Game Audio Review

Making Masterpieces with too many things to Do

2007-10-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

So its been almost a full year exactly since I last posted. At first I had this idea of having a site dedicated to game audio reviews but I haven't yet fully explored it (I do have the domain name,, just no time). There are a million things I could write about but I guess I'll begin again with something that has been on my mind as of late.

Often times when your talent and passion becomes your business your left with nothing to be passionate about. I've gone down that road before and realized how much I truly love game audio. What I have run in to as of late is a strict lack of time. Oftentimes I feel like what ends up happening when multiple people and projects are involved time is spent keeping your head above water instead of creating the best possible product. I've realized recently (and thankfully) at the beginning of Okratrons next round of projects that to counter that certain things need to be done.

1. Pre-Planning is everything
Its never too early to start a project. Whether that means designing sketch sounds or creating a wish list of systems and goals I've found that when we do this we're always much more knowledgeable and ready when a project kicks in to gear.

2. Weekly Meetings are key
the Okratronnerz meet more than once a week (probably around three times) usually after work and usually at a bar. We've got a table, they know what we drink and we always hash out our master plans in that environment. I find meetings at work while seemingly productive on the surface contain a certain amount of sterility that can keep the best ideas from coming forward. These meetings are relaxing for everyone and most importantly everyone gets on the same page.

3. Schedule Time for Field Recordings
field recordings and the gathering of source in general oftentimes seems like something that should be done if you have a ton of time to spare. In some ways it is but even with a hectic schedule its important to gather source materials. I find that when you take the time to gather material usually your a bit more married to it than you would be if you pulled it from an old recording or a library. The source material is a mental base from which to begin knowing that from the very start your sound (or music) is original and new. Its an inspiring act that helps keep a sound team fresh.

4. Schedule as a Team
this won't work for everyone but again go to a bar (not a crowded or noisy one) and list EVERY SINGLE item thats on your mind. Break those items up in to the amount of time you anticipate it will take and then throw them on a calendar. They don't have to be perfect but when people have a million things going on to be able to reference a list of important items will let your mind be free from constantly thinking about what has to be done next.

5. Schedule Time to play the games
this is an obvious one but unfortunately its fairly new. In the heat of battle sometimes I don't play new areas and look at the game from the gamers perspective. I'll oftentimes just focus on exactly what I'm doing and not venture out further. Its key though to really hone in on what a game is becoming and how you as the audio team can bring the full vision to life.

6. Time everything
As an audio team you won't be able to schedule properly if you don't really know how long it takes to do certain tasks. I've been doing this for a number of years and I kept over shooting things or under shooting. It was then that I found RAT RACE (a free Mac App) that does one thing really well. It lets you put in tasks and time them. Simple right?? Well it is, but its even more eye opening, when I realized how long I was spending on Project Y while neglecting Project X I realized some things needed to change (scheduling also plays in to this).

Okay I'm tired more later.

I promise

-mtcs

Okami from the Audio Standpoint

2006-10-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

This post took me nearly FOREVER to get around to doing, I've been busy as they say and I have done everything in my power to not write it. The main reason being is that I kept telling myself that I needed to play the game more to really get a feel for the audio. Well I kept playing and playing and playing and the reason is?????
THIS GAME IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Now for the audio breakdown........
I'll sum up the audio in one word--PEACEFULL,, and that right there inspired this post. Okami does such a wonderful job of balancing the music, sound effects, and dialogue (which is a total nintendo rip off but it does work). The firery swish sound of the jump and the soothing warmth of the praise pickup all create a peacefull and somewhat intoxicating audio picture.

The audio also does a wonderful job of not ever being overly busy besides the dialogue (which occasionaly wears me down) the subtle tones of each of the effects really blend well with the music. In fact it seems as if the music was written first and the sound effects were created to highlight it.

