Also one more question about the voice - does the voice of - for example - walking changes as you go from terrain to terrain (dust, grass, ice etc.?) Can we hear clanking of armor?
For most creatures in the game, including PCs, we do have footsteps that change with terrain.
We do have some little armor jangly bits in there as well however we have not implemented
support for changing armor types. So, for example, the armor sounds with your footsteps will not change if you go from
chain to plate. This is something we may work on in the future but right now the cost to benefit ratio in terms of time
is not conducive to getting it in before launch. I'm pretty sure this is not high priority for most players
Has any kind of sound sensing skill(for player character) been associated with actual sound? (like an elven-ranger having keen ears able to hear sound of armor while a human fighter cannot?)
That's a pretty cool idea. However, in order to support something like that, entire encounters would need to be built around that mechanic. It's something you might see in a single player game but difficult to implement in an MMO. The short answer to the question is unfortunately not at this time.
Lastly, is there any kind of read-aloud option in absence of custom voice upload? Like I type some words in for cinematic and choose a voice-type for orc, frmale, male etc and that voice gets spoken in the game - like they have read aloud options for almost all softwares like adobe reader(reading of documents) and all smartphones?
We do not have support for a feature like this right now.
If you could post a video of this, you would be my HERO. I'll make a Foundry mission and be sure to name one of the characters after you :P
This is something I have been considering for quite a while. However, before launch it is very difficult to post videos because marketing tightly controls what information about the game is released. I hope to post videos in some kind of blog format post launch when restrictions on game images become a bit more loose.
...For most creatures in the game, including PCs, we do have footsteps that change with terrain.
We do have some little armor jangly bits in there as well however we have not implemented
support for changing armor types. So, for example, the armor sounds with your footsteps will not change if you go from
chain to plate. This is something we may work on in the future but right now the cost to benefit ratio in terms of time
is not conducive to getting it in before launch. I'm pretty sure this is not high priority for most players...
Thats a great news And yes its definitely not high priority but if a few out of many such small small things are implemented, the game will sound great! For me, it was a win already if any one of those two was implemented. I look forward to hearing what you have done with eagerness
Hi there. What is the process involved with designing/selecting a soundtrack for a game like NWO?
Most small to mid level studios hire contractors to compose their soundtracks. It's very rare for a studio to have an in house staff composer because it is more expensive to do so. The size of the studio and the budget determines the quality or amount of celebrity the contractor will bring.
Are you guys allowed to steal soundtrack clips from movies like Excaliber and Conan, or do copyright laws prohibit that?
Well we certainly can't steal them. At times we may be able to License certain pieces of music, which just means paying money to use them. Although, we wouldn't want to use a piece that is well known in another popular IP like Conan because that music is associated with Conan, not with the game world we are trying to Create. Using music from another IP also looks bad.
is there some kind of universal midevil-theme pool of music files that you can reference and utilize w/o worrying about infringement? Or do you actually have the budget to write/design/compose all of your own music files?
We are fortunate enough to have a dedicated budget for music. As I said before, we work with contractors, in this case Kevin Manthei, to design custom music that enhances the vision and environment of our games. I'm sure there are libraries of generic fantasy music out there but it is more of a personal and custom touch when the composer designs music for your game specifically.
Last time I checked (probably CO) they allow you to play the winamp from within the game - but only basic options like next track, pause/play and previous track.
As it is the same engine I am hoping it will still be there.
Correct. We still support this feature as of right now.
ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
edited January 2013
It would be cool if in the Foundry, DMs could give players the option of hearing a sound effect or not - perhaps presenting it in the format of a Dialogue option. So if a character had a good hearing or stealth detection check he could be presented extra dialogue options.
It'd also be cool if you could upload your own sound files to voice your own NPCs in Foundry missions.
In most games like Baldur's Gate and such when you chose a character's voice, it's not like he actually read every line of dialogue around - it was mostly just a small collection of sound effects and one liners to use in battle.
And that feature about supporting Winamp from in game sounds <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, that's really clever.
