Approaching Sound Design - Revision history

David Stoffel at 15:15, 22 March 2014

2014-03-22T15:15:58Z

AFRLme at 15:25, 8 February 2014

2014-02-08T15:25:43Z

AFRLme at 15:24, 8 February 2014

2014-02-08T15:24:47Z

AFRLme at 15:22, 8 February 2014

2014-02-08T15:22:47Z

AFRLme at 15:21, 8 February 2014

2014-02-08T15:21:53Z

AFRLme at 15:20, 8 February 2014

2014-02-08T15:20:38Z

AFRLme at 00:23, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T00:23:05Z

AFRLme at 00:09, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T00:09:40Z

AFRLme at 00:06, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T00:06:39Z

AFRLme at 00:00, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T00:00:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:15, 22 March 2014
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	On a final note: I have written this article to try & help put into perspective, the important role that sound design can play in your games, & also to help you achieve a more polished & professional standard for your games in general.		On a final note: I have written this article to try & help put into perspective, the important role that sound design can play in your games, & also to help you achieve a more polished & professional standard for your games in general.
−	~~{{i18n\|Approaching_Sound_Design}}~~

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 <span class="bold green">Characters perspective</span>: '''a sounds volume & balance are determined via characters current position in each scene.'''
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech should all be approx 100% volume & center balanced
-* environmental & cpu character sounds should fade in/out depending on how close the playable character is to the sounds source & the audio balance should be approached in the same way. you have to calculate the x&y position of your character against the position of the sounds source to set the correct volume (I will not go into the calculations in this page) & the audio balance should be based on the playable characters x position versus the sounds source x position.
+* environmental & npc character sounds should fade in/out depending on how close the playable character is to the sounds source & the audio balance should be approached in the same way. you have to calculate the x&y position of your character against the position of the sounds source to set the correct volume (I will not go into the calculations in this page) & the audio balance should be based on the playable characters x position versus the sounds source x position.
 <span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: '''a sounds volume & balance is determined via what the camera can see; based on the object &/or characters position in the scene.'''

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:24, 8 February 2014
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−	On a final note: I have written this article to try & help put into perspective the ~~importance of~~ sound design in ~~a game~~ & also to help you achieve a more polished & professional standard for your games in general.	+	On a final note: I have written this article to try & help put into perspective, the important role that sound design can play in your games, & also to help you achieve a more polished & professional standard for your games in general.
	{{i18n\|Approaching_Sound_Design}}		{{i18n\|Approaching_Sound_Design}}

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
-<span class="bold green">Characters perspective</span>: a sounds volume & balance are determined via characters current position in each scene
+<span class="bold green">Characters perspective</span>: '''a sounds volume & balance are determined via characters current position in each scene.'''
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech should all be approx 100% volume & center balanced
 * environmental & cpu character sounds should fade in/out depending on how close the playable character is to the sounds source & the audio balance should be approached in the same way. you have to calculate the x&y position of your character against the position of the sounds source to set the correct volume (I will not go into the calculations in this page) & the audio balance should be based on the playable characters x position versus the sounds source x position.
-<span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: a sounds volume & balance is determined via what the camera can see; based on the object &/or characters position in the scene.
+<span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: '''a sounds volume & balance is determined via what the camera can see; based on the object &/or characters position in the scene.'''
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech volume should be set based on current scale/size or y position
 * current character sounds audio balance can be approached in 2 ways:

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 * environmental & cpu character sounds should fade in/out depending on how close the playable character is to the sounds source & the audio balance should be approached in the same way. you have to calculate the x&y position of your character against the position of the sounds source to set the correct volume (I will not go into the calculations in this page) & the audio balance should be based on the playable characters x position versus the sounds source x position.
-<span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: a sounds volume & balance is determined via what the camera can see & the objects/characters position in the scene.
+<span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: a sounds volume & balance is determined via what the camera can see; based on the object &/or characters position in the scene.
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech volume should be set based on current scale/size or y position
 * current character sounds audio balance can be approached in 2 ways:

