Understand the methods and principles of sound design and production

Charles Hardy, unit 73, 30/01/2017

Understand the methods and principles of sound design and production

Different sound types (sound file formats):

uncompressed - A uncompressed file is still the original sound without it being modified and keeping it the same. This lowers how well the sound will play and how big the file is.

lossy compressed -  This type of compression reduces file size for web browsers and other online resources. The file types that fit under this are: mp3, ra, and vox.

How can resolution and bit-depth constrain file size?

A file can be constrained by resolution because if the file size is larger than computer that it is using then the picture the picture will have a worse quality. The bit depth can be limited by an old PC or old dvd player.

Different types of sound:

Sample rate - is a different sounds of different frequencies. It is normally a high pitched sound however. 
 
Mono - Mono sound is sound from a single channel. These channels can be replicated to by wearing a single headphone.
 
Stereo - Stereo is a pair of bog-standard headphones that use both ear phones. A normal pair of headphones can simulate these sounds.

Surround -  Surround sound is a type of sound where the sounds are projected all around you making it feel like there are people in the room etc.

Each of these different pc parts and software can limit the ability of the sound: 

DSP – Digital Signal Processor
RAM – Random Access Memory
File format (eg Mp3, Wav, Aiff)
Audio output (eg Mono, Stereo, Surround).
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation

Using different recording software can lead to different results as a professional will have much higher quality while a free program would give you less results and the paid stuff would be much higher quality. 

Selling games and understanding the games industry

TOP 10 BEST SELLING GAMES EVER MADE:

10. Diablo 3
Price on release: 40$
DEV FOR GAMES: pcSold: 30 Million Copies


9. New super Mario
Price on release: 20$
DEV FOR GAMES: Will
Sold: 30.79 Million Copies

8. Will sports resorts
Price on release: 40$
DEV FOR GAMES: Will
Sold: 32.80 Million Copies

7. Tetris on the game boy
Price on release: 90$
DEV FOR GAMES: Gameboy
Sold: 35 Million Copies

6. Mario kari will
Price on release: 42$
DEV FOR GAMES: Will
Sold: 36.38 Million Copies

5.super Mario bros
Price on release: 60$
DEV FOR GAMES: Will 
Sold: 40.24 Million Copies

4. GTAV
Price on release: 60$
DEV FOR GAMES: Xbox 360 and PS3 
Sold: 54 Million Copies

3. Minecraft
Price on release: 14$
DEV FOR GAMES: pc
Sold: 70 Million Copies

2. Will sports
Price on release: free with the will
DEV FOR GAMES: Will 
Sold: 82.69 Million Copies

1.Tetris
Price on release: free
DEV FOR GAMES: All
Sold: 100 Million Copies


I think that the games where successful are because they appeal to many different people and they are fun and well built. A large amount of the games could appeal to a mass audience, which could cause more sales! The reason that the sold so well is different. The games are well made and looked great.

Games that failed

ET was made for the atrai:

Budget: 5 million
Sales: 1.5 million

ET The game is one of the worst games ever made. ET failed because the game has some of the worst, WORST music of any game that has ever been released. It failed not only in poor game play, the sales flopped. The atrai's downfall was said to be because of ET the game. It was a complete fail, the game was so bad that it became rare after a large group of people buried copies of the game. It will go down in history for being one of "the biggest commercial failures in video gaming" $310. Loads of money was spent on getting the license for ET because it was so popular.

Grim fandango: Windows:

Budget: 3 million dollars
Sales: 500,000 copies sold

Grim fandango failed not like most games, the game was loved  by fans and has a very rare "overwhelming positive" on steam, this is very rare for games to achieve as it is up to the community who rates the games. The game however failed because it, like titan fall 2 was because the developers tried to release the game the same month as other huge titles such as Pokemon and zelda. The game was doomed to fail going up against colossal titans while it unfortunately was a rather unknown title.

Daikatana: Windows, gameboy colour and the Nintendo 64

Budget: 44 million
Sales: 200,000 copies sold

Daikatana is a game that was released in the year 2000, the game according to steam was a bug filled mess where the devs got the names of the characters wrong as the voice actor pronounced the game wrong. The devs all the ran out of money and where trying to get more money to pay for the release of the game. The game failed because of this and the devs money management must have gone horribly wrong. The game sold decent even but because of the devs shocking money management the game flopped.


apb reloaded: Windows and was planned for Xbox and ps3 but the game never came out on those

Budget: 100 million dollar
Sales:  130,000

apb reloaded failed because 6 weeks after the game was released, the company filed for bankruptcy and the severs where shut down shortly after. The game also spend 100 million dollars on the game already making it very difficult to make a large profit. The budget was to much and the game was not great and was free to play as well.

shenmue: dream-cast

Budget: 70 million dollar
Sales:  1.2 million

The game was given decent press overall, but the budget was far far FAR too much. The game was a fail because the sales where not even for a budget that was worth so much, the game was well made so much so that at least there will be another one made. The games budget was its ultimate fail.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35560458
http://www.connectedly.com/10-best-selling-video-games-all-time#slide2

Understanding the games industry

Understanding the games industry, the games industry has lots of very simple fundamental basics in business. There are many different ways of things in the industry and here are just some of those:

Cost in creating a game is made up of different factors such as programming etc. A game that is a huge hit will use its budget well without over spending and only buy what is absolutely necessary. A game like the last of us spent its money well and made a high quality fantastic game that millions of people played and enjoyed. They spent there money well and it paid off, games like Daikatana went complete reckless abandon with their money and blew it on useless things such as a lovely expensive 1 million dollars a month suite. Games don't always fail because of the game being bad (although that is a very big factor) but because of the money mangers who fail at there jobs. 

