Implementing 3D audio with FMOD
Date
September 9, 2015
Views
172 Views
Reading Time
2 Mins Read
One of the great things about FMOD is its ability to play sounds in 3D space, internally handling all the details of panning, volume rolloff and Doppler effects without requiring too much trouble from the developer’s side. I’ve recently started adding sound effects to Tannhauser and I’d like to share with other people some of the problems I’ve had – perhaps it will save someone a bit of time. Setting up the listener The listener is the player’s “head” in 3D space. It is setup by calling set3DListenerAttributes() and receives a position, a velocity, as well as a forward and up vectors. However, make sure that the forward and up vectors are normalised: due to a bug in my code the forward vector hadn’t been normalised and it was causing the sounds to always play at full volume from both speakers. 3D sounds are initially placed at the listener If a 3D sound is created without being set to start paused, it will begin playing at the listener’s location. Even if the sound’s 3D attributes are set immediately afterwards, you’ll likely still get a noticeable “pop” as the sound starts playing and gets relocated. To avoid this, create the sound as initially paused, set the attributes and then unpause it. Minimum sound instance distance Setting the minimum distance on a channel allows us to define how audible the sound is as you get further away from it. Something I am currently playing with, however, is having different minimum distances for the player and for other ships, making the player’s actions more noticeable in the chaos of battle. Too many active sounds There are explosions in Tannhausers. Lots of explosions. On a bad day, there are over fifteen ships all flinging large amounts of missiles, torpedoes and other fun things at…
August development highlights
Date
August 25, 2015
Views
176 Views
Reading Time
3 Mins Read
With having to split time between programming the game, creating the art assets and trying to get the game out there while juggling a family and a full time job, time is a rare commodity these days! To try and make more progress in the actual game, I’m starting a monthly column of development highlights, showcasing the new stuff that is making its way into the game. Requisition system Until now, the player was always given three gunships to assist him, which was extremely useful in the beginning of the game as it provided a way to even the odds against hostile fleets. However, as a game progressed, the allied ships would become less as less useful as the player began tackling harder factions, the little gunships finding themselves turned into space dust without really contributing anything to the battle. The new requisition system targets this issue. As the player is part of a greater Empire, he can now request that the Imperial Headquarters provides additional ships to his fleet. This bringing a kind of currency to the game, Requisition Units, which can be earned both by conquering sectors and by keeping them under Imperial control. No longer constrained to gunships, the player can now bring Imperial battlecruisers and battleships to his fleet. Missile interceptors In Tannhauser there are several kinds of weapons but of all of them, missiles in their many variants can be some of the most difficult to counter. Particularly as the size of ships grows larger and armour gets heavier, dodging out of the way of torpedoes becomes as difficult as negotiating the Greek bailout. To assist a Captain who finds himself on the wrong side of missile barrages, the new missile interceptor module has been added, which will attempt to shoot down nearby missiles as long as there is enough…
Gameplay video and hyperspace
Date
October 2, 2014
Views
172 Views
Reading Time
2 Mins Read
Hello and welcome to HEXTERMINATE’s third devlog. The last week has provided a big jump forward with the project. I’m now collaborating with kontinue for the game’s soundtrack and it is a very promising start which does make want to integrate FMOD right now so I can get these songs in. Do check his bandcamp and soundcloud. So, let us take a look at what’s new in-game… Hyperspace In the last week I’ve added a proper effect for visualisation for the hyperspace effect, which makes entering and leaving a normal sector much more interesting. It is particularly pleasant to see the hyperspace gate open when the player’s ship is being shot to pieces and desperately trying to fleet to safety. As it had been talked about in a previous devlog, the player is not the only one that makes use of hyperspace. While contesting a sector the galaxy does not stop dead in its tracks, so all the fleets in the galaxy keep doing what they were doing: contesting a sector of their own, travelling… or perhaps they’ll spot the player’s battle and decide to join in. This is something that works both ways, with both enemies and allies considering if this is a battle they have a stake on. This does add an extra layer to the game, as the player does should consider if a region of space is too “hot” to attack, as the risk of being caught off-guard by mid-fight reinforcements is quite real. This risk can be reduced by having a bridge with hyperspace sensors, which will provide an early warning. Further work Additionally, most items are now in-game and can be found as loot from the enemy ships. As expected, the quality of the loot is proportional to the kind of enemies the player is facing. It is…
