sound effects request.

[Lion.Kanzen]

I see in trac a comment saying request for audio sounds, I can give some human sounds for Project by me.

If another one wants record more to donate to project can post here.

You want death screams, I can record a some without noise, with adobe audition.

[oshron]

I see in trac a comment saying request for audio sounds, I can give some human sounds for Project by me.

If another one wants record more to donate to project can post here.

You want death screams, I can record a some without noise, with adobe audition.

i could try, too, but providing them to the developers might be a little tricky

[Lion.Kanzen]

That is true Oshron, is hard to contribute some stuff.

[Sighvatr]

Gameplay is too quiet for me. It would be nice to assign ambience to different buildings. Like a smithy at work near the blacksmith; crowd noises at the town centre and market; formation practice and target practice sounds at the barracks.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Sighvatr

[Mythos_Ruler]

Gameplay is too quiet for me. It would be nice to assign ambience to different buildings. Like a smithy at work near the blacksmith; crowd noises at the town centre and market; formation practice and target practice sounds at the barracks.

Also need...

• Clicks for pressing UI buttons.
  
• "Technology complete" sound effect.
  
• Probably a special sound effect when a Phase is complete.
  
• Special sound effect for the training of a hero.
  
• Special sound effect for the completion of a Wonder.
  
• Anything else?
  

[oshron]

Also need...

• Clicks for pressing UI buttons.
  
• "Technology complete" sound effect.
  
• Probably a special sound effect when a Phase is complete.
  
• Special sound effect for the training of a hero.
  
• Special sound effect for the completion of a Wonder.
  
• Anything else?
  

personally, i'd recommend these types of sounds (i don't have any examples presently):

• you could probably just physically record yourself clicking on a mouse button and amplifying the sound to make it more distinct for UI button sounds
  
• iirc, some games have had the sound of coins clinking (or something similar) for technology completion, though that may be more fitting for a market
  
• a rousing cry (kinda like what the Spartans yell in 300) would probably be good for phase advancement, perhaps even varying between civilizations if that's possible. it could perhaps be that civ's word for, "Onward!" as in "onward into the future", or an equivalent word or phrase ("Forward!" "Let's go!" "Success!" "Yes!" "Hurrah!")
  
  • actually, now that i think about it, maybe it would be a good tribute to the entire cast for everyone who contributed to the final game and is available to do so to just submit a recording of themselves shouting "Hurrah!" or otherwise cheering and compiled together into a single sound effect for phase advancement across all the civs
    

  [*]similar to the above, a cheer would probably be good for when heroes are trained. if possible, there could be varying ones for each hero or for each civilization in their respective languages, or just in English. the onlye xample i can think of is "Hail Caesar!" if Julius himself is a hero (i can't remember if he is or isn't)

  [*]ominous chanting would probably be best for the wonders, something to evoke awe and mystery

in fact, since i've mentioned it, maybe "collective" cheers and other such sounds would be good "neutral" sounds where applicable

[feneur]

For phases, and maybe heroes trained and wonders as well I think it would work well if Omri would be able to just compose a few short tracks (2-3 seconds or so, maybe five or so for phases). That would really make them feel special + it would mean that the risk of having too similar sounds for different things would be lower

[historic_bruno]

Gameplay is too quiet for me. It would be nice to assign ambience to different buildings. Like a smithy at work near the blacksmith; crowd noises at the town centre and market; formation practice and target practice sounds at the barracks.

I like the idea of ambient emitters, they could be tied to existing entities or placed specially in Atlas. The sound manager should definitely support this, it's common in many types of games. Currently I believe there is a single ambient sound of birds that is hardcoded somewhere and looped endlessly (in the GUI?).

More advanced would be adding terrain specific ambient sounds, like you hear different sounds when mostly desert is visible, compared to forest, sea, or grassland.

Also need...

• Special sound effect for the training of a hero.
  