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ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
edited January 2013
So I watched the video where Valindra has control of a Blue Dragon on one of the bridges in Neverwinter (maybe the Winged Wyvern bridge, something like that?). That dragon didn't seem very talkative, tho
Do you have any eh, more loquacious dragons in the game? Or odd enemies you've got to make cool effects for?
It would be cool if in the Foundry, DMs could give players the option of hearing a sound effect or not - perhaps presenting it in the format of a Dialogue option. So if a character had a good hearing or stealth detection check he could be presented extra dialogue options.
...
This is possible in STO foundry. The dialogue is not audio but written text though - like any other dialog with NPC. But it just pops up. It has complete logic gates (triggering under certain conditions only - like reaching a location, completing an objective, using an object - with some dialog options only available perhaps with skills like stealth, dungeoneering, religion etc.). As I said before - no Audio there, but there is no reason to believe NW won't have any audio objects in foundry which can trigger on conditions just like other objects.
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iamtruthseekerMember, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited January 2013
Not a lot of sound love until now, but now we're basking in Spirals' info! Fantastic!
Hmm, only a few of things that I want to reply to or post here (because the replies here previously are so dang awesome already )
I will say that I have heard Kevin Manthei's music and it will be...just amazingly awesome here! I'm sure we will all hear the NW music very very soon!
And damnit I can never keep affect and effect straight gonna go have to look that up and maybe edit this...
Okay, when you change something, you influence its turn-out, as in the present moment or affect. That means the eventual outcome or result is the effect. So changing, affect, result, effect.
I hope the affect of this knowledge to you means the effect is you understand it now.
It'd also be cool if you could upload your own sound files to voice your own NPCs in Foundry missions.
I wholeheartedly agree. I know the Dragon Age editor allowed you to do exactly that. Unfortunately I don't think the foundry will be supporting a feature like this. Now, I'll be honest and say I'm not all that familiar with the foundry but from what I can tell if Cryptic does not support custom modeling or skins to be used in the foundry then custom sound files will also not be supported. Please, don't quote me on that, I make sounds for the game proper and I have very little input when it comes to the foundry or its features.
Do you have any eh, more loquacious dragons in the game? Or odd enemies you've got to make cool effects for?
Loquacious dragons? Eh... I think the dragons of Neverwinter are more interested in eating faces than sitting down to a nice conversation over a cup of tea.
We have lots of odd enemies in Neverwinter, but to be honest I've had more fun creating awesome and interesting soundscapes for the environments that those enemies live in, like The Chasm for instance. Also, I've had a lot of fun with player powers. Our powers team has done an amazing job making some really cool player powers and It's been great making those powers feel as powerful and impactful as they look.
...
Loquacious dragons? Eh... I think the dragons of Neverwinter are more interested in eating faces than sitting down to a nice conversation over a cup of tea.
....
Good! I like my dragons without the tea. The tea gives them a weird flavor when I am having them at dinner ... especially the cooked heart.
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denkasaebaMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited January 2013
Actually, what makes a Dragon a Dragon is his chit-chatting skill: it likes to talk fervently about some weird and ancient magic, before burning/electrocuting/make solid ice your butt.
Dilige, et quod vis fac (Love, and do what you will)
Actually, what makes a Dragon a Dragon is his chit-chatting skill: it likes to talk fervently about some weird and ancient magic, before burning/electrocuting/make solid ice your butt.
Good! I like my dragons without the tea. The tea gives them a weird flavor when I am having them at dinner ... especially the cooked heart.
Also... Dragons do sit down and have tea and chat. With their fellow dragons. And they have crumpets as well... Made from the remains of adventurers who come visiting...
I'm not really a John Galt,
but I play one on the forums...
:P
We have lots of odd enemies in Neverwinter, but to be honest I've had more fun creating awesome and interesting soundscapes for the environments that those enemies live in, like The Chasm for instance. Also, I've had a lot of fun with player powers. Our powers team has done an amazing job making some really cool player powers and It's been great making those powers feel as powerful and impactful as they look.
I imagine your sound lab as looking something like a kitchen with unrecognizable and futuristic utensils that make the most bizarre noises when used. And microwaves large enough for a man to walk into.