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
-<span class="bold">What perspective should I use when approaching the sound design for my game?</span><br/>
+<span class="bold">What perspective should I use when approaching the sound design for my game?</span>
 Characters perspective: sounds volume & balance are determined via characters current position in each scene
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech should all be approx 100% volume & center balanced
 * environmental & cpu character sounds should fade in/out depending on how close the playable character is to the sounds source & the audio balance should be approached in the same way. you have to calculate the x&y position of your character against the position of the sounds source to set the correct volume (I will not go into the calculations in this page) & the audio balance should be based on the playable characters x position versus the sounds source x position.
-Camera perspective: sounds are determined via what the camera can see & the objects/characters position in the scene.
+<span class="bold green">Camera perspective</span>: sounds are determined via what the camera can see & the objects/characters position in the scene.
 * current character sounds such as footsteps, actions & speech volume should be set based on current scale/size or y position
 * current character sounds audio balance can be approached in 2 ways:

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:09, 10 May 2013
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−	Sound design seems to be to something that is often over-looked when it comes to adventure games & low budget indie games & possibly even in certain commercial games; but in my opinion it is probably one of the more important aspects of a game (besides the visuals & the interface, of course) as it can really help to set the overall mood, tone, ambiance & atmosphere of the game or a particular scene.	+	Sound design seems to be to something that is often over-looked when it comes to adventure games & low budget indie games & possibly even in certain commercial games; but in my opinion it is probably one of the more important aspects of a game (besides the story, visuals & the interface, of course) as it can really help to set the overall mood, tone, ambiance & atmosphere of the game or a particular scene.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:06, 10 May 2013
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	Sound design seems to be to something that is often over-looked when it comes to adventure games & low budget indie games & possibly even in certain commercial games; but in my opinion it is probably one of the more important aspects of a game besides the visuals & the interface, of course, as it can really help to set the overall mood, tone, ambiance & atmosphere of the game or a particular scene.	+	Sound design seems to be to something that is often over-looked when it comes to adventure games & low budget indie games & possibly even in certain commercial games; but in my opinion it is probably one of the more important aspects of a game (besides the visuals & the interface, of course) as it can really help to set the overall mood, tone, ambiance & atmosphere of the game or a particular scene.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
-<span class="bold">Environmental things to consider...</span>
+<span class="bold">Environmental things to consider...</span><br/>
 Something designers seem to ignore is how the environment affects sounds. What is the character currently walking over? grass? mud? stones? concrete? snow? a wet surface? etc ... Is the character in a cave/cavern or a large empty room? if so then you should consider creating variations of your sounds that are to be used in those types of areas with some reverb/echo & maybe a bit of filter manipulation to make them fit the current environment. In my opinion: it is pure laziness, if you are playing a game & you are in a large cavern & the characters are talking or even shouting in the same dull fashion that they would in a normal scene rather than having their voices echo off the cavern walls or at least reverberate slowly into nothing. Also another thing to consider is: is the character currently walking behind something? if so then character sounds should be quieter/muffled (maybe use a sound with some added filter cutoff) providing you are using the camera perspective approach to sound design.
-<span class="bold">Adding a bit of dynamic flair to your sounds</span>
+<span class="bold">Adding a bit of dynamic flair to your sounds</span><br/>
 Dynamically approaching how you play a sound is a good way to create a more natural feel/tone to your game rather than all sounds playing at the exact same volume level. For instance: I would recommend creating a few variations of the same sound & randomly calling one of the variations & then using a bit of Lua trickery apply a slight random subtraction or addition value to the volume level of the sound; this is a great way of setting tones - in a music production DAW (digital audio workstation) this is referred to as "velocity" - quieter sounds are softer & louder sounds are harsher - I have used this method in a couple of dynamic sound scripts I have written.
-<span class="bold">A few extra things to take into consideration...</span>
+<span class="bold">A few extra things to take into consideration...</span><br/>
 When recording sounds, you should really try to record all sounds at approx the same audio level or adjust afterwards to suit, especially sounds that belong in the same set. I would recommend - if possible - getting someone to professionally master your sounds & to sort out the levels. The reason I am mentioning this is because: it's not nice, nor very professional to have one sound that's fairly normal & another that is suddenly 20x louder blasting out at the person playing your game.