Sound Design in Games.

[Tom_green_day]

This thread was inspired by me reading the list of GDC nominees for 2013. There are the usual categories and one of them is 'Audio'. Now I know it's nothing new but I've only just started thinking about it... is 'Audio' really as important as 'best design' 'best narrative' etc.
Audio isn't just the music, it's also the sound effects and background noises as well as of course the recording and performance quality of the music.
Now what I wonder is: does anyone really notice the sound quality unless it's poor?
I sure as hell don't, and it's not something I've ever seen commented upon in a review. It usually depends on the TV.
So to discuss: Does sound quality matter to you? And if so, which of the nominees will you vote for? (Bioshock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto 5, Saints Row 4, Tearaway, Forza 5)

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Most assuredly! Audio design is something I, personally, take a lot of notice of, but even if you *don't* it still affects the way the game feels quite a lot.

A combination of good animation and strong sound design is what makes attacks feel "powerful", it's what makes guns feel like they have weight. In horror, it's your primary tool for scaring the player, in shooters it makes murder much more satisfying. When a head bursts with a satisfying splat, when a shotgun sounds like god slamming a car door... man...

Strong sound design makes the world feel alive. The whoosh of passing cars, the subtle chirping of birds, the creaking and groaning of pipes, all these things serve to make the game world feel more alive and real. I hate to use this word, but sound design might be the most important aspect of "immersion."

Even on a weak sound system (my PS3 is hooked up to a VCR combo TV with a mono speaker!), good sound design will work. It's more than just the bitrate of the audio files. It's the way the sounds work together and work with the visuals to create a believable world. It's the way making a demon burst into gibs in Doom becomes the most satisfying thing in the world.

 

[TehCookie]

Scrabbitrabbit pretty much covered immersion, but audio also has a lot to do with gameplay as well. In RE4 you can hear where the enemies are coming from or in a lot of hack'n'slashes like Bayonetta or DMC enemy attacks have audio cues.

As for the actual sound quality, nicer is better but I'm fine with mediocre (aka my TV) so I don't have to dink with costs, space/setup, and annoying my parents.

 

[EbonBehelit]

As far as I'm concerned, good music/sound design is absolutely essential to build a compelling experience.

I don't have anything to add to ScrabbitRabbit's post on sound design, so I'll just put in my 2 cents on the music side of things.

Yes, audio isn't just music, but that's what I tend to remember long after I've finished playing - especially when the OST is so good that I listen to it by itself on a regular basis. To name a few examples off the top of my head:

- Metroid Prime (all 3)
- Perfect Dark
- Torchlight 2
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Bastion
- Fez
- Risk of Rain

As far as I'm concerned, the game with the best soundtrack this year - which is imo what the 'best audio' category actually boils down to - isn't even on the nominees. So I shall put forth my own choice: Risk of Rain.
Seriously, Risk of Rain's OST is insanely good.

 

[Jamash]

Audio and sound design definitely matters to me, for reasons already mentioned in this thread.

Of the games nominated for Best Audio in the GDC awards, I would vote for Forza 5.

I wouldn't have believed they could have improved upon the already excellent sounds used in Forza 4, but somehow they managed it.

For Forza 5, as well as using all the normal engine notes and noises you would expect in that game, they also employed some psychological, subconscious audio jiggery-pokery by mixing in sounds like a lion's roar with the engine bass notes, and human screams in with the tyre squeals.

The effect this seemingly ludicrous approach to sound design in a car game in quite staggering. Obviously you can't hear and identify those sounds on their own, but they're there and do affect you on a subconscious level, evoking a primal reaction as your brain picks up on them.

The ultrasonic lion's roar mixed in with some of the engine bass notes really evoke a sense of power and danger when you hear certain car's engines, while the tyres squeal seems much more noticeable, being hard to ignore as the infrasonic human screams evoke a sense of peril and unease as you're pushing your car's grip to the limits.

If anything, I think they may have overdone it with the human screams in the tyre squeals (or maybe I'm more susceptible to those noises as I seem particularly sensitive and disturbed by screaming babies and children), but it's hard to deny it's effective, especially when coupled with the Impulse Triggers that allow you to feel your car's tyres losing traction under braking, so the sense of dread and impending doom as you fuck up a braking point, lock the wheels and slide helplessly towards a wall is really quite horrible.

