambient noises! Actualy this is the mild sound the moskitoes does. You never was near lake, huh? Now that's a brainbraking buzz.
                 
                • Xylia

                  Xylia Tiy's Beard

                  Doesn't matter where Cicadas do or do not exist, the fact of it is, they are used in HM games, and CA is trying to keep his game reasonable separate from HM. HM uses Cicadas so he decided he'd use something else instead. So he chose a mixture of flies and mosquitoes.
                   
                  • Sheila

                    Sheila Void-Bound Voyager

                    How do you know? Did you personally talk to him about it?
                    The game is already so similar that changing a detail like that won't make it stand out more or less.
                     
                    • Xylia

                      Xylia Tiy's Beard

                      Just a logical conclusion based upon other things that he changed from HM. It seems like his game is meant to be the same formula but different. *shrugs*
                       
                      • Sheila

                        Sheila Void-Bound Voyager

                        I don't think putting words in people's mouths makes your point any stronger, if you don't particularly like nor want it that's fine, but find a real argument against it rather than a fictional buildup.
                        In the first place this is just a flavor change that won't negatively affect game design in any way, the game won't be "more" or "less" stardew valley without an ear-grating sound in the summer. I don't see any strong arguments against this other than "I don't like it/don't care", discussions about realism don't really apply at any given time since this isn't Farming Simulator 2016.
                         
                        • MagicallyClueless

                          MagicallyClueless Master Astronaut

                          I don't really mind the mosquito sounds, but I'm not sure that's part of the music (if I'm wrong, sorry!) but I know you can turn down ambient sounds in the game. Maybe that will help, though I know that's just a temporary solution and you may not want to block out other ambient sounds.

                          Mosquitos were an interesting choice. Again, it's not something I mind too much, but I'm kinda eh on cicadas too. Maybe we can just do crickets chirping or something? A wolf howling. I dunno.
                           
                          • Sheila

                            Sheila Void-Bound Voyager

                            Yeah they're ambient sounds, and you're right that I appreciate the rest and blocking them all out because of this one is an iffy solution :(
                            Crickets would make sense at night (it's been a couple weeks since I seriously sat down to play so I don't remember if we have those)
                            And wolves aren't really related to summer at all :( at the very least I want a much quieter buzzing, but still would greatly appreciate cicada buzzing instead (still quieter since it's supposed to be in the background, current is SO loud)
                             
                            • SalamanderAnder

                              SalamanderAnder Intergalactic Tourist

                              Please dear god do this. Or make it localized to bee houses at least and lower the volume.

                              This is how I feel during summer...

                               
                              • Git Gud Fox

                                Git Gud Fox Star Wrangler

                                I'll have to pay more attention in Summer. I don't remember any buzzing sounds.
                                 
                                • Faeryheart

                                  Faeryheart Weight of the Sky

                                  Yeah, I don't remember hearing them either, maybe I was just too distracted with running around or my ambience volume is too low (but then again the water drops in caves always bother me when I'm fishing, because they make me feel like a fish got caught)
                                  But I think cicadas would be a very interesting option, how difficult would it be to make a mod like that?
                                   
                                  • Zosa

                                    Zosa Cosmic Narwhal

                                    i play the original sims so the noise is actively grating to me, all i can think of are flies everywhere!
                                     
                                    • Xylia

                                      Xylia Tiy's Beard

                                      For me, the "bloop" sounds that play while fishing anywhere occasionally cause me to jerk my finger and click thinking I caught a fish, lol.

                                      So annoying! I wish that you lost energy when something "bites" the line instead of when you throw it.
                                       
                                      • Eetheart

                                        Eetheart Void-Bound Voyager

                                        I made an account here just to say thumbs up on the cicadas suggestion. The bees/flies sound is really too much. It sounds like there's a dead corpse of something decaying right next to me and a swarm of flies are circling around it.
                                         
                                        • Chefpief

                                          Chefpief Subatomic Cosmonaut

                                          Cicadas would be cool. Pretty sure the pre-existing buzzing is supposed to be bees/mosquitos, but would be nice to lower it a bit, add more variety.
                                           

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