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Develop Audio Track Returns for 2013
Sound designers representing major players and Indies congregated at the Hilton Brighton Metropole to discuss the future of game audio, writes Jory MacKay.
THE EIGHTH annual Develop Conference attracted more than 1,600 developers to the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Brighton. Over 90 sessions took place during the three days with keynotes from speakers such as PS4 Lead System Architect Mark Cerny and Microsoft Lift London’s Lee Schuneman. The last day of the
conference featured the annual Audio Track – a full day of sessions dedicated to game audio hosted by BAFTA Jury member John Broomhall. While speakers tackled a range of topics one theme carried throughout the conference: creativity. With next-gen consoles on
everyone in the industry’s mind, the focus has almost solely been on tech specs and visuals. Yet this year’s Audio Track speakers were united in their drive to strip game audio of its utilitarian label and show how audio, just as much as animation, can help to build an immersive game environment. The conference began with
a session by Rebecca Parnell of Magicbrew, who used examples from inside and outside the industry including Portal, BioShock, and The Godfather to show how using acousmatic sound (audio
18 August 2013
where the originating source is not seen) is a highly effective way of adding wider context to the player’s immediate view. Next up, Thomas Bärtschi,
Audio Director at IO interactive, ran the crowd through the challenges that came up while developing Hitman: Absolution. The award-winning game took six years to make, during which time the IO designed brand new tech from scratch while developing the game at the same time – a process Bärtschi described as “living in hell”. Yet despite all the issues,
Bärtschi explained how his team pushed to make audio an integral part of the game, even working with level designers and influencing gameplay based on their own assets. Bärtschi’s presentation was
followed by the duo of Sony Creative Group’s Senior Sound Designer Joanna Orland and Music Production Supervisor Jim Fowler, who spoke about how music and sound can work together. The pair worked together
on the Sony Wonderbook titles Book of Spells and Diggs Nightcrawler, where they placed importance on internal and external communication. According to them, by creating an ‘audio style guide’ for working with other
members of the audio team and defining a ‘common audio language’ for communication to external departments, they were able to gain influence and, like Bärtschi, have animation teams work to their audio assets. Following Orland and
Fowler, Kristin Quebe from Central Media for Microsoft Studios used Kinect: Star Wars as a case study of extreme
“I believe that video game audio hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible artistically.”
Chanel Summers
distributed development, with lessons on how to handle collaborating with multiple studios around the world on one project. After, Chanel Summers, co-founder of Syndicate 17, moved the discussion away from individual games and looked at the bigger picture of game audio. “Unfortunately game audio still trails other art forms when it comes to artistic expression,” she said. “Why haven’t we seen aesthetic innovation in the audio within
video games in the same way that we have with graphics or gameplay? I believe that video game audio hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible artistically. “As in any art form real innovation in game audio doesn’t come from the technology but rather from the creativity and experimentation of the artists who wield it.” Summers’ talk was aptly
followed by Ninja Theory’s Audio Lead, Tom Colvin, who argued for a standardised middleware option to allow game sound designers to spend more time doing creative audio work and less time worrying about how to implement it.
Capping off the day’s
presentations was a keynote from Microsoft Studio’s Head of Audio, Mark Yeend, who finally tackled the issue on everyone’s mind – next gen. “As creative people the ceiling has been raised,” said Yeend about the next wave of consoles. “The limitations that we used to encounter game after game have been lifted. “We need to move from designing sounds, designing assets, designing play events with behaviours, to designing systems – broad systems – almost like AI for sound.
Microsoft Central Media’s Head of Audio and Audio Track keynote, Mark Yeend
“I’m talking about audio
systems that can tap into the more advanced game systems that we’ve seen in recent years. Our art teams are 10 years ahead of us and we have to catch up.” Yeend rallied for the game audio industry to change its attitude, and focus on creativity to enhance IPs. “We are next gen. Not the
hardware. Not the middleware. Those are just tools. We need to raise our game and focus on what we can control, and that is ourselves, the ideas we generate and the processes that we embrace.” The 2014 Develop
Conference returns to Brighton on 8-10 July.
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