Psychological audio design in games and the use of ultrasonic and infrasonic noises that are beyond our normal hearing range, but nevertheless affect us on a subconscious level, is really quite fascinating and something I would like to see employed more in games, as long as it is subtle and used responsibly. You could really ruin a game by going overboard with these noises, making it an assault on the senses and unpleasant to play, likewise you could employ some really shady subconscious audio mechanics to make Skinner Box games with Micro-transactions even more appealing, bordering on subliminal advertising/selling.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Yeah, I notice stuff like sound design. Especially in survival/horror games (or games that think they're survival/horror). For example, I'd say the sound design of Dead Space 3 is probably the best feature the game has to offer (except for maybe the over-used music sting whenever an enemy jumps from the shadows). The ambient sound in that game, particularly in the derelict fleet at the beginning, really does a great job of setting the mood. The Dead Space franchise, in general, I think has really damn good sound design.

Except for that damn music sting.

 

[an annoyed writer]

Absolutely! Audio is one of the things that I carry away from games the most, seeing as I have a massive soundtrack collection. A truly memorable soundscape, with voices, music, and sound effects, is at the very least required if you want to make something exemplary. Portal, for example, wouldn't be half the phenomenon it is today if it weren't for the music, sound effects, and incredible voice acting used to deliver the quirky creepiness of the whole enterprise.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Well, I might be a bit biased, but hell yeah audio is important!

Audio is something that is rather sneaky. If it's not there, you will notice it and think something is wrong with what's going on with the scene, but if it's there and demonstrated perfectly then you will be immersed into the scene. The audio has done it's job at that point.

It's there to set the mood and scene in a game to make sure something sounds the way it's supposed to be, and if it's not then you're yanked out of the experience and you curse the audio people for sucking at their job. Audio is the un-sung hero of a lot of stuff, so it makes me happy when I see something like GDC recognizing the sound design in games.

 

[WoW Killer]

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Doom. Specifically the SNES version. It looked awful compared to the PC version, but for whatever reason the sound effects where incredible on the SNES, and that added a lot to the atmosphere of the game. The sound of the shotgun just echoed like nothing else where it wouldn't on the original version. Might just be the systems I was playing on. I imagine a top notch PC had those same kind of effects, but anyway, it proves the point. Guns sound "beefier" with the right sound effects.

I think generally sounds can add to the overall kinetic vibe of a game. Without sounds even the best animations wouldn't work.

 

[Flutterguy]

The audio for a game is said to be what is remembered in the long term. Which is likely why i listen to so many older game soundtracks to this day. Likely the same reason I still imitate Link from OoT when I hurt myself, and my first thought when Resident Evil is mentioned is "Moldy STD moldy STD hitler was right hitler was right hitler was right" because the monk chanting is just so memorable.

Honestly a good soundtrack you may not even notice the first time through. A bad soundtrack can break immersion and even annoy you to the point of stopping playing. For example I stopped playing Tera because the horse running sound is a 5 second loop, that one small detail was enough to break my interest.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Snip

The use of sound to affect the player's psychology isn't something I'd even considered but it's an incredibly good point! I may have to try something like Forza's ideas next time I have a project"

Yeah, I notice stuff like sound design. Especially in survival/horror games (or games that think they're survival/horror). For example, I'd say the sound design of Dead Space 3 is probably the best feature the game has to offer (except for maybe the over-used music sting whenever an enemy jumps from the shadows). The ambient sound in that game, particularly in the derelict fleet at the beginning, really does a great job of setting the mood. The Dead Space franchise, in general, I think has really damn good sound design.

Except for that damn music sting.

Personally, I think Dead Space is a much better game if you turn the music off completely. The sound design is fantastic but the music makes it so cheesy...

 

[Jamash]

Snip

The use of sound to affect the player's psychology isn't something I'd even considered but it's an incredibly good point! I may have to try something like Forza's ideas next time I have a project"

You could try mixing in a baby's crying with the sound of a siren, klaxon or something else that signifies an important objective or critical point in a game, or for something else you want to be impossible for the player to ignore.

As humans we're hard-wired not to ignore that sound, even if we don't realise we're hearing it.

You could also be quite trollish and subtly mix the sound of a baby/child/woman in distress in with the noise (or incidental music) of a monster that lies in wait and see whether people's protective instinct leads them into a trap.

Another thing you could try is to mix in the low bass sound of distant thunder with a creature's noise to create an oppressive atmosphere and instil a feeling of vulnerability in the player long before they see the creature, playing on another holdover from our caveman days: Thunder = Bad = Get to safety.