By Reto.Draebesmoelf, Lead Sound Designer
A bicycle has appeared on our internal test level. You can ride it and go from one place to another faster than you can run.
To create the sounds for the bicycle I decided to leave the studio and go on a field trip to record the sound. I used my wife’s grand mother’s bicycle which is old and rattling (and has no gears) and is similar in style with the in-game bicycle.
When you go on a field trip to record sounds it is always a good idea to prepare yourself so you do not make (too many) mistakes or forget something.
I started by making a list of the sounds I needed: ringing bell, rolling tire noise, pedal noises, rattling noises and skidding on dirt sounds.
It can be a challenge to record outside with all the background noises like birds, people, planes, trains and automobiles, etc. So do what you can to limit the noises you have control over: set your mobile to silent or turn it off, wear your “stealth outfit”, tape up your equipment with masking tape if it makes unwanted rattling noises, etc. And then if possible record on a location that only has a few background noises.
The day before I went out I made sure to check the weather forecast. Luckily, no rain and only a little wind for the next day. I also checked the recording gear that I planed to use and the condition of the bicycle (a good thing that I did. The bicycle had no air left in the tires).
The recording went well and only a few people turned their heads to figure out what that strange man was doing. After two-and-half hours I got the sounds that I wanted and I used the rest of the day cutting-up and editing the sounds.
After Reto.Lord made some code changes, and I spent some time setting up and adjusting the sounds in FMOD the bicycle now has sounds when you ride it. The sounds are close to what I had in mind when I started out and I am quite pleased with the result.
Sign up for an Alpha-key here!
Owke... this is a thing i never seen ingame...
I LOVE IT!
So much want the alpha key :X
Any way you can improve your chances of getting one?
Would be pretty cool if you could manage to add horses too to the game, sure they would require a lot of animations etc, but running on a horse through a forest would be awesome :)