music and sound

Yes... Sound effects and music are often overlooked by the player since it is something that is more in the background. However, music really does set the tone in a game. Good music can make or break a game, without the player even realizing it most of the time. Customizable music might be good... But IMO not really worth the effort. Most people just run I-tunes in the background if they want different music, so a built in system would be more hassle than it is worth. Especially since you would have to navagate around your computer for various music files, making opening up I-tunes much more simple.

I would think sound effects will be customizable. Just slip in a few extra sound effects, edit some script in your custom model telling it where its sound effects are, and your done. Or for an even easier method, back up the unused effects and replace them with your new ones under the same name.

Good post. I was wondering the same thing. It would be nice to get some dev input. Oh and totally agree about the Civ4 comment. Baba Yetu ftw!!!

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=123680

If dev time were pollen-plentiful (spring has sprung down here in North Florida), I'd want a really good improv system instead of a score. No matter how much I've liked some of the music for a given game, I've always ended up running my own tunes separately because I get a bit tired of the same several tracks over and over again.

Then again, storage is cheaper all the time and MP3 files don't look nearly as bulky as they used to, even at a decent bitrate.

Semi-seriously, I'd like to see most of that audio work for Elemental focus on ambient sounds. I think it was the ambient stuff in HoMM that set the hook for my mother's addiction to the early part of the series--she and I both thought it was really neat that you could hear things on the map as you moved a unit closer to them. So I'd really enjoy something like different hums for each shard type, some woodsy sounds for forests, some good running water stuff, etc. It would also be neat if ambient sound for settlements reflected the size and/or traffic levels.

man, a good improve music score!   I've only seen a few that have pulled that off, but when it does, its awesome.   Well, perhaps not entirely improve, but defined sets of music strung together to seem improve (I'm not sure how a TBS game could be entirely improve, but if somebody else does that would be amazing)

I've seen quite a few games that have clever transitions between music based on what is happening.  that works very well.   Age of Empires 3 being a good example.  (I've also seen a few games that have tried that, and it didn't work so well.   Demigod [beta 3B] is one of the poor examples actually, I should probebly post it but I'm unsure of how I could repeat the kinda common result of the should-be-climax music playing when its not the climax)

Ambiant sounds are a bit of a must based on the scope game is claiming.   Over the shoulder games like FF7 (using an exmaple given by boogiebac, not because its a good example which it is not) actually seem a LOT better when they have even simple ambient sounds added in.   Adventure games tend to do it the best, like kings quest, play Kings quest 5 or 6 with music off, but sound effects on (to ensure that the ambience stands out) then do it again with the sounds off.   Then do it again with the music on.   The things like the birds chirping or waves crashing just make a TON of difference.  

You wouldn't need (or want) all that extra stuff zoomed out to see the entire kingdom, and especially not on the cloth map (though that could get some new ones like crackling of the fire or rustling of the pages on a book set beside the cloth map assuming that the map can actually be seen in some sort of setting of its own)   

(I'd want customizable music sets so that I could remix all the MoM music and import it for old-times sake I'd have 3 sets,   original (midi sound), classical (orchestrated), and techno )

Well, dynamic music is just a step or two beyond the music in most games, where in a big battle the music gets more epic. For example, in SoaSE if you zoom way out or are looking in a peaceful well the music is much calmer. In a big battle, the music shifts dramatically and becomes much more fitting to that setting. Dynamic music just takes that one step further and has different parts of the music change according to different variables rather than the whole of the music changing based on a single variable. The biggest challenge is to make it all sound at the least decent together.

I remember the first time I noticed the themes changing in LucasArt's X-Wing.  The iMuse system was a huge factor in that game's enjoyment for me.

I think it is important that Elemental has very "strong" music.  Many games just have background music that you barely notice.  If you are managing your civilization or whatever and not actively fighting a battle, some good music will help keep you interested.

Improv music is ok but in my experience it hasn't been particularly impressive.  The iMuse system that Zubaz mentioned sounds like a good idea .

Yeah, iMuse sounds similar to the system we're working on  :)  We'll be bringing the soundsystem code to support multiple 'tiers' of a song that can be faded in and out as conditions change.

Our old method of keeping songs from getting repetative was to make them long and subtle. Now we can keep the repetition low by tweaking the song as the game situation changes, giving a consiterably more immersive experience.

Or so we hope