Okami might not perk the ears of everyone around but as a game audio person myself I know how hard balance is to maintain. Alot of times we throw our sounds in try and balance them and realize there are 300 new SFX to finish in a month. We never get the time to balance it properly and we're left with an audio picture thats cluttered and unfocused. Its this balance and carefull precision that makes Okami stand out.

Now I want to take a moment and focus on the combat sound which although isn't as peacefull as the exploration is oddly appropriate.
First off I think everything is drenched in reverb which clutters the soundscape yes, but since its so cluttered it creates a sort of ambience in the vain of some of my favorite music (My Bloody Valentine/Slowdive). The cacaphony of all of this creates a tension that really makes the combat feel like combat. In fact if you've ever been in a fight yourself you know that your not really able to hear or focus on anything everything becomes a wash. From the audio perspective this works nicely because ultimately the sound effects never clutter the music,, again a great job of balance even in chaos.

If I were to pick one thing I don't like it would probably be the way dialogue is handled. The pitch variations are too drastic and can sometimes sound obnoxiously sing songy.

That aside I became use to the dialogue and got some pleasure out of imitating it.

Overall GREAT AUDIO

Mega High Fives to the team at Clover Studios!!!

-mtcs

Burnout Revenge

2006-09-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

I just played this a minute ago to let off some steam,, I'm not pissed about anything in particular I'm just about to get married, which is cool but I'm getting nervous and I just don't know how its really going to play out. Anyway
Burnout Revenge=GOOD!!!

Burnout Revenge Audio/ besides the music which kind of WAY bothers me is the pinnacle of dynamic and well done sound design in a game. The slow down time sound, the boost sound, the crashes. I'm a big fan of debris and I love that you can hear every single debris as it drops on the concrete.
This game captures a sense of speed like no other I like the fact that its not realistic and more representative and the audio goes a long way to sell that sense of speed. The engine sounds are good but whats better is that the ear focus moves during gameplay so its not a constant tone with a few breakables.
I'm not sure how they did it but WOW the sound design mix is fantastic!!!
Like I said earlier my only complaint in the audio package is the music but its not really much of a problem as it can easily be turned off.

mtcs

the I make noises Perspective

2006-09-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

This topic has been something thats been on my mind for the last few years and it didn't occur to me to write about it until I stepped in to Lubys yesterday for a late lunch.
There at the door a man twice my age happily greeted me at the door, a woman trying to support children (I'm assuming as she looked a bit motherly) served me my salad, and guy around my age came to my table to ask me how my "Lubys experience was". Now between you and I it was a bit rough yesterday as a group of senior citizens devoured every vegetable and baked item grasping for that last bit of health before heading to the final destination.
It occured to me how lucky I am to be doing what I'm doing. Now despite the occasional ridiculous hours, the stress from having to manage multiple projects, revisions, and the occasional dip in creativity I would never want to do anything outside of games and audio.
It occured to me on a more personal level when I was chatting with a gal about money and realized that some people just can't go out to dinner on a whim or book a flight to see a friend whenever they feel like it. Its kind of amazing really, some people actually don't like what they are doing and not only that they still have to stretch thir dollar to make ends meet.

I find myself oftentimes complaining with various people in the content creation space about how company X is only going to pay X dollars for the audio on a project or a trailer or whatever. To be honest the amounts are more money than I ever made doing things I dreaded (like working at a liqour store). Its my perspective that has changed over time and ultimately as far as making money is concerned its changed for the better.

Sometimes when I'm tired of making the eight hundrendth version of a creature death or trying to create twenty sword sounds that sound different but still from the "same family" I'll head to the outside world for a moment and remember that I'm ultimately getting to live a dream. I wake up essentially when I want to I head to a cool office I turn on my computer and I help make digital worlds beleivable. Its a far cry from working at a liqour store where I was constantly at risk of being robbed, my largest pay check for two weeks worth of work was around $200, and the most exciting thing that ever happened was some gal asking me if I wanted to close shop and make out in the cooler, (which ended up not happening).

