Forums » Suggestions
One of the areas where i've seen Vendetta Online consistently rate weak is the sound effects.
Sound is a tough thing to judge in Vendetta Online: Sound effects should never be overbearing (particularly in a space game where everything would be silent if it were true to life) but it should add to the immersiveness of the game, drawing you into its world. In some cases VO does this perfectly; flying past a station you can hear the deep thrumming of the machinery, busy chirping of telemetry, even the faint buzzing of neon signs and advertisements. In other cases, however, the sound is painfully inadequate. Sometimes you expect to hear something but will wonder if your volume is turned on because nothing happens. Different weapons will often times sound exactly the same, making you wonder if the same sound effect has been recycled to save time.
Now I know sound is probably not a huge priority for the devs atm since they are only four people and most games would have an entire team devoted entirely to sound effects. However, I thought I would offer a few suggestions to improve the sound effects in this game. I have divided them into three categories: sounds that are painfully missing, sounds that would be nice to have, and existing sounds that could be improved.
Sounds that feel like they are missing:
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*Collisions: this is #1 on my list. You smack into a roid or station entry dock, the force of the collision spins your ship around, and you hear... absolutely nothing. There oughta be several different noises of titanium scraping against rock or metal.
*In-system warp: Your ship zooms off into the distance, jumping to FTL speeds leaving behind a trail of fire, and you hear... nada. In-system jumps could be so much more dramatic without adding any graphical effects if they only had *sound* to them. Wormhole jumps are slow and peaceful, like ripples on a pond, and I don't think they necessarily need sounds... but I feel like in-system warps are painfully silent.
*Mining beams: This is another sound effect that feels like its missing.. but would have to be treated very carefully. Since mining is an continuous process, god help us if the sound is annoying or grating. However so far Vendetta has done very well with subtle background sounds (e.g. the neon signs or spinning wheels) and I think having a low, almost harmonic thrum to the mining beams coupled with the occasional sound of chunks of rock breaking or cracking would add a lot.
Sounds that would be nice to have:
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*Klaxon alarm: this alarm would basically tell the pilot "attention: you are about to have the s*** blown out of you." It would sound in two different cases: A) if the strike force is deployed against you and B) when another player initially attacks you.
*Low hull alert: if your hull drops to 15% or so, I could imagine a sexy female voice saying something like "Alert, hull critical." ...or just a simple tone.
*Low ammo/Ammo depleted alerts: same as above, one when you have just a few shots left and one when your ammo is depleted.
*Ion storm ambient sounds: It would be nice to have some ambient noises when in an ion storm... I can imagine a low, dull roar almost like a faroff waterfall, a steady wind, or ocean surf... along with an occasional crackle of static or thunder.
*More varied weapon sounds: Different shot types could sound different as they passed by instead of the standard buzz or roar. Screamer rockets should *scream*! Gauss bolts could hiss and fizzle, projectile weapons like the gatling or the flechette could sound like a whining bullet as they passed.
*Low hull damage sounds: if your hull goes red, with every hit you take there could be sounds of pieces of your ship breaking off... flames crackling... circuits sparking and what not.
Existing sounds that could be improved:
---------------------------------
*The "doot"! hit alert: I love this sound, but I think it's an acquired taste. Perhaps replace it with a less overbearing tone, or have an option to turn it on or off.
*Railgun: for a weapon that does more than 1,000 damage, the railgun sounds weak... almost strangled imho.
*The menu button sounds: when you move your mouse over a button in the menu, there's a little atonal "bip." I don't have a problem with this sound, but I have heard some people complain about it... perhaps it could be improved when the GUI is redone.
That's all I can think of right now.. feel free to add your own sound suggestions.
Sound is a tough thing to judge in Vendetta Online: Sound effects should never be overbearing (particularly in a space game where everything would be silent if it were true to life) but it should add to the immersiveness of the game, drawing you into its world. In some cases VO does this perfectly; flying past a station you can hear the deep thrumming of the machinery, busy chirping of telemetry, even the faint buzzing of neon signs and advertisements. In other cases, however, the sound is painfully inadequate. Sometimes you expect to hear something but will wonder if your volume is turned on because nothing happens. Different weapons will often times sound exactly the same, making you wonder if the same sound effect has been recycled to save time.
Now I know sound is probably not a huge priority for the devs atm since they are only four people and most games would have an entire team devoted entirely to sound effects. However, I thought I would offer a few suggestions to improve the sound effects in this game. I have divided them into three categories: sounds that are painfully missing, sounds that would be nice to have, and existing sounds that could be improved.
