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Ilkuul
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of Thame (UK)
Mar 2000
time: 05:12
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A game I've enjoyed playing is Warcraft II - and one of the really fun things about it is the "comments" the units make when you click on them. Like the peasants who say "Milord?", "Wot izzit?", "Hello?", "Eh, wot?", "Job done", "Okay", etc., in a dreary, resigned tone of voice. And the more you click on them, the more peevish they become: "Now what?", "More work?!", "Leave me alone!", "I don't wanna do this!!", "I'm not listening!" Even the sheep say "baa" when clicked - do it too often and they come out with "Baa-ram-you"!
How about buffaloes bellowing and workers whingeing in Civ3?!
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Ilkuul
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of Thame (UK)
Mar 2000
time: 05:12
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quote:
Originally posted by SerapisIV on 04-07-2001 10:32 PM
More generic but noticable sounds like sounds of marching, or different worker sounds like that of water running for those doing irrigation and sledgehammers hitting steel when building railroads. That would be generic enough for all civilizations to use and help involve sound effects in drawing the player into the gameworld.
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That's a good point, Serapis. Of course in Warcraft they had a different set of responses for the Orcs; but that was only two, as against over 20 in Civ2...
So I think I'll have to modify my original suggestion. I still like the idea of hearing something whenever you click on a unit: and this could definitely also apply to 'resource' critters like buffalo, pheasants, etc. But how about, for instance, hearing the trumpet call whenever you click on dragoons/cavalry, engine noises for armor & mech. inf., and so on. And definitely the kind of sounds you mention; plus, whenever you click on a city, you could hear a general confused city noise appropriate to its level of development -- a traffic roar for modern cities, general buzz of human voices & wagon wheels rattling & creaking for medieval ones, and so on.
Like all sounds, this should of course be 'turn-off-able' at the player's discretion...
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Fintilgin
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Yeah, it would be nifty if they had some `enviromental' sounds.
If most of the tiles on screen are ocean you hear waves. If most are desert you hear rasping winds.
When you open a city window you could hear appropriate sounds for the era/population. With four eras, you could have a unique sound for small, medium and large cities. That's twelve ambients. Opening Rome in 30 B.C. would sound very different from opening New York in 1975 A.D.
Heck, I wonder if they could use some of the tricks used in games like Half-Life and Thief so that units sound different when walking on different surfaces. Walking units might squelch when walking swamps and crunch when walking in the desert.
While discussing sounds, I REALLY hope they bring back the civilization specific songs from Civ1. The diplomatic background music in Civ2 was fairly uninteresting, and did //nothing// to accentuate the historical flavor of the game. There is an enormous amount of public domain historically appropriate music they could use as MP3s. I'd love to have a few for each civilization. You meet Abe Lincoln and hear the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' or `When Johnny Comes Marching Home' or the national anthem. Talking to Napoleon and hear 'La Marseillaise'. Stalin the `Volga Boatman's song'. I may be flamed and lynched, but it was little touches like this which gave Civ1 more color and personality then Civ2.
Joe
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SerapisIV
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Hartford, CT, USA
Feb 2001
time: 00:12
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I like Fintilgin's idea to be the focus of ambient sounds, that reflecting the terrain type most dominant to the terrain, though with devolopment, if roads are dominant, then wagon sounds, if automobile is discovered, some cars driving by, with a few railroads, a train now and then. But these should be subtle, transitioning nicely, not overpowering ambient, otherwise I'd just turn them off if they're obnoxious. I think unit sounds should only be used when they are given a particular command, not repititiously, because in the end game, there are a hell of a lot of units to move around, and I'd rather not here sounds from them unless I'm actually using them.
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Lung
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of my princess Anastasia!
Mar 1999
time: 15:12
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Yeah, ambient sounds for sure! Certainly when you start your game with your lone settler dude, you should have ambient bird noises or whatever to accentuate the feel of walking through the countryside. Perhaps these sounds should only apply to settlers, as they would generally interfere with the game, particularly if there is background music, which i'm sure we all want.
Hey! Why not have a choice of background music or ambient noises? To make it simpler, the background ambience should be determined by the square that the unit whose turn it is to move is?
For example;-
Grassland - bird and animal calls
Plains - mostly animal calls
Forest - mostly bird calls. Oh, and owls, too
Jungle - monkey calls, toucans, etc.
Swamp - Ribit! Frogs 
hills - birds, animals
rivers - babbling brook sounds, especially on hill/mountains
oceans - sound of water lapping on ship hulls
mountains - swirling wind sounds. Oops, i forgot mountain goats!
desert - wind sounds and snake hisses and/or rattles!
cities - city sounds appropriate to age/size
shoreline - surf
In the case of non-city squares with roads or rail, an occasional train/car/horse & cart/carriage interrupting the default sounds would give some immersive qualities to the game. Terrain improved tiles such as farms should have occasional cows, sheep, etc.
I think this is a great idea. Perhaps this should be added to the "epic" thread?
[This message has been edited by Lung (edited April 12, 2001).]
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08-04-2001 03:42
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