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ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
edited January 2013
Looking back over that last post I think maybe I'm hungry and it's getting to me, I'll be back later.
I wholeheartedly agree. I know the Dragon Age editor allowed you to do exactly that. Unfortunately I don't think the foundry will be supporting a feature like this. Now, I'll be honest and say I'm not all that familiar with the foundry but from what I can tell if Cryptic does not support custom modeling or skins to be used in the foundry then custom sound files will also not be supported. Please, don't quote me on that, I make sounds for the game proper and I have very little input when it comes to the foundry or its features.
Loquacious dragons? Eh... I think the dragons of Neverwinter are more interested in eating faces than sitting down to a nice conversation over a cup of tea.
We have lots of odd enemies in Neverwinter, but to be honest I've had more fun creating awesome and interesting soundscapes for the environments that those enemies live in, like The Chasm for instance. Also, I've had a lot of fun with player powers. Our powers team has done an amazing job making some really cool player powers and It's been great making those powers feel as powerful and impactful as they look.
I can remember a Seer quest in Ultima Online where a Seer played the part of a dragon named Draxious. Draxious held a contest for the players to take part in to be able to win a special lute called "the lute of spirit silence". Now I need to explain why we needed this lute, so bear with me.
The main Seer on Sonoma server had a roleplaying character with a lot of history to that character, his name was Balart. Balart had shown himself on a few occasions prior to when we took part in the contest for the lute. One of the other Seer's on the server thought that Balart was getting too powerful and wanted to give the players something they could use against him, so she came up with this quest that would put this lute into the game.
Now you need to realize that this lute was just an ordinary lute that the Seer had given a unique name to, "the lute of spirit silence" However its story was that if a grandmaster bard played this lute, and this lute was tuned to Balart's spirit it would prevent Balart from listening in on our meeting when we were making plans against him.
So the contest to win it was simply a contest of riddles and to enter the contest you had to enter as a group or a guild, there were about 75 to 100 players at the contest maybe even more, which was a huge group for a server to handle back then but it was doable and my guild which was at the forefront of the Balart saga got a spot in the contest. The reason the Avalon guild was one of the main guilds in that saga was because Balart had chosen us as the place in the game to start his return and his new saga or storyline.
One day he appeared in our town forge/inn when me and another guildmate were sitting there chatting and basically wasting time. I could tell something was up as soon as Balart appeared because ByRyan the friend I was sitting there with stood up immediately and drew his weapon.
Balart asured him that he was only there to deliver a message and that message was, " he would return to our guild town in two days time in the evening hours around 6pm and either we would be with him on his crusade to take over our lands or we could be against him and to show us what that meant he summoned a few undead inside our forge which ByRyan and myself easily dispatched. Though he did say the undead would be relentless and never stop unless we decided to join with him.
The entire Balart saga took the server population almost a year of real time to complete and it was so good it was not a case of if I would log in each day, I HAD to log in or I would miss that part of the story and that was just not possible.
Balart showed up when he said he would and gave us all his ultimatum, our Queen Shannara at first seemed to be dead set against anything he said until he took her aside and talked to her privately.
I was outraged at this and sure enough when he returned she was, "under his influence" and I walked up to Balart, spat on the ground at his feet, and vowed he would regret this when I shoved my sword through his guts.
He then summoned his undead Daughter Lady Birmingham or better known as Bree to the older population on the server that remembered Balart's previous appearance in our lands. At that time he had actually killed his own daughter and turned her into his undead minion to use against us, and of course he still had her under his control because her spirit was trapped in the with the dead unable to be resurected like all of us were able to achieve upon death.
I had to do a kind of back peddle then because Bree had some very serious armor and weapons that none of us could possibly match in combat, and if I was laying on the ground dead anything I may have inspired in my guildmates and others gathered that night would have been wasted.
Back to the contest of riddles...the last riddle was answered correctly by my guild and that meant we won the lute, and we immediately begged Draxiuos to tune the lute to Balart's spirit. Now we had a weapon we could use against Balart! And I actually had it in my pack!
