Whether he’s making games, building rockets, or just talking about technology, it’s always interesting to listen to John Carmack. Read his ‘All the RAGE’ interview below. And if you missed it, be sure to check out the podcast interview Nick and I did with him back in November.
What do you do at id Software?
I am the technical director. I find and develop the major technology pillars that our games are built on, which involves research, some inspiration, and a whole lot of work.
id Software’s John Carmack inspecting the first of Armadillo Aerospace’s tube rockets, named “Stig” after the driver on the BBC’s Top Gear. Co-founded in 2000 by Carmack, the ambitious Armadillo announced plans Saturday to put its new rocket into space sometime early this year.
Since the release of Dead Money in December, we’ve received requests to release an mp3 version of Vera Keyes’ song, “Begin Again.” The track, which you’ll hear while exploring the Sierra Madre Casino, was put together by Obsidian sound designer Justin Bell (music and text setting), creative lead Chris Avellone (lyrics), audio producer Mikey Dowling (lyrics), and art intern Stephanie DeBrule (vocals).
Give it a listen:
[audio:http://download.zenimax.com/fallout/nv/other/JustinBell_BeginAgain_FalloutNewVegas-DeadMoney.mp3|titles=Begin Again|artists=Justin Bell]
For background on the track, check out the short interview below…
What were some of your inspirations for the song?
Mikey Dowling: For me it was how sorrowful Justin’s music was that inspired the tone of the lyrics. I’m sure he could elaborate more on his end, but in terms of the lyrics, I knew Vera’s story and I knew that Chris had wanted the song to contain the words “begin again,” and “to let go,” somewhere within. I ended up listening to Justin’s song on repeat for a bit and came up with lyrics that I felt would not only capture what Chris had been looking for, but also capture something that could feel as though it would fit in an old Hollywood film.
Justin Bell: Easy – Chopin’s prelude in E minor. I was trying to go for an early 20th century post-romantic sound that fit the period. I didn’t want it to sound too modern, which is why I choose to write the piece on the piano as it’s a timeless instrument. When going for the vocal style, I was thinking Judy Garland — someone with clear diction.
Is this the first time your girlfriend, Stephanie, has sung in an Obsidian game?
Yes it is, actually. She just started here at Obsidian in late July of last year and we found out that she used to do musical theatre when she was younger. When it came time to temp out how the song would work in the game, we turned to Steph. We were so happy with how the song turned out that we wanted to keep it in the game and decided to do a “reverse Disney” and cast someone based on Steph’s singing voice so when the player heard Christine talk in the game, then heard Vera’s song it wouldn’t feel disjointed.
Any plans for a duet?
Ha! Depends on the demands of the product and the time available. Until then, Steph and I will continue to rock random karaoke bars.
Today’s addition to the Skyrim hub on Game Informer is a look at the game’s fancy new combat systems. Dual-wielding, spell powering, melee combat and stealth are all touched on in the lengthy entry.
Head to Game Informer to read over the piece.
Wanted to share word on a few community contests that were brought to my attention.
The Nexus community sites (as in New Vegas Nexus and TESNexus) are closing in on reaching 2.5 million registered members. To celebrate the occasion, they’ve kicked off a modding competition on both site. The site’s administrator, DarkOne, details the competition’s rules here. Here’s an excerpt…
“Ergo the theme of this modding competition will be “The community we are in”. I’m hoping to see some great mods that cover users in the community that might have influenced you during your time here, the various sites of the community that you are a part of (it doesn’t just have to be the Nexus!) and what you like about the community.
The type of mod you make, be it a quest, a new landmass, a house or castle, NPCs, weapons, armour, etc. is totally up to you but I will look more favourably upon entries that have a quest in them because I’m a sucker for a good quest! That doesn’t mean a mod with a quest in is going to win, however, and if you come up with something really unique then I’ll probably love it! A Nexus defence mod, for example, where you defend fort Nexus from a horde of trolls with your fellow moderators wielding ban hammers by your side is something I’ve dreamt about… “
Elsewhere, TES Alliance has already kicked off their Salute to Skyrim contest. As the title indicates, it’s a competition where users are encouraged to pay tribute to Skyrim — whether it be a mod for Morrowind or Oblivion, artwork, poetry, etc.. For more details, check out the contest page on TES Alliance.