Now there are arguments that I have indeed considered and they are all in my opinion very valid.
1. Game Audio is a lifestyle and we take our jobs with us wherever we go.
2. Game Audio is going to demand more money because not everyone can do it,, it takes a special person with a unique set of skills.
3. Game Audio is creative and can be a constant challenge. Despite the perception of people about your job the task of being constantly creative and always challenging yourself is much harder than punching a clock and saying hello to people all day (that has its own challenge)

The bottom line is no matter where your at in the world of game audio (or even if your not). I'm lucky to be doing what I have been blessed to do. In my opinion to maintain success and fulfillment in my career it is important that I always realize that despite sometimes a "thin" payscale, or a project that is just not proving to fun at least I'm not washing dishes or selling liqour anymore and at least every morning I wake up I'm not wondering if my paycheck is about to be wiped out and I'll have to find some way to make it another week.

Friendship Method Part 2

2006-09-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to post some additional thoughts on the friendship method and clarify a few things. It'll be short and sweet but real bad ass,, (duh). Okay only joking.

1. I want to make it clear that if your motivation for becoming friends with someone is more work than it won't work out. You must have pure motives or the powers that be can sense it and it won't be natural.
2. Sometimes working with old friends can be tough,, you still have to maintain a proffesional attitude and have respect for yourself enough to always try to do your best.
3. When something needs revising it needs revising don't ever take criticism from someone (even a friend) personally in fact friends might often times be harder on each other, and that in turn makes you better at what you do.

I realized my post could come across as I'll make pals with everyone and then not have to really be that good. Thats not true at all, making friends has made my career much more fulfilling. Sometimes you have to do the coporate style sell and there is no chance of developing a friendship there, I just tend to perfer it because I've gotten honest feedback, and made some life long pals.

the Friendship Method

2006-09-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

okay so I know indeed that despite all this,,, sounds a lot like the care bear stare or worse the care bear cousins hug (which causes even lucifer to tremble).

So this evening after a fair bit of liqour/chats/love in the air I feel compelled to write about a good freind of mine and beyond that what sort of opportunitys this particular friend has bestowed upon me.

From a contract audio persons perspective this may seem obvious or completely off the wall depending on your point of view,, but after some time to think and some time away from the moment of it all I realise the ultimate techniuqe to getting and maintaining work in the industry is truly making friends with the people you work with.

This may be obvious to many of you but from my experience it is slightly overlooked. Too often a client (especially remotely) is some sort of distant enitity that sends you checks and delegates work but in the case of Ian Stocker what started off as a client/sub-contractor relationship quickly became a freindship that will last a lifetime.

Now the motivation for becoming friends with Ian was not making my job easier or getting more work it was simply that I felt a kinship to him in the ways of business and in the ways of music and life that simply pulled us together.

This might seem like an odd topic for a post on game audio but I just got back from a jam at the Fat Mans place here in Austin and I realized the relevance to what I've always thought. The jam was full of people of various walks of life that were somehow brough togethor by game audio and more importantly they were all his friends. I've never been to a game audio event quite like this one where the focus wasn't networking but casual play and making friends (much like Ian).

The reason I bring up Ian is because we are nearing our two year anniversary and somehow through some little device called the Nintendo DS we've become life long pals in the truest of senses. Any sort of wisdom that I have to impart is very simple its think less of your demo reel/schooling/credit list and more in the direction of "this guy is cool and thinks like me" and you'll have more work than you can handle. A few phone calls throughout the week and some serious focus when it's time and you'll not only have work but more importantly someone you can bounce your thoughts off of.

The game audio business is full of salesmen and people that mention too many names/projects and companies that they have been involved with. If you want to make yourself stand out do yourself a favor and forget the projects/demos etc for a moment and make a friend. Talk to that friend about things unrelated to the industry and truly be a friend. The end result is you'll have not only work but an amazing person to bounce ideas off of and someone with an entirely different histroy.

