God of War Ragnarok sound designer unveils her "weaponized ASMR" tricks

gamesradar.com:

One God of War Ragnarok dev has shown off the weird and wonderful tools she put to use creating the sequel's sound effects.

Earlier this week, Wired published the video below, where God of War Ragnarok foley artist Joanna Fang took viewers behind the scenes on the game's sound design. There's all sorts of whacky tools Fang has in her brilliant sound studio, including phones, globes, construction tools, plants, and more.

Ever wondered how they make the sound effects we hear in video games? Meet Joanna Fang foley artist for PlayStation Studios and a master at creating sounds for movies and video games like God of War: Ragnarok. (@_Foley_Artist) pic.twitter.com/dRhDTcnxZkMarch 29, 2023

Fang reveals she used lumps of charcoal on the ground, and then stamped all over them to recreate the effects of walking on snow. The technician says the whole thing is sort of like "weaponized ASMR": Fang wants to manipulate the way viewers or players feel with sound. It's sort of like tricking your audience into believing they're hearing one thing without even trying, when actually what they're hearing is something entirely different. 

The video is honestly wild, and really illustrates just how talented sound designers are. I think we overlook sound designers a lot of the time, because when attention is drawn to the sound of a game, it's more often than not directed at the actual composer for the score, rather than sound designer themselves. This is proof that sound designers are absolute geniuses. 

Just earlier this week, someone else from God of War Ragnarok got some huge attention: Tyr's actor, who teased the character's role isn't yet over, possibly pointing to DLC or even a sequel. 

Earlier this year, God of War Ragnarok's writers