Level 3 Extended diploma in games design

Unit 73 Sound for computer games

Mood and Atmosphere

David Bowie Space oddity- Alan Wake

Mysterious

Relaxing

The song fits in very well as Alan Wake is a mysterious horror game

Relaxing guitar riffs over a heavy drum track

David Bowie’s Space Oddity starts playing at the end of Alan Wake and is a perfect choice of song as it is mysterious and becomes creepy towards the end of the song which fits into the theme of the game

Snake eater- Metal gear solid

Heavily inspired by the old James Bond theme songs

Great opening song for a game

The lyrics give some insight into the game

Strong vocals over a jazz/soul backing track

Snake eater opens Metal Gear Solid 3 with the heavily inspired by classic James Bond themes as it has a Jazz/Soul backing track with strong vocals. I believe that this track worked really well as it made the game seem like a classic spy movie with the musical opening.

Hans Zimmer- Mountains

Slow mysterious opening few instruments used

Builds up/ music becomes faster and faster

Heavy Organ makes the song feel more intense

This is one of the best uses of music that I have seen it is used in a scene where they are exploring a mysterious new planet the slow piano’s in the beginning is brilliant because it builds up tension as soon as the organ kick in on the song the action starts to happen in the scene

Last of us-Main theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97u-U0nvJM

Soft guitar

The guitar and cello give an earie and mysterious sounds

Foley is used with the sound of boots on gravel which bends in well with the other instruments

When the drum kicks in it make the song seemed more relaxed

This is the main theme of The Last of us I believe that this piece of music is a great introduction for the game it gives the game a mysterious and sad overtones which fits into the theme of the game. I enjoy this piece as it isn’t like other zombie games soundtracks which use music to build tension this piece of music builds a scene and tells a story

Ancora Qui Ennio Morricone- Django Unchained

Haunted Italian vocals

Soft/ mellow guitar riffs

Relaxing

This is used in the movie Django Unchained the song is made by Ennio Morricone who has worked on other western movies. The songs has haunting vocals in Italian and a soft guitar the song is used in a scene where the main character reunites with his wife. I think a song like this is perfect in that scene and is has a certain sense of unknowingness to it

Why is music and sound FX so important in game development?

Music is important when making a game as the right music can make a good game into a great game, the right music can make a scene in a game for example in a horror game music can be used to build up tension and to make the player fell more afraid, while music in action games and shooters music can be used to make the player seem more badass and stronger. Sound effects are important in game as they can immerse a player for example if something is set in the jungle and sound effects of different animals and the wind on the leafs can make a player really feel like they are in a jungle.

Waveform

Waveform is the shape and the form of a signal

Wavelength

Wavelength is the distance on any point of one wave to the next wave

Amplitude

Amplitude is a way to measure the change of a periodic value over a single time

Frequency

The number of regular occurrence of events over time     

Hertz

The SI unit of frequency equal to one circle per second

Decibel level

The decibel is a unit used to express the ratio of two values of a physical quantity

Sound generator

A sound generator is a vibrating object that produces sound

Foley

Foley is where every day sounds are used in songs and as sound effects. These sounds effects can be a range of different things like smashing glass and a door shutting.

Timbre

Timbre is the quality of a sound and its pitch and intensity  

Unit 73 sound for computer games

Understanding the use of sound and music in games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CFFkV7Zlds Metal gear solid 3 Bosses Death

In this scene a great bit of symbolism is used the boss who is one of the main antagonist in the game is killed in a field off white flowers. When the main character of the game is forced to finish her off The soft music that plays throughout the scene is barley even noticeable there is a field of white flowers starts to turn red a horse then comes into the field and stands over the body I believe that this symbolises regret and forgiveness as Snake Is forced to kill his mentor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZZx01wjn8 Duck hunt dog

This is one of the most iconic sounds in gaming due to how annoying it is this sound would play when the duck hunt dog would appear in the gaming. I believe that this is a good use of sound as due to the pitch and it sounding like a laugh it would annoy a player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMMCPeiQoc Far Cry 3

in this scene the player wakes up after being knocked out the sound used here when he wakes up is the voice of the main protagonist is being echoed there no music in the background in the first 40 seconds then the music starts to build up when the main protagonist gets angry is when the music becomes much more intense. The way that the main protagonist speaks as well at first he starts talking slow and normally then throughout the scene he starts to get more and more angry and intense.

