Fighting game based on BKN International's TV cartoon series.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Legend of the Dragon's sound engine was specially designed for it. It was based on DirectSound's API, adding many features to its basic functionality: environmental reverb, pitch and volume randomization, speed of sound, etc... Maybe the most special feature to point out is its streaming engine. We wanted lots of 3D environmental sound effects placed across the scenarios and long ambient loops to create rich soundscapes, so we had to work hard on the engine allowing it to stream multiple compressed voices (up to 63 simultaneous channels) directly from disk. Those channels are not only streamed but also decompressed in real-time and mixed with smaller effects allocated in RAM. This kind of technology is only used in some professional virtual samplers and music programs but rarely found in games. Compressed music format was OGG/Vorbis due to its good licensing terms, excellent sound quality and decompression code efficiency. Another interesting point is that all environmental reverbs were made taking in care the theoretical accoustic features of each room. 53 room models were carefully modelled with I3DL2 reverberation parameters. Finally, the engine was interfaced with Freak Frog's new own XML scripting system.

COVERS & VERSIONS

Having the license to use the series' original music, one of our first tasks was making covers of the original soundtrack. Music had to be redone to create loops and cue points as it was originally planned to be interactive (it wasn't so interactive in the end due to new time constraints that appeared at the end of the project) Covering the music was quite a challenge because of the complex percussion rythms used on it. 9 tracks where covered and adapted to be used in the game: 2 action tracks, one of them expanded with a new own fragment and 7 ambient tracks. 12 minutes of music were remixed to be used the game.

INTERACTIVE MUSIC

Original soundtrack had less action music than required by the game, so we had to create some new music tracks keeping the series' style. We also had to modify and/or expand some of the original tracks to correctly fit in the game. The game features 4 original action tracks, one of them using some serie's slow cues modified to fit in. All tracks in the game consist of a short prelude and a main loop. Music is scripted to fit the different moods in the game, though music transitions are missing because we had to leave the project prematurely. 8 minutes of brand new music were produced.

SOUND EFFECTS

Sound Ideas 6000 Series Collection and Hollywood Edge's Martial Arts and Human Impacts were the main libraries used for producing all game's effects. 78 effects were produced including voices, ambient loops and foley. Effects were produced dry. The sound engine modifies them according to the distance, interfering walls and doors and environmental reverb settings. More than 100 rooms were independently designed and filled with positional sound sources according to the different props (torchs, windows, water, trees, etc) in scene and featuring long ambient sound loops. 212 dialog phrases were also processed and scripted.

SYNCHRONIZED MUSIC

E3 game's trailer's had to be done in just a couple of days, so we got quite involved in the production. We took care of trailer music as well as trailer's video montage. We used some in-game video captures and some title sequences made by Freak Frog's artists. Music was made fast combining two in-game music tracks, a simple voice cue and a gong effect. Though not breathtaking, the result was still quite good taking in care our time constraints.