Sounds within Game Design.
Audio Information within games: 1.What is an audio environment? An audio environment is how sound waves behave in an enclosed room. This can be studied to find appropriate room size/distortion techniques for create=ing ambient sounds and sound effects. 2.What is a waveform? A waveform is the graphical representation of sounds. There are different shapes of waveforms, such as Sine Wave; Square wave; Triangle wave and Sawtooth wave. 3.Define :Attack, Sustain and Gain. Audio terminology definitions: Attack Is the begining of a sound. Sustain is the denotation of the time the sound remains before becoming Inaudible. Gain is is a unit of measurement used to mean the ratio of a signal output of a system to the signal input of the system. (EG= What is going in to a microphone; What is coming out of the speaker). Commonly known as the increase in volume/amplitude of the entire sound effect/music. 4.What are the different sources of sound production? There are three main sources of sound production; Foley (which is the creation and addition of sound effects after a film, video or animation has been shot. Replicates saounds via different methods and uses different objects and room sizes to garner this.) Sampling/Digital (Which is the digital representation of various sound pieces. The quality is determined by Sampling or Bit
rates at which the audio is sampled at.) and Music Libraries (Which is recorded music or sounds effects that can be licensed to multiple people/companies for their use. This can then be used in Radio, Film, and Games.) 5.What are the different types of audio? Different types of audio include Diagetic, which is the sounds which the character can hear whithin the game, like gunshots or radio, Non Diagetic, which is the sounds such as Narration, which the character cannot hear, and Adaptive, which is sounds which change as the character/ player does an action or something happens eg low health. 6. Research and explain the following file formats - wav, aiff, au, voc; lossy compression. WAV = Primarily used in PC’s, this format stores information on the number of tracks, sample rate and bit depth of the track. It allows the file to be transferred through programmes and hardware. AIFF = used to store and transmit sound, often not compressed so files tend to be largely compressed. AU = Short for Audio, this format is commonly used in Unix and Java, and has the .au extension. VOC = a Compressed sound file, often used with Creative Labs Audio. Lossy Compression = a form of coding which uses inexact approximations to compress the file. Reduces data size through reducing the data within the file itself, MP3 is an example of this.
Contrast- An audio case study Contrast is a game created by Compulsion Games. It is based in the 1920’s, with aspects of the 1940’s included. Using a Film Noir setting, with Jazz bar and a Cabaret scene, the audio reflects this, with the background music based around 1920’s/1940’s Jazz, featuring saxophones and instruments commonly used by Jazz musicians. In the game there is a level area based around a carnival/Circus, and as such the music changes, keeping the Jazz-like feel, but adding a certain element of child-like fun to it, featuring the common elements associated with being at the circus. The voice-acting within the game is astounding, allowing the characters to come to life, as it fits the portrayed characters. Kat - the mother NPC, has a soothing voice, one that is associated with women and singers at the time. The character you play as -Dawn- does not speak but the character accompanying her -Didi- is a 9 year old girl, and her voice acting represents this, with a higher pitched voice, and a happier tone, it creates the illusion that she is a real person. Voice-acting withing the game was made through finding Voice-actors from Montreal (local to where the game was made), and through the use of live recorded Jazz Musicians, using the appropriate instruments. Compulsion Games used an Audio software/ Partner company called Wave Generation Audio, which was used to create the initial sounds and effects in the game. This allowed the creators to garner an idea of the sounds they wanted,
before recording them and using them within game. The game has a constant music track throughout, which changes as levels change and areas develop; For example, during the level set in a Circus, the music is livelier and higher pitched, with the sound effects to complement this, but as the player moves through the area and completes different tasks, the music changes; in one area with a carousel it begins to sound more like a music box, and in another it takes on a more ‘pirate’ theme - with the sound of waves and sea birds, to complement the backdrop of a pirate ship. In an effort to keep the sound as authentic as possible, the audio was heavily looked at, choosing to find and look at different Jazz songs and musicians, to gain the appropriate feel for the game and it’s setting. The sound effects are not too prominent within the game - although noticable they are not the main focus, and as such do not hinder the gameplay, allowing you to play the game and feel as immersed as possible. To the Right: The page on sound from the Contrast Programme, bought with the game itself.