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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: Starsector could use better gun sounds  (Read 3677 times)

NikolaiLev

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Starsector could use better gun sounds
« on: November 24, 2014, 09:05:42 AM »

After working on my mod and trying to implement sounds, it's become even more obvious than ever that Starsector's gun sounds are rather wimpy.  I carry the philosophy that mods ought to work to be as cohesive with the base game as possible; visually, balance-wise, and aurally.

This means I've had to essentially neuter the sounds I want to use.  Lasers aren't pewpewy, guns aren't boomy.  The sounds need more oomph.  I know sounds can't travel through space, but if SS is going to have sounds, why not go all the way and make them as cool sounding as possible?

I think the biggest offenders are the ballistic weapons.  Light autocannons may be small in the context of the game, but they're probably 70mm or so naval cannons.  Even they ought to make an impressive bang.  The Heavy Autocannon sound is just... so dull.  Pretty much every other weapon suffers from this.  The Mjolnir and Hellbore sound okay, I guess.

I hate to rag on you, Stian, but I think Starsector could use an audio overhaul.  Though it's worth saying that even after hundreds of hours of playing (which, granted, might make me a little sick of the sounds), the explosion sounds are all pretty satisfying.

And yes, I'm aware one could simply make a mod that replaces the sounds, and one might already exist.  But from the moment I started playing I always found the weapon sounds wimpy.

I think another problem is the gun sounds are simply too quiet compared to the rest of the game... that could just be me though.  One must be careful given that sounds need to sound great whether it's one Lasher shooting or an entire fleet in battle.
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Gothars

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2014, 09:28:42 AM »

The game "just" got a major sound overhaul with the update before the last, as you probably know. I general, I'm now rather fond of the many diverse weapon sounds in the game. I agree that some are underwhelming and could use more bass, though (especially the Autopulse Laser). I believe Stain is still working on it, at least there was a lot of feed-back when the sounds where new.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Megas

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2014, 10:07:17 AM »

While most of the new sounds are an improvement, some of the older sounds I liked better were Heavy Mauler and TPC.  Those were wicked, but their replacements were underwhelming.
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ahrenjb

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2014, 10:32:29 AM »

I actually really like most of the sounds. They are distinct and different from each other without being distracting or grating. I always play connected to amplified speakers, so maybe they lose something on headphones or small speakers, but this game has always struck me as having good quality sound. ESPECIALLY after the sound update.

In fact, I think the only sound I'm really not fond of is the hypervelocity driver sound. I use them as pressure weapons usually and the sound can get a little shrill after a while.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2014, 10:50:57 AM »

They are distinct and different from each other without being distracting or grating ...

It's very much this, yeah.

It's tempting to go in wanting to make weapons sound extra cool and prominent, but in the grand scheme of things, many weapon firing sounds *aren't that important* gameplay-wise. Hit sounds matter more, it's important to differentiate between the type of hits, and a potentially huge number of sounds have to be able to coexist without it becoming an unreadable mess. Stian could speak more intelligently about this, I'm sure, but that's the gist of it.

It's sort of like if you have a band practicing, and then one person turns up just a little, and then another person does, and before you know it everything is up to 11 and you can't even make out the vocals.

FWIW, I'm happy with where the sounds are at. I mean, everything could always be improved (even if it's only marginal), but the sounds being the way they are is a design feature.
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Dri

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2014, 01:09:15 PM »

My only MAJOR complaint is the Thumper. God that's horrible and doesn't fit the name one bit. Peh peh peh peh...
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TaLaR

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2014, 08:15:44 PM »

My only MAJOR complaint is the Thumper. God that's horrible and doesn't fit the name one bit. Peh peh peh peh...

Actually consistent with how weak it is. Would be weird for it to sound like some planet-cracker.
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Reh

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2014, 11:17:57 PM »

While I agree that most weapons sound underwhelming and muffled, I always assumed it was by design. We see the battles from quite a distance and they're in vacuum. So yes, the tranquility of sounds drew my attention when I first played the game, but I thought it was a conscious decision on Alex's part.
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Debido

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2014, 11:25:23 PM »

@NikolaiLev

I'm not sure if you ever had the privilege of playing Eternal Nox when it was in beta, but the sound effects were gloriously cinematic! It was utterly utterly epic cacophony of bullets, ricochets, laser beams making tremendous noise.

And it was that, cinematic, otherwise I had not much clue what was happening except via visual clues which in itself was a visual cluster .... which was also cinematic.

Anyway the point is it was not good from the point of view of giving the player situational awareness, as Alex has pointed out this is intentional and by design, though he didn't delve too much into the psychoacoustics side of thing it is fairly important that the sound design stay the way it is.
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NikolaiLev

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Re: Starsector could use better gun sounds
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2014, 03:41:10 PM »

They are distinct and different from each other without being distracting or grating ...

It's very much this, yeah.

It's tempting to go in wanting to make weapons sound extra cool and prominent, but in the grand scheme of things, many weapon firing sounds *aren't that important* gameplay-wise. Hit sounds matter more, it's important to differentiate between the type of hits, and a potentially huge number of sounds have to be able to coexist without it becoming an unreadable mess. Stian could speak more intelligently about this, I'm sure, but that's the gist of it.

It's sort of like if you have a band practicing, and then one person turns up just a little, and then another person does, and before you know it everything is up to 11 and you can't even make out the vocals.

FWIW, I'm happy with where the sounds are at. I mean, everything could always be improved (even if it's only marginal), but the sounds being the way they are is a design feature.

I'm fairly aware of the risk of making every sound a glorious bang of gloriousness.  However, I still think ballistic weapons could use some love.

I mean, have you even heard the Light Mortar lately?  I could make more impressive sounds with my mouth.  Probably.  Pity there aren't any ships that really make use of it, it's an underrated weapon.  So flux efficient.

Though that may change when I finish my mod...  ;D
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