The longer I've known Ian the less important the specific projects become the work has become helping a friend out and honestly I never expected it to become that but for whatever reason it has. These days its much more about "hey I'll see you here in a few weeks" and for me thats good. I know at the end of the day if a DS project comes up (or PSP/GBA) I know to call Ian not just because he's good but because I know him and ultimately trust him, not only as a friend but as a proffesional.

I realize all of this is a bit convoluted but I felt lead to post and I feel that the friendship method is much more effective and rewarding than sending out demos or introducing yourself to someone who is not interested.

--mtcs

Motivation

2006-08-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Now its been awhile since I've posted and thats quite allright I've been busy gathering real world inspiration for my virtual world journal.

In the time away from my Virtual World Journal (henceforth known as VWJ) I've discoverd that sometimes no matter how wonderful this job of making sounds for these virtual worlds can be in darker moments it becomes just a job.

A part of me is speaking to the contract game audio community and the other part is speaking to anyone who has ever loved what they do only to grind the gears and become somewhat disallusioned with the whole thing.

Everyone finds inspiration in different ways, some watch movies, some play games, and some have 10 too many drinks on any given weeknight. I tend to fall in the latter group, while its not necessarilly helpfull to the heart and it moves me one step closer to divorce and heartache it does cleanse my pallete. Going out and being somewhat devious removes me from the world of game audio and lets me remember why I'm so lucky and blessed to be doing what it is I'm doing. Often times I'll wake up with a bit of the dreary eyes and take my morning walk and become so excited about making some more sword swish sounds or perhaps some cinematic sequence that I had run out of steam for the evening before.

more later
mainly dealing with the amount of time people actually work during the day.

mtcs

8-Bit Bliss, Nostalgia, and Representative Audio

2006-07-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Gaming culture has rested its pretty little head on the glories of the past. Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, Mega Man, Sonic etc are so ingrained in our brains as “GREAT GAMES” that even if they are not really that great we love them because they remind us of the good times.
From an audio standpoint I think some of these games are not technically good but due to necessity have provided us with a framework that even today defines game audio. That framework while seemingly simple is synthetic based representative sound design. Representative sound design says that despite what you see the audio feedback should be X. Now X is in no way realistic but it should have the most important fundamental rule of game audio, which is satisfaction.
One could argue all sound design is representative (and it is) but games tend to be even more abstract The reason games tend to lean towards the abstract is ultimately because the 8-bit gems of yesteryear. Due to technical limitations (and EXTREMELY difficult tools to work with) everything had to be abstract.
If the sound designers and composers of the old school had the same technology (or even remotely close) games would sound vastly different. The abstract elements would probably not be as acceptable and realism would win over satisfaction.
I find it interesting that due to our past we think certain things sound cool (like a pitchy square wave for a jump). This abstraction has influenced all of mass media, right now its obvious with all of the shout outs to old school gaming, but even if you look at films the abstractive influence of games and their “larger than life” ethic have made their mark on all aspects of media.
Now the reason I bring any of this up is that I believe that ultimately to acknowledge the use of abstract representative sound can be a powerful tool. Katamari Damacy is an excellent example, for every item you pick up in the game a sound plays that vaguely represents the action on screen but does the job of giving the player feedback that is humorous and satisfying. When a player receives audio feedback that satisfies despite defying the natural world the player is far less likely to turn the volume down ultimately acknowledging the audio as a necessary part of the experience.

Rockstar Table Tennis

2006-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

This game does not have much in the way of MEGA crazy audio but I will say a few things stick out to me.

What I like:
The UI Sounds (simple, effective, well recorded)
The Focus Sound (Powerful, quick, and mean, it gets me in a table tennis mood for real).

MY FAVORITE THING:
Along with the music (which is simple and FREAKING RULES), I really really like how when the match is heating up the air of the room gets louder. Its amazingly effective.

From an audio standpoint I think this game does an amazing job of creating a hyper real experience. Its real enough to where I believe everything but its hyper enough to put you truly in the mind of someone who is there.

