Xonotic Sound-Design

Hi everyone,

Michael 'Tenshihan' Quinn here

I did 99% of the sound for Xonotic; everything from Ambient / Environmental-sounds to Character-Voices & Weaponry-sounds were all custom made by me.

Now I'm getting back to work on Xonotic - but I really need your feedback as input along with your detailed analysis of what you hear/see & feel when you experience what I'm going to do with sound.  I've learned a lot since last working on Nexuiz, ...I made sound for movies, and created sounds for other games as well - to polish my skills.

Now I'm back.

Drop this file into your Xonotic/data folder - start-up your game & enjoy high-quality sound. 
Tenshihan's_Xonotic_Sound-v0.03

Enjoy!

Updates will be posted here; XONOTIC SOUND UPDATES

I gave you some feedback on IRC; to add, out of all original sound effects for the weapons in Xonotic, I felt the Crylink's was the weakest. The soundpack definitely improves upon the primary fire to the point it's not disagreeable to hear anymore, but I never really thought the "gushy" sound for the secondary was a good idea.


Footstep sound effects - direct improvement. It's extremely clear and there's strong distinction between hopping on metal and hopping on concrete.

Health pickups - higher contrast and it's easier to hear them get picked up.

Armor pickups - not very different - probably unchanged besides sound quality, but they weren't bad either.

Strength and Shield - really good. For the shield, I thought the woman "aaaah"ing into the ambience was a little cliche, but I hear it's not there anymore.

Blaster - huge improvement, it sounds weak as its supposed to convey without being pathetic.

Shotgun - good, not particularly impressive considering how shotguns can sound, but considering the shotgun in this game isn't anything special, it fits.

Machine Gun - good.

Electro - definitely makes the electro sound like it's name to the point it really deserves updated projectile effects to match.

Vortex - for a while, I mentally held the perception of liking Vortex/Nex's sound effect more than Quake's railguns since it sounds sharper, more like a snap or crack of thunder than just a burst of energy being pushed out. An actual comparison of the sounds sort of makes me realize my perceptions were a little exaggerated.

Hagar - not sure about the click at the end. If I fire once, the beeping sound matches the end of the rotation on the updated models. However, if I use the continuous fire, the gun itself abruptly stops rotating, meanwhile multiple beeping noises finish.

Mortar, Devastator - the firing of the weapon sound nothing spectacular but not particularly bad. I'm not noticing a kaboom or explosion as I would previously take notice to, and probably need a shitload of explosives coming my way to make any real remarks.

Overall, I like the extra clicky and clacky style offered by the new sound effects ("missing weapon", "weapon pickup", sfx).

Great to hear you back

I like the new sounds a lot. Especially with headphones, they are a clear improvement in fidelity.
Some nitpicks (in my non-professional opinion):

hit/kill - Hit has a higher pitch than kill, which seems the wrong way.
Usually, the progression is hit-hit-...-kill, and I associate a high-low progression with "bad" or "failure".
Also, the higher pitch stands out more, so it seems better suited for the more important event.

rocket_fire - The short burst at the beginning is quite jarring. It sounds out of place, almost like a clipping glitch.


  rocket_fire.png (Size: 3.47 KB / Downloads: 232)

grenade_fire - The reload sound at the very end does not really fit. It sounds like hitting a piece of dry wood to me.


  grenade_fire.png (Size: 4.53 KB / Downloads: 232)

Thanks guys, i appreciate the detail!   I also agree with most of what you guys said - i don't have an ego when it comes to sound, it just has to be RIGHT.

However, with the rocket-launcher itself; The 'clipping' sound you hear at the very beginning of the waveform is actually what you hear when the rocket first ejects from the barrel and then the Round has its own flight-motor that takes over immediately after leaving the barrel. So it's always a double sound, like a gun's hammer hitting the bullet before the bullet gunpowder is burnt causing propulsion.  You are hearing both because they are actually there in real life, the initial shock-wave is the ignition - and then you're hearing the actual rocket start leaving you.

I will tweak it so the stereo-effect at the start is lessened, which should be more harmonious for all our ears.  Thank you!

BTW: I'm late in replying even though I got these excellent notes many hours earlier (I've been working on your suggestions, ...thanks again guys!)   The new build (v0.04) should be ready by tomorrow.  I will still take suggestions in the meantime though! 

Are you the guy who made the "Put your farts in my pussy" sound clip on the F*ckmegeddon frag movie?

Are you the guy who made the "Put your farts in my pussy" sound clip on the F*ckmegeddon frag movie?

Haha!  No, that sound was made by "GroinMischief" / Your friends channel on Youtube.  Not my sound at all, ...but awesome reference.

