Livestream #11 was aired on July 31, 2013 @ 2 PM ET
Livestream 11 - Warframe's Audio Creation and Q&A
[DE]Rebecca is joined by sound designer [DE]Jeff, [DE]Travis, and lead sound designer [DE]George. Text recap found here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/89094-thanks-for-watching-livestream-11/
Warframe's Audio Creation and Q&A
- "What equipment do you guys use when recording, mixing, monitoring—specific models of headphones, microphones, other gear, and software?"
- George says they use Pro Tools and SOUND FORGE programs with lots of plugins by Waves and GRM Tools. For monitoring, George uses Dynaudio BM6 speakers. They listen to game audio from many different sources such as TV sets and small computer speakers for quality control.
- Travis says they use Sound Devices 722 and Sennheiser 416 for field recording.
- Jeff says they use hardware synths.
- "When will the Corpus have an actual voice instead of garbled gibberish (faction sounds update)?"
- George says they are planning to update Corpus sounds, give them their own language, but the Grineer will speak their own language similar to Captain Vor. They are thinking of translating old Grineer voice lines to the new verbal Grineer language. Infested will also have a sound update, making them sound more creepy.
- "Games you have played recently that inspired you as sound designers?"
- Jeff says The Last of Us.
- George says Condemned on the Xbox 360.
- "Will Warframes ever talk?"
- George says he does not think so since silent protagonists help with player immersion. They do not plan to have Warframes grunt when being hit, only bullet impact sounds.
- "Will each of the bosses get their own unique sounds like Lieutenant Lech Kril and Captain Vor?"
- George says definitely, right now boss sounds are placeholders and they will get a chance at updating their voices when the time comes.
- Rebecca asks "Who voices Captain Vor?"
- George says Vor is voiced by level designer Kol Crosbie while Lech Kril is actually voiced by himself.
- Jeff says his voice is mixed into some in-game sounds, nothing obvious.
- Travis says he recently did some voice work for the Charger.
- "What is the main inspiration behind bosses like Vor and what language are they speaking actually?"
- George says they wrote a custom language for the Grineer which is created using a script that translates English to the Grineer language. He says that they are inspired by the animation and visuals of the Grineer.
- Rebecca asks "Are you guys usually last in the pipeline of development?"
- Jeff says they are usually the last before everything goes out to production.
- Travis says they can get rough ideas of sound design based on concept art.
- George says they try to get ahead but sometimes they do sound design last-minute.
- "Lotus have different voices at times, do want to spend all dialogue with this new voice?"
- George says they are trying to update Lotus' sounds as she is an important character, still trying to experiment how she is 'supposed to sound' without being too human or android-like.
- "When can we expect new Lotus recording lines?"
- George says that a lot is in the game right now, but it takes time to rerecord and process all the lines, hopefully soon.
- "What is the funniest thing you have done to make a sound for WARFRAME?"
- Travis says many of
Vauban's abilities were done by him vocalizing. - Jeff says he put a contact mic on his chest and stomach, recording stomach growls. A lot of punching and impact sounds came from Jeff punching himself.
- George says he yelled in his office and strangling himself when performing Lech Kril.
- Travis says many of
- "How long does it take to create sounds and how do you do it? Do you ever use instruments or have someone beatbox?"
- Travis says they are always trying new things to create new sounds, trying out instruments, synths, and smashing vegetables.
- Jeff says it could take as short as 15 minutes to as long as days.
- Travis says weapons and voice lines usually take the longest to do.
- Rebecca asks "Who made the sounds for
Vasto?"
- George says it took 2-3 days to get the sound done. Usually he comes with some sound and lets it sit in the game engine for a day until hearing it again for a new perspective.
- Travis says its probably good to a get second opinion since people work on a sound for many hours.
- Video on the sound team recording audio.
- George says the team recorded boat sounds that are used in Infested missions and dry ice sublimating in laser weapons and ice levels.
- "What vegetable makes the most delicious sounds?"
- Travis says his favorite is green pepper because of its versatility for gushing, cracking, and sweakings. They are used in fleshy stuff, bullet impacts, and footsteps.
- George says anything you can find can potentially be used in the game for sounds. For example, crunchy granola can be used for footsteps on snow.
- Travis says in the E3 trailer he used belts for armor sounds and footsteps.
- George says foley is important because adds character to what ever makes the sound in-game.
- Rebecca asks "Will Warframes have unique sounds in that regard?"
- George says that there was no way to have different Warframes have different footstep sounds before, but it is a future possibility to give Warframes more personality.
