Audio Q&A - Verse 3

Hello Paxians,

Following the Q&A from early June, we received additional questions regarding audio in Pax Dei and in Verse 3 in particular.

Here are some answers from our audio team!

Have there been some major unannounced audio system updates in Verse 3?

As before the patch, there are only ambient and combat modes, but both modes have been heavily revised. In particular, ambience now has more than double the amount of new music, and the soundscape itself has been revised with new details, some of which have been removed and mixed differently. We still have some work to do here.

Did armour consolidation affect sound systems in some way?

It is meant to be fully customizable depending on which armour you are wearing and your movement. Currently, only certain types of armour detect changes and detect only bigger changes in materials, but the plan is to have it much more granular in the future.

Does mixing and matching different types of armours affect walking sounds, etc., or is it based on a few armour pieces? Does each piece give its own contribution to the soundscape? 

It is meant to work that way, so that every little piece has some contribution, but certain types are also not very audible. We haven’t had the opportunity to create all that content yet, but the plan is as your question suggests.

Are there new sounds for new building materials? So, walking on a limestone foundation differs from walking on a gneiss one?

Currently, no, and stone will be stone for now, but it would definitely fit into the granular style of the game to allow that kind of detail.

You mentioned indoor detection about a year ago. We have not noticed a system like that in-game yet. Was this added at some point? 

Currently, there is no indoor system available to detect it on player-built structures. Some dungeons and certain areas of camps and adventure sites have gotten some added manually in controlled areas, but a systemic approach is yet to be fully functional and implemented.

Is there any change in audio perspective based on item quality or tier, or is it based on base material?

Currently, it is only on base material, but the technical setup is already able to determine every weapon, wearable, etc. from one another. Therefore, technically, we can add sound to any unique item; it just takes time to create the content. We would definitely like the higher-tier weapons to sound cleaner and impressive than the lower tiers.

Are there any "special" weapons/armour from an audio perspective?

Not yet; the audio for weapons hasn't been revised in a while, and there will be a bigger content push in that regard at a later point.

How does the new weapon skills variety affects the sounds players hear? Is there a difference between previous attack chains and new special attacks from an audio perspective?

Most special attacks have custom audio that plays along with the typical weapon swings and attack sounds - the game is also mixed quite differently from before, and weapons and special attacks are much clearer and upfront, also sounding different in the mix.

Are there pronounced sound effects for skills like for the greatmaul special?

All special attacks are meant to have a little or big special sound with them, to make it more apparent that you made a special attack.

We can sometimes hear enemies both in PvE and PvP before we see them. Same for some skills. Are there any plans to have skills affecting what players hear?

That would be a game design decision rather than the actual audio design of it - the sound itself can be changed for players and what you hear, but that decision would be a game design decision, as well as what NPCs hear would be in that field. But it's a very good point and idea.

Have there been updates to existing biomes or dungeons?

The mix is different, prioritization of which sounds are allowed to play and changes to when in combat over ambience have been made.

Do Verse 3 NPC AI changes affect the audio system?

Not directly.

Is the floor creaking sound while crafting intended?

That’s because of the floor material and steps being played while crafting - most of the steps have been altered to play a quieter version of themselves if standing pretty much still.

How did you get wild goat sounds?

Finding good recordings is really hard, and background noise is quite apparent. The first pass of the goat still needs some love to be where we want it to be, but it's a mix of various goat recordings and a lot of editing, especially for more combat-focused sounds, as we can’t really go punch a real goat to get that sound, can we?

Pax vobiscum, The Mainframe Team