Ways that companies afford this are though many different means, kick starters are very popular currently. A kick starter is when someone gives out money to help you and you hand out rewards when the game is complete. Big companies already have the funds but for a smaller developer this is a very good way to create your game. Self funded is a way because if you are creating the game with some friends they could help with the funding. Another way is bank loans though this is very risky as if things go very wrong it could cost people their houses etc. Indie developers really can't win when it comes to making games for cheap as they have to find very interesting ways of getting money. A big company will have plenty of money so they do not need any kind of funding.     

Small companies face many problems such as: money, time, man power. They do however have full control over their lives as they could work 12 hours a day for 4 days and have 3 days off while at a larger company you are stuck with set out hours. 

Indies do not have it all bad though, as they are growing in popularity very fast and people are making huge sums of money. The games development world is growing and still very popular. Out of all the popular ways of generating money I would personally chose kick starter because I would feel more motivated not to disappointing all the people who donated on my kick starter. 

(1) https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-budget-breakdown-of-AAA-games

(2)http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1596-5-things-we-learned-making-biggest-flop-in-game-history.html

Sound design

Charles Hardy Games development sound design unit 73

Sound design

The reason that sound is so important is to add to the mood and to really make the person playing the game feel like the game is real. The common saying is that having only sound and having nothing to look is better than vis vera.

Skyrim: The song of the Dragonborn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsnRQJxanVM&spfreload=5

The mood and atmosphere of this song is empowering and gives the player hope, the song is so well made with amazing vocals. The song fits the "you are the hero" that the game is going for. The music fits so well with the genre and the overall feel of the game. This soundtrack was used by the developers because it makes the player feel like they are the hero in the story.                                  

Doom 2016 OST: Mick Gordon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTms5jpsfP8

The mood and atmosphere of this whole soundtrack is fast paced and gives the player a feeling that they are complete badasses, the soundtrack though that whole game never changes to a calm or sad song because it is always fast paced and has it is one of the coolest sound tracks ever made. The reason that the game developers used this soundtrack is because of how absolutely chaotic the game is and the music fits the carnage that is happening in the game. The soundtrack fits the game very nicely.

Metro last light main theme: Alexey Omelchuk 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7H0QfU5J04

The mood and atmosphere is very sombre and gloomy with a fantastic creepy and eerie vibe. The sound is extremely well written and composed and it really gives of the wasteland feel. The music really fits the game and the game developers did a really good job choosing the piece of music to play as the main theme.  

Last of us main theme: Gustavo Santalalla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfA5UqEU_80

The mood and atmosphere of this is sad and much slower paced than the other songs listed here. The song is meant to be slow paced because the game is an emotional experience rather than a fast paced shooter or a "hero saves the day" game  instead. The music choice is very good for the type of game that is presented here. 

Dead space 1: The cost of living is on the rise 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMGiEHx8qAg

The mood and atmosphere of this game is creepy and intense rather than eerie or scary. This makes it very nerve racking when playing that a monster is going to scare you or if you get attacked. The developers choose this sound track well because it is added to the intense gameplay and makes the player feel on edge constantly.

Wave length

The wavelengths of the different sounds are affected by the size of the wave lengths. The wider the wave length the deeper the sound and the taller the wave length the louder it is and the opposites apply here. There are wavelengths are in every single sound made which makes them very important when understanding how to make music and sound. Certain notes in music are used to represent a certain wave length, the images depict the wave lengths and how loud sounds are. The amplitude is how loud a sound is, i.e a sound of someone whispering would be (1) and someone shouting would be (2). The waves are measured in one millisecond so they are very short bursts of sound. Hertz is simply how long the sound goes on for. Headphones and speakers can give out sounds that make the sound like someone is right behind you. The development of sound is very interesting and how it went from static to sounds so real that it sounds like they are right behind you.          

What is Foley?

Foley is the making of everyday sound effects which are added to games and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. The reproduced sound could be someone getting punched in the face but in reality it would be a slab of meat getting whacked by a bowling pin. The person who came up with Foley is called Jack Foley and was born April 12^th 1891 and died November 9^th 1967.

What is Timbre?

Timbre is the quality of a sound and is distinct from its pitch, intensity and frequency in acoustics, phonetics and music.  In acoustics and phonetics the quality of sound is independent in pitch and loudness. In music timbre is the sound produced by a particular instrument or note.

Psychology of sound:

Speech: Speech in games is the most common type of sound other than music, characters speaking happens through out most games. Any story based game will have speech as a very basic asset. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjTy9pgsvyw

Metaphors: A metaphor is when something is told in a way which means something else. Examples of this are cryptic phrases and the phrase "life is like a box of lemons" because it compares life to a fruit.   

Symbolism: symbolism is something that foreshadows an event that is about to happen, for example thunder and lightning could symbolise that something bad is going to happen or birds singing in the morning shows that it is going to be a good day.

Iconic: Iconic things are things that are famous due to there unique way of being shown or there popularity. There are many examples of something iconic and here are just a few:

Jaws theme song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4w

Star wars theme

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