Stuart Denman and Tim Ebling of Surreal have been kind enough to
answer a few questions that we had on the audio in Drakan: Order of the Flame.
3DSS: Thanks again for
taking the time to do this interview. Perhaps you can start out be telling our readers a
little about your background and your current role with Surreal?
Stuart Denman: I'd been programming graphics, sound, and games on my own for almost 14
years. After graduating with a Computer Engineering degree (specializing in computer
graphics) at the University of Washington, I started Surreal with three other
founders. I am Vice President and Technical Director of Surreal and I am Lead
Programmer on Drakan.
Tim Ebling: My
professional background is primarily in the sciences, namely physics and physical
oceanography. Before that, I was a hardcore gamer and game programmer back when the
Atari 800 was the machine of choice, so working for Surreal is really an opportunity for
me to get back to my roots. I'm currently responsible for nearly all the programming
related to player systems in Drakan, so Rynn and Arokh could be considered my
"babies" :) I'm also acting as musical producer and co-composer for the
game.
3DSS: Thanks guys! So how long has Drakan
been in development and when do you anticipate its release?
Stuart Denman: The
technology behind Drakan has been in development for almost three years, but the game
itself has only really come together in the last year and a half. It's slated to be
released in May of this year.
3DSS: Getting right into the sound related
questions. I understand that you are using DirectMusic for a sound track in Drakan.
Tim Ebling: Yes, we
are using DirectMusic for Drakan.
3DSS: Why did you
decide to go with DirectMusic instead of a redbook audio sound track?
Tim Ebling: Deciding on a musical format was certainly a difficult
choice, as there are distinct pros and cons for each of them. Although still an
attractive choice, redbook was turned down as an alternative primarily for two reasons:
first, the inevitable seek time problem when changing or looping tracks, and second,
limited space on the CD-ROM (Drakan is after all quite an epic game!)
DirectMusic offers a number of advantages
including low memory overhead, high performance mixing, easy integration with DirectSound,
and a great degree of control of the music's playback. In Drakan we use this control
primarily to create smooth transitions between musical pieces, based on the player's
actions and movement.
3DSS: Still on the sound track questions,
personally I find that most of the time, if I am going for a truly immersive experience, I
turn off the music so as to emphasize the environmental effects. Can you briefly give the
pros and cons of sound tracks as you see it?
Tim Ebling: Sure :)
Obviously most of us don't have personal soundtracks following us around, creating
music for our daily lives (unless you're Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show"), so
turning the music off reduces any game to its most realistic state. However, as
anyone who's muted the musical score from a Hollywood movie knows, having a good musical
soundtrack is essential
for providing an emotional context within any interactive experience.
Everything else in a game (graphics, sound effects, etc.) provides the rational part of
the brain what it needs, but leaves the emotional part of the brain out completely -
that's the basic purpose of the musical score.
3DSS: The game world for Drakan seems
incredibly rich with potential environmental effects. I have read that the game will
take place in caves, on mountains, in river valleys and more, not to mention all the
aerial aspects of dragon flight. So what type of special audio effects will Drakan
utilize to emphasize these environments?
Stuart Denman: Caves
are emphasized in Drakan by using varying echoing effects that depend on the size of the
caves. When the camera goes underwater, sounds are muffled with filtering effects
and underwater sounds. High above the ground, the wind whistles by to give an awesome
sense of height.
3DSS: There are some neat effects over at Psygnosis's Drakan web
site. How are you generating all of those sound effects and can you tell us your
favorite effects so far?
Stuart Denman: This question makes me laugh. Those sounds on the Drakan web site are
HORRIBLE! Marketing took those from a very early version of the game, and the
sounds have changed completely. The game sounds 100 times better than that, I
swear! In the current build of the game, anyway, my favorite sounds are the
environmental sounds. We have strange sounds in the background that really set the
mood, and give a feeling of tension throughout the game.
3DSS: I have read that Drakan supports full
3D Sound with Doppler effects and will support both the DS3D with EAX extensions and A3D.
