The recent Sid Meier's Pirates! made great use of audio:

- during ship-to-ship combat, your quartermaster (?) would yell out once cannons were reloaded
- seagulls and buoys would crow and clang when nearing ports, whereas out-to-sea travel would be relatively silent except for crashing of waves and creak of your ship's hull
- nearing different towns would play different tunes based on the nationality (e.g. 'civilized' vs. native) of the townspeople
- your crew would grumble or sing based on crew morale
- my personal favorite: while in towns, depending on the place you visited (main 'town' menu, tavern, lord's manor, shipyard), the music's instruments would fade from flute-and-violin of the low-class commoner (tavern) to harpsichord of the bourgeoisie (lord's manor) to piper-flute (shipyard), but the tune itself never changes!

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Original post by xycos Any thoughts?

Audio cues are essential in any game based on reacting quickly to unforeseen/off camera events. This covers pretty much all FPS games, many RTS games, and some puzzle games. For other games, those cues are less important - if there is little or no time constraint on our responses, then it doesn't matter if we miss those cues. The sound becomes a more of an atmospheric/immersiveness tool.

Just like in the sound settings on most games. you have to look at the diff. types of sound Voices, Sound Effects, or Ambient. (to name a few setting) Ambient sound is extremely important when the game wants you to be immersed. I.E. RPG's and Adventure Games. I believe that nothing works better to bring a graphical environment alive then ambient sound. Really I can't stand to play a game with no sounds. I need the sound effects to make the objects in a game feel real to me. I.E. play a racing game with sound effects turned off. It just feels boring.

Just some thoughts.

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Original post by Obscure Sound is under-used by some developers. What you hear actually changes what your brain thinks you see. Some games use it well with players learning to use the sound to work out what is happening. Others don't and it is their loss.

You hit it right on. Sound is an enhancement to what the eyes are seeing. Sound sets the mood for what you should be feeling, and what is going on in the game. More so than you think. Certain sounds/frequency ranges have effects on your psyche, for instance when you want something really spooky and like something could be jumping out of anywhere, you want a very bassy sound because your ears cannot judge the direction of where bass is coming from as good as they can the higher frequencys. You see what I am saying, so like for instance, the game FEAR... Sure you can play with no audio and listen to your CDs, but it is a LOT scarier to play it with 5.1 (and lights out of coure lol.) It sets the mood of the game without you even knowing it, if sound is used correctly.

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Original post by Way Walker Quote: Original post by xycos Anyway, I've noticed recentley that I can turn off the sound in a game to listen to music or something and still play the game just fine. Now, that might not seem like a bad thing. It doesn't to me. In fact, I generally curse games that require me to listen to the in game sound. I like to watch TV or listen to music while playing games. I count it as a blessing that most games don't require it. As for being an after-thought, I don't really think so. The voice acting isn't always great, but usually the voice at least fits the character, and the other sounds fit the environment. Is it an after-thought as far as game-play is concerned? Usually. Sound puzzles usually feel out of place. Is it an after-thought as far as the feel of the game is concerned? I don't think so. The designers seem to do pretty well with integrating sound into the feel of the game. Do I feel it still adds to game-play? Yeah. Like others have noted, footsteps, etc. are pretty useful, even if tacked on. Or maybe I'm spoiled. I don't play many games (money and time constraints). This means that the selection of games I play is that good parts version. Which makes me wonder, why you play such horrible games... [wink] (I keed! I keed! Well... half kidding. In any case, that's a discussion for another thread)

First Sound-based puzzle I ever played was in Myst. Myst actually used quite a few audio cues for puzzles, but then there was this one whole world dedicated to sound. Of course, sound effects like flowing water through pipes worked as good cues for other ages in the game too.

The other game that I can recall, which used sound to its advantage was probably the first Resident Evil game. Well, its more like the "lack of" sound for most of the places that really scared the crap out of you. It just sent chills down your spine and made you jump everytime something went bump or you hear moans and plops in the background. Of course, the game works fine without the sound, but you'd probably wouldn't have had as much fun. It was probably the only thing that kept the fixed camera angles from being annoying, since at least with sound, you can sort of guess what's ahead, especially if something is coming towards you.

I tend to disagree with you, xycos. Infact, both sound quality (talking about audio resolution) as well as its possibilities (from old mono sound to 5.1 or even 7.1 surround systems) have improved within the last ten years, while on the other hand, graphics only seem to improve in the quality sector (better resolution, improved overall looks), but not even slightly in their possibilities.

You could place the player in a dark room, screen turned off, but with the right sound system, he could still get an impression of the (virtual) world around him. He could perceive whether it is crowded or if he is alone in the dark, whether he is standing in a dense jungle or on an open field under the sun.

Sometimes I get distracted from sounds that come from "behind" me, just because they don't fit what I see. While sound comes from every possible point in the room, we are still used to play on a small 19" screen that takes up around 25 % of our field of vision, so this creates a discrepancy between what we hear and what we see, since the source of this sound is still right in front of us. This is something I experienced in cinemas as well - surround sound is something cool, but it doesn't quite match what we see on the big screen.

Come to think about it - how many games support the use of multiple screens?

I completely suck without game sound. I'm a very aural person; in 3D shooters, I depend even more on sound for situational awareness than on vision. Notably, I play best with stereo sound coming from my headphones in competitive situations ("clan wars", e.g. in Total Annihilation, Dawn of War or Enemy Territory), while I prefer using my Teufel 5.1 Surround system for casual play (e.g. World of Warcraft).

My performance ("skill") considerably declines when I listen to music while playing (sounds AND music being on), I make more mistakes and less frags. I think the trade-off is acceptable, though - especially for RTS type games, because it's simply more fun and sound is not AS crucial in strategy titles as it is in 3D shooters.

However, I also suck at RTS games without sound, as there, too, my situational awareness depends much on the sounds I hear (which weapons, how many enemies, where, what, when).

In other games, background music, speech etc. seem to make tutorials easier to follow and less tiring, and speech is what makes a game with a storyling fun to "watch". Poor sound has less of an impact, but is usually still better than no sound.

I think sound is crucial. The OP is arguing subjectively.

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Original post by Sandman Audio cues are essential in any game based on reacting quickly to unforeseen/off camera events. This covers pretty much all FPS games, many RTS games, and some puzzle games.

I'll add racing sims to that list. Since many gamers shift manually, hearing the car's engine is vital to running an optimal race. The HUD can be helpful, but for the most part I consider it off camera.

Just a quick point. What about deaf people? Guaranteed that there are deaf people who play games. I think subtitles are for people who either have a hard time hearing the characters speak or who can't hear at all.

Darnit, Trapdoor beat me too it. You cannot forget the deaf people. Plus I normally turn music off in games as a default before I even start playing it. Just like stopsound is a bound key in counter-strike, go footsteps go!