Sound for Computer Games

Dark Souls - Taurus Demon Theme

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

The game developer might have chose this powerful and dark orchestral music to invoke feelings of fear and to scare the player. It is played during the first boss fight against a huge monstrous enemy on a narrow bridge. I felt fearful and tense when I heard this soundtrack at the encounter. I think that this song fits what I felt perfectly.

Warframe - Main Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCfWB0IFaMg

The game developer might have chose this tribal music to invoke feelings of fast-paced action and/or survival. It is played during random missions in the game when combat begins. I felt calm yet fearful whilst hearing this soundtrack. I think that this song fits what I felt nearly perfectly in relation to the race you play in-game.

Metro 2033 - Main Menu Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO5vBMQ5jCw

The game developer might have chose this guitar music to invoke feelings of loneliness and sorrow. It is played on the menu before you start the game; probably to set the mood for the game which - for the most part - you are alone. I felt sad before the game and empathetic when the game started. I think that this song fits the scenario that the game is set in really well and got me in the best mood for the game.

Fractal - Level Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AnJVKypUiI

The game developer might have chose this electronic music to uplift you during the game. The music uses some sounds found in-game. It is played during the game along with various other similar tracks. I felt uplifted and jubilant whilst hearing this soundtrack. I think that this song fits what I felt near perfectly in the context.

Blade and Soul - Login Menu Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfp8u7YurXo

The game developer might have chose this oriental music to uplift you and to symbolise a journey. The music is played at the login menu screen before you start the game. I felt uplifted, intrigued, primed and ready for a journey whilst hearing this soundtrack. The feeling of a journey could be because the game is set in a huge open world. I think that this song sits what I felt perfectly for the games context.

Why is music and sound FX so important within games development?
Music and SFX are important to game development as they invoke emotions that give the player the best experience required for the game. In game development, audio can be used for various reasons. For example, ambient music would be added for slow period in the game where the music aims to set the mood and setting. Music is also used for in-game events such as picking up items or hitting enemies.

What is waveform, (wavelength, amplitude, frequency); pitch; Hertz (Hz); decibel level (dB); sound generator (loudspeaker)?
A Waveform is the shape of a wave as it travels, the most common being the curved "Sine Wave". They are not visible without a special device. A wavelength is the length of the shortest repeating part of a "sine wave". The amplitude of a wave is a measure of how big its vibration is. Frequency is how often an event, such as a wave vibration, repeats itself over a set amount of time. The pitch means how high or low a note is. The hertz (Hz) is a unit of time that measure frequency. It shows how often something happens. A decibel (dB) measures ratios of power or intensity. In other words, it measures the volume of a sound. A sound generator like a speaker converts radio waves like the "Sine Wave" into sounds which are played at higher decibels.

What is Foley?
Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects such as footsteps and breaking glass. They are often added to film, video and other media in order to enhance the audio experience. Without these noises media would feel unnatural and uncomfortable.

What is Timbre?
Timbre is the quality of sound. It is what makes two musical instruments sound different from each other, even when each instrument plays the same musical note.

Top 10 Games

1. Bulletstorm - This game has a story in which the main protagonist seeks revenge for being forced to kill good people and so, crashes his ship into a planet full of mutants in a failed attempt to kill him.
2. Dark Souls 1 - This game has a simple story in which the main protagonist must prevent the age of darkness by sacrificing their soul to the first flame in existence.
3. Blade and Soul - This game has a story in which the main protagonist seeks revenge on the people that murdered everyone they know. 
4. Warframe - This game has a story in which the main protagonists, ancient warriors known as the "Tenno", have awoken from cryosleep during a planetary war and must fight back.
5. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - This game has a story in which the main protagonist Isaac escapes from his overly-christian mother who is asked by god to kill him.
6. Magicka: Wizard Wars - This game has no story and simply involves wizards fighting each other.
7. Smite - This game has no story and simply involves gods from all pantheons battling.
8. Gauntlet: Legends - This game has a story in which a mage called Garm summoned the demon Skorne who then imprisoned his soul in the underworld and so, the main protagonist must fight through a tough gauntlet to save him.
9. One Finger Death Punch - This game has no story and simply involves fighting endless amounts of enemies in fast-paced strategic combat.
10. Metro 2033 - This game has a story in which the main protagonist Artyom must make his way across a post-apocalyptic Moscow to destroy the base to an alien race called the "Dark Ones".

