Automatic Audio in Frostbite David Möllerstedt,

Head of Audio Stefan Strandberg,

Audio director Battlefield: Bad Company™

EA – DICEaudio@dice.se

Agenda• Frostbite vision• Automation in Battlefield: Bad Company• HDR audio principle• Battlefield: Bad Company Runtime Demo

Me?

Vision• How long is your game?

Average logged playtime

Accumulated playtime across all

players

Vision

61 hours

45 hours 9500 years

33200 years

Vision• To make it ever more challenging Sandbox experience Open ended gameplay Tactical destruction

Vision• Games are fundamentally different

• Automatic Models are needed

Manual result

Automatic result

Manual effort

Automatic effort

Complexity

Time

Com

plex

ityEff

ort

Resu

lt

ManualAutomaticLagom

Complexity

Time

Com

plex

ityRe

sult

Vision• Automate to adapt to increased complexity• Focus on what is important• Focus on what is fun

Frostbite

Frostbite

Frostbite

Lagom

Complexity

Time

Mixing

Variation

Resu

lt

Battlefield: Bad Company1. Perceived loudness (HDR)2. Interaction Points (Weapons,Vehicles)3. Counteract repetition

These were our 3 primary focus areas

Bad Company

Weapons, Vehicles+ cause & effect

= destruction, explosions, bullet impacts, etc.

VO Music Ambient

The complete experience

Process

Execution

Choice of Technology Execution

Analysis

Choice of Style

Primary interactionHow many times does a player fire in a 10

hour shooter?

Weapon Design

Weapon Design

Weapon Design

Whooah !

What ?

Weapon Design

Shot

Shot

Shot

Shot

Shot

Shot

Shot Shot_far Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection_far

Shot_far

Shot_far

Shot_far

Shot_far

Shot_far

Shot_far

Reflection_far

Reflection_far

Reflection_far

Reflection_far

Reflection_far

Reflection_far

World Variation, Urban, Openfield, Indoor, Run Time IR reverb

Discrete LFE Content

Identity World

Weapon Design

Sound Design

Result = Firing is created by automation

Sound Design

Play wav

Sound Design

STYLE OF SOUND-what color is your game?

Sound DesignStar Wars

2001

Hollywood

Realism

Diverse

Homogenous

Sound Design

HollywoodRealism

Diverse

Homogenous

Sound Design

Not IntrusiveIntrusive

Diverse

Homogenous

HollywoodRealism

Comparison Examples

Sound DesignMedal of Honor:

AirborneBattlefield: Bad

Company

Sound Design

The audio for Bad Company was designed with one image in mind.

– not its individual components

Sound Design

Sound Design

Sound Design

HDR Audio• Automatic adaptive mixing

HDR AudioSandbox

HDR AudioBig Sandbox

HDR Audio

Big Sandbox

+

Anything can

happen at any time

+

HDR Audio

Big Sandbox

+

Anything can

happen at any time

Destruction

+

HDR Audio• Automatic Mixing Prioritizing sound sources

0db

140db

12db

30db

55db

120db

35 db

Time

HDR off example

0db

140db

12db

30db

55db

120db

35 db

TimeMasked

HDR on example

HDR Audio - Theory• Measure loudness at Listener position – scale all sound sources accordingly

135db95db

HDR Audio - Theory• Handle the dynamic range from the quietest sound noticeable to the pain threshold

HDR Audio - Theory• Functions similar to HDR lighting

HDR Audio - Reality• HDR Audio functions as a culling algorithm • Loudness is a good approximation for ‘importance’ especially in FPS game

XX XX

HDR Audio FAQ• HDR Audio is not compression, all sounds are played uncompressed

• The effect is sometimes similar to compression

NOT

HDR Audio FAQ• HDR Audio works on logical loudness values and does not touch the actual audio waveform

Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company™Run Time Demo

Summary• Automatic Systems will make the game sound better

• and the work more fun• We have done a few• Hope you got inspired!

Sounds Interesting?• We are always looking for talented and devoted persons to join our audio teams

• jobs.ea.com

Thank you!

The End

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