AA2 Game Sound week 7

My aesthetic analysis of this particular genre is the need for dramaticism in the soundscape. It is a game comprising elements of war and a soundtrack or effects on par with something like the film “The Sound of Music” simply will not cut it. I would imagine a soundtrack of deep droning sounds, percussive mechanical sounds, a quick marching feel to the tempo, something with a darker edge, etc. Some sort of music that draws on the emotion of war itself and represents conflict.
The sound effects need to bring a sense of reality to the game bringing the on screen images ‘alive’. To a certain degree, they must match our own physical reality to make a player connect to it. The vehicle and creature movements can be a bit imaginative in their sounds but the explosions themselves should remain modest in imaginative sound design to give the player something sonically recognisable.

Edward: (sound designer VO)

Doug: (composer):

Sanad: (sound designer FX):

Freddie: (sound engineer Effects and Mixing - Team Leader)




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Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 –Game Audio.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

AA2 Game Sound week 8

This is basically a penguin version of Super Mario Brothers. An adventure game of this type usually requires the creation of ‘cutesy’ type sounds and a ‘happy’ soundtrack. The assets consist of single sounds. There won’t be multiple versions of a jump sound for example in this type of genre. The assets list will consts of the usual sounds: jump, fall, explode, kick, squish, skid, lifeup, there are 20 in all. I will be using foley and sound editing software to create the sounds and placing them directly into the game overwriting the original sounds.

Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 –Game Audio. Asset Integration.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.
“SuperTux” Bill Kendrick. Accessed 21st August 2008. <>

AA2 Game Sound week 6

Well I am now officially confused with all of this. I am well aware that an asset is merely a timeframe taken from one particular sound file but here we are looking at modifying a games audio files with about seven separate audio files representing one weapon all being referred to as assets as the example. It seems that the term ‘assets’ is a term used loosely and I shall take that onboard.
I have used three separate texture sounds of walking on various substances (wood, metal and swamp). I assume from the readings that these will all operate under the same global volume settings and will be triggered by the programming code as to what surface is being walked on and at what speed. This is about my understanding of this, and I know it is not very much. What a shame I am not a mathematical genius also. To be honest there are far too many letters and numbers floating about in our classes this semester for my peanut to take in. Give me lateral over logic anyday. So…when are we moving from programming and going back to sound and music again?
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MP3
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Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 –Game Audio. FMOD.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

FMOD, 2007, 2006, .

AA2 Game Sound week 5 Audio Engine Overview

“Most new users simply want to add a set of wave files and start building things. However, this is not how the FMOD designer workflow is structured.”[1] This statement literally made me moan out loud. I really hate unintuitive programs. The tutorial is difficult to follow in places. The section “Using the Auto-pitch feature” stated to select the option ‘sound definition properties.’ Unfortunately this menu is actually named differently and again I wasted time looking through dropdown menus until I found the right one. The Simulating Distance tutorial was completely confusing. There did not seem to be an undo function which was also annoying. Maybe there was one but was simply unintuitive in its location. I got there in the end and played around with the sounds slightly to recreate an old plane dogfighter game. I did find the FMOD Flange always distorted the cross the fades so I reduced the overall levels. Once again it boils down to myself getting familiar with these technologies so they can simply be used as creative tools. I did find this a lot easier than learning MAX/MSP which still continues to cause stress.
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FMOD save file

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Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 –Game Audio. FMOD.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

[1] “Overview and Workflow Philosophy” Chapter 2: Getting Started. Creative 2007, FMOD DESIGNER:
USER MANUAL, page 19, Creative Labs, 2007, .

FMOD, 2007, 2006, .

AA2 Game Sound week 4 Game Engine Overview

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Game engine: SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine) highly modified
Electronic Arts, June 14 2001.

Audio Engine: PATHFINDER is a proprietory audio engine of EA although I could not find evidence if it is used on C&C3 or not.

After hours of searching this is as much as I could find on this game for this weeks exercise. I am not sure why we are doing this anyway as a company would surely give this information in a brief. I believe we need to know how to do the work and the delivery requirement of the assets should be spelled out by the game developers. The capabilities and limitations of a particular audio engine is something that should be addressed right at the start by the sound designers. It is no different than us learning to record a band but ignoring the fact 192k SR will not work on CD or the recording was supposed to be done on vinyl. We need to know the final medium as early on as possible and not start Googling or looking in the library to find out what type of engine an employing company will use for any given game. Either way, I would be pretty confident that a company would state what the engine is in a brief so the sound designers can work within the particular parameters and requirements needed for the game.

“SAGE Engine” Wikipedia. Accessed 24th August 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAGE_engine

“SAGE” Mod DB. Accessed 24th August 2008. http://www.moddb.com/engines/sage-strategy-action-game-engine

Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 – Game Audio Analysis.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

“Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars” EA games, 2007.

AA2 Game Sound week 3 – Process and Planning

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Electronic Arts, 2007

Without a direct audio folder to open, I could not examine the files directly. DirectX is used so I assume they are wave files. I am not sure of the meta data or file names the designers used so I applied my own based on obvious choices. It is probably not 44.1 audio either. Spoken dialogue is a large component of this game. There are many character classes. The main class is not an in game character but an emotionless voice (male or female depending on faction chosen: NOD or GDI) from the command centre telling the player certain things have been done or are being done. Each vehicle, soldier and device has its own characteristic sounds or dialogue. The ‘driver’ of a vehicle speaks different dialogue when commanded around the battlefield. I noticed in the “Almost too quiet”[1] article there is a column named ‘chance.’ I assume this is to show the programmers how often this sound is to be triggered as to which parameters are in effect in the game at that particular moment in time. The GDI faction has been chosen for this analysis.

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Assets list

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[1] Lampert, Mark. 2006, IT’S QUIET … ALMOST TOO QUIET, Bethesda Softworks, 2006,

"Chapter 2 - Sound Database". Childs, G. W. 2006, Creating Music and Sound for
Games, Thomson Course Technology.

Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 – Game Audio Analysis.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

“Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars” EA games, 2007.

AA2 Game Sound week 2 - Game Audio Analysis

TOMB RAIDER
Core Design 1996
Sony Playstation

Analysis of game in sequence.

SFX
Two differently pitched footstep sounds randomly alternating when walking. Always the same no matter the surface. Landing from a jump has a deeper sound, similar to dropping a large coat. Animal noises use volume changes to give a sense of distance. Levers sliding and doors opening use a grinding sound although utilising different pitches for each.

MUSIC
There are two distinct soundtracks. One comprised of ambient sounds using wind, synth tones, a reverberant gong and percussive noises creating an atmosphere of space and emptiness.
When opening a door or entering a secret area, brief string music starts giving the signal one is on the right track. Orchestrated music also starts when in danger or nearing the end of the level. These are the only times music is used. All other times the spacious, ambient track is used.

VO
Lara makes different grunting noises when hurt, climbing or jumping, although not made every time she jumps. There is also a vo of “aha” when she finds a secret area or item.

What was significant about 1993 in regards to video games? The arrival of the First Person Shooter and the dawn of multiplayer on-line gaming: Doom.

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Haines, Christian. 2008. “AA2 – Game Audio Analysis.” Seminars presented at the University of Adelaide.

“Tomb Raider Lvl 1.” You Tube. Accessed 8th August, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-cr_1UlW10&feature=related

“DOOM” You Tube. Accessed 6th August, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr-lQZzevwA