Unit 73: Sounds for computer games

Exercise 1

When recording sounds you can use 2 different sound formats to record with one is uncompressed sound which sounds exactly like real sounds this is because the real sound waves have been captured and converted to a digital format, the problem with uncompressed files is that they can take up a lot of disc space. The other way is lossy compression this a file that sacrifices the quality of audio for a small file size but most of the time you won’t be able to hear the difference unless if the audio gets compressed to often or too much then you could start to hear weird sounds

Resolution can constrain file size as if a sound file has a high resolution and is uncompressed then it will take more space than a file with a lower resolution and is compressed

Bit-depth can constrain file size as the high bit a sound file has then the more DB it has for example a 24 bit audio file has 144db while a 16 bit audio file has 96db  

Sample rate is the number of samples of audio that are carried per second, sample rate is measured in KHz or MHz

Mono sound is a type of sound that is intended to be heard as a single channel of sound coming from one position

Stereo sound is the opposite of mono sound this type of sound gives the listen the impression that the sound is coming from the right, left and the middle

Surround sound is a type of sound that gives the listen the impression that the sound is coming from all around them    

Exercise 2

DSP is used in a whole range of different things including speech compression which are used in mobiles to make them more clearer

RAM can limit the recording of sound because if someone doesn’t have a large amount of RAM then it could be hard to use uncompressed audio files as these need RAM as they are uncompressed. When creating audio files RAM would be used to compress a file or to listen to an uncompressed file

 

File format can limit the recording of sound as if someone uses the wrong file format to save their audio files then they might not be able to play the file on different platforms. When recording audio you would use file formats to save the audio that you have just created for example if someone has just made a song then they would probably save it as an MP3 audio file.

Audio output can limit sound as is someone records a mono sound that they want to mix with it then it could be very difficult as mono sounds like it comes from one place. When someone is creating an audio file audio output is used to listen to the audio file.

A problem with Pulse code modulation is that large bandwidth is required when using PCM this is because each sample is digitally coded. When creating an audio file Pulse code modulation would be used in a range of ways including in compact discs and digital telephones 

Understanding hardware technologies for game platforms

Unit 20-Human Computer Interface

Human computer interface is everything that is used to interact with a video game. Human computer interface uses ergonomics to make sure that the controller is comfortable as possible another thing that they have to take into account when make the controller is making sure that it isn't to heavy for the gamer to use as this can cause problems for the gamer.

There is a huge range of different ways for a user to interact with video games one of them being controllers for consoles like the Xbox One/360 and the PS4/3 when design these controllers the companies will have to make sure about many different thing like the size of the controller and the placement of the buttons on the controller an example of this is the advance of the Xbox 360 controller to the Xbox One the controllers look very similar but the Xbox One controller has many improvements including impulse triggers and making it easier to grip. Joystick are not really used in mainstreaming gaming anymore but s things like flight simulator uses the joysticks, joysticks were mostly used in older games consoles like the Atari this was probably due to game being less complex back then.When designing the joystick companies would have to look at things like how long and wide the joystick should be to fit the the players hand and making sure that the placement of the buttons we're easy to reach for the player.

The keyboard and mouse when designed had to follow ergonomics with the size and shape of the keys and the mouse even the placement of the keys on some gaming keyboards. Some people who play PC games might prefer a keyboard to a controller due to the player being able to map their own keys. Wheel and pedals are mostly used in racing games players would use the steering wheel and pedals to feel more immersed in the game and to have better control over the game when designing the wheels and pedals the designers would have to find the perfect size for the player the designer would also have to make sure that the buttons on the wheel are in reach of the player.

Motion sensing devices like the Kinect would use ergonomics for different sizes of people meaning it needed to have something on it which would allow it to adjust if the person was to big or to small. Some people would use the Kinect over a controller as they might want to get more involved in the game or because they want to try and lose weight while playing the game. Motion controllers are normally used in games where you have to be more active or now the PlayStation Move controller is being used with the new PS-VR meaning people fell more involved in the game then they would when they use a controller. Both the Wii Mote and the PlayStation Move controller are both narrow with not many buttons this is because the controllers were designed for more active game like Wii Sports where buttons weren't used to often and the player would mostly just be moving the controller.

 Voice controllers are used in games and on consoles like the Xbox One which uses voice commands quite a lot, on the Xbox One you can use voice command to get to apps you can also use it with apps like Skype. In games voice commands might be used for a range of different reasons for example on Fifa 16 voice commands were used to changes tactics and on the game Endwar which was a game which used real-time tactics and voice commands.

