I've got an Itch!

Hey guys

So this goes post goes out to the Itch topic that I was chatting about with a few guys on twitter. Starting as a phrase to show how "I have to scratch the itch of creativity". It then turned into a topic on how to implement interactive itching and inevitably, to cats.

What I eventually came up with was a double blended set of containers, which change to an RTPC. It concludes with an event trigger and music for a buff that you would receive by "scratching the itch". Depending on the variable, the event gave a different music buff. Its a musical dragon, yey! Also I got round to the footsteps.

Its my longest video so far, so here is; before I go into depth about it all [n.n]



Interactive Itch and Steps integration in Wwise from Stuart Wilson on Vimeo.

Creature Vocals, Footsteps and Side Chaining

Hey Guys

So I've been busy this week and last, trying to get christmas temp work and balance that out with Wwise learning, SFX creation, project work and not a lot of music work. Which I want to rememdy, but I've got 2 interviews soon and I'll prob be worked off my feet for christmas. So thats why I pushed and got this Blog post sorted today. Got the video baking away in Vimeo while I write.

So, today's video is done in Fraps which means the mic and system audio feeds where merged into 1 and not very editable [-.-'] However, I did manage to get it all together in some semblance of order from many 30 second clips. Apologies for the quality and such.

The video goes on about many things, footsteps, vocals and sidechaining of creatures. One creature has all of these so far and the rest, just vocals set up. I didn't show the human footsteps yet which were made a while ago and I'll get to that eventually. Dragon steps havent been made yet either. What I also wanted to include but dont yet have, is wet footsteps for when the rain comes etc. Ideas simmering in my mind how to do that efficiently without remaking all footstep sounds and using too much memory.

I cover the creation of 3 sets of steps for the creature, walking, running and galloping for the Whul (made up creature, husky and aggressive) I simply, created a blend container with the 3 sequence containers of the steps and used a "speed of creature" RTPC which controls the delayed playback of the looped sequence containers. The faster the speed, the less the delay and the result; faster sounding footsteps occur.

I also brush past the Rain states change I got working (thanks @Lostlab) where I made a silly mistake in one tick box that could have saved a lot of time. So we actually came up with many ways for it too work. I also touch on the side chain compression for the creature vocals. The set up for these vocals are, the "wandering noises" loop with random silence and the "aggressive" and "interaction" noises are one shots from random containers. The wandering, gets compressed whenever the others are played. I was half temped to use RTPC to vary the Attack and Decay of the compression depending on how far away you were. As a slow decay would make the sounds swell back in. Whereas too fast and it would merge two sounds together. Which when standing very close to it, wouldn't sound right, but I stuck to just using a basic set up for now.

I'd advise watching in full screen or at This link



Creature Vocals, Footstep Pacing, Side-Chaining Vocal Priority and Rain States from Stuart Wilson on Vimeo.


Also, all the creature vocals were made by my voice, even though one sounds like a sea lion, its actually me. Self recording ftw. The only samples Ive actually used so far is the Thunder; can't get good thunder here, and the Wind; my recorder can't handle it without proper equipment. So next on the list is wet steps and then filling out the rest of the creatures. Then onto more ambiance and robotics, with a reference thrown in from Laputa.As well as the usual hunt for work - poke people, try out a new Santa hat for a temp job in the city. Prepare for the worst and enjoy the ride

Also this entire project is fictitious, I have been thinking on it for a while on the implications. It seems audio just got the short straw in development, being usually the end of dev. If I can create audio without code or images, why shouldn't games be made any differently, sometimes? I know Bastion's art was inspired by the music and it grew as a whole, many others too. Heard this before - we need music to fit this and this - not much room for creativity. And a breeding ground for the generic. Possibly we're all just too good at this style of participation, what we do and our turn around is actually putting us in these positions.

I'd like to see more games come out of anything and everything, from all aspects of art and be influenced by it all. And I haven't been disappointed by some of the lower budget games this year. From Optimus and the autobots "Till all are one" rings true here.

Have a peaceful weekend

SGW

Thunder and Menu system

Hey guys,

Also a spot effect thrown your way, beside the thunder systems and menu system. Just a quick Video blog today. Let me detail whats going on in this video a little. We have 2 types of thunder implementation, 1 which uses a blend container and randomly selects thunder. There is a silence of 10 seconds it could randomly choose also which has a lot more weight - it has a higher chance of playing. We also have a few random contained thunders to choose, from the events list. I feel the blend containers play of one event is more effective, rather than play them all individually.

We got a menu system which pauses all other audio and lowers the level of the music. Then when going into the dragonform part, the music also pauses. Then reverse that when you quit dragonform/menu. Little spot effect in there of a river which when your more than 30 units above it (using height RTPC), you wont hear it. Roughly 30 units from it using the positioning Wwise tools also you wont here it. so that covers a 3D area of influence.