I quickly made my way to my bank and put the lute in there for safe keeping as it was getting really late and I needed to get to bed so I could get up for work the next day. When I recalled to my house to log out, Balart had surrounded my house with hellhounds and I barely managed to get inside before they killed me. Once inside he sent me some messages basically telling me I was a fool, etc.
Anyway there is an example of a dragon that can speak and how the developer might like to use something like that .... peace
I imagine your sound lab as looking something like a kitchen with unrecognizable and futuristic utensils that make the most bizarre noises when used. And microwaves large enough for a man to walk into.
Well, we don't exactly have what you would call a "sound Lab". Most of the work I do is in the box. Meaning using software on the computer. Most everything we need has been recorded in some form or another over the decades and we have huge libraries that cover a lot of the basics: doors, fires, birds, wolves, etc. Where the beauty and creativity come in is when we get to do things like critter voices or player powers. We then use library files and layer them, process them, and otherwise mangle them into something completely different from their original forms.
For example, Ben Burtt used reversed elephant calls and car tires on wet pavement to create the classic TIE fighter screech. The two files were manipulated, stretched, slowed down and whatnot... but the sound originated from two ordinary things. I was actually able to reproduce this effect quite nicely. Not for NW of course but for a side project.
And thank you elemberq333 for that awesome retelling of an epic story. If we do have talking dragons however, it would most likely be based in some kind of WoTC campaign guide.
Well, we don't exactly have what you would call a "sound Lab". Most of the work I do is in the box. Meaning using software on the computer. Most everything we need has been recorded in some form or another over the decades...
So, will bards be able to sing/play various tunes, unlike the monotonous tone of DDO's bard "songs"?
So, will bards be able to sing/play various tunes, unlike the monotonous tone of DDO's bard "songs"?
If there is a bard class in Neverwinter you can be sure that distinct and compelling audio will be a high priority for making it a fun and dynamic class to play. I know our powers team here places a high emphasis on audio and I work with them closely on a regular basis.
ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
edited January 2013
I've never been personally compelled to play a bard... and frankly we've never had one in any of our PnP sessions either (crazy right!) but if bards could actually make their own tunes... well that'd be neat.
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ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
Had your Horse d'oeuvre? How was it? Did you remember to throw away the hoofs?
I ate a bottle of glue... so...
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited January 2013
So Spirals999,
What would you say is the most memorable, or some of the most memorable, sounds you have developed?
Are there any that you just happened to throw together for "Let's see how bad this will be" which turned out to be really good for something? Or have you had any experiences in developing a sound for one feature but as bad as it was for the intended project it made perfect sense for another?
Example: One game I played developed a texture system which relied on programming to apply textures to objects rather than actual texture packs. All textures were single tone but the game's shader basically rendered any textures directly rather than requiring large texture files.
The company remarked how they had a good laugh when one of them was trying to develop a wooden floor texture but the texture ended up looking like Jell-O. Obviously it didn't make the cut for the floor but they ended up using the mistake as the texture for the Gelatinous Cubes.
Have you had any fun experiences at work like that?
Heck, it would be nice to see any developer's work experiences here. It would be a good way to show us what you're all doing while we eagerly await the game's completion.
When will we have some music tracks of Neverwinter to listen to? I'm a real sucker for game music and am a dork in that regard since I prefer to listen to notable game music like the Planescape Torment or Baulder's Gate 2 tracks over any top charted country or rock song. Some companies allowed downloadable tracks of their game while others offered purchasable OST. The latter is the more standard practice since producers figure they can make a few bucks of their fans which I suppose that is how it is.
Maybe you could at least get a track or two out there for free maybe... hint hint... nudge nudge.
Another question is will there be instruments playable by players, like how LotRO did? That was a great killing time tool and many times did I just ran past a player playing a tune or how players would organize a concert which I think every MMO should utilize as it brings the community closer together.
... did I just ran past a player playing a tune ...
Yeah it was very surprising that when sometimes I would stand in meadows and press buttons randomly and furiously, how many people were to stop by and listen to it... it made me feel like a real bard even when I had no musical talent.
