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| [ goodies | dev diary | chapter six ] |
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| #6 |
Sounds like
a plan |
Having worked on many Worms games before this one, Bjorn Lynne (Audio Manager) started this project
with a pretty good overview already of what would be required. So unlike with other games, he hasn't
really done much experimenting so far on this project, but rather got straight down to the business
of producing the audio.
Audio for games is usually broken down into 3 elements: (1)sound effects, (2)voices and
(3)music.
As the composer, the sound designer and the voice co-ordinator on this project, it's pretty much up
to Bjorn to get all these elements together - and that includes actually writing and producing the
music, designing the sound effects and getting the voices organised and recorded.
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developing the
Worms style |
Over the years, the Worms series has sort of developed it's own in-game music style. The aim is to
create music that doesn't get too distracting, but at the same time doesn't lull you to sleep either.
The ambient music style that has developed over the years is made up of a pretty 'transparent'
production with relatively few instruments scattered here and there. A good round of Worms can last
20 minutes+ and a tournament can last, well, hours (or days!), so it's important not to fill the ears
with thick sound textures, and also to have plenty of music so that you don't hear the same bits over
and over again.
There are 4 different 'world types' in Worms 3D, and Bjorn has set himself the target of 4 different
4-minute pieces for each of them - 4x4x4 = 64 minutes of background music, and he's trying very hard
not to repeat many parts even inside each 4-minute track. Then there is always the intro music, music
and jingles for various screens, awards, and so on. So all in all there's going to be approx. 80-90
minutes of music in this game.
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| new Wormsong? |
People have been asking whether this game will have a new 'Wormsong' like the popular cult hit from the
original 1995 Worms game, with funny worms voices on the chorus etc. We haven't completely made up our
minds about this, but we like the idea :-)
This is the main forum thread regarding the new Wormsong ::
[ New Wormsong thread @ forum.team17.com ]
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| voices |
Work on the voices has already started as well. We haven't hired any professional voice actors yet
(that comes later) but the guys in Game Design have scripted a whole bunch of seriously funny, all
new voice sets, and we have used some in-house people from Team17 to record 'placeholder' voices for
now. These were recorded mainly as tests and just something to give our worms a little bit of character
and personality while we are working on the game. However, some of the in-house recordings we have done
have actually turned out very good, so it's possible we will end up using some of them in the final
product!
Obviously, plenty more will be added by professional actors as well. We want to get as many different
people as possible recording voices for the game - again, to give plenty of variety and
lastability.
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| sound effects |
As far as the sound effects go, this work hasn't really started properly yet. A few sounds were created
early on because we felt they were needed right away to get a feeling for how a weapon or effect would
work in the game... and just seeing it without any sound didn't really give a good impression. The main
body of the sound effect work started at the beginning of 2003.
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here's what Bjorn
has to say |
"Working on all 3 elements of the audio production represents a lot of work, but at the same time it
gives me control over the 'total balance' of audio in the game, which I appreciate. It also makes my work less
repetitive, because after I've finished a piece of background music, I can go and work on the voices or the sounds
for a few days, whilst trying to rebuild a little inspiration and imagination to for the next bit of music.
Typically after I've done a 4-minute piece of ambient music with no or little repetition, my head is pretty empty
and I need a little time to find some more musical ideas!
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The equipment seen
in the photos |
Roland JX8P analogue synth and the ever present Kurzweil K2500 synth/sampler. I've had the Kurzweil K2500 for many
years, it's got all the optional add-ons (SCSI, sampler, CDROM, harddisk, etc.), it's my main workstation in all my
audio work, I call her 'Big Mama' and I wouldn't change it for any other piece of equipment!
In the upright rack closest to the camera are (from top) a Yamaha VL-70m virtual analog modelling synth, a Technics
SV-DA10 DAT recorder, an Ensoniq SQ-R+ synth, a Novation BassStation synth, and an Alesis DM5 drum synth.
In the upright rack on the other side of the monitor are (from top) a Spirit Folio Si mixer (used as a sub-mixer for
the synths), a Novation Supernova synth, a Digitech Studio Quad effect unit, a Behringer Ultrafex II effect unit, an
Alesis 3630 compressor (alas, broken at the moment), and a Fostex D-5 DAT recorder.
Just over my left shoulder you can spot the Korg 168RC SoundLink digital mixing desk, connected to the PC with optical
lightpipe going into an Aardvark Aark24 soundcard. You can also just about see the neck of my Gibson Epiphone Les Paul
guitar!
As you can see, I've got one set of proper loudspeakers and one set of small multimedia speakers (stood on top of the
real speaker), this is so I can monitor my music and sound on two different speaker setups to make sure it sounds okay
on different speakers. I am also currently setting up additional speakers for surround monitoring, so that I can mix
and monitor the ambient soundscapes in Dolby Surround.
Just to mention the software, I use Cake walk SONAR 2 for music composing, and Vegas Pro and SoundForge for sound effects
design and processing.
Finally, over my right shoulder you can spot my 'other' PC where I do everything non-audio, like email, web browsing,
games, etc."
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| [ goodies | dev diary ] |
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| Development Diaries |
We plan diaries right up until the end of the project and they will
appear every week or two, so keep popping back for updates. The great
thing about the diary is that so much just isn't written yet!
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| overview |
The graphics and images shown in the diaries so far don't come anywhere
close to where we are currently in terms of visual style.
The first few chapters merely serve to bring us 'up to date' to how we got
where we are. It's envisaged that we will catch up with current progress
by Christmas and the diaries will then mirror recent developments rather
than things from the distant past.
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.wav voices
right/option-click and
'save target as'
Decompress using
Winzip/Stuffit or similar.
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.avi animation 'Taxi Driver' Worm
right/option-click and
'save target as'
Decompress using
Winzip/Stuffit or similar.
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