The evolution of controllers (NES controller VS Xbox One controller)

Their is a lot of differences between both controllers one of the big ones is the size of the controllers, the NES controller doesn't really have an ergonomic features its a rectangle shape and unlike the Xbox One the controller wouldn't just fit in the gamer's hands. Another thing is the button the Xbox controller has 6 buttons all easily accessible
due to the shape of the Xbox one controller the NES only has 4 buttons and the are placed next to each other, this is probably due to the the fact that games are more complexed and advanced on the Xbox one then they are on the NES. The Xbox controller is also wireless unlike the NES controller this benefits the game as it means less wires and makes it easier to sit wherever with the Xbox one controller. If I was able to add another feature to the Xbox One controller then I would add an easier way to connect to the Xbox maybe something like a QR code which the Kinect could scan.



RAM

	GHZ	Core	Threads	Cache
Xbox one	1.75 GHz  AMD 8-core APU (2 quad-core Jaguar modules	8 Cores	8 Thread’s	8mb
PS4	1.6 GHz AMD x86-64 Jaguar	8 Cores	8 Threads	8mb cache
Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K Processor	3.70 GHz	8 cores	16 threads	20mb cache
AMD CPU FX-9370	4.70 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8mb Cache
AMD FX-9590	4.7 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8 mb cache
Intel core 17-6850K	3.40 GHz	6 cores	12 threads	15 mb

Out of all these processor the best one out of them is the Intel i7 6900k processor this processor has the largest Cache out of all the PC processor. This processor also has the most threads out of all the PC processor with 16 threads while the AMD processors only have 8 threads much like consoles. Out of the console they mostly have the same stats they both have an 8GB cache and 8 threads and cores the only difference is that the Xbox One has a slightly faster GHz with 1.75 GHz while the PS4 only gets 1.6 GHz

CPU is a Central processing unit this is basically the brains of a PC or Console, a CPU main function is to execute a sequence of instructions on a program. A CPU speed is measured in GHz the higher the GHz the faster the CPU will be but higher GHz doesn’t always mean that the CPU is the best as many other factors come into play including the cache of the CPU and the clock cycle of the CPU, the clock cycle is the rate that a CPU is measured in. Cores are very important in CPU as the more cores a CPU has the more tasks it can do for example the PS4 has 8 cores and one of those cores is just for the PS home page to make sure it runs smoothly and doesn’t lag. Threads are also important as these essentially make the core faster as they trick the PC or console to think that there are more cores then there are meaning that the PC or Console can run more tasks. The cache in a CPU is a small and fast memory device it is like the RAM but it is much faster and the cache stores copies of data. The data bus works in two ways there is the Address bus which will send an address on where the data needs to go for example if some data needed to be moved to the RAM the address bus will pick out a specific part of the RAM to send the data to and to make sure that no data is overwritten. The data bus is what the data will travel on the data bus can travel both ways while the address bus can only travel one way. 

Memory 

	Type	Amount	Clock speed	Bandwidth	ESD RAM
Xbox One	DDR3	8GB	2133MHz	204 GBs	32mb
PS4	DDR5	8GB	1.6 MHz	176 GBs
Xbox 360	DDR3	512MB	500 MHz	2.56 GBs
PS3	DDR3	256MB	550 MHz	22.4 GBs
Acer Predator	DDR4	64GB	2,133MHz	1.5 GBs

The purpose of memory is for storage and fast information storage. Random access memory is a type of data storage. Random access memory allows for data to be written or read and R.A.M is used for storage of data that has been recently used or data that is being used getting to data in the RAM is much easier than getting to data that has been stored in the hard drive. Ram has different capacity to run a PC without it being slow 4gb is the minimum gb required while 8GB is recommended, If a person wants to game on a PC then 16gb is recommended but 8gb is the lowest GB that the PC can run games on.  A kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes while 1024 KB is equal to one megabyte and 1024 megabytes are equal to one gigabyte. There are many different types of RAM SRAM means static random access memory is a type of storage that takes the data in bits and it doesn’t have to be refreshed. DRAM means dramatic random access memory this type of memory stores the data in a separate capacitor circuit. The different between these two RAM types is the speed and cost static RAM is quicker and cost more than dramatic RAM. DDR VS GDDR DDR stands for double data rate this is a type of memory that is found in computers while graphics double data rate is found in things like graphics cards the difference between these two is that GDDR is more expensive then DDR but less expensive then SRAM and GDDR can use more bandwidth then DDR. 

