Greetings to all you map makers. I'm Chump, a member of the audio team working on UrTHD. One of the hardest aspects to implement well, and consistently between maps (a crucial part of a games 'feel') is audio. This thread is here to both explain how WE will be implementing audio going forward, and to recommend and discuss with you how YOU can implement audio into your maps, while having it as high quality as possible.
We are in the process of developing a large, but generic, audio library for the game. This will feature content needed for almost any map, particularly since UrT maps tend to follow similar settings and styles, as well as some more experimental soundscapes for jump maps. Maps will of course also have unique things to them, or not have all the required sounds. In the case of this, additional audio files will be added to the unique map folder (as where textures and the like are stored), allowing for whatever customization you like (or working on the audio from scratch, if you so please!).
The exact process of working between this pre-made library and your individual maps is not entirely decided yet (pending discussion with the rest of the team), however will likely involve downloading an 'UrT Library' that we hand out, and working with those audio files separately to your own unique ones. Almost all the customization you do to this library would be in the form of changing attenuation settings, sound cues and reverb zones. However, these settings files can all be simply placed in your unique map folder, rather than in the sound library (these take up very little memory). Working like this should keep the file sizes of maps very low! At least on the audio side of things :)
Implementing this audio into your map, creating the correct attenuation, and adding in things such as reverb and audio culling zones, will be the most difficult part for you. While you could drop in the pre-made sound cues we are making, we want your maps to sound as good as they can to let your work shine, and give UrTHD a more consistent feel. So, what can we do as an audio team to help you in this regard? Would you like us to create video tutorials about implementing audio? Could we offer our services in reviewing your map audio, and helping implement with the final mix? Would you want a sub-forum to request additional sounds for your maps that mesh will with the library? I would love to know what you think, and find out how we can help!
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