Sounds that feel like they are missing:
--------------------------------
*Collisions: this is #1 on my list. You smack into a roid or station entry dock, the force of the collision spins your ship around, and you hear... absolutely nothing. There oughta be several different noises of titanium scraping against rock or metal.
*In-system warp: Your ship zooms off into the distance, jumping to FTL speeds leaving behind a trail of fire, and you hear... nada. In-system jumps could be so much more dramatic without adding any graphical effects if they only had *sound* to them. Wormhole jumps are slow and peaceful, like ripples on a pond, and I don't think they necessarily need sounds... but I feel like in-system warps are painfully silent.
*Mining beams: This is another sound effect that feels like its missing.. but would have to be treated very carefully. Since mining is an continuous process, god help us if the sound is annoying or grating. However so far Vendetta has done very well with subtle background sounds (e.g. the neon signs or spinning wheels) and I think having a low, almost harmonic thrum to the mining beams coupled with the occasional sound of chunks of rock breaking or cracking would add a lot.
Sounds that would be nice to have:
-----------------------------
*Klaxon alarm: this alarm would basically tell the pilot "attention: you are about to have the s*** blown out of you." It would sound in two different cases: A) if the strike force is deployed against you and B) when another player initially attacks you.
*Low hull alert: if your hull drops to 15% or so, I could imagine a sexy female voice saying something like "Alert, hull critical." ...or just a simple tone.
*Low ammo/Ammo depleted alerts: same as above, one when you have just a few shots left and one when your ammo is depleted.
*Ion storm ambient sounds: It would be nice to have some ambient noises when in an ion storm... I can imagine a low, dull roar almost like a faroff waterfall, a steady wind, or ocean surf... along with an occasional crackle of static or thunder.
*More varied weapon sounds: Different shot types could sound different as they passed by instead of the standard buzz or roar. Screamer rockets should *scream*! Gauss bolts could hiss and fizzle, projectile weapons like the gatling or the flechette could sound like a whining bullet as they passed.
*Low hull damage sounds: if your hull goes red, with every hit you take there could be sounds of pieces of your ship breaking off... flames crackling... circuits sparking and what not.
Existing sounds that could be improved:
---------------------------------
*The "doot"! hit alert: I love this sound, but I think it's an acquired taste. Perhaps replace it with a less overbearing tone, or have an option to turn it on or off.
*Railgun: for a weapon that does more than 1,000 damage, the railgun sounds weak... almost strangled imho.
*The menu button sounds: when you move your mouse over a button in the menu, there's a little atonal "bip." I don't have a problem with this sound, but I have heard some people complain about it... perhaps it could be improved when the GUI is redone.
That's all I can think of right now.. feel free to add your own sound suggestions.
I see a contest in all this. Making good sounds can be time consuming I would imagine. I know how long it can take to find the right thing to make the right noise and not make it sound too cheesy, and make sure taht you can listen to it 100,000 times while you bot for 5 hours on end trying to get that next level. But, on the other hand, implimenting a sound should be fairly easy, so why not put up a prize of some sort for people who submit a sound, perhaps a free month or something. It would improve the gameplay, and hopefully get better ratings and reviews. With the whole community searching for the perfect sound, I see potential for some great submissions.
Yeah the sound in vendetta is ...CRAP...
Most of the weapons should have their sound changed/reworked.
When you have no more ammo it should say a 'CLICK' when you try to fire..and so forth...
Most of the weapons should have their sound changed/reworked.
When you have no more ammo it should say a 'CLICK' when you try to fire..and so forth...
With the mining beam sounds it would be cool if they each had a slightly different sound, and when you equip 2 or more you get some kind of beat frequency oscillation (BFO) going on, different frequencies with different combinations. BFOs can have pschyo-acoustical effects on the human body and brain, esp. when they are at frequencies below the human threshold of hearing.
Or maybe they could just sort of hum. :)
Or maybe they could just sort of hum. :)
I agree that sound needs improvemnt. I especially agree that the impact "doot" should be toggleable. As a matter of prefernce I find it distracting.
THE DOOT SHOULD BE THE QUAKE 3 DONK!!! Out of every game I've played, the quake 3 donk is the most soothing sound ever.
I recently showed Ghost's video to a friend of mine and the only negative comment he made was when he heard the DOOT. He said something along the lines of, "Omg! Wtf is that sound?! Is that when someone hits you? Ugh!"
