Musical upgrades

[Kamo]

It may seem like UI nitpicking, but I'd really like the music to be upgraded in some way. Sometimes I even wonder if the musical shuffling is really random or if there's a limit to how much music the game actually acknowledges.

 

Level 0 - Minimal music

• Better music randomization and no track limit ? (I may have hit one of those two issues, or do they exist ? Needs verification or testing by other players.)
  
• Random boss music (right now only The Grid is used)
  

Level 1 - More intelligent music

• A sound option for an idle delay for background music. Since some of Avorion's "midgame" action is "idling for stations to make money", why not autoswitching background music off after a certain amount (default: 15 mn) of idling (no piloting input).
  
  • The cool thing would be, if action happens, the action music would start, helpfully alerting the player !

  [*]A sound when the player gets a "disconnected from server" error. Also helps with idling.

  [*]A sound option to toggle always-on combat music or an option to toggle combat music at will for a track's length. Doing combat testing/arena duels with peaceful background music may seem jarring.

  [*]A 1 mn minimum delay between track changes. Having combat music pop out while doing maneuvers to get closer again to the enemies I overshoot is kind of discouraging, especially when a good track gets cut.

  [*]More moddable control over the music and sound system, in general. (Asked by Shrooblord)

Level 2 - New music options

• Numerical Music Parity ! Music files could be labeled with numerical prefixes and suffixes. When a background music would change to a combat music, the sound system would try to find the same numbers. Pretty cool for variable mix music pairs !
  
• More music options. Support for action music divided into pirate, xsotan and other encounter music. Special music dividable by boss. A music menu where you could place tags would make the trick, and allow sector scripts to launch music by tag (allowing pirate sector attack music and creepy xsotan-infected sector background music).
  
• Music streaming options (from said music menu), maybe using the "Steam Music" system.
  
• Configurable default delay between track changes.
  

Level 3 - Extra smart music

• Support for music for different combat intensities, with relation to mean volume of ship in combat.
  
• Support for music for different combat situations (player is winning, or losing, or both), with relation to ship health and/or mean omicron values.
  
• Support for a new "mission" music type, which would replace background music for some time (Default: 30 mn) when doing a mission.
  
• Support for a new "construction" music type, which would trigger after another track (or after some time - default 1 mn) when in Build Mode.
  
• A "dramatic music cue" button/keybinding, triggering boss music in action scenarios, for when the player finds an unusually big encounter.
  
• Jumping into the action: combat music commencing on the loading screen when jumping to a sector where player assets are in combat.
  
• The Strongest Enemy: A sound option dropdown to choose to activate no music, action music or boss music when approaching asteroids. Range inversely proportional to brake thrust.
  

Level 4 - Strategic feedback

• Options to add soundbites to ship soundtypes and triggers to the game. They would both add feedback and roleplaying value ! So a ship would yell "Whatever-type under attack" when attacked, while the notification would show the sector the ship is in. The ship soundtypes would be applied ship by ship and copied when a ship is copied, so only big and/or important ships would say things. Triggers may include:
  
  • Orders, accomplished orders, acknowledgements (a la Homeworld)
    
  • Hull/shield falling to specific levels (it would be great to hear how fast a station or big ship is getting hurt)
    
  • Selection (with pissed off options for clicking too many times, like some RTSes).
    
  • Taunts/combat chatter, when on sector. (Duration limited to 15 secs and occurences to 120/180 secs to avoid griefing.)
    
  • Collision (Cue pained sounds from pilots while the ship and not the pilot itself is hurt.)
    
  • Death (complete with ship rolling for the duration of the soundbite, limited duration and parametrable with chance of happening, with a volume-bound maximum to avoid griefing).
    
  • Unit construction acknowledgment, if automatic ship reconstruction is to be a thing in the future, with player-owned shipyards.
    
  • Mutinying (starting to lose morale because of crew problems).
    
  • S.O.S. (Not enough mechanics or engineers, trying to move while having 0 thrust or 0.00 rad/s on two rotation speeds.)
    
  • Pained S.O.S. (Life support failure)
    
  • (And of course, multiple soundbites per trigger would be accepted.)

  [*]Alternative to soundbites: Voice synthetizing. Pitches and other modulation nonsense to make procedural alien voices for factions. (Voice seed rerolling can be possible and paid (100k credits at admired?) at Faction Headquarters in cases of extremely annoying voice.)

  [*]Riot action music: Mission music while one of the player's ships at jump range does not have enough crew, and Action music when it starts losing morale due to that. Also, action music while one of the player's ships at jump range suffers life support failure.

  [*][glow=#FF8133,2,300]*Recently added*[/glow] Subtitles: Soundbites may have subtitles, not only as a hearing aid but also to get subtitled radiocom messages like in most space dogfighting games.

Level 5 - Really really optional goals

• Soundbites and Voice Synthetization, so NPC factions won't be stuck with default soundbites, and players may see the interaction between their ships and non-player ships. Maximum ambiance !
  
• Ambiant soundbite/synthetization, 0% to 15% volume depending on distance, and togglable.
  
  • Police suspicion chatter, when on sector. (Helps smuggler players a lot.)

  [*]Soundbite/synthetization static and quality decrease from lowtech ships (minor for Titaniumgrade ships, major for Irongrade ships).