   

GPU

Model	Brand	Clock speed	Cores	Ram	Dedicated or Integrated
Nvidia	Titan X	1000 MHz	3072 cores	12 Gb	Dedicated
AMD	AMD RADEON RX 480	1,120MHz	2304 cores	8 GB	Dedicated
Intel	6100	1100 MHz	48 cores		Integrated
360	ATI (AMD) Xenos	500 MHz	240 cores	512 MB RAM	Integrated
Xbox one	AMD durango	853 MHz	768 cores	8 GB	Integrated
PS3	Nvidia Rsx Reality	550 Mhz	N/A	256 MB RAM	Integrated
Ps4	AMD Liverpool	800 MHz	1152	8GB	integrated

A GPU stand for Graphics processing unit and is the part of a computer that is mainly used for the rendering of 3D images. A GPU is a chip that will transform objects and use different lighting effects. A GPU measures it speed in clock speed, the higher the speed in a GPU doesn’t always mean that it always better as some GPU with 3MHz won’t be as good as one with 2MHz this could be because the GPU with 2MHz clock speed might have more cores and ram then a GPU with 2MHz. The difference between a GPU cores and CPU cores are that GPU use much more threads then a CPU a GPU will have thousands of cores while CPU can only have a couples of cores. With GPU RAM is very important, with a computer that is not being used for gaming 4gb is what is recommended for the computer to run smoothly while for a gaming Pc 8gb is what recommended but 16GB is the best that a computer can ran at. GDDR is a part of the GPU and it is a high broadband interface that is used in things like consoles and graphics cards this is a much more expensive version of the DDR, the DDR stands for double data race and is found in most pc’s. Another thing that the GPU uses us address busses these are used to transport data to different areas the address bus will take data to different locations and can only travel one way while the data bus can take data to and from different areas and can travel both ways.

GHZ

	GHZ	Core	Threads	Cache
Xbox one	1.75 GHz  AMD 8-core APU (2 quad-core Jaguar modules	8 Cores	8 Thread’s	8mb
PS4	1.6 GHz AMD x86-64 Jaguar	8 Cores	8 Threads	8mb cache
Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K Processor	3.70 GHz	8 cores	16 threads	20mb cache
AMD CPU FX-9370	4.70 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8mb Cache
AMD FX-9590	4.7 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8 mb cache
Intel core 17-6850K	3.40 GHz	6 cores	12 threads	15 mb

Out of all these processor the best one out of them is the Intel i7 6900k processor this processor has the largest Cache out of all the PC processor. This processor also has the most threads out of all the PC processor with 16 threads while the AMD processors only have 8 threads much like consoles. Out of the console they mostly have the same stats they both have an 8GB cache and 8 threads and cores the only difference is that the Xbox One has a slightly faster GHz with 1.75 GHz while the PS4 only gets 1.6 GHz

CPU

CPU is a Central processing unit this is basically the brains of a PC or Console, a CPU main function is to execute a sequence of instructions on a program. A CPU speed is measured in GHz the higher the GHz the faster the CPU will be but higher GHz doesn’t always mean that the cpu is the best as many other factors come into play including the cache of the CPU and the clock cycle of the CPU, the clock cycle is the rate that a CPU is measured in. Cores are very important in CPU as the more cores a CPU has the more tasks it can do for example the PS4 has 8 cores and one of those cores is just for the PS home page to make sure it runs smoothly and doesn’t lag. Threads are also important as these essentially make the core faster as they trick the PC or console to think that there are more cores then there are meaning that the PC or Console can run more tasks. The cache in a CPU is a small and fast memory device it is like the RAM but it is much faster and the cache stores copies of data. The data bus works in two ways there is the Address bus which will send an address on where the data needs to go for example if some data needed to be moved to the RAM the address bus will pick out a specific part of the RAM to send the data to and to make sure that no data is overwritten. The data bus is what the data will travel on the data bus can travel both ways while the address bus can only travel one way. 

