19 replies to this topic

[moey124]

December 15th 2011 update is out check it out my fellow pilots! ...

[moey124]

December 15, 2011 – Microsoft Flight Audio Philosophy: “I Make Airplane Noises"

With Mt. Rainier in the background, a vintage, fully remodeled, freshly waxed, and dearly-loved Stearman takes off from a backyard runway. Two men are strapped into the seats – one, a seasoned commercial pilot with deep-rooted love for these antique crafts, mans the helm while the other, a first-time occupant of an open-air craft, is crammed into the front seat with a heap of audio recording equipment packed around him for the voyage.

The two men sit silently as they ascend into the air on this beautiful spring day. The air is whizzing through their hair as they climb to altitudes of 600-700 feet. A serene feeling takes over the pair as they enjoy the ambient sounds of the air, the sun warming their skin, and the calm feeling of gliding through the sky. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, this peaceful cruise ends as the pilot jolts into thrilling aerobatics that the Stearman handles masterfully. Once back on the ground the two men smile and the passenger exclaims that, while he was understandably alarmed with the sudden turns, he had “more fun than fear" in his first open-air flight. The passenger sets down his gear and then remembers this is his job; he gets paid to occasionally fly around in awe-inspiring planes. This man is the Audio Supervisor for Microsoft Flight, Jason, and he pours this same passion, wonder, and excitement for flying into his work every day.



The first thing that greets you as you walk into Jason's office is a sign that reads “I Make Airplane Noises." While brief, the proudly displayed sign really says it all. You won't have to guess; Jason will be the first to tell you how exciting sounds are to him. When he joined the Flight team in late 2010 from a sister Microsoft studio for the racing game Forza, Jason set out to create a new audio architecture and, in his own words, “evoke a cerebral and visceral level of immersion for the player" since the full experience of Flight rises to the next level of greatness when paired with the right sounds at key moments.

Jason took some time to sit down and explain his philosophy for our community – here's how he thinks about audio while developing Microsoft Flight:

Every game has a zenith for which its audio works to achieve greatness. For instance, a race-driving game might focus on the sound of its car engines; or, a first person shooter might envelop the user with a barrage of incredible sounding weapons and explosions. While the aircraft sounds themselves remain an important aspect to Flight audio, it's really how the aircraft interacts with the world that works to immerse the user in a visceral and exciting experience. In this sense, the world of Flight presents a unique challenge for audio design where an immense breadth of different experiences and gameplay modes exist for which audio needs to succeed.

What should it sound like when an aircraft goes from floating softly and slowly to barreling toward Earth in a violent spin then back again? What is the difference in sound when pulling 5g's compared to 10g's? How should the sound of a soft landing differ compared to a rough one?

Whether sitting on the tarmac or performing aerobatics, at any point during gameplay, the user should have a variety of audio cues that inform them of what is happening in their world. These types of questions and ideals drive the design and development of the various audio systems for Flight. To this end, Flight audio has been carefully crafted to provide a dynamic and engaging experience that adapts to the exploration offered by Flight.

Here are three in-game audio clips that were captured directly from Microsoft Flight. We have Flight's Maule aircraft performing a soft landing, hard landing, and rough landing; listen intently and see if you can hear the difference in wind, skidding, and fuselage sounds, as well as the other variables of sound design that were included in each of these clips.

soft landing:

click here to download sound.

hard landing:

click here to download sound.

rough landing:

click here to download sound.

As you can see, Microsoft Flight has a talented and passionate development team. We're proud to have teammates like Jason and look forward to sharing more insights into our development processes and philosophies as we move closer to take off.

The Microsoft Flight Team

[fsxnate]

awesome, we'll have to check out the sounds later, love audio in games

[ChaoticBeauty]

Awesome! I predict the audio in Flight will be fabulous!

[Santa]

Any chance someone can pull the audio from the site? I can't be bothered to install silverlight.