I have some specific questions around 3D audio which now follow.
How long has positional audio been in the plans?
Stuart Denman: It's
been in our plans since we first heard about 3D sound a couple of years back.
3DSS:
Have any 3d sound games influenced your decision to use positional sound in Drakan?
Stuart Denman: No games that I've played have had good 3D sound until
just recently with Unreal and Half-Life.
3DSS: How do you see positional audio
benefiting game play in Drakan?
Stuart Denman: Tremendously.
Positional audio creates a sense of "being there" that normal stereo
sound doesn't. Added with environmental audio effects, we can create a world around
the player.
3DSS: Will you be
doing the Doppler effects or more in software for those people who have not purchased 3D
sound cards?
Stuart Denman: Software
audio supports volume, pitch change, panning, and Doppler effects through DirectSound3D.
3DSS: Following on that, which versions of
EAX and A3D will you be implementing and what lead to your choice of support? For
those audio features that do not make it in to the shipping version would you consider
following up with patches?
Stuart Denman: A3D and EAX support will definitely ship with the game. We may be
adding EAX 2.0 and A3D 2.0 if there is time, but most likely in a patch.
3DSS: Can you share any thoughts about the
two APIs in terms of the challenges or issues faced by the development team with respect
to implementation of each of the APIs?
Stuart Denman: Both
are very easy to implement. As a developer, EAX is the easiest to create instant
effects like caves and such with very little work. If you want better quality in the 3D
experience, but much more work, A3D 2.0 gives the programmer full control over
sound-reflecting surfaces.
3DSS: Are there any feature that you would
like to see added to the 3D sound APIs that you are supporting?
Stuart Denman: The next step will be programmable DSP effects, but to be
hardware-independent, some kind of standard script language would have to be developed for
this. Not an easy task and still be able to maintain performance.
3DSS: In today's 3D soundcards we are seeing
hardware 3d channel support ranging from 8 to 32. Has this range posed any challenges in
the development of Drakan?
Stuart Denman: Not
really. We try to keep our average number of sounds down to around 6 or 8 anyway.
When sounds beyond that number exceed the hardware's ability to mix, we mix them in
software, but that is a rare event. Drakan's sound engine prioritizes sounds so that
the most important sounds like voices always get played.
3DSS: Will the user be able to configure the
number of 3D streams that Drakan utilizes?
Stuart Denman: Users
can turn 3D sound on and off. But Drakan's sound engine will automatically determine
how many 3D sounds are available to mix in hardware. The rest of the sounds will be
mixed in 2D. But Drakan is also intelligent because it doesn't play things like
footsteps in 3D if there are too many other more important 3D sounds.
3DSS: What frequency will the audio be
recorded/playback at?
Stuart Denman: Most of
it is 22Khz playback, but some short, crisper sounds and music instruments will be played
at 44Khz.
3DSS: Finally, what is it that Drakan will
offer gamers to distinguish itself from all of the anticipated hot releases scheduled for
the next several months?
Stuart Denman: Besides
amazing 3D art, rich sound effects, powerful music, incredibly unique and fun gameplay,
and a gripping story? How about some of the best real-time colored lighting and
shadows ever seen? How about nearly 1000 individual skeletal animations for all the
characters in the game? We hope Drakan will break the bounds of what people expect
and create a new genre all its own.
3DSS: Can you tell us anything about your
plans beyond Drakan, and more specifically, is continued support for 3d sound in those
plans?
Stuart Denman: As is
so typical of game interviews, I can't talk yet about future projects that Surreal has in
the works, but I can say that Surreal is committed to providing cutting edge 3D audio
support in all of its games!
3DSS: Thanks a lot for taking the time for
answering our questions. Drakan is definitely on my most anticipated list!
If you have any question's or comments on this interview please
direct them to mark@3dsoundsurge.com.
All content, design and work is ©
2001 - 3D Sound Surge Please respect the copyrights of the articles and writers herein. All copyrights are enforced by 3DSS.