One audio problem I have identified within a video game is the low health sound effect used in the video game 'Kingdom Hearts'. The sound I am referencing is a beep-like noise that occurs when the player's health drops below a certain point. The problem with this sound is that the sound is extremely irritating and annoying for the player during game play. The sound uses a very high pitch which could potentially be painful for the ears and also the frequency of the sound is very high, the noise is almost continuous with hardly any breaks between each beep, ringing in the player's mind. This annoyance is a problem because it does nothing other than disrupt the player's experience. In this game, player's may find themselves in a dire situation where health is low and they are close to death, the intense beeping noises do nothing but distract the player and as a result of this, ruin the moment. The game's flashing red character icons when health is low is definitely enough for the player, they do not need a sound (or at least an irritating one like this) to be aware of their current health.
The sound can be heard using the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mihlgVO6aQ
After researching and conducting various solutions, I think this problem could be solved in many ways. Technical solutions to this problem involve lowering the pitch of the noise using sound editing software and also bringing down the frequency of the sound. If the beeping noise was not so sharp on the ears it likely would not be much of an issue for the players when they play the game. In addition to this, a lower frequency would also benefit the sound as it wouldn't be consistently going off in the players ear when they try to focus. Another technical solution for the problem could be to simply only have the sound play for a brief amount of time, for example, if the player's health reaches a low point, the beep sound will go off four or five times and then stop. A more creative, different solution to this problem could be to use an entirely different noise, such as a heartbeat sound and the other audio in the game could be muffled and quietened down, potentially even a black and white screen. This has a much stronger impact on the player. If the heartbeat sound was also to be used it could be recorded using Foley, this makes the sound more realistic as the producers could use a real heartbeat.
Another audio problem I have discovered within a video game is the out of sync dialogue and mouth movements in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The issue with this sound is that the dialogue is heard after the animation plays which results in an awkward moment for the player as suddenly the scene just looks ridiculous and immersion is broken, damaging the player's enjoyment of the game. In this game, these scenes are very important as they reveal parts of the story and give the player insight about the game, having these scenes ruined by sound problems like this has a heavy influence on the game itself. If the player sees bad audio that is not matched up with the animations they will assume that the developers were lazy and could even contemplate not buying another one of their games.
This scene featuring faulty lip syncing can be seen in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omOSyasKJtk
Research on this problem has led me to some conclusions to solve the problem. The best technical solution for this would be, in my opinion, to use Foley and record the voices over the scene as it plays. This way the producers can ensure the audio matches the animation which makes for a smoother experience. Another slightly more complicated technical solution is to adjust the animation to match the sound, or simply alter the sound file to make it play at a different time, matching up the two. A more creative solution for this problem would be to possibly not use sound at all. If the producers struggle to do it correctly, they could be better off using text dialogue only and making the player read instead of hear, although this idea does also come with flaws, such as people who may struggle to read or don't enjoy it. A more drastic creative solution would be to completely redo all dialogue using Foley to match it up with the animations. I think redoing dialogue is wise as most of the voices and dialogue already in the game sound extremely forced and fake, this again, breaks immersion as nobody sounds serious about anything in the game.
Another audio problem I have discovered within a video game is the out of sync dialogue and mouth movements in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The issue with this sound is that the dialogue is heard after the animation plays which results in an awkward moment for the player as suddenly the scene just looks ridiculous and immersion is broken, damaging the player's enjoyment of the game. In this game, these scenes are very important as they reveal parts of the story and give the player insight about the game, having these scenes ruined by sound problems like this has a heavy influence on the game itself. If the player sees bad audio that is not matched up with the animations they will assume that the developers were lazy and could even contemplate not buying another one of their games.
This scene featuring faulty lip syncing can be seen in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omOSyasKJtk
Research on this problem has led me to some conclusions to solve the problem. The best technical solution for this would be, in my opinion, to use Foley and record the voices over the scene as it plays. This way the producers can ensure the audio matches the animation which makes for a smoother experience. Another slightly more complicated technical solution is to adjust the animation to match the sound, or simply alter the sound file to make it play at a different time, matching up the two. A more creative solution for this problem would be to possibly not use sound at all. If the producers struggle to do it correctly, they could be better off using text dialogue only and making the player read instead of hear, although this idea does also come with flaws, such as people who may struggle to read or don't enjoy it. A more drastic creative solution would be to completely redo all dialogue using Foley to match it up with the animations. I think redoing dialogue is wise as most of the voices and dialogue already in the game sound extremely forced and fake, this again, breaks immersion as nobody sounds serious about anything in the game.
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