08.25.07
Polish is everything
Last time I worked on the third floor of WorldCorp HQ, my objective was just to connect it to the rest of the game and make sure the gameplay was all in place. Recently I returned to the map as a part of my balance testing - and I was immediately struck by how much that map was actually missing in terms of polish. The triggers and enemies were all there, but there were practically no items and no sound effects at all. So I loaded up the editor and got to work, this time more focused on making it a perfect level than making it work.
Sound design is important to me. If you’ve ever doubted the importance of sound effects, just play a random level of your favourite FPS with the sound turned of - it doesn’t work. I realize I’m preaching to the choir - all you guys know what a huge importance sounds have. You’ve experienced the waves of nostalgia washing over you just from hearing a soundtrack from a game you played a lot when you were a kid. The ambience of a game is absolutely critical to the experience, and sounds (including music) is probably at least half of that.
The difference in the feel of the level before and after I’d crammed all the sound effects I could (and then some) into the map was striking. Now it actually feels like a sinister biochem lab, it doesn’t just look that way. The lazily bubbling sound of a viscous liquid (thank you Epic for including pitch control in your AmbientSound actors) seems to lend meaning to the opaque cylindrical container nearby. It makes a lot of difference. I believe all the time and effort I’ve invested in placing sound effects in our maps will be one of the primary ways TNM will distinguish itself from previous mods - yes, this is me patting myself on the back again: Note the title of my blog. I am by no means a sound technician, but I’m pretty happy with my own work.
By the way, still working on an entry about resource exposure in games in general and TNM in particular, but I still have to find a better term than “resource exposure”, because that could mean anything. Suggestions are welcome. I may also discuss our improved difficulty selection in a later post, because my (admittedly somewhat scatterbrained) balance testing seems to indicate we may have struck gold with that. So stay tuned.
EER said,
August 26, 2007 at 08:57
The first thing I thought when reading the title was ‘Is he talking about the language from that country somewhat southeast of Denmark?’, but you weren’t
I’m glad you went in there and did sound effects, because I think sound effects are cool. Of course, the absence of sound effects may have a very dramatic effect in some sequences as well. So basically, keep playing with the sound
Boserup said,
August 26, 2007 at 12:13
I was actually hoping that someone finally realised how amazing the polish language really is…and could tell me….but no….again i was disappointed….*sigh*
–Razu
http://www.myfight.dk/blog
Jonas said,
August 26, 2007 at 13:18
To be honest I’m not very impressed with the Polish language.
Now, Russian on the other hand…
EER said,
August 26, 2007 at 15:50
Btw, you need to see Pan’s Labyrinth again, but with directors comments.
That’s an order mister!
Jonas said,
August 26, 2007 at 16:00
I actually saw it again last Thursday, but without the director’s commentary.
I think it stands well enough alone.
EER said,
August 26, 2007 at 16:18
Sure, it is a very good movie on its own, however I think you’ll be very interested professionally in what Guillermo del Toro has to say about ways to tell a story (and how he learned about the importance of sound from video games).
But fine, I’ll degrade it from an order to a strong recommendation
Nicholas said,
August 27, 2007 at 15:11
how about “content circulation”?
:p
Jonas said,
August 27, 2007 at 18:14
Hmm! That could work
Trestkon said,
August 31, 2007 at 00:36
What the heck is ‘content circulation’? I have no more idea what that mean than ‘resource exposure’ :-p
Jonas said,
August 31, 2007 at 19:57
Basically, if we spend 2 months on a cutscene (as we have in the past!) and it will only be found by one in every 5 players (as is probably the case of one of them), are we idiots?
Unfortunately I no longer have any idea what I wanted with the post except to make fun of how stupid we are on the TNM dev team, so the entry is on hold for now.
Smike said,
August 31, 2007 at 21:33
Car Parts. Giant Ball. Tumbling.
Monkeys. Jaguar. Space.
– The Nameless Mod
Jonas said,
August 31, 2007 at 22:01
Brilliant, we should chuck that on our website. Possibly put it in our press release.
“Describe your project in less than 25 words.”
“Pscht, I can describe it in 8.”