Shifting gears slightly from last month’s entry on scripting, we return to the audio department. We’ve previously discussed voices and music, but we have yet to discuss sound itself. I’ve intentionally left the discussion until now, because sound design is better done in post-production. In other words, once a scene has been scripted, for all intents and purposes, it is playable. Once a sequence is playable, it is much easier to create sound effects and ambience. Having a visual representation of what exactly is happening on-screen makes it simple to plan out and design the respective audio to match.
Sound design is similar to music, in the sense that it helps to convey the mood and atmosphere of a scene. The goal is to make you feel like you’re there, by truly feeling the environment that the player is currently in. This month’s entry will focus mainly on one aspect of sound design: ambience. An ambience is like a symphony of sound effects. Different sounds placed strategically together, in a way that compliments all other assets in the game. Like music, ambience doesn’t have to exist in every scene, but without it, things are just a little too quiet.
Reference Material
While one could extrapolate sounds from the script, it’s often very difficult to do so. Animations aren’t always explicitly written out in full, and even when they are, it takes a great deal of imagination to guess exactly how something should sound. Take the ringing of a bell, for example. While it’s obvious it makes a *DING*, the sound it makes can vary based on its size, material, the object striking it, and even the physical location it’s in (i.e. indoors versus outdoors).
Sound Creation
A generic sound from a sound library could suffice (and in most cases it does), but there are many times where the design of a sound does not quite fit once it’s added to the game. In cases like these, sounds have to be made from scratch by the sound designer. To start, they open up the game and start playing. Playing the game allows the designer to take note of the environment, and also what exactly is happening to cause the sound to occur.
There are any places in the game where additional animations were added which did not originally exist in the script. Performing these animations does not necessarily advance gameplay, but it does provide for better game interaction. A good example of this is the attempt Graham makes to pull on the suit of armor at The Silver Lining’s Castle of the Crown:
Figure 1: Screenshot of Graham pulling on suit of armor
in
Isle of the Crown - Castle of the Crown
So… what exactly does pulling on a suit of armor sound like? Good question. There wasn’t really any existing sound for doing such a thing, so one was created using a combination of: inserting the grill into an antique cast-iron stove, the squeaking of a small hinge, a metal bucket and an overall lowering of pitch, to make the suit sound “heavier”. Have a listen to the final result:
Environmental Effects
Ambient sounds are different from single sound effects, because they’re entirely based on the scene environment. Design starts off by identifying all areas of the scene that can affect the way the scene would sound. Let’s use the Village Square on Isle of the Crown from Chapter 1 of TSL as an example:
Figure 2: Isle of the Crown - Village Square
showing Sound Areas
Since it is raining in this scene, there are several areas that affect the way the rain will strike:
A) Streets made of dirt and grass
B) Heavy canvas or cloth tents with awnings
C) Several solid stone and wood buildings with balconies and roofs
Not very visible from this camera angle, but there are several hanging signs made of wood/metal indicated by D). These signs could be creaking in the wind.
E) indicates some distant buildings in the background. At first glance, these seem to be too far off-scene to really be heard, but it allows for an opportunity to get creative with other sounds. Two additional sounds were also added into the mix:
the sound of a dog barking in the distance echoing between the buildings
a distant bell blowing in the wind
There are also elements that are not shown in the scene which also need to be taken into consideration: thunder and wind.
Mixing
Once separate sounds have been created for everything described above, they must be mixed together into one file. It would sound like a complete mess to have everything overlapping, so certain sounds must be sequenced and timed properly. Mixing is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and fusing together all the pieces so that you can’t see the cracks in-between. The final mix for the Village Square ambience looked like this:
Figure 3: Screenshot of Village Square Ambience Mix
When creating a mix, it is important to make sure all sounds mesh seamlessly together. If the player is trying to concentrate on playing the game, there shouldn’t be a sound on any level that is distracting. The way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to make sure the volume levels are all working well together, and that there isn’t anything “poking out of the mix into the player’s ear”, so to speak.
As well, mixing decisions can be dictated by the scene design. The more prominent objects, such as the large open area in the center of this scene, will be more in the forefront of the mix than less prominent objects, such as the buildings, which are further back.
Play Testing
Once the ambience has been completed, the true test is to drop it in-game and have a listen. This usually entails converting the file to *.ogg format, and adding a line of code or two to a scene. Have a listen to how the final ambience sounds:
Play testing is important, because there could be other sound effects, voices and/or music that needs to be heard over the ambience. With the Village Square ambience, the pitch of the bell had to be adjusted so that it’s in the same key as the music, otherwise it would cause clashing harmonies. Here’s how everything sounds together when playing this scene in-game:
Ambience, like music, is a game element that is not always required, but is highly recommended. It can take an otherwise silent and drab scene, and give it life through background noise. Sound effects, on the other hand, are almost always required, since almost every animation sequence has a few. Reading a narration uncorking a bottle of champagne is certainly not the same as hearing the pop of the cork and the fizz from the bubbles. Of course, hearing it is certainly not the same as drinking it either… but that’s a whole different story.
With music, voices, sound effects and ambience in place, we’ve now finished everything audio-wise that goes into game development. Next month, we’ll talk about the final stage that art assets go through.
