Audio For Games Evaluation

This module was aimed at creating, editing and implementing audio for games. We were tasked with creating audio for our UDK levels and editing it to fit the theme of the levels. Then we had to place the audio around our levels, and using the sound cue editors and effects within UDK, create atmosphere to our game level.

With this project, one of the highlights for me was learning how to edit audio. This was completely new concept for me, as I have never touched on anything like this before. I found using Adobe Audition to be easy and effective, and I really enjoyed the teaching method used in our lessons. Once I had learnt how to edit audio, I found it particularly easy to get things sounding how they wanted. I found it particularly easy to mould abstract sounds into sounds that I wanted. Once in UDK I felt equally as competent. I found it easy to place audio, and modify settings such as the attenuation. I didn't really encounter any issues whilst building a sound cue.

Like with every project, there were issues. One such issue was with placing a sound cue on a trigger or object via kismet. Whilst linking the sound to the trigger, the sound would play once you walked through the trigger. However, none of the attenuation settings that were applied to the sound cue would have any effect.  This is something that I feel needed to be expanded on during our lectures.

Another issue I had during the project was allocating time to edit the audio. I recorded enough sounds to go in my level; however I didn’t edit or even use some. I think this was due to the fact that my attention was focused on other projects, and as a result, I didn’t have as much edited audio as I would have like.

The last issue with my project was when I came to placing the sounds within UDK. Placing and positioning the sounds was fine, however when it came to figuring out the volumes of everything. For example, I have a radio model in the scene that has a trigger to play music. Where the model is positioned is near some other triggers that are linked to sounds. If you end up hitting one of these triggers whilst playing the radio, the sounds meld into a mess, because of the volume levels. I couldn’t figure out volumes for each item.

Overall, I feel that the audio did the job. Whilst playing through my level I did get the effect of being in a mine shaft. I feel though that some of the effects could have been tweaked slightly to sound better. For instance, the falling rock sound sounded a bit more like fireworks than falling rocks. I think the project could have benefited from being a couple of weeks longer, allowing me to tweak and maybe even edit the audio some more. If I were to do this project again, the main thing that I would change is the amount of focus I gave this module.  

Creating The Rock Fall Sound

As my level was consisting of a mine shaft, I thought it would be appropriate to have some falling rocks in the background to help add atmosphere to the scene. To do this, I started off with a base audio recording of some stones I picked up off the ground and dropped. This can be viewed in my recordings folder under the name of Dropping Stones.

I took this sound into Adobe Audition, and the proceeded with my first step. I started cutting up the audio and pasting it, until I had a sound that sounded a little more like rocks falling from a height. 

After this, I simply added a Full Reverb effect to the track and played around with the absorbency levels. This created almost a boomy, echo type sound which was ideal.  

Creating the Screeching Metal Sound

To create the metal screeching sound I first started off with the door creaking sound that can be found in my Audio recording folders. I used this as a base sound because it sounded as though it was really screeching. But to suit my needs, I needed to modify it to sound more metallic. So to start with, I started cutting and pasting the Audio, to get the desired effect.

After I'd got the sound how I  wanted it in terms of sequence, I then decided to make a metallic sound effect. For this, I used a Full Reverb effect, to make sure it echoed. Then to make it sound like a shrill metallic sound I used the Guitar Suite effect.In this, I played around with the distortion and the compressor, as well as the amplifier until I achieved a sound I was happy with.  

UDK Attenuation Radius

Attenuation radius is an important factor when dealing with sound in UDK. This allows us to set up the distance in which the sound is heard at. This is done very simply. 

To modify your attenuation radius, drag the sound file into your scene. When you do this, you'll notice, it is encompassed by circles. This is the attenuation radius. Whatever is outside of this attenuation radius is unaffected by sound, thus is will not be heard in these areas.

Double click on the speaker icon in your UDK level, and you should be presented with a small window. 

The top attribute should be labeled, Ambient Sound Simple. If you then click the down button, you'll be presented with the Ambient Properties tab. Once you're here, you'll need to click the down arrow on this, and all of the properties should be revealed to you. Simply open the attenuation tab and make sure attenuation is clicked on. Then, you can modify the values of the radius min and max to suit your needs. When you do this, you'll notice that the circles around the speaker change size.  

Creating a Sound Cue for UDK

Creating a Sound Cue for UDK is a particularly handy skill to have in your arsenal when building a living game-world. A sound cue allows you a bundle multiple sounds and effects into one file. This makes it easier to add sound to your level without having a billion sound files everywhere.

To create a sound cue, you need to start in the UDK asset window. Make sure nothing is selected, and right click in the asset window. You'll see a list of options appear. From this list you want to select new sound cue. When you select this, you'll see that a window pops up. This is the sound cue editor. This is where you'll be adding all the sounds and effects to the sound cue. At it's current state, it's pretty useless, because you need to add sound into it. To do this simply go to the asset browser and click on a sound, so that is highlighted. Then, switch back to the sound cue editor and right click, and you'll see the option too add the sound. Once this is done, the sound cue editor should look like this. It's important to note that you can add multiple sounds in by repeating this process.

Now, the sound cue will not play any sound in this state. This is because the nodes are not connected. to connect the nodes, simply click on the black box by the speaker and drag a line to the other black box. When you release they'll be connected. To test this, once connected simply click the furthest button to the right on the top bar of the screen.

Now, that the basics of a sound cue has been covered, it's time to add in a little more complexity. To add other effects, you simply right click anywhere in the sound cue, and it'll bring up a list of effects. If you click one of these effects, you should notice a new node appears denoting to that effect. Again, you will need to join this up for it to have any effect. 

 If you want to edit an effect, you simply click that effect, and in the bottom window, an attributes box opens. The attribues tend to vary depending on the effect selected. Once you have finished editing, you simply just exit the sound cue editor, and you'll notice that in the asset window, you'll have a new sound cue.

Audio Asset List

• Pickaxe
• Small rock fall to help add atmosphere
• Creaking wood
• Chain sounds for Elevator
• Metal Hinge sound for gate
• Gravel Footsteps
• Heavy Metal music for Radio Easter Egg
• Metal scraping sounds for cart going along rails.
• Door creaking sound.

Importing Audio Into UDK

Importing audio into UDK is a fairly simplistic process. If you're experienced with importing models into UDK, this is a fairly simplistic process.

Firstly you'll need the correct format for the audio files. This is because UDK will not import anything other than WAV files. This, however isn't just enough. UDK will only accept a certain bit rate. So whatever audio editing software you are using you need to export the WAV file as a 16bit.

Once this is done, you'll need to then open the file in UDK. To do this, open UDK and click on the asset browser represented by the small 'U' along the top bar on the screen. Once this is open, at the bottom of the window, you should see an import button. Click this. 

After clicking import a load screen should appear. Simply locate the audio file you have exported from your editing software and load. When you load into UDK, you'll be presented with a small white box. You need to click the button that says 'Okay to all' and click Okay on any pop-ups. Once this is done, your sound has been successfully imported into UDK as a Sound Wave file.