作者：Michael Bross

我们可以在科幻射击游戏的武器音频中发现一些最有趣和最富有挑战性的电子游戏音效。在这类游戏的声音设计过程中，我们需要考虑到许多棘手的层面。

最重要的是，其音频必须令玩家在使用武器时感到满意。此外，还必须让玩家在特定游戏的成百上千次使用武器的过程中总能获得相同的体验。

游戏的声音设计离不开技术和创意。我们将在本文探讨这两个层面在这一过程中的相互作用。

一般来说，我们是在预制作和制作这两个阶段中制作音频。

sci-fi shooter(from mmofront.com)

预制作：探索和规划阶段

这是一个我们存在大量疑问的阶段，也就是所谓的探索和规划阶段。这是我们首先构思技术设计，以便继续向内容设计推进的过程。一般而言，此时游戏体验中所有的音频和音乐（不只是武器）都要到位。

音频是由游戏设计本身所推动，也会受到技术管道（以及我们如何明智地绕过这些局限性）的制约。而武器音频设计还会受到与之相伴的动画的影响。

从创意角度出发，我们要搜集参照材料。这是为了便于找到灵感以及产生想法以防备大家一时计穷。我们会查看市场上的其他游戏（还有电影），听听其中最酷的武器声音设计。这样有助于我们确立一个标准，然后找到自己可从而借鉴和超越的地方。

何为最适用于游戏的武器声音创意？例如，它是像《星球大战》中那种更像“激光”氛围的声音？还是类似于模拟现代武器并添加一些“未来主义”元素的声音？创造科幻武器的一大妙处就在于它有许多创意空间。

从技术角度来看，这个阶段需要确定许多细节。

*它是什么类型的武器？也许是一杆等离子步枪或者类似重力手榴弹的东西。武器的参数是多少？它是否拥有较高的开火率还是开火较缓慢，但却像狙击步枪一样强大？武器的射程如何？它是一个炮塔还是一种手持武器？

*“事件类型”是什么？在游戏中，因为我们并不处理线性混合结构，而是考虑玩家驱动的可能性，所以一般会将其划分为“事件”。武器事件可以是“开火”、“装弹”、“二次开火”、“超温”、“低弹药存量”等。使用这种方法可以覆盖到游戏音频的所有层面。

*距离模式是什么？也就是武器声音超越一个距离的行为。对于更复杂的武器设计，声音设计师就需要想到近距离样本设置，令其无缝融入远距离样本设置。

关于这方面还可以挖掘出许多其他问题，以上内容却可以作为一个良好的切入点。

制作：令其生效

当构想出武器技术和创意方法时，内容本身的创造工作也就开始了。这里最佳的切入点就是武器的模型，这通常是由玩法视频剪辑或动画输出来完成的。模型有助于构思声音的所有层次和事件如何整合到一起，并且还有助于团队其他人员理解武器声音效果。

优秀的游戏声音设计师会在心里记住如何将这些资产修整成游戏所需资产的理念。

特定声音事件的变体很关键。炮弹坠落到地面是一种重要的事件，在其中植入变化可以增加活力。

这正是部署这些资产可以切入的起点。我们之后就可以将材料输入游戏音频工具（例如Wwise或FMOD）。这个过程通常离不开与其他部门的合作，例如与编程人员或动画人员配合，令声音事件与实际的游戏事件相对应。这件事情发生后，我们才最终听到武器在游戏中的声音效果。但这还不是工作的终结，它还需要内容和武器音效技术方面的更多迭代。

创造简练武器声音的过程不仅仅局限于创造一系列声音文件。它是需要我们找到贯穿整个创造过程的技术和创意挑战解决方案的一种独特经历。这是最令人兴奋的部分！当我们最终听到游戏音频生效，并从玩家角度看到声音设计为整体玩法体验添加的深度时，我们就知道自己走对路了。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Weapon Sound Design for Sci-Fi Shooters

by Michael Bross

Some of the more interesting and challenging sounds to create for a video game are found in weapon audio for Sci-Fi-based shooters. In the sound design process for this genre, there are many intriguing facets to consider.

