I’m really happy to see questions and answer them.
Base building will be a big part of the game. A player’s home has stations, such as a First Aid Station or a Bedroom. Building materials (Construction Materials, Metal Parts, Electrical Parts, Chemicals) recovered from scavenging can be used to build and upgrade stations.
Stations give benefits to a community of survivors. For example, the Bedroom station allows survivors to recover from fatigue more quickly.
Here’s a screenshot of the menu where a player can manage their home’s stations. It is fully functional.
I thoroughly enjoyed both your AI and Sound Design videos! It was very cool to see a visual representation of how far the noise travels based on in-game actions. It was also great to see how standing in the navmesh area affected whether a zombie will hear you. Is there a way to adjust the volume of the zombie voices in-game?
Considering what you’ve learned thus far regarding Sound Design, how have you adjusted footsteps to sound different on grass, asphalt, concrete, indoor flooring, etc.? Also, are you considering adding a musical soundtrack to the game (i.e. environmental music for outdoors, action music, etc.)?
It’s very interesting how small combinations of sounds work to make believable sounds for one major action such as breaking down a door! As a gamer, it is easy to miss how so much thought goes into creating sounds. And you’re right! If you’re not thinking of the sounds or are not noticing missing sounds, then your immersion hasn’t been broken.
I admire your time investment and dedication to Those Left Behind! With each update, your game gets more and more impressive!
Is there a way to adjust the volume of the zombie voices in-game?
Yes. Early-on in the development process, I implemented a fully functional menu. To adjust the volume of the zombies you’d simply adjust the Audio Setting for Voice.
how have you adjusted footsteps to sound different on grass, asphalt, concrete, indoor flooring, etc.?
Short-answer: Line traces and physical materials(PMs).
Longer-answer: Different surfaces have different PMs. For example, a surface I want to designate as grass has its PM set to “grass.” Each footstep executes a line trace that returns the surface type. Different audio cues are played for different surface types.
are you considering adding a musical soundtrack to the game (i.e. environmental music for outdoors, action music, etc.)?
A player’s home will have a soundtrack.
As of now, I want the scavenged world to only have environmental sounds (wind, rain, sparks, etc).
After uploading these most recent videos, I polished the zombie vocalizations a bit more:
changed the sound attenuation shape to conical
i. the sound cone projects from the head of the zombie, so now sounds are louder when standing in front of a zombie versus standing behind/to-the-side
adjusted the external curve that serves as the attenuation function
Thanks for the awesome questions! I can’t overstate how much I appreciate them.
Another brilliant DevLog! I marvel at the things that happen in everyday life that we take for granted. It makes perfect sense that ambient noise would make other noises less noticeable, but thinking to implement this in-game is a novel thought, imho. These are the seemingly small things that happen in games that players may not tend to notice. I’m happy to see that you are leaving no stone unturned in improvements to Those Left Behind!