Kai Norman strikes a pose in his intricate NCR Ranger costume. Check out Norman’s journal detailing the build.
In February’s issue of Game Informer, one of the new gameplay elements revealed for Skyrim was dragon shouts. Learn more about how they work, and how the language was created from scratch in Matt Miller’s new feature up at GameInformer.com. Below is an small excerpt from the article…
“It’s in the lore,” declares game director Todd Howard. “It was like the classic barbarian battle cry. I’m not sure if it showed up in a book in Daggerfall, but it’s definitely mentioned in this pocket guide to the empire that we did for Redguard. It was the idea that the Nords had these battle cries, and they would shout at their enemies.” As the team at Bethesda began to design The Elder Scrolls V, they latched onto this little piece of mythology, and the way it could tie back to the dragons – powerful creatures that had been absent from the world for thousands of years.
Read more — including how Emil Pagliarulo worked on creating the language – here. Oh, and did we mention there’s a new screenshot and concept art!?!
Cute isn’t usually the word that comes to mind when I think of Fallout*. And definitely not when I think of Lily from New Vegas. Yet that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I look at this cartoon-styled Mojave Wasteland map. Thanks to sandyklep for sending it to our Bethesda Twitter account. We shared the map with the team at Obsidian and they were really impressed.
If you’ve got a fan creation to share, feel free to send it to us on Twitter, or just shoot us an email at bethblog@bethsoft.com
After a couple months on hiatus, our developer diaries for Brink return. This week Splash Damage’s audio director, Chris Sweetman, discusses his methodology for Brink’s sound design — covering everything from foley work to getting the perfect gun sound. And oh does Chris love gun sounds. If you’ve ever played the game BLACK (a game he previously worked on), you know you’re in for a treat with Brink.
Chris’ dev diary is accompanied by an arrangement he calls, “A Choir of Guns.” Watch it above.
Introduction
I’m Chris Sweetman, Audio Director at Splash Damage, and this developer diary is all about Brink’s sound design. What does an Audio Director do all day? Well, I’m responsible for the quality of everything that is heard in our games, including music, dialogue, and sound design. This can be broken down into various areas, including in-game gameplay, cut scenes, trailers and tons of other stuff.
I work with composers on music and licensing, actors on dialogue, and myself on sound design. I also have Simon Price – our dedicated Audio Programmer – working with me, without whom none of this would be possible.
Sonic Space
Having played many single player and multiplayer shooters, there was one thing that always concerned me – sonic space. In other words, how do you overcome the problem of having too many sounds all playing at the same time? When you have music, gunfire, dialogue, Foley, explosions, and ambient sounds all going off simultaneously, you’re generally left with aural mush. This was a problem we were determined to solve when beginning work on Brink.
I’d made some progress working on BLACK with the Choir of Guns concept, but it was evident early on that with Brink’s focus on blurring the lines between single and multiplayer, we had to up the ante . We wanted every sound in Brink to be heard perfectly, whether it was a Molotov cocktail exploding, a mini gun winding up, or a heavy body-type player coming round the corner to stomp on your face. These sounds were only going to be heard properly with enough space in the audio mix. If you consider that it’s entirely plausible to have 16 players in the same part of a level, all triggering the same sounds, then the true scope of this challenge becomes clear.
Continue reading the diary on Brink’s official website. Brink is slated for release this Spring.
I’m Chris Sweetman, Audio Director at Splash Damage, and this developer diary is all about Brink’s sound design. What does an Audio Director do all day? Well, I’m responsible for the quality of everything that is heard in our games, including music, dialogue, and sound design. This can be broken down into various areas, including in-game gameplay, cut scenes, trailers and tons of other stuff.
I work with composers on music and licensing, actors on dialogue, and myself on sound design. I also have Simon Price – our dedicated Audio Programmer – working with me, without whom none of this would be possible.
Having played many single player and multiplayer shooters, there was one thing that always concerned me – sonic space. In other words, how do you overcome the problem of having too many sounds all playing at the same time? When you have music, gunfire, dialogue, Foley, explosions, and ambient sounds all going off simultaneously, you’re generally left with aural mush. This was a problem we were determined to solve when beginning work on Brink.
