SFX Factory - Other Side: Complete

[Exile]

Exile SFX Custom

http://www.youtube.com/ExileSFX


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Terasology BGM Soundbank::

Dimlight (preview 320kbps .mp3) : http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/dimlight
Game File (160kbps .ogg): http://www.filedropper.com/dimlight_2
Status: Complete

Resurface (preview 320kbps .mp3) : http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/Resurface
Game File (160kbps .ogg): http://www.2shared.com/audio/m4Uo2XAD/Resurface.html
Status: Complete

Other Side (preview 320kbps .mp3) : http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/other-side
Game File (160kbps .ogg): http://www.2shared.com/audio/QbMPzqbg/Other_Side.html
Status: Complete

Gaia (preview 320kbps .mp3) : Coming soon...
Game File (160kbps .ogg): Coming soon...
Status: v0.0.1

Dark Malus (preview 320kbps .mp3) : Coming soon...
Game File (160kbps .ogg): Coming soon...
Status: v0.0.1


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Terasology Effects Soundbank:

- Implemented



- Not Implemented Yet
@ http://www.2shared.com/file/svGioBzZ/Fire.html
Fire Crackling FX (160 kbps .ogg)

@ http://www.2shared.com/file/PGEaXwhS/Water.html
Water FX (160 kbps .ogg)

@ coming soon...
Pickaxe sounds

@ coming soon...
Footstep-pack sounds

@ coming soon...
GUI-pack sounds


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Terasology Showcase Demo's:

Demo 1 (320kbps .mp3) http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/terasology-demo
Demo 2 (320kbps .mp3) http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/terasology-demo2
Demo 3 (320kbps .mp3) http://soundcloud.com/exile-fx/terasology-demo3


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Requests:

We can create tracks (or sound FX), roughly, from your words...

To do so, we need a few bits of information:

1. The speed/tempo of the track (is it slow or fast)
2. Any key features (like a heartbeat, water dripping, monsters screeching)
3. Emotion/Image you want to convey (Scary, Happy, Adventurous, Tense, Erratic, etc.)
4. Any length (for example, specifically a 30 second .ogg loop for sequenced music)
5. Format (if you need a specific format, we will do that for you)
6. File Size (if you are fixed to a specific limit from the given sound)
7. Or give an example of another track that is similar!

A placeholder will be added to the list above and will be replaced by the URL when finished.

Thanks,
Exile

 

[Cervator]

Re: Compose & Produce

Aha, okay, now we've got a topic discussion thread on audio needs! Great. I just posted a reply over in Contributor Introductions

I'll leave this to hopefully grow further tomorrow - right now it is past midnight and I'm half asleep already!

Edit: Oh, here's a thought if you all are bored wanting something to do! Make our Gelatinous Cubes squishy!

(right now they just re-use the same footsteps sfx as the player)

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

sure! updated the OP, will hold all the sound requests here in a listed format.

Which formats are we mainly looking for?

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

On formats - I'm honestly not sure. IIRC MP3 is problematic due to an encoding issue for open source projects? OGG seems free of encumbrance, but I don't know if it is a super solid format. The existing small pieces of music we have are more than a meg each, which will bloat the overall size of the download quite a bit - but dunno if there's anything smaller that's still good quality

 

[Immortius]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Typically I've seen mono wav used for short sounds and stereo ogg used for music, looped ambient and other longer sounds. The MP3 format is still under patent, and requires purchase of a license to implement playback.

One thing I've seen done a couple of times is for the main distribution of a game to have lower quality music, with a separately downloadable high-quality pack.

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

These are MP3 for display only Downloads are switched off. We can get any format you need, but will be supplied with a separate link later on, so it isn't directly exposed to anyone.

Also, suggest a file size and we will try to cater towards it when you make a request for sounds!

 

[begla]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

I absolutely adore those tracks. Glad to have you on the team! Welcome!

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

I absolutely adore those tracks. Glad to have you on the team! Welcome!

Thanks! Glad you like them. Added a slime package of 6 wav's, for the gelatinous cube thingy as per Cerv's request too

.OGG is by far the best for file size, I will make the tracks available here through separate download tomorrow in that format!

@ Immortus; Agreed! Thanks for the input

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

That was fast! I really like the new Underground track in particular, very nice... flow?

