Lionhead CTG : Hello Lionhead Community!

Hello Lionhead Community!

Published Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:07 AM by Neil Wakefield

In a fit of generosity, Sam and Woody gave me a blog to talk about the oft-neglected subject of audio. For those of you who have joined the community since the release of Black & White 2 (which is probably when I last posted on the forums - it's been very busy here!), I (along with Chris Carr, our audio tools guru) have the fantastic job of building the technology behind Fable 2's sound and music. This also means I get to work closely with Russ Shaw, our resident musical genius. Plus I get to play around with our recording studio, which is nice :).

Audio's a huge subject and while I could use this blog to harp on about DSP algorithms, I can't help but feel that most would find that quite boring. Therefore, I'd like to know what you would like me to talk about. Obviously I have an non-disclosure agreement which must be honoured, but Fable 2's audio system is already in a fantastic state and I'll be fairly safe talking about our technology and plans; especially if it's something you've already seen from our demos at GDC and E3.

Toodle pip!

PS: Derobrash - would you please make a move? It's been over a week now and we haven't even broken out of the Ruy Lopez mainline.
PPS: If any of you haven't tried the Bioshock demo, you really should. It's fantastic!

Comments

	maggot said: Cool stuff. :) Would love to try bioshock demo but it isnt out for pc yet. :( Wish i lived in the US where toys R us fucked up and released it. :p August 16, 2007 2:14 PM
	Atchoo said: I was thinking about the need to dynamically change music between areas and player context (e.g.- when a battle begins). Is there anything particularly interesting that hasn't been done before, or that you're going to do even better on Fable 2? August 16, 2007 5:26 PM
	BayStone said: Well... knowing a bit more about the musical combat stuff would be interesting. How much does it actually affect the gameplay? How integral is it? How does it actually work, from a gameplay perspective and from a technical perspective? What can we except when it comes to voices of the npcs and the hero? August 16, 2007 6:03 PM
	paulecoyote said: Wow, is Chris' head going to be able to fit through the door tomorrow? Congrats on what would appear to be the first public tech blog! <stir> It does say "Lionhead CTG" rather then "Lionhead Audio". Does that mean we might get the likes of Dan, Sam S and Steve onboard too? </stir> August 16, 2007 6:09 PM
	Marley said: BioShock Demo < Fable 2 Demo ( Maybe? ) Anyway I've got an interesting question about the Audio in Fable 2. My question is how much audio can we expect from the environment of Fable 2? Music is nice and all but the rustling of leaves and chirps from birds make me feel much more immersed than any song any could. PM if you could. (even though I don't really expect you too. ) August 16, 2007 8:31 PM
	XSOLARX said: Well, a question from me then: Does the music change (or morph, if you will) if you turn or ? Does it change if you rely more and more on one of the fighting styles (mellee, ranged or magic)? How does it change when going into combat? To make this question a little simpler: How responsive is the music to your situation and character, and how does the morphing happen? What do you know! You can even involve technical stuff into the answer! And it's nice to see another developer starting with his own blog. August 16, 2007 8:51 PM
	Tarison said: I've got the BioShock demo downloading at home, so looking forward to getting a chance at it. On the audio stuff, I have to agree -- when it comes to the presentation, and it's no different with a movie, it's half of it. Visuals without the sound backing it is flat. I'd be interested in the sound engineering itself -- how you get certain sounds. Is it all on computer, trial and error, stuff you already have stock, or are Sam and the boys throwing saucepans at each other during the lunch break? August 16, 2007 9:22 PM
	Derobrash said: Woops, Sorry Neil. I'll get right on it. I might even Google "Ruy Lopez" while I'm at it. August 16, 2007 10:02 PM
	Neil Wakefield said: I'm not going to reply to anything directly but don't worry - I'm collating everything for my next blog entry :). August 17, 2007 9:34 AM
	Riooo said: 'Guru'? Does that mean I can talk about the nature of the universe instead of doing any work? August 17, 2007 12:33 PM
	The Bag said: Back to work you. August 17, 2007 12:55 PM
	toddquest said: Will you have Russell Shaw and Danny Elfman back for the music? I really thought they did an awesome job. The music was one of the great things about Fable August 17, 2007 4:25 PM
	azuresama said: I'd love to know how early the sound design starts and how audio ( music and voice) is integrated with the game. August 17, 2007 5:05 PM
	stomp224 said: Oooooh! an audio blog eh? Just what ive always wanted (no, really!):) Id like to know how much processing the speech tracks are subjected to. Obviously they are compressed, ect but are they E.Qed to sit better in the overall mix that blasts out of my TV? I read in an interview with Russell from Xbox.com (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/fable/behindthegame3.htm) where he mentions that the useable audio spectrum is 60Hz to 16KHz and obviously a lot of different sounds will be competing for space! August 17, 2007 5:55 PM
	MJLOVER said: One thing you can always count on regarding deliverance from LH, is sound. Bravo! :) August 19, 2007 8:00 AM