halo engine

.aa - week four.

Both Halo and Halo 2 use a similar GDE (Game Development Environment) created by Bungie Studios, with “creative oversight” (financial support, I’d suggest) of Microsoft. The major development between these Halo installments is in fact in a middleware upgrade – the widely used physics engine: Havok. In line with the new features this development offers, the audio team decided to develop entirely new audio for Halo 2. Martin O’Donnell, the chief sound designer and also composer for the Halo franchise said this on game sound: “I believe that there are three equally important stages for game audio: producing content, implementing content and mixing content” (O’Donnell, 2002). This ‘three stage’ system reminds me of the "Audio for Games: planning, process and production" publication by Alexander Brandon that we have been looking at in Audio Arts.

The sound effects are implemented through various tables in an extensive database. Even the music for the game uses its own database system which allows for the mood, theme and tempo of the game-play to dictate the audio. Halo is certainly not the first game to utilise such an audio system, but its defiantly one of the better and most successful implantations of this, somewhat lofty idea of what music for game could be. In fact this is true of the audio throughout the game, in the final stage of O’Donnell’s process (‘production’) he has made the entire soundscape of the Halo 2 a seamless integration of VOs, SFXs and music in which the other world of Halo truly comes to life.

Game Development Environment (Halo Engine)
Advantages: Well established, bug issues ironed-out, upgradeable (eg: Havok physics), proven to work, cross-platform (using C/C++ and developed for PC and various consoles).
Disadvantages: Fundamentally out of date (for example, unable to display at 1080p resolution).

Game Audio Environment (Halo 2 Audio Engine)
Advantages: Many technological advantages, 5.1 channel audio, integrates with the physics engine (Havok) to control DSP effects parameters (for example reverberation size), programmed specifically for this title.

Both Halo and Halo 2 use a similar GDE (Game Development Environment) created by Bungie Studios, with “creative oversight” (financial support, I’d suggest) of Microsoft. The major development between these Halo instalments is in fact in a middleware upgrade – the widely used physics engine: Havok. In line with the new features this development offers, the audio team decided to develop entirely new audio for Halo 2. Martin O’Donnell, the chief sound designer and also composer for the Halo franchise said this on game sound: “I believe that there are three equally important stages for game audio: producing content, implementing content and mixing content” (O’Donnell, 2002). This ‘three stage’ system reminds me of the “Audio for games: planning, process and production” publication by )(#*)( that we have been looking at in Audio Arts.

The sound effects are implemented through various tables in an extensive database. Even the music for the game uses its own database system which allows for the mood, theme and tempo of the game-play to dictate the audio. Halo is certainly not the first game to utilise such an audio system, but its defiantly one of the better and most successful implantations of this, somewhat lofty idea of what music for game could be. In fact this is true of the audio throughout the game, in the final stage of O’Donnell’s process (‘production’) he has made the entire soundscape of the Halo 2 a seamless integration of VOs, SFXs and music in which the other world of Halo truly comes to life.

Game Development Environment (Halo Engine)
Advantages: Well established, bug issues ironed-out, upgradeable (eg: Havok physics), proven to work, cross-platform (using C/C++ and developed for PC and various consoles).
Disadvantages: Fundamentally out of date (for example, unable to display at 1080p resolution).

Game Audio Environment (Halo 2 Audio Engine)
Advantages: Many technological advantages, 5.1 channel audio, integrates with the physics engine (Havok) to control DSP effects parameters (for example reverberation size), programmed specifically for this title.

Here is a link to an interesting interview with the man himself Martin O'Donnell. It's quite insightful, despite not saying one bad work against halo (heresy).

.sources.

Haines, Christian 28.08.07, "Game Engine Overview," EMU, Adelaide University.