Good Job AUDIO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Style

2006-06-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so before I get too involved in all of this ranting online business there are a few things I want to point out.

1. Proper spelling is optional (for now)
2. I'll probably no longer assign numbers even though people LOVE numbers,, who am I to assign numbers??
3. As far as consistancy goes there will probably not be much of that either.

So I'm off now to play some games and note some particular sound effects that I love.

mtcs

Hollywood Actors in Video Games

2006-06-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Okay this is a bit of a rant but today I was discussing with a friend about why it has NEVER impressed me when a big name hollywood actor does a voice for a video game.
NOW there are two exceptions I can think of off the top of my head.

Mark Hammil in Wing Commander 3 (I was young)
Vin Diesel (the name of the game escapes me but I was VERY impressed,, they used the best compressor out there for sure).

I know of two companies personally that have hired hollywood actors and both of them had two things in common.
1. The games were kind of decent at best and the publisher and the upper management thought that people would buy a game based on name recognition.
2. The actors both commanded more than 100k for a days worth of work (and in one case 250k and four hours).

Now I know a lot of audio guys/programmers/artists etc, and these are the people that make the game happen and to be honest they're doing pretty well in the industry if they're salaries are equal to that one days worth of work.
I don't know a single person who goes to buy a game and says "hmm I wonder what Christian Slater has been in lately" who cares!!!! Its more like "whats fun, cool, how many things are there to destroy, and do they have multiplayer???

I work constantly with voice actors and honestly I would put these guys up against any A list celebirty anyday (as far as doing voices are concerned).

Spending money on a name in an entirely different industry is essentially pissing away money. Maybe you'll sell an extra 1000 copies and if you do your math thats equivelant to (at the ultimate best) 50k. If you do the math you've already lost money.

Pay the programmers/level designers/artists/audio people etc instead of rushing off to hollywood to throw money in to some chumps pocket that really doesn't care anyway.

Condemned Criminal Orgins

2006-06-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

As far as a game to play Condemned might not really be my bag. Namely due to the fact that most of my game time comes fairly late in the evening and this game is REALLY FREAKING SCARY. Now with that being said while I wasn't necessarily the one manning the controls I couldn't take my eyes off of it.
From an audio standpoint this game is REALLY well done. The satisfying sound when you finally find one of the birds sounds (EXACTLY LIKE A DEAD BIRD). Its kind of gross and a bit creepy. I'm actually fond of the fact that they didn't use a more UI type sound when finding a bird. Its a funny story actually at E3 I was having dinner with one of the sound designers from Monolith and she mentioned the sonic orgins of the dead bird sound. Guess what,,,,,,,,, its a dead bird. Now she claims they just found it, but these people are dedicated to their art so who knows what REALLY happened.
The audio package in this game is absolutely driven by realism and the impact sounds (espeacially with the lead pipe) are very well done and impactfull (no pun intended). As far as the techy UI sounds I'm a huge fan. They are not so techy that you feel like your in the matrix or anything but they are unique enough and real enough to be believable in our world.
The music in the game is equally well done in fact the music is so creepy and atmospheric that I would venture to include it in the sound design catagory. It works well because there is absoluteley no grounding in reality and it paints a nice sonic picture next to the highly effective and realistic sound design.
If there are any complaints about the audio package it is the voices. I'm sorry but if I was walking through a sewer with a lead pipe and a lot of demon/heroin addict looking people I would probably not answer my communication device as loudly and as confident. The reads from the enemies are well done (although the cursing is off the train tracks). I'll give the obnoxious use of cursing the benefit of the doubt and venture to say that probably if your a drug addict living in the sewers cursing might be the least of your problems.

All in all the game is extremely well done from an audio standpoint. I bought it all and never thought to myself (wow that seems out of place). Everything fit nicely in to the world.

Overall:8.5
SFX: 8:0
Music:8.5
Voice:5