• Special sound for a killed hero? That's a serious gameplay event. (we have audio\interface\alarmherodead_1.ogg and alarmherojoin_1.ogg - these are no good IMO, but we could add the code and use them as placeholders)
  
• Notification sound for defeated/resigned player.
  
• Sound for chat messages?
  
• Sound for diplomatic changes and tribute.
  

For UI effects, a variety of sounds would be nice, clicks, buzzes, whistles, different controls could have different sounds. We may have some of these recorded already but not implemented in the code.

Other UI sounds:

• Error messages and windows
  
• Invalid / unallowed actions, like clicking a disabled button or trying to place a building in an invalid location
  
• Sound for minimap flares
  

[Lion.Kanzen]

In some time in future I can do some Foley compilation for your use and human voices and effects, like screams. I want to prose have a sub department for sound contributions. And all speech can we recorded saying name of contributor for 0 AD under CC.

In music we are fine but need some more support with sound.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I like the idea of ambient emitters, they could be tied to existing entities or placed specially in Atlas. The sound manager should definitely support this, it's common in many types of games. Currently I believe there is a single ambient sound of birds that is hardcoded somewhere and looped endlessly (in the GUI?).

More advanced would be adding terrain specific ambient sounds, like you hear different sounds when mostly desert is visible, compared to forest, sea, or grassland.

Yes! Ambient sounds are a must. Localized as well. I suggest that in addition to some buildings having ambient sound, and some animals, we can have little ambient emitter entities place-able in Atlas, but invisible in-game. Just little white boxes (what they look like isn't really important, but perhaps they can look slightly different for different types of sounds). For "windy" sounds, like in a desert or something, we could place some of these sound emitters around the map in desolated places.

• Special sound for a killed hero? That's a serious gameplay event.
  

Definitely. Like in Rise&Fall: Civilizations At War. There were sound events for when your hero was trained, badly damaged, and killed. Also, the UI hero medallion should flash white when he is under attack and flash red when he is badly damaged.

(we have audio\interface\alarmherodead_1.ogg and alarmherojoin_1.ogg - these are no good IMO, but we could add the code and use them as placeholders)

Yes. As long as the features are implemented, the sound and art departments can work on making them more ideal, even if the placeholders are not ideal initially. The important thing is to get the feature implemented first. The feature gets implemented, and then people get annoyed that the sounds are not ideal so want to work on them.

• Notification sound for defeated/resigned player.
  

Oh man, yes please.

• Sound for chat messages?
  

Maybe something subtle, but distinct, yeah. The game also needs more chat notifications, like...

• Sound for diplomatic changes and tribute.
  

The game should not only have sounds for these, but tell you explicitly that they have happened.

• Invalid / unallowed actions, like clicking a disabled button or trying to place a building in an invalid location
  

"Ang!" -- something like this.

[zoot]

For "windy" sounds, like in a desert or something, we could place some of these sound emitters around the map in desolated places.

I would personally recommend the idea historic_bruno suggested (above and elsewhere) of having allowing terrain types to specify an ambient sound. So, if a big patch of desert is in view along with a bit of water, maybe the main sound that would be played would be a "windy" sound along with some quiter wave splashes. (Even though water isn't really a terrain type, so it's not the best example, but hopefully the idea is clear.) This would mean people making custom maps wouldn't have to go through the hassle of manually placing little emitters around every map they make - the sound would arise automatically from the terrain types they use.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I would personally recommend the idea historic_bruno suggested (above and elsewhere) of having allowing terrain types to specify an ambient sound. So, if a big patch of desert is in view along with a bit of water, maybe the main sound that would be played would be a "windy" sound along with some quiter wave splashes. (Even though water isn't really a terrain type, so it's not the best example, but hopefully the idea is clear.) This would mean people making custom maps wouldn't have to go through the hassle of manually placing little emitters around every map they make - the sound would arise automatically from the terrain types they use.

An emitter gives more control to the designer, imho. What if I don't want a bunch of windy ambient noise on a part of my desert map?