Most importantly, the audio needs to feel gratifying for the player when shooting the weapon. What’s more, it needs to feel that way over and over again since player may use their weapons hundreds or even thousands of times over the course of their experience within a particular game title.

Sound design for games can be as much about the technical as it is about the creative. In this article, we’ll look at each aspect, and how they are intertwined throughout the process.

Generally, we work within a two-phase process–pre-production and production, as described below.

Pre-Production: Discovery and Planning Stage

This is the phase where we ask a lot of questions. It’s a discovery and planning stage. It’s where we first conceive the technical design so we are able to move forward on content design. Generally, this is done for all audio and music across a game’s experience (not just weapons).

Audio is driven by the game design itself. And also by the limitations of the technical pipeline (and how we can cleverly get around those limitations). In the case of weapons, how a sound is created is also heavily influenced by the animations to which the sounds will be attached.

From a creative standpoint, we are gathering reference. This is for inspiration and also to generate ideas of approach beyond what our own brains may drum up. We are looking at other games on the market (along with film). What supercool weapon designs are we hearing? Doing this helps us to establish a bar and then we figure out what we can be inspired by and aim to exceed.

What’s the creative approach to the weapons that would best serve the game? For example, is it something with more of a “laser” vibe like Star Wars?  Or would it be better to do something that models modern-day weapons while adding “futuristic” enhancements? The beauty of creating for sci-fi weapons is that it leaves a lot of room to be creative.

From a technical perspective, many details need to be defined in this phase.

–What type of weapon is it? Maybe it’s a plasma rifle or some kind of gravity grenade. What are the parameters of the weapon? Does it have a high ROF (rate of fire) or is it slow but powerful like a sniper rifle. What’s the scale of the weapon? Is it a turret or a handheld weapon?

–What are the “event types”? In games, because we are not dealing with a linear mix and instead, we’re thinking about what the player-driven possibilities are, we tend to break it down into “events.”  A weapon’s events could be: “fire”. “reload”, “fire empty”, “secondary fire”, “overheat”, “low ammo” and so on. Approaching it this way allows for all aspects of a weapon’s audio to be covered.

–What is the distance model? It’s the behavior of the weapon’s sound over a distance (also known as “falloff”). For more complex weapon designs, the sound designer will need to come up with near-distance sample sets that flow seamlessly into far-distance sample sets.

Though there are many other questions to be asked, those above represent a good starting point.

Production: Making it Happen

Once the weapon’s tech and creative approach have been conceived, creation of the content itself begins. The best place to start here is with mockups of the weapon which are usually done to gameplay video captures or animation exports. A mockup helps in conceiving how all the layers and events of a sound will work together. It also aids in selling the idea of what the weapon will sound like to the rest of the team.

A good game sound designer will keep the idea in the back of his/her mind as to how these assets might be stemmed out as game-ready assets.

Variations on certain sound events are essential. Shell casings dropping to the ground is one such event where this is important. Employing variations adds life.

This is the point where implementation of these assets can begin (after the material is stemmed out). We then would import the material into the game-side audio tool (such as Wwise or FMOD). This process will typically involve collaborating with other departments such as code engineers or animators to align the sound events with the actual game events that these sounds are matched to. Once this happens, we can finally hear the weapon working in the game. This is rarely the end of the work and involves further iteration on the both the content and the tech to refine the weapon’s SFX.

And in the big picture, this sound would also be dialed into the overall soundscape in regard to mix.

As you can see, the process of creating sci-fi weapon sounds involves much more than crafting a couple of sound files. It’s a unique, challenging experience that requires us to find solutions to tech and creative challenges that manifest throughout the  process of creation.  That’s the most exciting part, though!  And when we finally hear the game audio in action, and see from a player’s perspective how much depth the sound design adds to the overall gameplay experience, we know we’ve hit the mark spot-on.（source：gamasutra）