The hidden complexity of sound design

[:1]http://www.arena.net/blog/the-hidden...f-sound-design
all we need to know about there sound, enjoy.|||Another blog post about sound.

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Finally, no matter how fantastic a game’s music is, when you hear the same music for the thousandth time, you start wanting to change things up a bit. Many players will simply turn the game music off and play their own collections. The problem is that an external music player has no context as to what’s going on in-game. Guild Wars 2 will offer a solution for this as well. We’re giving players the option of choosing external music playlists that the game’s audio engine will use as a replacement for the default in-game music. Players can choose different playlists for background ambience and battle music, for instance. Additionally, when appropriate, such as during cinematics, the game can revert back to in-game music temporarily to give the best possible cinematic experience, then resume the custom playlist when it’s done.




Pure awesome. Most people would be pleasantly surprised with a built-in player, but making it context sensitive is just icing on the cake.|||Interesting feature with the external music playlists, not something very common in games in general.|||Fun stuff; so want to work for them.|||Quote:








Another blog post about sound.
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Very cool.|||Quote:




We�re giving players the option of choosing external music playlists that the game�s audio engine will use as a replacement for the default in-game music. Players can choose different playlists for background ambience and battle music, for instance.




Epic. Matrix fight music for my warrior.|||As a sound lover, I appreciate the deep insights into sound creation.
I am particularly excited by this feature:

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For example, if a fort comes under attack by centaurs, you might hear the music change to increase the tension of the situation. Even beyond this, the music system will work intelligently whenever you’re out in the world. By analyzing nearby friends and enemies and keeping track of what everyone is doing, it tries to gauge what’s happening in the world, and will switch up soundtracks accordingly, while still trying not to make the transitions too frequent or jarring.




Together with the sound system, all this sounds very dynamic!|||Truly mind-boggling the detail and complexity going into this game. Please take my money now.|||Anet is really seeming to be doing a great job with GW2. Wow.|||Quote:








As a sound lover, I appreciate the deep insights into sound creation.
I am particularly excited by this feature:

Together with the sound system, all this sounds very dynamic!




The only thing i would add to this is an idea from RIFT: multiple track music that allows for multiple layers of music to be added ontop of each other dynamically to make certains scenes (like battle scenes) more dramatic...
One thing I am wondering though: We have heard, seen and read from many sound engineering people but not from Jeremy Soule. Does anyone wonder why that is?