26 replies to this topic

[Saijee]

Is it a big deal if the game does not let you specifically adjust the levels of the volumes?

The way I have it now, you can tell the game to mute sounds or music individually, but cannot set the levels.

[greep]

Not particularly, but it is nice. I think most people know how to set headphone/speaker volume. What IS important is making sure your sounds and music are of near-consistent volume relative to each other. Exiting one room with quiet background and entering another with massively loud background is just no good.

Edited by greep, 20 January 2012 - 01:18 AM.

[kburkhart84]

The consistency is much more important than whether I can adjust the volume or not. Consider if I adjust my speakers low, and suddenly I get something loud...not cool.

Assuming things are consistent, I expect at a minimum in a polished game a way to turn off sound/music individually. I personally keep both on, because they are part of the experience. But I know people that insist on using there own music(via external MP3 player, stereo, or WMP running minimized) but still want sound effects. So I'd say you need at the least a way to turn off one and/or the other, but a volume control isn't really that necessary.

An exception to this would be if your game is of the "extremely" casual type. If you are targeting that group of people who barely can use the computer, I'd recommend you have it, because they may have crappy speakers with no adjustment, and they may not know how to do it via windows, and so if it is too loud/not loud enough, they will not like it(duh right!). But if the game is for general gamers, or more hardcore games, then it is probably fine.

[chance]

An exception to this would be if your game is of the "extremely" casual type. If you are targeting that group of people who barely can use the computer, I'd recommend you have it, because they may have crappy speakers with no adjustment, and they may not know how to do it via windows, and so if it is too loud/not loud enough, they will not like it(duh right!). But if the game is for general gamers, or more hardcore games, then it is probably fine.

No. lol... Many casual game players are older, have more computer experience, and more money for good hardware. But hardcore gamers are more likely kids who know less about computers, and use low quality second-hand computers they got from Dad.

Generalizations sound dumb, doesn't they?

Anyway, I agree volume controls are unnecessary. Just keep the sound and music at reasonable levels. And provide mute buttons, as you're already doing.

[greep]

Heh, okay let's not get into hardcore vs casual

However to the OP, have you tried the Supersound extension in the game maker extensions forum? It makes sound control a rather trivial matter.

[Saijee]

No I haven't... But I already loaded like 70 sounds into the game and each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

[chance]

...each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

For the sake of discussion... What is "perfectly adjusted" volume?

[Nocturne]

...each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

For the sake of discussion... What is "perfectly adjusted" volume?

I suggest that it's because each sound should have it's volume level adjusted so that none are noticably louder (or quieter) within the mix of sounds when playing... A gun sound that is ouder than all the rest of the ambient or game sound effects will quickly become rather annoying and make people enjoy the game less. As for the original question, in my mind the MINIMUM you should have is a music mute button and a sound mute button (where muting sound also mutes the music, irresepective of the music button) but if you can control the volume of those two elements then that's even better. Many people don't want to have to mess with their headphone/computer/speaker volumes as they are calibrated for normal use, so the ability to change this in a game is a nice detail to have. In GM, as long as you are not using mp3, then a volume control is relatively easy to make using the sound_global_volume() command...

[masterofhisowndomain]

No, not a big deal, but if you don't mind adding the option then I'm sure it will be appreciated. I have certainly used the option before. I mean all of these things increase the accessibility, and potentially the enjoyment of the product, so why not?

[chance]

...each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

For the sake of discussion... What is "perfectly adjusted" volume?

I suggest that it's because each sound should have it's volume level adjusted so that none are noticeably louder (or quieter) within the mix of sounds when playing... A gun sound that is ouder than all the rest of the ambient or game sound effects will quickly become rather annoying and make people enjoy the game less.

I agree you want proper "balance". But from a game-design perspective, you might want some that are "noticeably louder (or quieter)". For example, in urban shooters the gunshots are usually louder than the background traffic sound. And in haunted mansion games, you often have low-volume storm/thunder ambient sound, while the other sounds are much louder.

I mean all of these things increase the accessibility, and potentially the enjoyment of the product, so why not?

