Hi TurtleCatStudio!
I tried the prototype, so here are some thoughts:
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The water sounds are lovely. They’re beautiful and fresh.
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However, I don’t exactly understand why is this a navigation mode, as it seems probably like a natural part of the world’s sound design. I would think this would be part of the gameplay for every player, if we’s navigating near water? And maybe checkpoints would always be at “south” of where the water is muffled. Because if this is meant to be simply a naviation mode setting, wouldn’t it work strangely if we’re inside a house, for example?
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Unless this is a prototype of an idea, and you’re thinking of doing the same kind of thing for other locations. I just don’t really know how it would work in a house. Because what do you follow in a house that could have this sort of constant background sound, but also has a static placement. And would be muffly when we are near a checkpoint.
Navigation-wise:
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I will admit I had a lot of trouble to understand how to navigate. The water is really cool and I could feel when it was muffled or loud next to me. But I couldn’t understand the tip about moving south of the muffled water to find the checkpoint. Because I did get under muffled water (I assume behind a waterfall?) and then pressed the down arrow a few times, but didn’t find the checkpoint.
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I’m also having a bit visualizing the world, especially also since I can’t her my own footsteps. For example, if I could hear my footsteps and also water near, I could follow the river, most likely, by staying near it and with dynamic sound. In this case, I couldn’t hear my own footsteps, so I could always be in the water, for all I know. I didn’t totally understand the setting.
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I got to a checkpoint (mostly by accident) once. I heard the “YAY!!” but I thought I didn’t understand how I got there. It’s confusing in a game when you achieve a goal but don’t understand how. It feels great when you feel you did it consciously, but confusing when you don’t.
So I think that the game’s sound design could have a navigation mode, for sure, but I also think that it should also rely on the world’s natural “sound design”. Footsteps, things around us, and maybe also logical checkpoint and movement (for example, splashy sounds if I’m walking over water; and not being about to water over such flowing water as strong as this river’s flow).
I think this has great potential and I love the coziness of the river’s sounds. They really are lovely. I think exploring these thoughts could help with making it better, and I hope you can do it! I want to see more!
As for examples, I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but you can also get inspired by games with great sound design to make a world feel alive.
There’s also my (Work in Progress) game, Where the Wind Sings, that had a goal of allowing for open world exploration. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the point where we implemented all the sounds. They were in the plans, even some were coded, but not all, and they didn’t get in any build. In any case, here’s a link: https://patriciamendes.itch.io/where-the-wind-sings