If there is a bard class in Neverwinter you can be sure that distinct and compelling audio will be a high priority for making it a fun and dynamic class to play. I know our powers team here places a high emphasis on audio and I work with them closely on a regular basis.
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
After watching the SWTOR dev team completely and utterly screw up on of the best opportunities for audio in a game, it's really refreshing to hear that.
After watching the SWTOR dev team completely and utterly screw up on of the best opportunities for audio in a game, it's really refreshing to hear that.
Yes I absolutely hated in SWTOR that you could hear companion and NPC conversations half way across the map as though you were standing right next to where the conversation was taking place. One of the worst examples of this was when you were entering Taris and the governor had a holo of her there and as you passed by it she would start her political speal and I could still hear that after I had taken an elevator to a different floor and was about to board my ship and take off from that planet...so sad because in past games Bioware always had good audio.
What would you say is the most memorable, or some of the most memorable, sounds you have developed?
Geez, this is difficult because I'm not certain of what has been revealed to the public already. I certainly don't have one singularly memorable sound. But there are several that are my babies. Argh! and there is a specific instance that I'm very proud of the environment I did but I don't think I can talk about it because it hasn't been in any of the reveals. *sigh* Ask me this question again after launch.
Are there any that you just happened to throw together for "Let's see how bad this will be" which turned out to be really good for something? Or have you had any experiences in developing a sound for one feature but as bad as it was for the intended project it made perfect sense for another?
Hm. Nothing like that really. Though I did use some pretty interesting techniques like manipulating voice files to create Some of the wizard powers. I like experimenting with kind of out of the ordinary stuff to see if anything sticks. It doesn't always work out as well as I had hoped but sometimes I find a gem. I know this is all very vague and unspecific and I apologize. I can't think of anything like your example at the moment.
Heck, it would be nice to see any developer's work experiences here. It would be a good way to show us what you're all doing while we eagerly await the game's completion.
I've been trying to get something akin to a developer blog going for some time. This is something both I and Dioxazine (concept artist) would love to see happen. Many of us here at Cryptic are fans and players at heart and it is so hard to pierce the thick Iron curtain that separates players from developers. When I was studying digital audio I always wanted more opportunities to see what real developers did as they worked on the games I loved and I found the amount of sources lacking or disappointing. However, as I said previously, marketing keeps tight control over what can be shown before launch and for good reason. So post launch it should be easier.
When will we have some music tracks of Neverwinter to listen to?
Maybe you could at least get a track or two out there for free maybe... hint hint... nudge nudge.
Hm. That would be nice. I used to be a fan of selling the soundtrack but for my part I think I have changed my stance since then. Sure we could make a few extra dollars selling the OST but really I don't think enough people would be interested in making it any kind of serious revenue stream. For my part, I say just give some of the best tracks out for free and let it serve as a marketing tool in and of itself.
I will try and bring up the idea of making tracks available as we near launch. However, please realize I have no say over pricing or whether or not PWE will decide to sell them or make them free. Or if they'll even go for the idea.
Another question is will there be instruments playable by players, like how LotRO did?
Unfortunately I haven't spent enough time in LotRO to be familiar with what you're talking about. It sounds like an interesting concept and one we might explore in the future. However this feature will not be in the game at launch.
Comments
For PCs? We've tossed around a lot of ideas. Nothing specific has been determined yet though.
For most creatures in the game, including PCs, we do have footsteps that change with terrain.
We do have some little armor jangly bits in there as well however we have not implemented
support for changing armor types. So, for example, the armor sounds with your footsteps will not change if you go from
chain to plate. This is something we may work on in the future but right now the cost to benefit ratio in terms of time
is not conducive to getting it in before launch. I'm pretty sure this is not high priority for most players
That's a pretty cool idea. However, in order to support something like that, entire encounters would need to be built around that mechanic. It's something you might see in a single player game but difficult to implement in an MMO. The short answer to the question is unfortunately not at this time.
We do not have support for a feature like this right now.