[ollyau]

Santa, on Dec 15 2011, 02:39 PM, said:

Any chance someone can pull the audio from the site? I can't be bothered to install silverlight.

What does Silverlight have to do with that?

Just go to the website: http://www.microsoft...udio_philosophy.  There's a link that's labelled "click here to download sound."

[yimmy149]

Direct links if it helps:

Soft Landing: http://mediadl.micro...oft_landing.wma

Hard Landing: http://mediadl.micro...ent_weather.wma

Rough Landing: http://mediadl.micro...ugh_landing.wma

-james

[-Dexter]

Good to see that they're putting some effort into sound. In FSX, I recall hearing nothing but the engine when flying.

[ChaoticBeauty]

-Dexter, on Dec 16 2011, 03:15 AM, said:

Good to see that they're putting some effort into sound. In FSX, I recall hearing nothing but the engine when flying.

I think you're a bit wrong on that. I can also hear the wind, turbulence and prop. But there's no doubt that Flight will sound a lot better.

[yimmy149]

Hopefully they will offer enough channels to developers that they don't need to code audio into gauges/DLLs.  They don't always seem to mix well, and are more difficult to control volume on.

[Daube]

Looks like they are finally as bored as we are about Hawaii screenshots, so they posted some sounds instead...
But at least, there's some change. They went even as far as mentionning the Seattle area in the text, whoohoo !
Perhaps next year we might get some non-hawaii screens, who knows ?

[MattGarner]

Daube, on Dec 17 2011, 09:40 AM, said:

Looks like they are finally as bored as we are about Hawaii screenshots, so they posted some sounds instead...
But at least, there's some change. They went even as far as mentionning the Seattle area in the text, whoohoo !
Perhaps next year we might get some non-hawaii screens, who knows ?

Beta is next year and if you are one of the lucky ones you get to see yourself that Flight isn't just bloody Hawaii.

[BrandonF]

MattGarner, on Dec 17 2011, 06:21 AM, said:

Beta is next year and if you are one of the lucky ones you get to see yourself that Flight isn't just bloody Hawaii.

http://forum.avsim.n...ot-hawaii-only/

[MattGarner]

BrandonF, on Dec 17 2011, 08:15 PM, said:

http://forum.avsim.n...ot-hawaii-only/

I was aware it would be the whole world but some posts I've read on here and other forums still think it's Hawaii only.

[Spam]

MattGarner, on Dec 18 2011, 05:29 AM, said:

I was aware it would be the whole world but some posts I've read on here and other forums still think it's Hawaii only.

It just baffles me why they have produced so many screenshots of one area...

[ChaoticBeauty]

Spam, on Dec 18 2011, 01:25 PM, said:

It just baffles me why they have produced so many screenshots of one area...

Probably it's their flagship area.

[MattGarner]

Spam, on Dec 18 2011, 11:25 AM, said:

It just baffles me why they have produced so many screenshots of one area...

I'm sure they aren't the first people to do it and didn't they do something similar last time? Doesn't mean it will be that location only.

[Romario_]

Matt, are you referring to the TNCM screenshots for FSX and how the demo/beta was limited to TNCM?

[MattGarner]

Santa_Claus, on Dec 19 2011, 01:27 AM, said:

Matt, are you referring to the TNCM screenshots for FSX and how the demo/beta was limited to TNCM?

I don't quite remember what they did for FSX when showing it off for the first time. I thought I read somewhere they did something similar to limiting to one area for so long?

[Daube]

Santa_Claus, on Dec 18 2011, 08:27 PM, said:

Matt, are you referring to the TNCM screenshots for FSX and how the demo/beta was limited to TNCM?

The demo was limited to TNCM, however the screenshots were showing places from everywhere, including Seattle, some desert areas, some forest etc...
TNCM was the most detailled place, though, but the screenshots they gave, from the very first Alpha versions, were not limited to TNCM.