[Interview] Matt Harwood, Director of Auditory Kaos
We sat down with Matt to talk about his involvement in Kaos Studios, his goals for Homefront, and how sound is better than visuals... at least, in our opinion.
Published: February 22, 2011
Keeping the foundation in mind, the actual premise of Homefront's single-player and multiplayer differ quite a bit. After all, the multiplayer is set when the US is fighting an invading force several years before the occupation uprising in the campaign. How would you compare the two settings and your approach to scoring it?
The entire environment in the single-player game is still occupied. It is still gutted, and there are empty houses. And with that, there is a lot of sound design to go with it: dogs barking, packs of things... where it wouldn't happen when there was still people there. So, it is certainly still the story of occupied America, and it permeated those choices.
Musically, the multiplayer is more gamey. More like the game is making those choices for the emotional context of the scene. When you spawn in, that first spawn has music to it – it is getting you ready. “It's going to be fun! This is going to be good; you're going to have a good time.” But it is that serious tone that is taken from the emotional parts within the single-player. And you'll hear that when the frontline is about to move, you hear some music stingers, [and] when you win – things like that.
But it is all centralized around the multiplayer game. It is so much more game-centric versus cinematic storytelling. I had to support that, and in doing that, I wanted to make sure you are still getting those cues from the single-player that you felt when you play through it.
Gamers never really think about how much resource management goes into game development, and from how you framed it, there are a lot more moving parts than we think about. I guess that was an even bigger issue when you consider how limited the PS3's memory capacity is.
[Laughs] Yeah. The PS3 is certainly a challenge in that regard. But I think when you are given confines in many cases, it leads you to make some smart choices. One of the things that we did was our mixing snapshots. What I mean by that is when you fire your gun, your footsteps cut out of volume. And our voicing structure is based on what you can hear in that volume. So you end up losing those voices, but that is okay because you wouldn't hear them when you're firing your gun.
From a memory standpoint, [we're] streaming and intelligently pulling things in and out when you need them; ambient sounds are streamed in and fade away if you are in the sphere of influence of that particular sound. So, if you walk by a garbage bag and it has flies around it, it is a close proximity to it, so you'll hear it. As you move away, the audio fades out and away. It is a constant trade-off, but making some smart decisions to utilize the memory effectively; it was a challenge, for sure, but I think it helps you make good choices sometimes. Just look at George Lucas in Star Wars: “Here's all the money you want; make a really good movie.” Did he do it? I don't know; compared to the first Star Wars, I don't think so, in my opinion. He was really restrained there [with the original film's budget], and that's good! I think sometimes confines are good for a creative outlet.
But, would I like more memory? Dude, yes! [Laughs] I want the whole PlayStation to be a big memory cube... for audio!
I'm with ya – people just don't appreciate audio anymore. So, at the end of the day, when you get home and sit down to play some Homefront, what kind of audio setup would you want to use?
Well, most players have a TV, so use your TV. Just play it!
But what would you use, Matt?
[Laughs] HR 824 Nearfield reference monitors, bi-amplified in 5.1. That is the way to go! Sell the Ferrari outside and get these, and experience the game!
Homefront is set to drop on March 15 in North America. Be sure to check out the game's soundtrack, which releases March 8 on iTunes, Amazon.com, and other various music-based outlets.
Oh, and again: buy some good headphones.
The entire environment in the single-player game is still occupied. It is still gutted, and there are empty houses. And with that, there is a lot of sound design to go with it: dogs barking, packs of things... where it wouldn't happen when there was still people there. So, it is certainly still the story of occupied America, and it permeated those choices.
Musically, the multiplayer is more gamey. More like the game is making those choices for the emotional context of the scene. When you spawn in, that first spawn has music to it – it is getting you ready. “It's going to be fun! This is going to be good; you're going to have a good time.” But it is that serious tone that is taken from the emotional parts within the single-player. And you'll hear that when the frontline is about to move, you hear some music stingers, [and] when you win – things like that.
But it is all centralized around the multiplayer game. It is so much more game-centric versus cinematic storytelling. I had to support that, and in doing that, I wanted to make sure you are still getting those cues from the single-player that you felt when you play through it.
Gamers never really think about how much resource management goes into game development, and from how you framed it, there are a lot more moving parts than we think about. I guess that was an even bigger issue when you consider how limited the PS3's memory capacity is.
[Laughs] Yeah. The PS3 is certainly a challenge in that regard. But I think when you are given confines in many cases, it leads you to make some smart choices. One of the things that we did was our mixing snapshots. What I mean by that is when you fire your gun, your footsteps cut out of volume. And our voicing structure is based on what you can hear in that volume. So you end up losing those voices, but that is okay because you wouldn't hear them when you're firing your gun.
From a memory standpoint, [we're] streaming and intelligently pulling things in and out when you need them; ambient sounds are streamed in and fade away if you are in the sphere of influence of that particular sound. So, if you walk by a garbage bag and it has flies around it, it is a close proximity to it, so you'll hear it. As you move away, the audio fades out and away. It is a constant trade-off, but making some smart decisions to utilize the memory effectively; it was a challenge, for sure, but I think it helps you make good choices sometimes. Just look at George Lucas in Star Wars: “Here's all the money you want; make a really good movie.” Did he do it? I don't know; compared to the first Star Wars, I don't think so, in my opinion. He was really restrained there [with the original film's budget], and that's good! I think sometimes confines are good for a creative outlet.
But, would I like more memory? Dude, yes! [Laughs] I want the whole PlayStation to be a big memory cube... for audio!
I'm with ya – people just don't appreciate audio anymore. So, at the end of the day, when you get home and sit down to play some Homefront, what kind of audio setup would you want to use?
Well, most players have a TV, so use your TV. Just play it!
But what would you use, Matt?
[Laughs] HR 824 Nearfield reference monitors, bi-amplified in 5.1. That is the way to go! Sell the Ferrari outside and get these, and experience the game!
Homefront is set to drop on March 15 in North America. Be sure to check out the game's soundtrack, which releases March 8 on iTunes, Amazon.com, and other various music-based outlets.
Oh, and again: buy some good headphones.