[zoot]

Right. Maybe a toggle when placing the terrain could implemented, if it can be done in an uncomplicated way.

[alpha123]

The elephants really need new sound, they sort of roar weirdly and often. Ideally the Mauryan worker elephant would have different sounds from fighting elephants.

Right. Maybe a toggle when placing the terrain could implemented, if it can be done in an uncomplicated way.

At that point I think it's easier and more flexible to just allow the map designer to place a sound emitter.

[Lion.Kanzen]

That is good idea alpha, if we can create a list of missing sounds? Not taunt human, but some similar with variations.

[zoot]

At that point I think it's easier and more flexible to just allow the map designer to place a sound emitter.

Well, I wasn't really talking against allowing the map designer to place an emitter. Just suggesting that many custom maps would probably benefit from something more automated. I doubt the average map designer thinks of desert winds and chirping birds when imagining their map - they think of choke points and resource distribution and that sort of thing.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Well, I wasn't really talking against allowing the map designer to place an emitter. Just suggesting that many custom maps would probably benefit from something more automated. I doubt the average map designer thinks of desert winds and chirping birds when imagining their map - they think of choke points and resource distribution and that sort of thing.

The average map designer spends hours and hours on their maps. Trust me, they think of everything.

[zoot]

Eh, I'll beg to differ. I've seen plenty of maps in my day where the designer was a far cry from having thought of everything. If we can reduce the number of things to think about, while the leaving the option open for those who want to, I don't see what would be wrong in that.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Eh, I'll beg to differ. I've seen plenty of maps in my day where the designer was a far cry from having thought of everything. If we can reduce the number of things to think about, while the leaving the option open for those who want to, I don't see what would be wrong in that.

Using emitters is just way simpler, conceptually, in my mind. As a map designer, I've always wanted to use ambient sound emitters in my maps. I've never wanted terrain textures to do that for me though.

[zoot]

I imagine it is simpler if you have a clear idea of what sounds you want where. But if you look at a map like this, the designer doesn't really seem to have given much thought to aesthetics/realism, and still it can go on to be popular, and "shape" the multiplayer experience. So we can let those kinds of maps "rot in hell" so-to-speak as far as ambient sound is concerned, or we can at least let the sound follow the general theme of the layout and terrain.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I imagine it is simpler if you have a clear idea of what sounds you want where. But if you look at a map like this, the designer doesn't really seem to have given much thought to aesthetics/realism, and still it can go on to be popular, and "shape" the multiplayer experience. So we can let those kinds of maps "rot in hell" so-to-speak as far as ambient sound is concerned, or we can at least let the sound follow the general theme of the layout and terrain.

On those types of maps, the players truly don't care about pretty ambient sound effects, so it would make sense for the designer to want to leave them out (not place any emitters). A map like that isn't designed for realism at all.

[zoot]

Can we also leave out UnitAI then, since it wasn't put in by the map designer, so the player must truly not care about it, right? I guess it's another of those pesky things that come down to personal preferences.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Can we also leave out UnitAI then, since it wasn't put in by the map designer, so the player must truly not care about it, right? I guess it's another of those pesky things that come down to personal preferences.

The comparison is not apt. UnitAI is basic gameplay. Ambient sound fx are ambiance.

[alpha123]

Can we also leave out UnitAI then, since it wasn't put in by the map designer, so the player must truly not care about it, right? I guess it's another of those pesky things that come down to personal preferences.

What parallel are you trying to draw here? UnitAI isn't related to maps in any way, shape, or form, while sounds are definitely part of them. Sound effects have nothing to do with gameplay, while UnitAI is a big part of it. You're comparing apples to trucks.

Anyway, zoot, Mythos is the guy who made most of the scenarios. I think he knows what he wants when it comes to map design tools.

Edited June 1, 2013 by alpha123

[zoot]

Meh. It's not really something I should have to defend myself over. I see no evidence that emitters are a better solution. You should be able to think otherwise without sparking any major collapse of the universe.