- "Is there an all-in-one tool other than vegetables?"
- Jeff says kick drums are used a lot.
- George says kick drums are grant for impact and explosion sounds, but it really depends.
- "When the new Grineer Settlement tileset comes out, how did you create desert and wind noises?"
- Travis says they go out and do atmospheric recordings: wind, leaves, rocks, and dirt. They tried filling hockey bags and dragging them on different surfaces. When they first saw the concept art, the sound team started brainstorming ideas.
- George says they always record new sounds when they have the chance, could be useful in the game in the future.
- Rebecca asks "What is your current vision for weapon sounds?"
- George says that because Warframe was built very quickly, a lot of the sounds are placeholder and not necessarily reflect on the weapon's actual sound. There is currently no sound distinction between weapons from different factions and they want to change that; Tenno weapons have a "clean and efficient" sound, Grineer have "cluckiness" in sounds, and Corpus have "sci-fi" sounds.
- Video showcasing layering of sounds in
Bronco.
- George says weapons sounds are recorded with many different microphones, one on muzzle, one behind the mic operator, and one farther away. Sounds are placed into Pro Tools and broken down to layers: "shot", "mechanical", "punch", and "ricochet". The sounds are then put in the engine to be played back with some randomness and variation for dynamic sounds.
- "What is your favorite enemy sound or voice clip?"
- "Elevator music?"
- George says they are still thinking about it nothing planned, but they do not want to break the immersion.
- "What is the future of music in WARFRAME?"
- George says they are developing a new system for dynamic music in missions so in the future the music will reflect on what is happening in-game. Probably get a composer to do music.
- Rebecca asks "Do you guys have a favorite weapon sound right now?"
- Jeff and Travis say the
Sobek. - George says the
Twin Vipers.
- Jeff and Travis say the
Behind the scenes E3 2013 trailer
Warframe PS4 Trailer "The Call"
- Sound design was layered, each person of the sound team worked on a section of the trailer.
- Music composed by Keith Power who have also done music for Dark Sector.
- Travis says he had done all of
Ash's powers, Vor's Void Key attack, punches, and falls. Ash's power used granular synthesis and distortions.
Last 30-minutes of Stream
- [DE]Sheldon announced that WARFRAME will have a booth at Gamescom in August 2013.
- Operation Sling-Stone ended. Regarding the issue with the point system with pending invites, [DE]Steve stated that they will fix it for the next event. Current leaderboard standing in the event will not be changed.
- [DE]Steve stated that the event was designed to be failed. Formorian ship regions were segregated so they could have partial failures. Failure to destroy a Formorian ship would result in resource drops for that region/planet to be cut in half. Events from now on will have consequences for failure.
- [DE]Sheldon teased a new weekend event for the next week regarding the new Grineer Settlements which will somehow involve Corpus intel.
- [DE]Steve announced that they will be removing the Raid mission type since it is one of the least played game modes. It will be replaced by a timed-Survival mode.
- Void Raid keys will be converted to Void Survival keys.
- Intel (Spy) and Counter-intel (Deception) are the other two least played mission types that will be reworked.
- In the new Intel, players will take the datamass to a Cephalon, an Orokin mainframe with a virtual space where players will have to attack a target with "elements of Jeopardy that you can fall down in through the virtual space".
- "You need to stay in there and survive in there and attack basic what is the master control program style thing."
- "When it dies it will create these sort of virtual datamasses that don't really affect your loadout in the same way."
- In the new Counter-intel, players will have to escort an envoy with the Lotus in a high-tech drone. The Lotus will have the ability to help you and amplify your abilities. Players will escort her to a final location where players have to defend.
- In the new Intel, players will take the datamass to a Cephalon, an Orokin mainframe with a virtual space where players will have to attack a target with "elements of Jeopardy that you can fall down in through the virtual space".
- Fourth least played is Rescue.
- Planning to add a scoring and leaderboard system for all game modes based on Operation Sling-Stone.
- [DE]Steve says PS4 crossplay "is fairly something we can do" but linking accounts is complicated because "each of those platform expects that user is theirs and therefore they get a revenue share". Cannot make any promises with cross-save, but at the very least they may provide an one-time option to convert an account to a different platform.
- "Where is the capture target scream?"
- George says that the original scream is still there, but more processed to make it feel like the target is dematerializing.
- Double Affinity weekend for reaching 9,000 concurrent viewers.
- New Sand Skate enemy coming with Grineer Settlements.