Is the connection between stealth and played sound effects important? If the player turns on a radio, and it plays a beep sound, should the enemy hear it? Is there a difference between sound effects played for audience appeal, and sound effects played for environment reaction? After watching a lot of sci-fi shows, I've concluded that I'm pretty confused about this subject. Smallville, for example. Super-speed creates a loud wooshing sound, yet no one ever notices Clark engage it. Even his x-ray vision evokes that "woosh" sound effect. I've seen several Star Trek officers beam right behind totally unsuspecting people, despite the fact that the audience is hearing wind chimes being choked to death. This type of thing seems to happen all of the time on TV, but few people question it. Do people question it in games? If sound is important to a game, such as for stealth, does it become impossible to use sound effects for every little gadget and special effect? If not, how is the player supposed to distinguish between these two types of sound? How will they know that the beeping sound coming from a motion sensor won't attract the enemy's attention?

If you're trying to achieve a very realistic environment then I would say that sound does play a crucial role. So many great games fall short sound-wise. MGS for example. Even though enemies do respond to sound, if Snake happened to engage in a radio conversation right behind the back of a soldier he wouldn't hear a thing. Those kind of "game" realisties obviously ruin the atmosphere if you're striving for a very immersive experience. You can of course use sound effects, but do so wisely. You can go as far as building a physics model of the sound wave. Lets say you need that radio to beep, but you don't want the enemies behind the wall to be ignorant of it, if it would obviosly be audible in real life. You can calculte the max distance after which a sound of a certain intensity will fall below audible level, including in the calculation any obstacles that come in the path of that wave and their densities. If you're in a quiet environent that distance would be greater, and vise versa. It's all up to you in the end and how far you're willing to go with it.

Tough call. There's a definite benefit to interface sounds and effects in a game, just like in a movie. I always chuckle a little bit when "tracking bug" devices that the hero is hiding on a vehicle or on a person feature blinking lights and beeping noises.

I'd suggest that you include some interface sounds, and trust your audience to suspend disbelief for them. Soft clicks and gentle hums will be enough in most cases to give an action the necessary concreteness without seeming too blatant in the game world.

If you are aiming for a casual game it is not so important. But a good game which pays attention to details should have these impairments for stealth.

When I tried Age of Conan , I was stealthed and while moving in the water I saw the ripples I made, that was a great factor until I realized that it was client animated :P Imagine the fun it would be if you could actually listen for footsteps/look at surrounding elements.

Now for the problem, though the sound elements would be great in a game, they are not so easy to implement rightly, they could actually ruin the game if not thought of and worked on as they should be ;)

My two cents

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Original post by VanillaSnake21 If you're trying to achieve a very realistic environment then I would say that sound does play a crucial role.

I'm not so sure it's related to realism. If you want to employ stealth, your player needs to know what actions and gadgets are stealthy. Each and every action that causes a grunt and every item that emits a beep or scrape would have them scratching their head. The only definite way to determine if something is stealthy is to fail stealth by using it. That kind of sucks.

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage Tough call. There's a definite benefit to interface sounds and effects in a game, just like in a movie.

Yep, and not just the interface. Some animations and item actions feel twice as solid with a sound effect matching the motions. If I want to sacrifice sound for clarity, I think all stealthy actions, as well as all items that should be useful during stealth, will suffer.

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Soft clicks and gentle hums will be enough in most cases to give an action the necessary concreteness without seeming too blatant in the game world.

That's probably as good of a solution as I'm likely to find.

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After watching a lot of sci-fi shows, I've concluded that I'm pretty confused about this subject. Smallville, for example. Super-speed creates a loud wooshing sound, yet no one ever notices Clark engage it. Even his x-ray vision evokes that "woosh" sound effect. I've seen several Star Trek officers beam right behind totally unsuspecting people, despite the fact that the audience is hearing wind chimes being choked to death. This type of thing seems to happen all of the time on TV, but few people question it.

You have to keep in mind that many of those special effects are for the benefit of the viewer so they know whats going on and to appeal to them, not necessarily for those participating in the story. That or it could also be lazy writing.

One thing to keep in mind perhaps is the use of Ambient Noise. Is there a generator running nearby? If so then people are not likely to hear or pay attention to the little chiming of your cell phone over the steady thrumming of the generator. If its dead quiet though your Hello Kitty ring tone may attract some unwanted attention. This can allow you to tailor specific situations or area's where stealth maybe more difficult or easier by adjusting the level of ambient noise, and thus enemy sensitivity.

Incidentally, the Thief series may also be a good case study in how they handle sound detection with objects and various surfaces.

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MGS for example. Even though enemies do respond to sound, if Snake happened to engage in a radio conversation right behind the back of a soldier he wouldn't hear a thing.

I maybe mistaken, but i seem to recall hearing somewhere that Snake uses a form of sub-vocal radio which allows him to silently recieve and send transmissions which may explain why he has the mysterious ability to hold 2-way calls without anyone noticing.

I would separate the sound effects into two categories:
1) Interface effect: these would be effect that let the player know that something has been done. These don't have any effect in the game world, they are just part of the game user interface. For instance, a flashing light and beeping on a tracking bug would be an interface effect and might only be visible to the player (or their team) that used it.

2) World effect. These are visual and sound effect that exist in the world and could be heard by other players (or AIs). Footsteps, weapon firing, etc would all fall into this category.

The idea is that sometimes it is necessary to let the player know about something in the game that is not actually part of the world, or to enhance the visual/auditory experience of the player.

It is done all the time in other media, like the whooshing sound of spaceships as they fly past the "camera", or laser pewpewpews and explosions in space, despite them being in a vacuum and that no sound could travel (and lasers don't usually make any noise even in an atmosphere). These would be all Interface Effects to let the viewer know that something is happening, or to enhance the visual/auditory experience.

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Original post by Edtharan I would separate the sound effects into two categories: 1) Interface effect: these would be effect that let the player know that something has been done. These don't have any effect in the game world, they are just part of the game user interface. For instance, a flashing light and beeping on a tracking bug would be an interface effect and might only be visible to the player (or their team) that used it. 2) World effect. These are visual and sound effect that exist in the world and could be heard by other players (or AIs). Footsteps, weapon firing, etc would all fall into this category. The idea is that sometimes it is necessary to let the player know about something in the game that is not actually part of the world, or to enhance the visual/auditory experience of the player. It is done all the time in other media, like the whooshing sound of spaceships as they fly past the "camera", or laser pewpewpews and explosions in space, despite them being in a vacuum and that no sound could travel (and lasers don't usually make any noise even in an atmosphere). These would be all Interface Effects to let the viewer know that something is happening, or to enhance the visual/auditory experience.

The term for this, IIRC, is diegetic and non-digetic sound.

That's pretty much the problem I'm having. How do you let the enemy fire a laser gun with a ffrrzzattpp sound while still maintaining the illusion that it's silent? I can hear two people combating over there with laser pistols, yet they can't hear me when I fire mine right next to their head?

Seems like I either need to take away the enemy's sounds from the player, or give the player's sounds to the enemy. Neither option is desirable.

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Original post by Kest That's pretty much the problem I'm having. How do you let the enemy fire a laser gun with a ffrrzzattpp sound while still maintaining the illusion that it's silent?

Would your game allow a mechanic like a stealth/silent mode which as a side effect causes anything that can be used stealthily to use more subtle sound effects?

Maybe you could play on the idea of maintaining silence even more by making any noise you do cause more noticeable.. A catlike state of heightened sensitivity - this could also explain why the player's weapons are still quite audible.