Week 5

• Practical 1 - Audio Arts - Game Sound Analysis [1]

This is an update of the blogged stratification map from last week. Our group now has a forum which we all use to give feedback, express ideas, and report progress among other things. So far the artists have posted two characters, a PC (player character) mage, and a hybrid dog thing which I presume to be an enemy. Ok so assuming these will be in the game, I will create an asset list for them

Title Screen
Here is a description taken from my brief.
"The User Interface will have a background of a fully real time image of a river and bridge scene over-looking a forest or a looping video of the same scene. The time of day will be just after midday. The river will be quite deep, but flowing gently down stream. Birds could be hidden in the trees and there will be a slight breeze blowing through the forest/trees."

There will also be button clicks I will need to create for when buttons are pressed on the title screen Interface.

Birds:
- light bird ambience
- Occasional bird screech from particular types of birds (perhaps this environment is something like our own in which case, what part of the world is it, and what type of birds occupy this area?)
- light stream
- heavy deep stream

Trees:
- trees blowing in the wind

River:
- Insect Sounds

Interface button clicks:
- possible combination of
- mouth click
- door closing (+reverb)
- footsteps on wood

Options Screen
When the user wants to change the sound effect volume a sound will need to be either looped on mouse down, or triggered when the volume slider is moved. This could be a sound of anything really.

IN GAME

COMMON SFX:
- Footsteps or character movement
-- could potentially be different depending on the creature whether it be human or hovering efreet
Armour
The PC will be able to equip a number of different armour types. When the armour is clicked upon and equipped, a sound will need to accompany this. The body will be divided up into certain segments and these given segments will define the type of armour used.

Miscellaneous Items
- Potions,
- Gold
- Quest Items

Anything else that can be dropped from monsters or found throughout the world. Each will need their own sound.

Combat
Attack sounds and dropping
- Axe
- Bow
- Sword (etc...)
- Hand to Hand weapon slashes
Etc…

UNIQUE SFX:

NPC's (Non-Player Characters)
The NPC's will need voices when clicked upon to buy things, or if the player needs to talk to them to retrieve information. They may also create sound via footsteps, interaction with the world, or react vocally when the PC becomes within a certain proximity of the NPC’s.

Artists have so far created:

Human Mage:
- Voice
- Spell Casting

Moxen:
- Idle sounds
- ‘Noticed PC’ sound
- Attacking sound
- Footsteps

Equipment

Armour
The PC will be able to equip a number of different armour types. When the armour is clicked upon and equipped, a sound will need to accompany this. The body will be divided up into certain segments and these given segments will define the type of armour used.

Miscellaneous Items
- Potions,
- Gold
- Quest Items

Anything else that can be dropped from monsters or found throughout the world. Each will need their own sound.

Combat
Attack sounds and dropping
- Axe
- Bow
- Sword (etc...)
- Hand to Hand weapon slashes
Etc...

Monsters
- Idle
- Noticed PC and Incoming
- Monster Hit
- Monster Die
Etc...

• Practical 2 - Creative Computing - MIDI Input [2]

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.

• Music Technology Forum - Presentation - Presentations by William Revill, Ben Probert, Jacob Morris, and Tim Gabbusch [3]

William Revill - "Neurotic Turbulence"

I absolutely loved this piece. William told us he wasn't quite happy with them because he still felt they needed some extra tweaking, but from the point of view of an audience member whom isn't as close to the piece as he is, I'd have to say it was fantastic. I really like the contrast textures from smooth to harsh. The combination of wind and creaking gave me an extremely vivid picture of being suspended in a blimp-like basket on top of some rickety stilts wavering with the wind extending above a large rainforest at night time. Good work

Ben Probert - 3 pieces of music

Ben played us his Creative Computing piece containing his own satanic sounding vocal samples, his NIN remix, and an Ableton piece he slapped together in 1/2 hour. I would have to say I thought his Creative Computing was the most enjoyable listen. It contained some interesting sound design.

Jacob Morris – "New Surroundings"

I really liked the short narrative Jacob presented with his piece, although I found it difficult to follow in the piece. I guess I was hoping for something longer because by the time I thought the narrative had moved say half way through part 1, the piece had finished. The piece itself was a good listen too, and I can't help imagine how it might have sounded in 5.1 of which it was originally written for.

Tim Gabbusch – "Tape Piece" and Audio Arts recording

Tim's 'tape piece' brought back some nice memories with our brief touch of the analogue world. Our generation of Tech students were unfortunately the last privileged to experiment with analogue tape. I remember all the pieces in our first year were very distinct in tonal colour, but I couldn't remember hearing this particular piece. It was confirmed later on that Tim accidentally presented the wrong piece.

His Audio Arts piece was well recorded, and well composed might I say, although I thought maybe an extra section could have improved upon its repetitive nature. I thought the toms might have been a bit loud, and the overall mix sounded a little bassy, but that could have just been the reproduction system.

• Music Technology Forum - Workshop - Improvisation Groups!

As I mentioned last week, from now on I am going to devote these sessions to mastering the Juno-6. Apart from the absentees, the session went really well. From my point of view I did feel a sense of togetherness for a least 50% of the time, but unless I 'level-up' psychic skill, I can't comment on what was going on in the heads of others. I am myself to blame partially for the remaining 50% of the time of in which some of us seemed to be playing by ourselves as opposed to contributing as a 'whole'. Reflecting on the improvisation, I found myself constantly slipping in and out of group consciousness. In other words at times I find myself listening to other players and adjusting my sound accordingly, and at other times I found myself becoming so absorbed in my own sound that I tuned out of the 'group sound'. This is something I think I need to work on; maintaining awareness of our 'group sound'.

• References

[1] Haines, Christian. 2006. Lecture on Game Audio. University of Adelaide, 22 August.

[2] Haines, Christian. 2006. Lecture on SuperCollider. University of Adelaide, 24 August.

[3] Reed, Henry. Mazzone, Matthew. Murtagh, Daniel. 2006. Student Presentations. University of Adelaide, 24 August.