Nearly every game in existence has some kind of story, whether it's very simple or incredibly complex, it's there. Though there are some games that have no story whatsoever. Here are a few examples:

     Tetris (Puzzle)

     Worms Series (Action-Strategy)

     Wii Sports and Wii Play (Sports/Party)

     Monster Hunter (Action-RPG)

     Zynga Poker (Card/Poker)

When creating a game the developer will look for a balance between story and gameplay. If a game has very fun and addictive gameplay then a story might not be required. But a game that has hardly any fun gameplay elements might need a good story to save it from failing. The most common genre to have no story are puzzle games as their core is gameplay and a story isn't important. These kinds of games are commonly played by middle-aged women during breaks at work or at many different times at home, though people of other ages have been known to play them too. The main reason that people play puzzle games is for the competitive elements. Friends who play the same game will feel obligated to get to a higher level than the other and thus have the potential to play the game for several hours per day.

P2 - Concept Art

Wayne’s brief

Create a Platform game for the students to play. The main character of this game ‘Max’ has to move from level to level dodging enemies which block his way whilst collecting gold. Max gets score from collecting gold and has to collect certain items to unlock the next levels. This is a platform game so I would expect Max to be able to jump over obstacles and enemies.

My brief

The character of my game will be a Caucasian male called Max. Though, I could have made them female and called them Maxine if I wanted too. My game will be a unique drop-down styled platformer which has five 960 x 416 levels, each one getting progressively more difficult as you go down. There will also be two types of bonus loot to collect in the form of gold bars and diamonds. I will make objects for each solid object in my game as well as an invisible object which be used to block off certain areas. For sprites I will make them in a PNG format and apply them to every object in my game and I could possibly make more if I have time to add animations. I will also make my game on “GameMaker” as it is free from the South Leicestershire College facilities.

I have made sure that my sprites are original and not similar to others, my game will contain mild violence relative to the age that I’ve decided on. I have used the “cel-shaded” art style for these sprites….

Design Specification for the Maze game

Customer

What does the customer want?

The customer wants an educational-maths game with GCSE grade C level questions in the Maze genre

What does the design brief say?

The main character of this game ‘Brainbox’ has to move from level to level solving increasing difficult maths based problems. Each level should show a different maths problem and the level of the maths problem should be GCSE grade C Mathematics.

Who is the target audience?

The target audience for the game will be GCSE maths students who want to revise.

Development

What sprites do we need?

I will need to make sprites for the main character “Brainbox”, the enemies “Mathia”, the walls, the hacking terminals and the maths screen.

What sounds do we need?

I will need 1920-inspired royalty-free soft jazz music.

How many levels do we want?

I will need to create 5 levels, each one getting progressively harder.

What other elements do we want?

I will need to create up to 10 maths problems, 1 or 2 from each topic.

Management

What do we want to do by the end of this session?

25/11 - By the end of the session, I hope to have completed the design specification and started to generate ideas for the game.

How long do we have to create this game?

I have 4 weeks to create the game.

How can we break down the tasks in making a game?

I will make a list of tasks that need to be done and will put them into 4 groups for each of the 4 weeks.

Concept Design and Libel - Exercise

What is copyright law?

Copyright is simple the right to copy and is a law that gives the owner of content, the right to decide what other people can do with it. Copyright laws make it much easier for authors to use their work online as other people are only allowed to use it if the owner gives permission.

What is Libel?

Libel is “a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation”. In other words; defame or discrediting someone for work they’ve done.

How are female characters portrayed in games?

Women in video games are often portrayed as eye candy to persuade male gamers to buy games. They are also shown to be the "damsel in distress"

Generating Concept Art - Exercise

What are computer game graphics?

Computer game graphics are the way a game is displayed, not how it looks. A game could be presented in various ways. For example, a game could be made in a first/third-person, top-down, side-scrolling or simply 2D or 3D. There are also techniques that can be used such as: the lighting and shadows of objects, the animations of objects and maybe a heads up display.

What is graphics specification?

Client Needs


Audience


Thumbnail Sketching
Thumbnails are images that are of a smaller size than the original image. They allow more images to be displayed on a page. Search engines use image thumbnails to display more search results of the page.

Visual Style

Photorealism

Games that are designed to be as realistic as possible, whether fictional or non-fictional. Photorealism is difficult and time-consuming to create, and takes a lot of skill to get the textures and scaling of the world to look realistic.

Notable games that use photorealism include all of the Call Of Duty games, as well as the many Rockstar games.

Cel-Shaded

Designed to look like it was drawn by hand, and is used to represent a cartoon or comic book. Cel-shaded is primarily used by Japanese developers, in games such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Dragon Ball Z series.

Exaggerated

Games which are loosely based on Photorealism, but the style is modified, giving the graphics an overdone look. The graphics of the game can make it seem like it is not a serious game, because the characters are outrageously muscular, or features are not proportional, for example: large eyes. Japanese game developers also exaggerate the hair on their characters in anime games, such as Tekken.

Abstract

Games that use geometrical shapes and lines to create a unique visual style. Abstract does not take much skill to create compared to other styles. Abstract games can use both bright colours for fast-paced action, whilst others might use softer colours, which makes the player feel relaxed. An example of an Abstract art style designed game is Geometry Wars.