That's one quirk here - I don't know a thing about music or providing constructive criticism. So I don't know if I'm even qualified to really provide feedback other than various degrees of "Cool!"

If I should try to find something anyway, it seems like the flow is a little off around second 37? Like there are a few too many odd sounds joining together around there to stay harmonious.

On the slimy sounds, spiffy! Or, well, squishy! 4 sticks out a bit, might be more of a death or attack sfx than the others which would fit well as movement sounds akin to the current footsteps. Could be fun to hear those in place instead in-game

If you don't mind me asking, how do you even make those sounds? Remix something weird? Speed up some mundane sound you'd never imagine would sound like that? Use some sort of RL sound source recorded via mic?

I have thought some more about what we could use as far as sfx go - harder to make requests for music. Now, mind, we have next to no sfx right now since it hasn't gotten any attention, so when you do think about it there is sort of an initial pile of potential. But after that, sfx will be a pretty gradual need over time, mainly tied to when we start getting unique creatures introduced. So there might be a dry period of sorts. Don't burn out trying to rush out a whole bunch now only to get bored with nothing to do for a while after - just IMHO, go nuts if you like, but I think we might have trouble coming up with more stuff after the initial batch is done...

1) Block breaking (beating on or breaking - not sure if separate?) sounds by type. a) soil (soft and loamy, and maybe a separate sandy), b) stone (hard and maybe separate gravelly), c) wood, d) other vegetation (soft and fleshy plants and separate leafy sound)
2) Water related. a) splashing into water, b) player going below water (separate from a, more of a diving muffled noise?), c) exiting water (sounds become clearer again), d) swimming noises? e) gently flowing brook, f) waterfall
3) Ambience. a) blowing wind (maybe more common in mountain/icy/desert, could be assorted howling wind noises?), b) leafy breezes (forest, plains), c) subtle bird noises maybe? (forest), d) sizzling lava
4) Player sounds. a) long falls including death-by-falling, b) subtle winded noises when running?
5) Weird sounds. a) portal humming noise? b) big badaboom from explodey tool

I dunno if sound above / below water is something you can "mask" instead of make separate actual sfx entries for. Probably still more stuff in the first big batch I haven't dug up yet with that idea dump there...

Finally, I really like the idea of having a base sound set with the normal download (and applet) and a better pack available separately

And thanks again for chipping in! Definitely hadn't expected we'd have a multi-person audio team just show up and starting to churn out content

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Sound and Music is as open ended as programming but more of a product of programming with all the inheritance going on.

The ways you described about manipulating sound is just few of many paths one could take.

Audio needs to be cured via feedback and testing, these are merely demo sets for you to try out on request and then once you give some feedback, we can attenuate the mix or clean up anything that may seem a little odd.

I understand your opinion fully on the music, you don't need to be a musician to feel the disconnect when a track suddenly falls out of rhythm. We will put up the demos and packs then reflect on your opinions when needed. Audio can't be perfected in one try, but a bit of back and forth between coder and engineer will straighten things out, especially since we're tentative to working with sound.

For example, if you tested a scenario in-game, the error in the timing (from a listening stand point) may prove useful in a game-setting where your mind is always bombarded with interacting with the game.

-

Like C# XNA's XACT, you can control a built-in filter to 'cut-off' frequencies. So, you could find something similar which allows you to control the cut-off variable of a filter module. Like in the Underground demo above, the track starts out under a lowpass filter which cuts high frequencies; with little resonance. Resonance is increasing bandwidth of the frequencies.

The available packs will not be named for it's function/purpose. It will simply be named by numbers, so that the programmer can implement the correct sound and test which effect suits better.

We can create tracks from your words, simply tell us what emotion or image you are trying to capture, the speed/tempo of the track (is it slow or fast), key features like a heartbeat or water dripping for example. Any factor you can summarize, we will translate it into the music. Like, you can ask for 30 second .ogg loops for BGM when you need it. We will read here frequently.

-

We always look to make top-quality sounds, custom designed by ourselves. That way, it's unique, you can't find it anywhere else. Most of all, we will always try to improve our ability, so to think of burning out would be a disadvantageous mindset!

I also recommend a sound for each typing of the letter, in the chat box and every time you hover over an item in the menu screen (like options, exit, return to the game) often works amazingly for interaction. Like Terraria, the GUI feels strong because when we move the mouse around on screen, there is visual feedback (even when there's very little on the screen).