Just playing the devil's advocate here: one reason not to have volume controls would be in games on mobile devices, where screen space is limited. But in general, as long as the controls are properly placed and don't detract from the game action... then sure, why not.

[masterofhisowndomain]

Just playing the devil's advocate here: one reason not to have volume controls would be in games on mobile devices, where screen space is limited. But in general, as long as the controls are properly placed and don't detract from the game action... then sure, why not.

I presumed they'd be placed in a separate options screen, accessible through a menu or something else. Else, I agree, they would be encroaching on the limited size of the mobile screen.

[Omega Metroid]

each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

I'm mostly deaf. I won't care about your repeating sound effects, if there's vocals, I need that louder so I can understand it, SFX are usually annoying, I want them lower, and BG music should be around the lowest channel. But if it's a cool song, I'll want to turn it up.

Audio level controls are easy, there's dozens of examples, heck I could rip one out of my game and show you how I did it if you really have trouble. You should try it on your own first, but think about why you're choosing not to include such a basic option.

[Saijee]

each one is perfectly adjusted volume.

I'm mostly deaf. I won't care about your repeating sound effects, if there's vocals, I need that louder so I can understand it, SFX are usually annoying, I want them lower, and BG music should be around the lowest channel. But if it's a cool song, I'll want to turn it up.

Audio level controls are easy, there's dozens of examples, heck I could rip one out of my game and show you how I did it if you really have trouble. You should try it on your own first, but think about why you're choosing not to include such a basic option.

You seem to have put out legitimate reasons why they are good to put in.

As for your question, it's pretty much the opposite of your entire post: I never use the volume adjustment feature of any game I play, and therefore don't find it a thing that it a particularly worth while feature to put into games.

[Yal]

In GM, as long as you are not using mp3, then a volume control is relatively easy to make using the sound_global_volume() command...

I always make MP3-encoded WAV files. You can use every single effect that works on DCPM WAV files on the MP3 wav files, and they're as small as MP3 files.

To do this:
1) Save music as WAV somehow
2) Open in Windows Sound Recorder
3) Select Save As
4) Find a button "Format"
5) Change format to MPEG-III
6) Profit

Also, make sure you save the MP3-encoded wav file under a different name since you won't be able to hear it until after it's saved, so you can't judge if the quality was OK until it's too late.

[Saijee]

In GM, as long as you are not using mp3, then a volume control is relatively easy to make using the sound_global_volume() command...

To my knowledge if you use this function, then it simply makes all the sounds as loud as you stated correct?

That won't work because I changed the volume of each sound individually to where their volume made sense. As in loud thunderbolts quiet footsteps, ect.

@Yal, MP3 for music? Or sfx as well?

[kalzme]

In GM, as long as you are not using mp3, then a volume control is relatively easy to make using the sound_global_volume() command...

To my knowledge if you use this function, then it simply makes all the sounds as loud as you stated correct?

That won't work because I changed the volume of each sound individually to where their volume made sense. As in loud thunderbolts quiet footsteps, ect.

@Yal, MP3 for music? Or sfx as well?

You can use MCI commands. They're not that hard and they can do the trick.
MCI command strings, you can use those in the MCI_command(str) function. 

[Yal]

@Yal, MP3 for music? Or sfx as well?

I don't understand that question. Elaborate, please?

Edited by Yal, 24 January 2012 - 09:17 AM.

[Saijee]

I'm asking you if your saying you do this for only music, or if you also do it for sound effects.

Because I have no idea why anybody would be silly enough to upload the music to their games as WAVs.

EDIT-------------

See my problem, is that I think it's a little too late for me to make a system that does the job because I HAVE HUNDREADS OF SOUNDS WITH DIFFERENT VOLUMES FIXED INTO THE GAME!

Edited by Saijee, 25 January 2012 - 12:16 AM.

[Yal]

Because I have no idea why anybody would be silly enough to upload the music to their games as WAVs.

Because they're MP3-encoded, so they save space.

More importantly, this is the only way you can do stuff with your MP3 files such as adjusting their volume as they're playing, add Reverb or Flanger to them, and so on. Loading them externally or as plain MP3-MP3s make you lose these possibilities.

[Saijee]

Then I guess it's too bad that I have windows 7.