This is something I have been considering for quite a while. However, before launch it is very difficult to post videos because marketing tightly controls what information about the game is released. I hope to post videos in some kind of blog format post launch when restrictions on game images become a bit more loose.
Thats a great news
Most small to mid level studios hire contractors to compose their soundtracks. It's very rare for a studio to have an in house staff composer because it is more expensive to do so. The size of the studio and the budget determines the quality or amount of celebrity the contractor will bring.
Well we certainly can't steal them. At times we may be able to License certain pieces of music, which just means paying money to use them. Although, we wouldn't want to use a piece that is well known in another popular IP like Conan because that music is associated with Conan, not with the game world we are trying to Create. Using music from another IP also looks bad.
We are fortunate enough to have a dedicated budget for music. As I said before, we work with contractors, in this case Kevin Manthei, to design custom music that enhances the vision and environment of our games. I'm sure there are libraries of generic fantasy music out there but it is more of a personal and custom touch when the composer designs music for your game specifically.
Correct. We still support this feature as of right now.
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It'd also be cool if you could upload your own sound files to voice your own NPCs in Foundry missions.
In most games like Baldur's Gate and such when you chose a character's voice, it's not like he actually read every line of dialogue around - it was mostly just a small collection of sound effects and one liners to use in battle.
And that feature about supporting Winamp from in game sounds <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, that's really clever.
Do you have any eh, more loquacious dragons in the game? Or odd enemies you've got to make cool effects for?
This is possible in STO foundry. The dialogue is not audio but written text though - like any other dialog with NPC. But it just pops up. It has complete logic gates (triggering under certain conditions only - like reaching a location, completing an objective, using an object - with some dialog options only available perhaps with skills like stealth, dungeoneering, religion etc.). As I said before - no Audio there, but there is no reason to believe NW won't have any audio objects in foundry which can trigger on conditions just like other objects.
Hmm, only a few of things that I want to reply to or post here (because the replies here previously are so dang awesome already
I will say that I have heard Kevin Manthei's music and it will be...just amazingly awesome here! I'm sure we will all hear the NW music very very soon!
Okay, when you change something, you influence its turn-out, as in the present moment or affect. That means the eventual outcome or result is the effect. So changing, affect, result, effect.
I hope the affect of this knowledge to you means the effect is you understand it now.
I have no idea what you are talking about *boards survival Ark*
I wholeheartedly agree. I know the Dragon Age editor allowed you to do exactly that. Unfortunately I don't think the foundry will be supporting a feature like this. Now, I'll be honest and say I'm not all that familiar with the foundry but from what I can tell if Cryptic does not support custom modeling or skins to be used in the foundry then custom sound files will also not be supported. Please, don't quote me on that, I make sounds for the game proper and I have very little input when it comes to the foundry or its features.
Loquacious dragons? Eh... I think the dragons of Neverwinter are more interested in eating faces than sitting down to a nice conversation over a cup of tea.
We have lots of odd enemies in Neverwinter, but to be honest I've had more fun creating awesome and interesting soundscapes for the environments that those enemies live in, like The Chasm for instance. Also, I've had a lot of fun with player powers. Our powers team has done an amazing job making some really cool player powers and It's been great making those powers feel as powerful and impactful as they look.
Good! I like my dragons without the tea. The tea gives them a weird flavor when I am having them at dinner ... especially the cooked heart.
St. Augustinus
Hmm... Actually the dragon has employed kobolds to do it. Now it just breathes fire and eats people.
p.s. Dragons watch youtube too. That video made all dragon stop doing any evil monologues before they eat ...
Also... Dragons do sit down and have tea and chat. With their fellow dragons. And they have crumpets as well... Made from the remains of adventurers who come visiting...
but I play one on the forums...
:P
I hope players can eat horses.
I imagine your sound lab as looking something like a kitchen with unrecognizable and futuristic utensils that make the most bizarre noises when used. And microwaves large enough for a man to walk into.
Had your Horse d'oeuvre? How was it? Did you remember to throw away the hoofs?
I can remember a Seer quest in Ultima Online where a Seer played the part of a dragon named Draxious. Draxious held a contest for the players to take part in to be able to win a special lute called "the lute of spirit silence". Now I need to explain why we needed this lute, so bear with me.
