I decided to make this post for those interested in a quick peek into the sound design process. If you guys find this interesting, speak up, and I'll make more videos as things progress.
You'll notice that all methods and sound clips in this video are almost entirely subtle in nature and use; there are no outright, drastic changes being made to the game here. My goals with improving LURK's (and, by association, STALKER's) sound design is mostly based around this concept, although there are a few tricks I'm working on that are more along the lines of "drastic." More to come on that later.
My biggest inspiration is DICE. Their audio work has always been above and beyond everything else out there, particularly when Frostbite came out with their new technology, HDR Audio. Sweet tech and fantastic sound sources aside, their focus on the small things inspire me. It's these small things that I intend to focus on for LURK, because it is the small things that can bring a game's sound stage to life, and that breath of life is what STALKER deserves.
I think we can all agree that STALKER's strength has always been in the sum of its parts, anyway. What I show here in the video is one of many principals that I will be applying to enliven LURK - sound occlusion, EAX sound environments, 3D positioned sound sources and a proprietary, made-from-the-ground-up sound library that I'll capture myself. The potential aural awesomeness to be had with the compounding of all these principals excites me. I hope this (and any future) videos will help spread that excitment.
update 20120107: Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'll be sure to make more vids. I really appreciate the interest!
-Daemonion
As a sidenote, Millenia's back from his military service and is once more on the LURK team. Everyone say hi to Millenia! - Panzerdraco
Get your floorboards fixed dude goddang
But yeah, freakin' brilliant work.
I live in a cabin hand-built in 1920. It tends to creak here and there :D
Glad you guys liked the video. I'll definitely make more.
You really inspire me, the whole lurk team does!
One Question, will you add echo's to the weapons as well? like: Moddb.com
Some exciting things will be happening. There will be some fun videos when it comes time to show what I have planned for the guns in this game :D
I'd get pretty excited if I were you!
Wow, awesome, Millenia? As in that guy that makes all the awesomest textures for weapons? Okay, now I'm starting to get really excited for 1.2, as much as I hate getting hyped for anything.
This is also really interesting. It'd be pretty cool to get one of these types of videos from each person to show a little sneak peak of what they're working on in their particular field.
Not sure how soon 1.2 is released, I won't have time to do much except small improvements if release is soon :P
But the patch after that might already have more stuff!
I'm really looking foreward to more videos on progress with the 3D sound system
>>>This is also really interesting. It'd be pretty cool to get one of these types of videos from each person to show a little sneak peak of what they're working on in their particular field.
Exactly!
I'll prolly make a 3d video when I have some progress as well. :)
Explaining some technical details too for those interested!
I guess I could make a video too!
DO EEEET
Damn, Millenia, your name is over EVERYTHING. And with as high-quality as your work is, I'm sure you're the number one inspiration for 3D artists everywhere! I'm honored by your service as well. Thank you. ^^
Also, Daemon, keep up these videos, seriously. I myself feel that sound design is the most important factor in how I enjoy a game - I'm an audio junkie and this work you're doing excites me to no end. :D
I've got lots of fun stuff planned.
Does it involve anything blowing up?
I hope it involves stuff blowing up.
Stuff Blowing Up is my favourite trope.
If you consider .300 Win Mag blowing stuff up, then YES.
Fantastic stuff. Audio is a really key element to immersion and I really like that you're focusing on smaller details as demonstrated in the video. I agree that DICE is the best source of inspiration for audio since the BF series has been amazing.
One of my biggest complaints from the audio in vanilla is that the ambient sounds in the game sometimes come off as something you might hear on a Halloween haunted house. Every once in awhile a strange noise in the background or rustling of leaves in the wind. The quality not necessarily being bad, but it sometimes feels forced and unconvincing.. I'm hoping that you'll be doing some work on the ambient sounds heard throughout the zone. I really enjoyed the video though, can't wait for the release!
Most of that stuff is incredibly cheesy. You can expect me to go over it all with a fine-toothed comb.
The haunted house analogy is a perfect way to describe it!