gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog

[gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog]

Foley & Voice-over work

After organising my found samples I then considered what sounds on my spotting list could be record and designed from scratch, such as sword “swooshes” and gold related noises. A Foley studio session was then booked an a bag full of object I deemed would be useful was brought. 

When recording I employed Foley recording techniques I obtained when attending Martin’s “First Steps In Foley” lecture during continuing development week at Futureworks, as well as some useful tips from  Vanessa Theme Ament’s book “The Foley Grail”.

This technique, often referred to as “low, mid high”, involved using 3 condenser microphones; the first placed low down or in very close proximity to the sound source. The second microphone being placed in mid range proximity to the sound source and the third being place higher up or in far range proximity to the sound source. 

Additionally a voice over recording session was booked to capture any vox sounds I wished to obtain, such as in-game minion grunts etc. My colleague Robert Garner provide numerous voice acting performances whist I recorded in the controll room, using the SSL 400 console. A  Neumann U 87 condenser microphone was used to capture the high fidelity audio samples and a pop shield was used reduce  'plosive' sounds and other unwanted noises on each capture. 

Once my sound sources had been successfully recorded I then took them to my chosen D.A.W to be further deigned, manipulated, removed any unwanted noise  (using iZotope’s RX6 plugin) and bounced to the appropriate audio specifications needed for use within Unreal Engine 4.  

[gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog]

With the aid of my spotting list I began to gather and collect a large number of samples I believed would be useful from the Futureworks simple library and other useful websites such as www.youtube.com and www.freesound.org. 

Once gathered I then employed project organisation techniques we had learnt from Cormac during optional lectures and from Martin during Mixing For Picture lectures: All sample where placed in folders that would be quick and effect to locate when needed.  

Files names where applied by adapting industry recognised file naming convention techniques. The purpose of this is to ease cross communication between departments when working on large projects as well as ease personal workflow.

[gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog]

After playing the game two or three times I began to make a “spotting list” for my game level project using Microsoft XL. This sheet allows me to keep well organised within my project. Using this method I can see a check list of sounds I desire to obtain and create,as well as take note of what sounds have been implemented and other important information about the working project. 

[gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog]

Today I played the game we have been tasked with working on. The game was simple yet fun, reminding me of tower defence mini games we would play on break times at school. I got a Lord Of The Rings feel from this game inspiring  me to begin researching and collecting sounds of a similar nature. The game also reminded me of Blizzard’s card based mobile game Hearthstone and with this I will be taking inspiration for the minions voice acting design and other interactive elements such as the gold collection. 

[gamelevelunreale4-a1-blog]

Game Level_Unreal Engine 4._A1

Hi there,

My name is Daniel and I am a student at Manchester’s “Futureworks” creative are university. As part of my studies on the BSc (Hons) audio engineering & production course we have been tasked with designing and implementing immersive sound content for a game level. 

I will be blogging my progression as I gain knowledge  in this area and preform tasks that will equate in the completion of the modal.

The purpose of this bog is to recall knowledge when needed and shear my findings, progression, helpful information and sources with other individuals taking on similar tasks.     

Please enjoy and note that any useful content that you may be able to share with me will be greatly appreciated