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Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #332457]

Mon, 12 May 2014 19:01

Slax

Messages:1411
Registered:July 2006
Location: People riding polar bears...

You can do a lot with SFX these days so here are some hopes and dreams.

Guns are LOUD. Hollywood FX can be nice but nothing beats the real thing. AKs sounding like AKs, rifles being louder than handguns. Defining characteristics are always a plus. Range and atmosphere coming into play is also a big plus.

Radius! I can't fathom why more games don't use this kind of system. The Battlefield series does an okay job with it but sometimes falls flat due to laziness. Sounds travels and changes shape. Stand close and you'll hear a big bang. Far away and you lose some of the loudness. Even farther and all you catch is the most defining features and a muffled echo. These things matter, and add to the experience!

Atmosphere matters too of course. Sounds bouncing off cement in an enclosed area. Hell, fire a handgun in a car with rolled up windows and you're likely to both go deaf and burst some glass. Very Happy

Different sounds for different areas. That's what I'm trying to get at. Woods, open plains, buildings, tunnels. Everything plays a part in immersion. And immersion's a good thing. Smile

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Sergeant Major

Re: Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #332465]

Mon, 12 May 2014 20:43

rummtata

Messages:103
Registered:April 2011
Location: Germany

I agree, sound effects are very important (music, btw, too). When I first installed some user-made sound sets for JA2, I was shocked to realize how lame the vanilla sounds for guns are. Shots and explosions should be loud, sharp and feature a decent bass (if appropriate).

As to loudness scaled up with distance: since JA:F is going to be a top-down tactic game just as JA1/2, how should the engine decide where to put the listener? The player is everywhere and nowhere, it's not like we only hear and see what the currently controlled merc does. I think it's better to go with "unrealistic" here.

What I would like to hear in JA:F is more defined walking sounds so you can tell if someone is sneaking or running and whether the ground is sand, mud, rock, grass, shrub, asphalt or indoors =)

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Sergeant

Re: Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #332474]

Mon, 12 May 2014 21:37

Slax

Messages:1411
Registered:July 2006
Location: People riding polar bears...

You are where the camera is, no? JA2 has stereo sound for this (merc voices at least) so we might as well go the full mile. Wink

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Sergeant Major

Re: Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #332478]

Mon, 12 May 2014 21:50

rummtata

Messages:103
Registered:April 2011
Location: Germany

Well, if the sound effects vaguely hint at "happens in the center of the screen" "left/right" or "far away", that's fine =) Just thought that anything beyond that would be better suited for 1st person shooter...

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Sergeant

Re: Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #333053]

Sat, 24 May 2014 03:00

Shanga

Messages:3482
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

Kinda one of the things that annoyed me in alpha (where the camera didn't show enemies in no way). JA2 kinda cheated and had a log that told you who heard the sound and where it was coming from. A cheat but not a bad solution "Buzz hear a loud bang from SW (and she wants some)".

But rummtata, you have a point, too much sound positioning can be more confusing than helpful because YOU are where the camera is.

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Captain

Re: Bang bang! Pop, pow! (SFX.)[message #333138]

Mon, 26 May 2014 14:25

sardonic_wrath

Messages:48
Registered:June 2011

For an example of great sound design and atmosphere in a 1st person shooter, check out Red orchestra 2.

But I am with rummtata as well, 1st person shooters have very different requirements.
I'd argue shots in the distance aren't even something that happens in JA... the camera will always be there/near when a gun is shot.

As for locating noises, sound is useless. Left-right might be easy to do on a stereo system, but from an isometric observer perspective it will be completly unintuitive. For north/south you'd need a surround system, and it would be even more unintuitive.
For this kind of thing we definitley need UI representation that is persistent for a turn at least. Like the silhouettes in Silent storm.

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Corporal

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