Lets roll

Thunder Implementation and Menu System from Stuart Wilson on Vimeo.

Have a great day guys, enjoy the world of waves and pixels.

SGW

Rain and Wind

Hey guys,

Got my hot choc, good to go.

Today, I did some foley recording out the back and found out how useless my wind protector is in this valley. Managed to get some stuff recorded though - more footsteps, landings for the PDS game. Some rain effects and saw my neighbour looking out his window at me...didn't stop me. Pulled out some stuff for the recent changes I made today in the Wwise project.

I made a set of weather events, set to an attack, sustain, release concept. For the wind I just faded in and out, however for the rain I wanted it to seem real. A rain shower starting isn't a rain shower faded in, I'm inclined to believe. Made some droplets start and then get louder and more of them, then faded in the rain loop. Did this with a sequence container, placing the play and loop sections within. The loop section set to loop infinitely, and the out section separate. When you stop this sequence container, the out is set to play.

So, I have rain and I have wind events. I now can play about. The factors I used to manipulate these are speed; on your flying speed, height; your flying altitude, cover; how much out of the weather you are. I made 2 to 3 random and sequenced events of rain and wind for the heights. The reason for that being, rain and wind sounds different/have factors that alter them, on the ground to in the sky. So the height factor faded between these rain on ground and rain in sky containers. The speed, set about changing the pitch on the wind, making it more wispy and low pass on the rain to give the wind the high frequencies. The cover simply lowers volume on both but also a low pass on the rain again, when in high amounts of cover.


I have a video detailing how it sounds and works in Wwise.



Rain and Wind Implementation in Wwise from Stuart Wilson on Vimeo.

Other projects atm, still waiting on confirmation on 1 if I need to change anything. The other is still end dev, but will soon be out I imagine. My colab is ongoing, we settled on a nice fmv of Klonoa. Which I never played tbh, looks like a counter to Sonic.

Very up-beat about the current position i'm applying for, I really want it, really. It would be a big step in the right direction on multiple fronts not just career wise, but lifestyle too. The prototype patent application is pretty much a go soon as the lawyer is paid, with all my savings and some help from family. Have enough money to pay for my phone bill and that's about it haha. Its a risk to move onto better things though, I'm taking it. Will be great to see it being used, and hopefully I can further develope it.

FTL the game btw, has pretty much been nagging at me to play it all weekend. But it is good, the music is especially nice. It seems to pull inspiration from so many different artists, you'll hear some stuff from all over. And, it has a nice base track with layered battle track dynamic. Sound design compliments the music, nicely leveled sounds and peachy graphics and animations.

No more for today, long out of hot choc.


Have a great day

SGW

Implementation and recording

Hey guys,

So the last few days, pretty much a week. I have been up to a lot of stuff. I went for my first singing lesson with an opera singer and really produced some self respecting results on the first day. Gave me a bit of a confidence boost by the end of it, and I will be going back. The reasoning behind this was first brought to my attention by my old lecturer, Joe Lyske. He said to get better at composition,

"I know your not going to do this, but join a male voice choir"

Presumably because anyone he taught, never did. I couldn't sing for starters, but now I'm on the right track after helping this lady with her website. So I build, maintain and get her site up and running and she teaches me to sing. Deal.

Also fired through some more composition and SFX for Geemzo last week - finished that hard to write for track too. Maybe fire that up at some point. Got some more theater group SFX to bout up, shouldn't take long. Kind of put upon me without my consent however, and non paid. Few games simmering in the background atm, not quite ready for me to dive into. Will see how they progress.

Otherwise, I've been at Wwise. So I got my SFX I made for the short trailer in and modeled them on a game aesthetic like random, blend containers etc and today I recorded some foley. I made footsteps on all surfaces apart from plastic and metal beforehand. It so happens I have a wheelbarrow and plastic fiber sheets out in the garden, Over Yonder Ye Recordin Scum! Pirate bit done now, moving on.

After battering away and scraping my way to source material to create footsteps, on ancient tech and bizarre materials of the PDS game. I decided to make some more foliage foley. My thinking behind this is to randomly create footsteps and foliage together when walking in said areas. Steps, breaks, brushes and possibly more will be added to the pot. Also thinking of setting up RTPC parameters for weather and thus delve into footsteps on a whole new level. Whether to add sounds for when the character moves their hands to push themselves from the foliage (or tech), could find its way into the mix too. Climbing, now there is another option I hadn't thought about.

This is all for when the character is on foot, which isn't a lot at first inkling. Maybe more so? It is a theoretical game after all. Without design, I have begun to spin a big web.

No word from the most recent job application thus far, and I'm tempted to go there and speak to the lead in person. To avoid the failing aspect of the job market; the CV. But, I did hear I'm not moving to Sweden, some other lucky designer got that privilege. Congrats to them on the new post at DICE.

So guys, have a fun day.