The main Seer on Sonoma server had a roleplaying character with a lot of history to that character, his name was Balart. Balart had shown himself on a few occasions prior to when we took part in the contest for the lute. One of the other Seer's on the server thought that Balart was getting too powerful and wanted to give the players something they could use against him, so she came up with this quest that would put this lute into the game.
Now you need to realize that this lute was just an ordinary lute that the Seer had given a unique name to, "the lute of spirit silence" However its story was that if a grandmaster bard played this lute, and this lute was tuned to Balart's spirit it would prevent Balart from listening in on our meeting when we were making plans against him.
So the contest to win it was simply a contest of riddles and to enter the contest you had to enter as a group or a guild, there were about 75 to 100 players at the contest maybe even more, which was a huge group for a server to handle back then but it was doable and my guild which was at the forefront of the Balart saga got a spot in the contest. The reason the Avalon guild was one of the main guilds in that saga was because Balart had chosen us as the place in the game to start his return and his new saga or storyline.
One day he appeared in our town forge/inn when me and another guildmate were sitting there chatting and basically wasting time. I could tell something was up as soon as Balart appeared because ByRyan the friend I was sitting there with stood up immediately and drew his weapon.
Balart asured him that he was only there to deliver a message and that message was, " he would return to our guild town in two days time in the evening hours around 6pm and either we would be with him on his crusade to take over our lands or we could be against him and to show us what that meant he summoned a few undead inside our forge which ByRyan and myself easily dispatched. Though he did say the undead would be relentless and never stop unless we decided to join with him.
The entire Balart saga took the server population almost a year of real time to complete and it was so good it was not a case of if I would log in each day, I HAD to log in or I would miss that part of the story and that was just not possible.
Balart showed up when he said he would and gave us all his ultimatum, our Queen Shannara at first seemed to be dead set against anything he said until he took her aside and talked to her privately.
I was outraged at this and sure enough when he returned she was, "under his influence" and I walked up to Balart, spat on the ground at his feet, and vowed he would regret this when I shoved my sword through his guts.
He then summoned his undead Daughter Lady Birmingham or better known as Bree to the older population on the server that remembered Balart's previous appearance in our lands. At that time he had actually killed his own daughter and turned her into his undead minion to use against us, and of course he still had her under his control because her spirit was trapped in the with the dead unable to be resurected like all of us were able to achieve upon death.
I had to do a kind of back peddle then because Bree had some very serious armor and weapons that none of us could possibly match in combat, and if I was laying on the ground dead anything I may have inspired in my guildmates and others gathered that night would have been wasted.
Back to the contest of riddles...the last riddle was answered correctly by my guild and that meant we won the lute, and we immediately begged Draxiuos to tune the lute to Balart's spirit. Now we had a weapon we could use against Balart! And I actually had it in my pack!
I quickly made my way to my bank and put the lute in there for safe keeping as it was getting really late and I needed to get to bed so I could get up for work the next day. When I recalled to my house to log out, Balart had surrounded my house with hellhounds and I barely managed to get inside before they killed me. Once inside he sent me some messages basically telling me I was a fool, etc.
Anyway there is an example of a dragon that can speak and how the developer might like to use something like that .... peace
Well, we don't exactly have what you would call a "sound Lab". Most of the work I do is in the box. Meaning using software on the computer. Most everything we need has been recorded in some form or another over the decades and we have huge libraries that cover a lot of the basics: doors, fires, birds, wolves, etc. Where the beauty and creativity come in is when we get to do things like critter voices or player powers. We then use library files and layer them, process them, and otherwise mangle them into something completely different from their original forms.
For example, Ben Burtt used reversed elephant calls and car tires on wet pavement to create the classic TIE fighter screech. The two files were manipulated, stretched, slowed down and whatnot... but the sound originated from two ordinary things. I was actually able to reproduce this effect quite nicely. Not for NW of course but for a side project.
And thank you elemberq333 for that awesome retelling of an epic story. If we do have talking dragons however, it would most likely be based in some kind of WoTC campaign guide.