Flagships and hardcore mode
Date
September 22, 2014
Views
179 Views
Reading Time
2 Mins Read
Hello and welcome to HEXTERMINATE’s second devlog. To start with, a quick update about the state of play: the game is coming together very well, with the save games now working and a considerable amount of modules now in-game. Having a blast playing it at the moment, now that there is a real progression in how powerful the player’s ship is and in retaking the galaxy. Today I’ll be taking a look at two important features, Flagships and the alternative Hardcore mode. Flagships Although the player will find himself knee-deep in hostiles, each faction that roams the galaxy has a fleet that contains a Flagship. Flagships are considerably more powerful than the regular ships of that faction, game changers that represent that faction’s technological pinnacle. Additionally, these ships have bridges with specialised equipment which increase the performance of their faction’s fleet, so taking these command and control ships out is extremely important. The player goes unprepared to a fight with the Marauder flagship. This does mean that need to be approached carefully and with a finger ready to hit the “Enter hyperspace” but the rewards are well worth it. Flagships drop high-end modules, with the flagships of the more advanced factions dropping the most advanced modules in the game, making them the perfect targets if you want to get those shiny Artefact / Legendary weapons… Hardcore mode Usually the destruction of the player ship is small setback – the player is respawned at his home sector’s shipyard. In hardcore mode, however, it is a different matter. Playing in hardcore mode provides a real challenge, where the ship’s destruction is final. The influx of adrenaline is that much greater, seeing that last engine explode, the hyperdrive charging and praying that it will get to those 100% and jump out before the…
A first look at HEXTERMINATE
Date
September 16, 2014
Views
165 Views
Reading Time
3 Mins Read
What is HEXTERMINATE? HEXTERMINATE is a top-down space shooter where the player creates and customises his own ship as he undergoes a quest of bringing back the Empire from the brink of destruction. Customisation plays an enormous part in how the player tackles this challenge and a live, breathing galaxy keeps changing even as the player is engaged in combat. This single-player game is currently under development for Windows and approaching the first Pre-Alpha. It also allows for players to mod the game to a certain degree by modifying XML files. Facing the Marauders. Customising ships The great strength of HEXTERMINATE’s customisation system is that it allows all kinds of ships to be created from various kinds of hexagonal modules. Armour, weapons, engines, etc, everything can be combined to allow the player to create the type of ship he wants. From fast, long range gunships to behemoths bristling with weapons, you can assemble them in any way you see fit – just keep in mind that modules can be individually destroyed, so a ship can be left stranded by having its engines or reactors blown up. Ships can be modified at an allied shipyard – usually an Imperial shipyard or one you have claimed from another faction, after destroying all hostile ships in that sector. Enemy shipyards, however, can be fairly well protected, making attacking such a sector a risky proposition. In this screenshot you can see an Imperial shipyard, guarded by two additional weapon platforms. An allied shipyard where the player can customise his ship. This one is guarded by two small defence platforms – they’ll be helpful if the shipyard is attacked but don’t count on them holding it on their own. Once the ship is docked, modules can be dragged and dropped from the player’s inventory. As…
Killzone Shadow Fall – Intercept
Date
June 9, 2014
Views
152 Views
Reading Time
< 1 Min Read
Something that we’ve been working at for a while at Guerrilla Games is a DLC for Shadow Fall, called Intercept. This adds a new game mode where the player fights cooperatively (with three other players) against the Helghast hordes, having to keep uplink connections active as the enemy waves become harder and harder. This game was created a join effort between Guerrilla Games Cambridge and Amsterdam and it truly makes for a brilliant multiplayer experience which is vastly different from any of the other game modes. Oh, and you can use jetpacks. And call for artillery strikes (which was quite fun to implement, by the way). What’s there not to like? “BOOM-shakalaka!”… yes I’m aware no one says that while they’re playing. Usually there’s also more swearing involved.
