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Are there any updates on adding surround sound to the game? Is there a timeline for when we can see a standard such as Dolby Atmos incorporated?

TL;DRPhil Peers-Smallwood says the team is exploring enabling spatialization in Wwise (allowing Dolby Atmos, DTS and similar) once they migrate to a newer version, while still watching surround support and working on simulated head-related audio cues.

Phil Peers-SmallwoodLead Sound Designer

Yeah, so spatialization is something we're currently exploring. So we're looking at enabling spatialization in Wwise, which will allow backers to make use of Dolby Atmos, DTS, Windows spatialization and stuff. The current version of Wwise that we're on doesn't permit that yet, but when we migrate to the new version of Wwise, then it's something we can continue to explore. But it's important to note that when we enable that, the Dolby Atmos, DTS and stuff, that's third-party software. So although we can enable the feature, it will be down to the backers to choose which versions they want to go with. People might just have aesthetic preferences for which spatialization tool they want to go with. But beyond that, we still have a keen ear on surround support. Now, it's been a bit challenging working from home, because we've all been working from home since March last year. And most of us are working in, some have spare bedrooms, I'm currently in my dining room and stuff. And we're doing our best to work and build the acoustic environment, have decent playback and stuff. But the practicality of it is we don't all have room for 5.1, 7.1 systems. So that is a shame, but it's something we still have a keen ear on. But also beyond that, so we've got spatialization we're looking into, keeping an ear on surround sound, but we're also having a focus on fake HRTF, which is a head-related transfer function. A couple of our really talented sound designers, like Fran Delpia and Adi Kelch, are really spearheading looking into attenuating sound based on the position of the emitter relative to the player. So what a head-related transfer function basically is: things sound different depending on where they are around you. If they're in front of you, behind you, above you, below you, the ear attenuates the sound slightly differently. And we're looking to, in simplistic ways, try and telegraph that to the player. So when you're in a dogfight, for instance, you can kind of hear the sound changing and you can learn that, hey, that's above me, that's below me, because we're not just dealing with a flat plane like an FPS, where things are in front of you or behind you or slightly above or slightly below. If you're in 3D space, in a dogfight in space, then everything could be on all axes at the same time. So yeah, we understand it's massively important for a game such as Star Citizen and S42. So it's definitely on our radar and we are looking into it.

Star Citizen Live›Audio Team Roundtable·
Published on this date.16 Apr 2021
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