SGW

I've been active

Hey guys,

No Wwise work this week, Im sure a few of you just stop reading now :P I had a game project fall into my lap on the weekend and have been working on it every day since. Its going well, im now down to the last 4 music tracks and SFX testing. By the way, calypso style reggae beat, happy fun time music, is tough to compose for. There are certain key structures that help make it up, I know none of them. But, its getting done.

What else have I been doing this week. Well today, I got shocked into overtime and poured two and a half hours of my life and soul into SFX making and syncing with this next video. The reason, to boost my portfolio for a demo reel I'm handing in to a company. Im relaxed more now as its all integrated into my new demo reel including a look at my dragon form again, also with panning.



PDO gameplay only from Stuart Wilson on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoyed it. Its short and sweet and if you wish there was more, then I've hit it right (I think)

Other things were added to the portfolio, my chart topping game Gravity Maze and my indie RTS TD CvC. As well as the Urban Abstract video which is still cool, tbh. I made a slight change in my demo reel than what you just watched, I mention how I made each sound. It comes down to, a back garden river,  my vocals, a toilet (more water) and a brief stroke of a carpet.

All things considered, I'm hoping the lead sees enough in that to take a closer look at me for the position. So you might understand why I haven't brought any Wwise insights to the table today, maybe next week I will be more free to tackle it.

Also, watch "Hanna". I nearly shouted out how brilliant one moment was - I wont spoil it. Excellent sound and music design again (watch Atonement) from the same director, Joe Wright. Diversion! Mocap. I'm thinking, that's a pretty cool step to make. I understand there is a lot of updating and correction with mistakes awry with the computational aspects. But it should evolve or die like everything else, looking into audio recording as well. End of "Mars Needs Moms" (I know, but hey I haven't had TV in years - catching up) has its ending credits with a few clips on the Mocap recording. A little bit inspiring if I do say, wanting to get more involved in that sort of stuff. Which I won't, being a solo practitioner of the arts.




So, some sound design tips from me,

Object, Location, Motive, Interaction.

Not always in that order. What that means is, to accurately place audio in a "realm", you need those things. Interactivity isn't for film, on the face of it.

E.g. a game

hammering a nail, shed in the garden, achieving a goal/frustration at missing?/tailored audience, tapping X at right time to connect.

So, the hammer and a nail indicates what sound sources you need and the garden gives you the sense of space it should sound in. Consider the shed as well. The goal, or frustration gives the "acting" of how you record or create that sound or how the sound evolves through the gameplay. While the audience could be kids, adjust to that by crafting a fun sound. Tapping X - could be there all day? too repetitive? all need to be considered.


Well the video is uploaded so I'll stop there, and let this post go free.

Have a great day

SGW

Interactive Music part III

Hey guys,

So what I did today on Wwise was limited, was working on some music mostly and waiting for phone calls. However , I did happen to go over the Setting the Ambient Stage, Ch1 of the Wwise Project Adventure and found the Positioning tutorial very enlightening. The PDS project now has a 3D positioning on my XY grid as well, huzzah!

On the X RTPC is shifting from x: 0 left to x: 100 right and on the Y RTPC shifts from y: 0 back to y: 100 forward. Now, you don't quite get the effect through my stereo speakers but at least X works. At the moment hard panning seems a bit much and will likely pull it back a bit. Been also looking at the animation graphs for 3D positioning and curious as to how it could be done via that graph and not the RTPC.

Originally, the music clips were hard panned at their respective points and the XY would only trigger Volume. The movable positioning was found to be much more effective and more to what the project  was aiming for. So you don't get the music clips only when you're close to a definitive point, but rather, hear them where you are on the grid.

Working on the events music now, so you will likely see me dive into events management and interaction in Wwise soon. Delving into unknown territory with these last two, and its refreshing.




Avoid button skipping?

A moment struck me yesterday playing a trad style RPG when the character died and had to fight the boss again and scrolled through a heap of texts. Annoying, slightly. Being able to skip dialogue pulls me out of the game sometimes, Diablo III for example. So thinking along the lines of what Bastions audio did with Darren Korb having the narrator talk while you played, similar to some other games I grant you. But effective, and so why not have the boss monologue/interaction (situations apply) be apart of getting to the boss. Its very case by case, but sometimes its not even considered.

When the boss fight comes, you could plunge into it, having been fed stimuli to nurture your motivation for getting there. A mechanic that is used during the monologue would help, God of War springs to mind. Also, the Batman Arkham series has you able to at least walk when a call comes in, simple yet it keeps the momentum.

This is only in certain cases, like end bosses, or your character has enough motivation to skip talking while you watch and get into it etc. Or it just fits. Limiting play downtime and increasing immersion should be a good thing to strive towards. However, not if it sacrifices story that is essential or atmospheric implications like tension building. Which is immersion on a different level, passive interaction I would call it. Versus I suppose, active interaction. Another discussion for another day perhaps.

Have a good day

SGW