So yeah, something a bit more "soothing" might do wonders for the player retention rate.
So yeah, something a bit more "soothing" might do wonders for the player retention rate.
Hey! I kind of like the hit confirmation sound. It's totally original. And yeah, I like the Quake 3 one too.
:-P
But yeah, I think the weakest spot is in collisions (plasma on metal, metal on metal, rock on metal, etc.). It feels like we're flying rubber ships or something when we bump into something. Having loud scraping metal noises will definitely coax the player into avoiding asteroids and objects altogether.
And the warping animation could use a delayed sonic boom or something. I don't know, something really loud and with a lot of bass. And even though this is sort of off topic, I wish the warping animation was done a little better. The particles are alright I guess, but I'd rather see a ghosting or motion blur effect (which is very much possible to do without a framerate hit, as seen in older games like Oni).
Anyway, I think Phaserlight pretty much covered everything in terms of sound FX requests. Kudos.
EDIT: Oh yeah and the engines! Maybe each ship can have a distinct sound they make. That might allow you to help identify them better. Some of the more threatening ships can possibly give out a louder noise so they can warn people from a distance. Realistic? Not exactly. But very cool!
:-P
But yeah, I think the weakest spot is in collisions (plasma on metal, metal on metal, rock on metal, etc.). It feels like we're flying rubber ships or something when we bump into something. Having loud scraping metal noises will definitely coax the player into avoiding asteroids and objects altogether.
And the warping animation could use a delayed sonic boom or something. I don't know, something really loud and with a lot of bass. And even though this is sort of off topic, I wish the warping animation was done a little better. The particles are alright I guess, but I'd rather see a ghosting or motion blur effect (which is very much possible to do without a framerate hit, as seen in older games like Oni).
Anyway, I think Phaserlight pretty much covered everything in terms of sound FX requests. Kudos.
EDIT: Oh yeah and the engines! Maybe each ship can have a distinct sound they make. That might allow you to help identify them better. Some of the more threatening ships can possibly give out a louder noise so they can warn people from a distance. Realistic? Not exactly. But very cool!
EDIT: Oh yeah and the engines! Maybe each ship can have a distinct sound they make. That might allow you to help identify them better. Some of the more threatening ships can possibly give out a louder noise so they can warn people from a distance. Realistic? Not exactly. But very cool!
Hehehehe, the Valk should sound like a TIE fighter!
Hehehehe, the Valk should sound like a TIE fighter!
YES.
How to make space battles more exciting by an extra 50%: Sound.
How to make space battles more exciting by an extra 50%: Sound.
This goes under the "more/varied weapon sounds" category, but it would be great to have a charging sound that gradually increased in pitch as the charged cannon is charging. This would not only sound cool but would be helpful in determining when the charged cannon has reached maximum charge.
one thing... if we get collision sounds, make it so warping into something doesn't kill my speakers, 'mkay?
/me imagines the sound of a 67000kgs behemoth warping into a roid.
/me imagines the sound of a 67000kgs behemoth warping into a roid.
> Hehehehe, the Valk should sound like a TIE fighter!
Very yes.
-:sigma.SB
Very yes.
-:sigma.SB
can obsidian do the low hull alert voice?
I'm afraid I can't do that Dave.
(whenever UncleDave wants to duel anyone in his SCP.)
=)
(whenever UncleDave wants to duel anyone in his SCP.)
=)
Daisy daisy?
...my mind is going....
Just a thought here...
sound doesn't travel in a vacuum. If you colide, then it travels through your ship, but most of the sounds we hear would never be heard in space.
Don't get me wrong, I like that all the sounds can be heard.
sound doesn't travel in a vacuum. If you colide, then it travels through your ship, but most of the sounds we hear would never be heard in space.
Don't get me wrong, I like that all the sounds can be heard.
VincentV
I recall from another thread that the reason we hear sounds when we shouldn't was from the ship's computer generating feedback noise, so that the pilot's wouldn't go insane from the constant silence :)
Plus, it's a sci-fi game, the more cool tech/sci-fi/Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon sounds, the better :D
I recall from another thread that the reason we hear sounds when we shouldn't was from the ship's computer generating feedback noise, so that the pilot's wouldn't go insane from the constant silence :)
Plus, it's a sci-fi game, the more cool tech/sci-fi/Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon sounds, the better :D
Not so much that we'd go insane, just that we'd be throwing away an entire sense with instinctual cues. We hear a shot to the right and dodge left instantly. The sensors know it, why shouldn't you?