Back from the dead! How long has it been since you last posted on here? Anyway, gonna give these new sounds a spin and see how they work. I still remember the work you did between 2.4.2 and 2.5, was quite a leap.

... like a gun's hammer hitting the bullet before the bullet gunpowder is burnt causing propulsion

This is one thing that has been majorly lacking in almost ALL media (movies, games, etc.) and having been inside a shooting range as well as living in a pretty dangerous city, I have always been bothered by it's absence. In addition to the level of loud, this is the big give away (because you can still hear the metal strike in the report, even at a distance) for me when determining whether or not something originated from a firearm or was simply just a big ass fire cracker going off. Good work all around from what I've played around with in-game, this now sounds like Xonotic and not like Nexuiz.

... like a gun's hammer hitting the bullet before the bullet gunpowder is burnt causing propulsion

This is one thing that has been majorly lacking in almost ALL media (movies, games, etc.) and having been inside a shooting range as well as living in a pretty dangerous city, I have always been bothered by it's absence. In addition to the level of loud, this is the big give away (because you can still hear the metal strike in the report, even at a distance) for me when determining whether or not something originated from a firearm or was simply just a big ass fire cracker going off. Good work all around from what I've played around with in-game, this now sounds like Xonotic and not like Nexuiz.

Thanks Lee!  Great to see you here again man, I've been working all day non-stop until now, it's after 3:20am here, so i'm gonna crash now, but enjoy the newest release!  V0.04 is ready! http://tenshihan.nexuizninjaz.com/

OK EVERYONE - (V0.04) IS READY, grab it here;
http://tenshihan.nexuizninjaz.com/

rocket_fire - The short burst at the beginning is quite jarring. It sounds out of place, almost like a clipping glitch.

I would second this critique. I really tried but my ears just can't get used to that one at all.
I mean it's nice that it's more realistic and all but I really doubt anyone in real life would fire a rocket launcher while bunny hopping up some stairs and then ramp jumping across half of the map 

Other than that:

• I wish the mega health would be a bit more audible (the small versions rock though, gotta get those potions).
  
• The spawn sounds could also be a bit more audible
  

Also if you could include a list of changes with the updates that would be great. This way it's easier to pick the sounds that one likes the best to create a new, more "personalized" sound pack (for example I really like the clickety-clack sounds when you land but you already said that you're gonna change those in IRC).
Other than that great work

EDIT: Looking at that latest release... This should really go without saying but please refrain from adding anything to your sound pack that is not explicitly sound related (especially without a list of changes).

Sorry for the delayed response.

I have played a bit with v0.04 now and it sounds great!
I wouldn't mind the rocket ignition a bit quieter still, but it is not an issue for me anymore.

There is one last potential problem I noticed.

Some of the sounds are slightly panned to the right, for example the vortex reload.
However, it is possible to change the location of the weapon model (Settings > Game > Weapon).
If a player uses the left-handed position, the sounds seem to emit from the wrong side.
I don't know how big of an issue that would be, but it is something to keep in mind.

Just saw this. Most of these sounds are a huge improvement on the old ones. Didn't know we had someone so prestigious developing sounds for Xonotic

Thank you so much, for your original work and the new work. I enjoy both versions.

• I like the new crispy sounds in general: blaster, small health bottle.
  
• Cool new sound track. Does it have a new name?
  

Some feedback:

• The rocket ignition sound is a bit loud for me, too -- when I explode it with the 2nd fire soon after the 1st fire, I can't really hear the explosion.
  
• The power up sound is a bit overwhelming. I have difficulty hearing anything else while it's going on.
  
• The metal step sounds are now (musically) pitched. A bit too clean I think. It feels like metal boots on thin metal surface. I personally prefer non-pitched or multi-toned sound effects to pure pitched notes, so they stand out when the background soundtrack is playing.
  
• A lot more files are stereo now. I wonder whether the panning should be left for the engine to handle. Also, it's a lot more echo-y than before and it sounds like we are always in a small room.
  
• I am used to the onset of Mega Health being more crispy -- it helped my sense of timing. I wonder whether others have similar experience.
  
• I've always hoped to have a different mega shield sound (and model). The metal armor feels archaic and I kind of imagine in the Xonotic world, the mega shield is some kind of energetic shield, not an actual armor shield in Dark Ages.
  

Please note that this is my first impression so perhaps I'm just not used to the new sounds yet.
Thank you again!!

The new sounds are amazing, you've done a great job polishing them and make them sound absolutely perfect.

There's only one thing: While I was testing the new sounds out on Oilrig, I realized that there's no sound for falling/swimming in water. I don't know if you're planning to create any sound for that, but it would make gameplay on maps like Tuhma, Solarium and all the other maps with water involved a little bit more tactical.