We will get onto that list within this week!

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Yep, that's a whole category I missed, UI sounds!

Thanks for all the details and initiative! Looking forward to more stuff

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

We won't jam the list of sounds out, because quality comes first but if any of you need a sound done asap, we can probably do it within the hour after reading but I'm sure there's no demand as of yet. Don't be afraid to ask for sounds in advance.

We'll slowly work on each sound day by day, to ensure quality control, between requested work.

Also, orders like, "could you please redo the slime SFX, it's too low volume or too sharp the ears", will go down well and won't take 5 minutes to adjust. Or, "can we get a 1 minute .ogg looped version of such-and-such a track".

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Great - that's perfect. And yeah, no rush on any sounds so far

Will keep the minor adjustment request potential in mind when we actually get around to implementing said sfx!

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Great - that's perfect. And yeah, no rush on any sounds so far

Will keep the minor adjustment request potential in mind when we actually get around to implementing said sfx!

Just found out that Notch used .OGG's for all his sound effects. Should we proceed to do the same?

One more question, for the explodey tool, are we talking dynamite or some spell? I know it'll be hard to decide without programming it but if you have any timing set in stone that I can cater to would be great. Like -how long- the fuze burning sound has to last If not, we'll complete the requests when asked for and work on sounds that don't require testing.

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Honestly I don't know that we've even thought about what makes the explodey go boom. It really is more of a for-fun debug tool that likely won't be in the actual game in its current shape. By then it might be a more normal TNT block approach, or something with a fuse that you throw, or a cannon...

Currently the explosion is immediate as you click somewhere, so there's no fuse. It just goes boom in whatever creative fashion your imagination can justify

No real preference from me on OGGs vs lower quality WAVs for specific sounds - I don't know enough to render any sort of informed decision on it

I'm curious how they'd compare. Like right now the squishy sfx for the Gelatinous Cube are in .wav, how big would they be in .ogg? How would they compare in quality? Might be hard to make out for such short sounds.

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

The file size is about 1/4 to 1/3 smaller in .OGG.

We whipped up some fire crackling loops in .OGG, which came to around 100kb but a .WAV renders at around 400kb.

It's based on length and content of the audio project file.

EDIT: We just tested it and .WAV is not distinguishable from the .OGG without a good audio system and a high volume.
Even then, it would take atleast a trained ear to recognise.

We are converting the Slime1-5 sounds to .ogg Less file size - less data , Also reintroduced Slime6 into the new .rar package of Slime FX

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Huh, okay. I thought WAV would be the smaller one. Shows what I know

If quality is near identical and OGG is smaller that's a pretty solid push toward 100% OGG. Immortius - you out there somewhere with any follow-up thoughts since you seemed to have some intel on that area?

 

[Exile]

Re: SFX, BGM - New Stuff**

renamed the terraria underground demo to 'Dimlight', just uploaded the latest version! Drop by some feedback and we'll reflect it check the new .ogg sound packs as well if you didn't check the OP

 

[Cervator]

Re: SFX, BGM - New Stuff**

I like Dimlight quite a bit now, especially the name

The fire SFX is a 0 byte file, bad upload?

Nice explosions, think I like 5 the best, has a nice bit of "pieces of rock falling back to hit the ground" to it. I wonder how well that times with an average explosion in-game (haven't paid attention to how much variety there is in the time it takes for all the explodey blocks to land again)

Thanks for the OGG slimies, those we can probably try implementing soon to hear them work in-game - whenever somebody gets time for that, argh, we need more devs to help

Btw - feel free to just attach the files straight to posts here if they're going to be so small anyway

Your call tho, thought it might be less hassle than using a file host!

 

[Immortius]

Re: SFX, BGM (Compose & Produce)

Huh, okay. I thought WAV would be the smaller one. Shows what I know

If quality is near identical and OGG is smaller that's a pretty solid push toward 100% OGG. Immortius - you out there somewhere with any follow-up thoughts since you seemed to have some intel on that area?

WAV is a raw format, so should be larger.

I don't think there is an issue just using ogg. My understanding is short sounds are generally loaded fully into memory for playback, while longer sounds are streamed. Using WAV skips the need to decompress the sound during load. I doubt that is much of a concern these days though, and the engines I've used typically put them in compressed archives anyway.

Might be more of an issue on a mobile platform