  [*]Support for combat starter/launcher music,

  . Also
  a la Freespace,
  a la Wing Commander and (since it's a thing now...) torpedo panic music !

  [*][glow=#FF8133,2,300]*Recently added*[/glow] Ship comm image: Pairing soundbites' subtitles with a (reportable) static image.

Level 6 - Musical overkill

• Togglable streaming radio. When toggled on, the stream would override background music (not action music) and be chosen from one of the faction's seeds and its traits (aggressive faction = aggressive music, and such). Roleplaying opportunity of a player liking a faction for its musical taste ! (Radio seed rerolling can be possible and paid (500k credits at admired?) at Faction Headquarters in cases of extremely annoying musical tastes.)
  
• Soundbites for Workshop ships, that'll be downloaded with the ships (with the number of soundbites shown before download, and the options of stripping a downloaded ship of all soundbites and downloading a silent ship, to avoid bad-sounding or vulgar ships).

[Shrooblord]

• A 1 mn minimum delay between track changes. Having combat music pop out while doing maneuvers to get closer again to the enemies I overshoot is kind of discouraging, especially when a good track gets cut.
  

This is my biggest gripe with the current system. I have a couple of action tracks that are 5 minutes long, with a build-up to the 1:00 minute mark, after which it completely explodes into epicness, but too often do I find myself switching audio tracks after 0:50 or so, or just after 1:10, completely missing out on the remaining minutes of music. Either that, or the transition between action and background tracks is so incredibly jarring, it sucks you right out of the moment.

I'd even go so far to suggest that while an action track is playing, it remains playing until all of the following are no longer true:

• the player is firing their guns;
  
• the player has fighters deployed, which are engaged in combat;
  
• the player is being targeted by an enemy.
  

 

 

• Numerical Music Parity ! Music files could be labeled with numerical prefixes and suffixes. When a background music would change to a combat music, the sound system would try to find the same numbers. Pretty cool for variable mix music pairs !

Hm, so a lot like how the FTL soundtrack works? Each non-combat track is a musical piece labelled in the OST as "(Explore)", eg. "Zoltan (Explore)", while each action track is called "(Battle)" like "Zoltan (Battle)". The two tracks share very similar themes and are in fact perfect side-by-side compositions, in which at any point in the game, the soundtrack can crossfade between the two and there is a natural transition between fighting and peaceful exploration. That, to me, is beautiful musical design.

 

Integrating a system to expect that kind of design would be amazing, yes, but I wonder if it would be put in if the game's own soundtrack isn't designed to accommodate this. If the soundtrack were to be expanded to indeed accommodate this, even cooler.

 

• Jumping into the action: combat music commencing on the loading screen when jumping to a sector where player assets are in combat.
  

I like this one, too. Simple, but effective change.

 

 

• Alternative to soundbites: Voice synthetizing. Pitches and other modulation nonsense to make procedural alien voices for factions. (Voice seed rerolling can be possible and paid (100k credits at admired?) at Faction Headquarters in cases of extremely annoying voice.)

Yeeeeeahh!! I love synthesised voices playing while dialog rolls over. I don't know why; it's just got something cool about it. And it's universally "translatable", which only adds to smart game design when you have limited assets as an indie company.

Or something like the Spore approach would be cool to me, too, with the classic Maxis-brand "gibberish language" that seems universal, but quirky enough and with some pitch modulation here and there, to sound unique every time.

I wouldn't mind Xsotan swearing to me in an incomprehensible language while a soundbite of Grox, Dalek, Borg or Shroob anger or laughter fills my comms channels. xD

 

 

• Police suspicion chatter, when on sector. (Helps smuggler players a lot.)

Yes, really cool! We could definitely use some more feedback on when we're close to being discovered as a smuggler. There's currently no area of counterplay against it, except the "go wide and run" approach, which works, and does feel a little smuggleresque, although subterfuge and more sleight of hand-like play would also be much appreciated. Maybe even bribery, if we're on the subject.

 

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I like a number of these ideas very much. I'd like more moddable control over the music and sound system, in general. I'd love to see what people come up with when they have more free reign over how the sound and music works in-game.

[Kamo]

Numerical Music Parity ! Music files could be labeled with numerical prefixes and suffixes. When a background music would change to a combat music' date=' the sound system would try to find the same numbers. Pretty cool for variable mix music pairs ![/quote']Hm, so a lot like how the FTL soundtrack works? Each non-combat track is a musical piece labelled in the OST as "(Explore)", eg. "Zoltan (Explore)", while each action track is called "(Battle)" like "Zoltan (Battle)". The two tracks share very similar themes and are in fact perfect side-by-side compositions, in which at any point in the game, the soundtrack can crossfade between the two and there is a natural transition between fighting and peaceful exploration. That, to me, is beautiful musical design.

 

Integrating a system to expect that kind of design would be amazing, yes, but I wonder if it would be put in if the game's own soundtrack isn't designed to accommodate this. If the soundtrack were to be expanded to indeed accommodate this, even cooler.

Yup, there is no variable-mixable tracks in the default music, but putting new music into the game is extremely simple and it would be designed with customizing one's own music in mind. I've put all the "common" Wing Commander tracks in mine, for exemple, so the escort/patrol tracks and the corresponding battle tracks would go together well, even if it isn't a complete variable mix :)