Level 3 Extended Diploma in Games Development Unit 73 Sound for Computer Games

Level 3 Extended Diploma in Games Development 

Unit 73 Sound for Computer Games

Music for shoot em’up

Unit 73 Sound for Computer Games

Music for shoot em up games.

Genera – side scrolling military shooter (e.g. metal slug) reminiscent of old 1980s action films, full of gun violence, muscle and awesome catch phrases. Often focused around a lone soldier gunny through an army of enemy forces, similar to films like die hard, Rambo, Robocop etc. Furthermore, these game are extremely patriotic often showing America to be a superpower fighting for good using the power of bullets and explosions. The sound of marching drums, brass sections and military call outs are used again to add to this patriotic feel and get you in the mood for kicking some Russian ass. The music is usually fast pace, exiting and atmospheric, creating a sense of action and danger.

The default platform for this genera of game is coin-op but recently they have been transitioning onto console and pc platforms removing a lot of the limitations on the formats of sound. As the graphics of these games have stayed true to original 2D retro design they have kept the sound in the same retro style. I imagine the sample rates wouldn’t be amazingly high as the sound clips do sound quite choppy and distorted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjTKocFvX7U

Originally I think these games would have used mono sound as on a coin-op machine this would have been the norm but now days they would use stereo sounds. stereo sounds would be able to simulate directions effectively in a 2d side scrolling game as there is only really two directions of audio, the left and the right, so only two channels of audio are needed.

Audio storyboard

The audio storyboard will be a sequence of images that have accompanying notes next to them describing where and why the music is introduced. In gaming terms this storyboard could give an indication of what will happen when the player is above ground, below ground, in an enemy base, in the wilderness, involved or boss fight,etc.The notes to the storyboard would probably cover ideas such as mood and atmosphere:

"eg: First level: Jungle environment - The hero is dropped into the level by helicopter and the music kicks in when his feet touch the floor. The soundtrack music for this level is designed to create excitement and anticipation."

Other examples on the audio storyboard could be:

"The player goes down a ladder to travel below ground. The music changes to become quieter and more subterranean."

or

"Player enters the boss area to confront a giant mechanical enemy. The music, melody and rhythm becomes more fraught and urgent as the battle takes place."

If the storyboard is in a digital format such as an audio demo on a Garageband timeline, the timeline may well be annotated to show what happens when in the level. This gives the listener of how the narrative unfolds via the music throughout the level.

File Storage
Music and sound effects are generally recorded on a portable device such as a multi or single track recorder or a computer application. These will be saved onto SD card as a high res sound files. These files are then transferred via USB cable, WiFi or card reader to the developer's working copy of the game.

The file storage for the music and sound will likely relate to a folder in the game's file structure. It is likely that music soundtracks will exist in one folder, while sound effects will exist in another. These may well be grouped into sub folders that relate to each level.

These folders will exist on the user hard drive if they have downloaded the game directly to their machine. If the game has been supplied on disc or cartridge, the files will exist on those storage mediums, again in a folder structure that can be read by the console.

File Storage

The naming conventions will likely be file names such as mp3, acc or ac3. These are all files that will be compressed to make them smaller but retain a degree of sound quality These will be referenced by the game's code.

Production Planning:
Planning the production of the music would involve making sure you have all of the necessary equipment and personnel to produce the piece. Ensuring that you have the relevant facilities to record sound as well as the relevant software to edit it afterwards is important to getting the piece right.

Quality Assurance:
Quality sound is essential to making sure the music or FX don't sound muffled or unclear. Quality assurance comes from using the right methods to record the sounds as well as saving it in the right file format.