Stomp Sounds for immersion [implemented]

[qubodup]

When I play MechWarrior 3, one of the features that connects me to the game emotionally are the stomp sounds. If you don't know what I mean, this YouTube video of the first MW3 mission (time index on mission start) might bring you on the same page.

I just tried LinWarrior after not having played it for months and was disappointed by the silence. I had to shoot, to be sure whether it was a bug or there were simply no movement sounds in place.

I would like to suggest adding the robotstep*.wav files from Lee Barkovich's Robotic Sounds pack as stomp sounds to the game.

[Julius]

That and the "all systems nominal" computer voice is a must have for any mech game

[hc]

Once there was an all systems nominal but it was removed, maybe I'll add it back in.
But then again it may be unoriginal but you're all invited to suggest other phrases.

For Stomp sounds I'll need a good looping sample - on windows I once used to use a simple wave editor (cooledit or goldwave or whatever it was named).
Any recommendations for *easy* and *simple* wave editors on linux? Enough to cut&trim and some simple pitching?

[Julius]

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Should do the trick I guess.

[qubodup]

For Stomp sounds I'll need a good looping sample

I'm not sure I understand. A looping collision sound? Or a stomp sound that sounds good, even when repeated many times?

Ideally, there would be one or multiple sounds that play each time a foot actually steps on the ground, with pitch and volume possibly depending on the forces and surfaces in effect.

If you would like to dwell deeper into foot step sound design, this blog post seem to be a good starting point (check out the links at the bottom of the post).

I split the voice suggestions into another thread.

[hc]

Better a late answer than none, ahem.
Qubodup already made a youtube video featuring walking sounds some time ago and I like to add some comments/reply and close this properly for now.

Of course I've had a look at that blog post for inspiration - otherwise it may be a bit over the top.
I used a stomp sound by qubodup, which I thought could be fitting, in the end I edited it to oblivion using audacity, adding more and more distortions and transformations - forming the shape of the wave to become a low tremor.

Within the simulation that sound is continously repeated - even when you stand still - the trick was to modulate the volume and pitch relative to the walking speed and the degree of ground contact. I think the results are quite reasonable - but it may become annoying over time - maybe it needs to be a bit more subtle.

As a comment to the video stated: Seeing the video and sound makes it obvious that the walking animation was kind of "slow motion" - so I've adjusted the animation speed to fit the audio.

I agree that it adds a lot to immersion and since then I've wondered why/that a number of open source games lack walking sounds.
They really do add value - you feel more connected than when just moving - floating - silently - and it really adds to the impression of a complete game.
The simple receipe is: Play steps in a loop and change volume (but this may be an issue for non-OpenAL-audio-libs) - or stop and start loop to be cheap.
Any half decent rpg and adventure game needs this

Gets me to another related topic: I'm still waiting for SDL 2.0 with force feedback version becoming the current release/stable version.
http://www.libsdl.org/hg.php tells it's under construction like may it be 2+ years since google sponsored force feedback development?
Would it be packaged and available I'd probably try it at least anyway.

[qubodup]

The relevant video:

youtu.be/bHVZJvuGISM

I just pulled latest git and the sounds do not match the collision of feet with ground.

Glad you consider this important for immersion as well. The jetpack could use some sound as well then.

[hc]

I'll have a look at the frequency.

But I'll only be able to adjust the frequency (stomps per time) to some degree but there will remain a frequency difference - aaaand a phase shift which I don't mind too much - at least not when thinking about the tradeoff degree-of-immersion / complexity-overhead.
So the sound still won't coincident with the actual impacts on the ground - think of it as some kind of rumble delay

Isn't a problem in 1st person and isn't a big deal in 3rd either - or does it really annoy you?
I think most games aren't that accurate.

Oh, btw. that graphical glitch noticeable in the video (ground below when viewed from above) has been fixed.

Edit: Yes, yes, jump jet sounds are on my list.