Military

Usually designed from first person perspective, military games simulate the physics and looks of a battlefield in a war. Characters are designed to look like soldiers, whether present, historic or futuristic. Medal of Honour is a Military game, set in Historic wars, and the more recent conflicts.

Composition

In the visual styles, in particular graphic design composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work. It can also be thought of as the organization of the elements of art according to the principles of art. The term composition means 'putting together,' and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing to photography, that is arranged or put together using conscious thought

 

Typography

Typography is an artistic way of arranging words on a page and can involve both letters and symbols. A 'typographer' might select different fonts for each word...

Technical considerations

Compression

Files can be compressed into smaller folders using Zip File, which allows several different files to be placed into a small folder, which requires to be unzipped before any of the contents can be accessed. This feature makes sharing files through the internet or through a file sharing program, such as an FTP much quicker and simpler.

Optimisation

Optimizing an image file consists of saving the image as a suitable graphic
compression format. Saving an image as a PNG will reduce the file size without losing any data, therefore the photo file has been optimized.

File naming conventions

When you have multiple versions of a file, such as an object, different file names will be helpful in identifying which file name corresponds to each version. For example, a first draft of the main characters might be named "Main character V1.0" and a later version might have a slightly larger number in the name such as "Main character V1.11" because there are 11 different versions.

Documentation

Production Schedule

This is my weekly game production schedule:

Week 1: Complete all the documentation and research sprites/background ideas.

Week 2: Code the game and plan out the structure.

Week 3: Create sprites and backgrounds, and add them to the game.

Week 4: Fix any problems and add anything missing. Overall tidying up.

Moodboard

The moodboard for my game can be found at this web address:

http://puu.sh/cO7DK.png

Storyboard

The storyboard for my game can be found at this web address:

http://puu.sh/cPrCa.png

Budget Log

Material/Software etc.	Cost
Photoshop CS6	Free as part of SLC facilities Real life price £105 per annum.
GameMaker	Free online and from the SLC facilities. £509 if I wanted to make the game for more platforms.

Clearances

Independent Contractor Agreement

This Independent Contractor Agreement is made and entered into by and between, the musician and Tom Broughton.

1. Engagement of Services.

Contractor will provide Tom Broughton with background music.

2. Compensation.

Tom Broughton shall pay Contractor a flat fee of £50 as total compensation for the services described above. Payment shall be made as follows:

£50 due upon receipt of final product.

3. Independent Contractor Relationship. Contractor's relationship with Client will be that of an independent contractor, and nothing in this Agreement is intended to, or should be construed to, create a partnership, agency, joint venture, or employment relationship. Contractor will not be entitled under this Agreement to any of the benefits that Client may make available to its employees, including but not limited to group health insurance, life insurance, profit-sharing, retirement benefits, paid vacation, holidays or sick leave, or workers' compensation insurance. No part of Contractor's compensation will be subject to withholding by Client for the payment of any social security, federal, state or any other employee payroll taxes. Client will regularly report amounts paid to Contractor by filing a Form 1099-MISC with the Internal Revenue Service as required by law. Contractor may perform the services required by this Agreement at any place or location and at such times as Contractor shall determine. Contractor agrees to provide all tools and instrumentalities, if any, required to perform the services under this Agreement.

4. Ownership of Property. Contractor acknowledges and agrees that all documents produced by Contractor, including but not limited to memoranda, research notes, correspondence, emails, pleadings, and reports in the course of his work for Client, shall be the property of Client, and Contractor shall retain no ownership, interest, or rights therein.

5. Governing Law.  This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the United States of America and by the laws of the State of Indiana. Each of the parties irrevocably consents to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in Indiana, as applicable, for any matter arising out of or relating to this Agreement, except that in actions seeking to enforce any order or any judgment of such federal or state courts located in Indiana, such personal jurisdiction shall be nonexclusive.

6. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held by a court of law to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, (a) that provision shall be deemed amended to achieve as nearly as possible the same economic effect as the original provision, and (b) the legality, validity, and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected or impaired thereby.

7. Injunctive Relief for Breach. Contractor agrees that his obligations under this Agreement are of a unique character that gives them particular value; Contractor's breach of any of such obligations will result in irreparable and continuing damage to Client, for which there will be no adequate remedy at law; and, in the event of such breach, Client will be entitled to injunctive relief and/or a decree for specific performance, and such other and further relief as may be proper (including monetary damages if appropriate).

Agreed to this 12th day of November, 2014.

Contractor	Client
_______________________________	_______________________________
………………...	Tom Broughton

Health and Safety Checklist

PAT Test	/
No liquid near PC’s	/

Contingency plan

What can go wrong?	How to avoid the problem?
Losing your work, design or game itself	Create back-up copies on email/HD/USB
Hardware faults	Have back-up parts or a computer. Don’t touch the hardware