Sound

Sound chips are used to produce sound, they are used in TV’s, Mobiles and PC’s. The difference between discrete and integrated sound cards are that integrated sound cards are built into a device while discrete sound cards are external. Sound chips have a range of different channel set ups including Mono which means a single speakers while stereo could have a range of different speakers and sub woofers which are measured like this 2,1 this means that there are two speakers and one sub-woofer

The Xbox one has 7.1 stereo surround sound and can run at 1080p with 4K graphics. The Xbox one will also need an external speaker as the console itself doesn’t have an internal speaker. The Xbox 360 uses analog stereo sound and a LPCM stereo with built in Dolby Digital 5, 1 speakers system. The Xbox 360 also needs an external speakers as it doesn’t have one built in. The PS3 uses analog sound with Dolby Digital 5.1 speakers. The PS3 needs an external speakers as it does not have one built in The PS4 has 7.1 stereo surround sound. The PS4 also needs an external speaker as the console doesn’t have its own integrated speakers. The 3DS has two built in speakers on the top screen these speakers use a stereo sound the 3DS also has a built in music player and a sound recorder which can record MP3 and MP4 files. The 3DS has its own integrated speakers meaning that external speakers are not needed. The Sony Xperia Z5 uses a Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 soundcard and has two stereo speakers. The Xperia Z5 has a built in internal speaker meaning that it won’t need an external speaker. The Stormforce Inferno VR gaming pc uses a high definition 7.1 stereo speaker system and has a built in internal speaker meaning it won’t need an external speakers.

Displays

Displays are used in to project images when playing games there are a range of different displays that a person can use when gaming including TV’s and monitors. There are two different types of displays LCD and LED. LCD stands for liquid crystal display and this is the type that is used by a lot of TV’s, monitors and mobiles, LCD screens use red green and blue pixels giving the a detailed picture to the user. LED stands for light emitting diode these screens have different arrangements of tubes so when the screen is light it shows colours lighter than others LED screens also don’t produce as much energy as LCD screen. There is a range of different resolutions that a display can have one of the most common resolutions is 1080p this is the resolutions that is used in most TV’s and monitors at the moment, 1080p uses 1,920x 1,200 pixels. Although 1080p might be the most common resolution at the moment many people are now are upgrading to 4K resolution this is a huge step up from 1080p this resolution uses 4,096x 2,160 pixels which is a lot more then 1080.HDR stands for high dynamic range this improves the picture quality immensely as it has a higher colour pallet and a better contrast ratio although not every device supports HDR.

The Xbox one has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that can support HDR some of these games are Gears of War 4 and Battlefield 1

The Xbox 360 has a max display resolution of 1080p and also has some games that support HDR including Halo 3

The PS4 has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that support HDR like Detroit Becoming human and Spiderman.

The 3DS has a max display resolution of 800x240 and does not support HDR

The GeForce 1080 graphics card has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that supports HDR like rise of tomb raider

The Sony Xperia Z5 has a max resolution of 1080x 1920 pixel and does support HDR 

Game Storage

Proprietary game storage is a file format that stores data in a particular data scheme Proprietary game storage also designed to be secretive and takes decoding programs made by the company to use. Standard game storage is a type of storage that is open source and doesn’t require any knowledge or decoding to use

There are different types of game storage most consoles now use Blu-Ray and hard drive storage this is probably the best way that consoles can use to store games as Blu-Ray disc can hold a lot of data unlike things like cartridges. Blu-Ray disc now on consoles have to be installed to the hard drive this is because the hard drive can run faster than the disc making the game look and load better. An SSD hard drive can be used by consoles and PC a SSD hard drive is much faster than a normal hard drive but they cost a lot more, SSD hard drives make a console or a pc much faster SSD hard drives also make a lot less noise which is why a lot of recording artist use them. A hard drive will be used by PC’s and consoles hard drives are a lot faster than discs but when download games they can take a long time.  

Proprietary game storage is good for anti-piracy as Proprietary game require decoding software which is made by the company so if they don’t have this software then they won’t be able to play the game    

Connectivity

There are many different types or connectivity that are used in consoles and PC’s one being stand alone, stand-alone connectivity is where a pc or laptop will be able to connect to a local area network or a wide area network meaning that a network connection isn’t needed for general use.

There are many ways to connect a controller to a console PS4 uses built in Bluetooth to connect their controller to the console, Xbox one uses a Microsoft’s own Bluetooth system as well as Bluetooth this might be due to the fact that Xbox One controllers can also connect to PC’s as well older consoles like the Nintendo GameCube and the PS2 the controllers had to be plugged into a port    

PSU

A PSU stands for power supply system and this is what will supply a console or a PC the power to run

A PC will have a built in Power supply system that will be built into the motherboard. An Xbox one has an external power brick that has to be plug into the console. The PS4 has a built in PSU which is built into the console. And a Nintendo DS has a built in PSU