So, will bards be able to sing/play various tunes, unlike the monotonous tone of DDO's bard "songs"?
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If there is a bard class in Neverwinter you can be sure that distinct and compelling audio will be a high priority for making it a fun and dynamic class to play. I know our powers team here places a high emphasis on audio and I work with them closely on a regular basis.
Tch... damn that uncanny dodge feat!
I ate a bottle of glue... so...
What would you say is the most memorable, or some of the most memorable, sounds you have developed?
Are there any that you just happened to throw together for "Let's see how bad this will be" which turned out to be really good for something? Or have you had any experiences in developing a sound for one feature but as bad as it was for the intended project it made perfect sense for another?
Have you had any fun experiences at work like that?
Heck, it would be nice to see any developer's work experiences here. It would be a good way to show us what you're all doing while we eagerly await the game's completion.
When will we have some music tracks of Neverwinter to listen to? I'm a real sucker for game music and am a dork in that regard since I prefer to listen to notable game music like the Planescape Torment or Baulder's Gate 2 tracks over any top charted country or rock song. Some companies allowed downloadable tracks of their game while others offered purchasable OST. The latter is the more standard practice since producers figure they can make a few bucks of their fans which I suppose that is how it is.
Maybe you could at least get a track or two out there for free maybe... hint hint... nudge nudge.
Another question is will there be instruments playable by players, like how LotRO did? That was a great killing time tool and many times did I just ran past a player playing a tune or how players would organize a concert which I think every MMO should utilize as it brings the community closer together.
Yeah it was very surprising that when sometimes I would stand in meadows and press buttons randomly and furiously, how many people were to stop by and listen to it... it made me feel like a real bard even when I had no musical talent.
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After watching the SWTOR dev team completely and utterly screw up on of the best opportunities for audio in a game, it's really refreshing to hear that.
Yes I absolutely hated in SWTOR that you could hear companion and NPC conversations half way across the map as though you were standing right next to where the conversation was taking place. One of the worst examples of this was when you were entering Taris and the governor had a holo of her there and as you passed by it she would start her political speal and I could still hear that after I had taken an elevator to a different floor and was about to board my ship and take off from that planet...so sad because in past games Bioware always had good audio.
Geez, this is difficult because I'm not certain of what has been revealed to the public already. I certainly don't have one singularly memorable sound. But there are several that are my babies. Argh! and there is a specific instance that I'm very proud of the environment I did but I don't think I can talk about it because it hasn't been in any of the reveals. *sigh* Ask me this question again after launch.
Hm. Nothing like that really. Though I did use some pretty interesting techniques like manipulating voice files to create Some of the wizard powers. I like experimenting with kind of out of the ordinary stuff to see if anything sticks. It doesn't always work out as well as I had hoped but sometimes I find a gem. I know this is all very vague and unspecific and I apologize. I can't think of anything like your example at the moment.
I've been trying to get something akin to a developer blog going for some time. This is something both I and Dioxazine (concept artist) would love to see happen. Many of us here at Cryptic are fans and players at heart and it is so hard to pierce the thick Iron curtain that separates players from developers. When I was studying digital audio I always wanted more opportunities to see what real developers did as they worked on the games I loved and I found the amount of sources lacking or disappointing. However, as I said previously, marketing keeps tight control over what can be shown before launch and for good reason. So post launch it should be easier.
Hm. That would be nice. I used to be a fan of selling the soundtrack but for my part I think I have changed my stance since then. Sure we could make a few extra dollars selling the OST but really I don't think enough people would be interested in making it any kind of serious revenue stream. For my part, I say just give some of the best tracks out for free and let it serve as a marketing tool in and of itself.
I will try and bring up the idea of making tracks available as we near launch. However, please realize I have no say over pricing or whether or not PWE will decide to sell them or make them free. Or if they'll even go for the idea.
Unfortunately I haven't spent enough time in LotRO to be familiar with what you're talking about. It sounds like an interesting concept and one we might explore in the future. However this feature will not be in the game at launch.