Audio; Introduction and plan

[Arcanorum]

What has been done?

Some basic steps have been taken towards about adding audio to the game so far. Hopefully this much has become apparent after trying the game and getting a feel for the theme and pace.

What needs to be done?

Audio tasks backlog: https://github.com/Arcanorum/dungeonz/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Aaudio

This is where I do most of the tracking/organisation of tasks that need to be done, and to show what can be started by anyone looking for something to pick up. Suggest anything you think needs to be added.
I try to provide whatever details I can about what is needed for each task, but can only do as much as my limited subject matter knowledge allows, which is mostly technical implementation.

Some kind of direction needs to be established for where to take the audio, as that is something that I am very inexperienced with, and will need to defer to others to provide a clearer direction to follow so other people have an idea of what is expected/somewhere to start.

The main areas that need covering are:

• Overworld regional themes
  To be able to set trigger points/bounds in the map editor that would define what music should play in each area, so different regions have music that plays according to the theme there.
• Dungeon themes
  Many dungeons have unique settings (ominous vampire castle, confusing forest hedge maze, ancient pyramid crypts, etc.) that would be better served with appropriate themes.
• Action effects
  Audio confirmation/reinforcement of things that happen to and around the player, and for many of the kinds of interactions they can have with their items, other entities, and the environment.

How will it be done?

Phaser is used on the client for audio playback.
Examples of how audio playback in Phaser works for those technically inclined: https://phaser.io/examples/v3/category/audio/web-audio

The main constraint for the game is audio files, which usually make up a huge portion of the total download size of a typical game. Dungeonz is browser based and as such user expectation for page load times is typically quite demanding. There are techniques than can be used to load large assets like audio after the initial game load, but even then, they should still finish loading quickly and be ready for use ideally before they needed, but this is more of a technical problem to be looked at outside of the scope of this page.

Effects/foley aren't usually a big deal, as they are typically very short (under a second).
Longer music pieces are the main thing that will need to be constrained. The ideal music would be short, easily loopable, and not too prominent/distracting, so that other audio prompts that carry information/alerts to the user are the priority.

Format

The expected format for all audio files is currently WAV or FLAC, and then converted to both Ogg and MP3 format to be loaded into the game.
Ogg tend to result in smaller file sizes, but Safari doesn't support Ogg, so MP3 needs to be provided as a fallback.

The WAV or FLAC (or other high quality/lossess format) versions are used as the original source for the Ogg and MP3 ones to be generated from.

Submissions

Actual assets ready to be added to the game can be delivered either:

• As a PR here on GitHub.
• Uploaded to a site like Open Game Art and send a link to a GitHub contributor (i.e. me) for them to add.
• Sent to a GitHub contributor (i.e. me) for them to add however they prefer.
• Sent directly to team@waywardworlds.com

References/expectations?

I haven't explored much so far so it is still subject to finding what other people think would be suitable. To be refined as a clearer direction is decided.

• RuneScape/OSRS is a large inspiration for the game in general, as well as other old-school style games of the era like Ultima Online. Well known for it's simple, quirky and catchy orchestral MIDI themes.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSkvyG3H_KM&list=PUTbjYz7d3AZgos7ALYvkvLQ&index=5

• Anything on the Dungeon Synth Archives YT channel. A lot of music there that I often play in the background for inspiration while working.
  https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDungeonSynthArchives/

• ROTMG. It is a bit dead since Flash died, but there are plenty of gameplay videos floating around. This is the general vibe that I intended for the dungeon content, being more intense than anything found on the overworld, though not as fast paced/frantic.
  https://www.realmofthemadgod.com/
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOcS3gNnrMY

• A very nice and extensive pack of tunes, many of which I think might fit well with the game. There is a lot of stuff in there so I'll go through and select some examples at some point.
  https://opengameart.org/content/50-midi-tunes

• Super Dungeon Flash, a game I made that this game is a spiritual successor to, that does have most audio in place. The pace of that game is a lot faster and more intense than what is needed here, but a point in the right direction, especially for the dungeon content. https://waywardworlds.com/games/sdf/

I'm open to whatever discussion/ideas people may have (here on GitHub, Discord, Reddit, where ever), and the actual community members on the Discord server who play the game probably have a better idea in their heads of what they expect to hear while playing than me, and are usually fairly talkative and give a lot of feedback, as anything done here for the game is not to impress or please me, but for the actual players.

You should also have expectations of what you decide to pick up, in terms of how well it is defined. I try to make some kind of workable unit of expectations for each task that I add to the backlog list, so if something would benefit from any more info then don't be afraid to ask for it to be added. I don't like working to vague requirements, and image you don't either, so ask for whatever clarification you think you need to be able to be more effective at whatever you are doing.