Clip used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jSpeBya1D4
watch in 1080p
(NPC=Non-Player Character aka any of the computer characters)
For the most part, the music and ambiance continue throughout the scenes the whole time. Also there are large battle parts where there are a lot of sound effects coming from players and it would be difficult for me to list all of them but I'll go into detail later.
Scene 1: 8:00-9:00
The player is in a field, fighting enemies on his way to a castle
Time SFX 1 SFX 2 Music Ambiance Dialogue
8:00 Footsteps Loud, powerful Thunderstorm
8:01 Gunshot loud grunt
8:02 Sword Swipes Sword hits
8:04 getting hit "tink" Other player swoosh
8:05 Enemy death grunt
8:07 Grabbing item
8:12 Grunt while jumping
8:28 Mission chime sound
8:35 Faint NPC dialogue
8:37 Crackling Ice
8:41 Event Chime sound
8:43 Direct orders, audible
8:50 Weapon sounds from bows, swords, magic, etc; Player, enemy, and NPC
Lots of Grunting
8:54 Loud Magic sound
8:57 More weapon hits
9:00 Killed enemy sound Gunshots Enemy Dialogue
Scene 2 10:00-11:00
The player (and many others) confront a powerful enemy after defending the castle
Time SFX 1 SFX 2 Music Ambiance Dialogue
10:00 Deep, crumbling rocks and ground Powerful, intense Wind blowing/Thunderstorm
10:04 NPCs talking
10:10 Rattling, crumbling continues
10:15 players bounced back, painful grunts
10:17 female players and bear bounced back
10:19 Enemy and ally speak
10:20 Trees blowing in wind
10:28 magical effects, lightning
10:30 Ally talking
10:32 Lightning effect
10:37 Slashing
10:40 Player attacks
10:45 a leap and a grunt
10:47 more rocks
10:49 large boom Ally npc again
10:58 Barrage from everyone continues, player attacks enemy
Audio Director: James Ackley
Also worked on: F.E.A.R.; Aliens Versus Predator 2 the game
Lead Sound Designer: Drew Cady
Also worked on: Shut Eye (Short movie), and Cranius Rectus (Short Video)
This week I chose to look at a clip of game play from a video game, Guild Wars 2; looking at a game as opposed to a video or a film is different because of the interactivity that comes with the medium. Video games themselves even have their own differences, all games themselves have variances in sound depending on actions taken, like distance to certain characters or sound effects, different ambiance inside versus outside, etc that all happen because a world is being built. Multi-player games demand a bit more world building, since multiple players are occupying the same space at the same time, but need to realistically hear sound depending on their location and actions. The actions of one player might be heard by others too, so creating a system that changes dynamics based on location is necessary to be truly immersed in sound. The sound team for Guild Wars 2 also has talked about sound and immersion in games, some video games are realistic, and all of the sounds you need exist in the real world, you just have to go get them; but some games are more fantasy driven, like this one, and demand more. The sounds for magic need to be built up from scratch, and in one of the video interviews below the team talks about creating a sound that doesn't exist in the real world. Sound also grounds us in a world through familiarity; while the visuals might be strange, exotic, and unknown with creatures and places we've never seen in real life, sound helps us make sense of the world. Running water, the sounds of birds and bugs, wind blowing through the air makes us confirm that the world works similarly to ours. Other cues, like how deep or what the timbre of a voice is can show how big or unique a certain creature is. Basically, the music, visuals, and effects might drive the tone, story, and emotions forward, but the ambiance helps ground the actions and make them believable. If swinging a sword sounded like a gunshot there would be a huge dissonance, so it falls on the sound team to make sure the world feels right.
In the videos below the sound team is showing how they got a lot of the different sounds, a huge amount of effort goes into making sure every weapon attack, hitting the right material, wearing different weights of armor, playing as differing races, and being in different environments shape the sound being heard. Sounds are EQ'd and edited depending on those variables, and put into the system to play the appropriate sound at the appropriate time. From playing the game myself I think they did a fantastic job considering all of the things they had to cover, as the world sounds very interesting and realistic.
An interview with the sound team on the basics of recording and some insight into how they go about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOUNFsPyiY
Another in depth look, this time talking about layering sound and how the system works in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiamRvDqk9s
A blog post about doing different voices for different races, monsters, species, and even ghosts.
http://www.arena.net/blog/the-hidden-complexity-of-sound-design
A video about a field trip they did to an abandoned reactor to get very deep, reverberant sounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJZWyNr-Mu0
The team actually creating a fireball to record and use for their effects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5x2kO0Jq6A
Guild Wars 2 has won several awards, such as Destructoid's best RPG of 2012, Ten Ton Hammer's best MMO of 2012, and TIME magazine's best PC game of 2012.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/media/awards/
Adam - I thought this was great, and a great presentation. If you do another presentation or post on game audio, I'd like to also know some of the technical stuff - what audio software are they using (ex: wwise?) for example.
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