Something not explicitly mentioned by the video but should be kept in mind: Higher audio priority does not necessarily mean louder volume! Someone's footsteps could easily be as loud as someone's special attack, in the right circumstances. The above video is the perfect example, because it's clear your ears aren't getting blown out by the KO sound, and it's not a struggle to hear the footsteps. Where the "Priority" comes in play as Sakurai mentions it is in what's known as AUDIO DUCKING, wherein if two sounds are playing at once, the lower priority sound automatically gets reduced in volume (or "ducks") under the higher priority sound. Not understanding ducking (And dynamics in general) might easily make an extremely unpleasant listening experience, so be sure not destroy your players' ears!
i never realised how insane they went with making footstep sounds of all things. This kind of sound design is like an unseen superhero, most of the time you don't notice his presence, but when you do it's either because it's outstanding or lacking, not really an in-between. Don't forget Sound Design, it's just as important as everything else.
@@staticchimera44 With Smaller budgets means choosing what to prioritize to make a better gaming experience. A lot of smash clones get to hung up with prioritizing the competitive feel of the game and think that it will make up for them not putting work into what they see as just small details. I also feel like some get too worried about the roster being too small at launch. It can help a game more to start with 10-12 fully detailed characters than to have 20-30 characters who all feel half baked.
@@scarffoxandfriends9401 That's because smash clones are typically more focused towards a competitive audience. Let's be honest, Smash as a competitive game, sucks ass, but as a casual party game it goes hard. Smash clones typically end up prioritising the competitive aspect since we don't really have many good competitive platform fighters. They COULD cater more to the casual scene, and get a wider audience, and many do (for example NASB releasing items and such), but for a lot of these games, the competitive aspect is the priority. I do agree with the character pool though, but it's possible that they feel like they need to do something big in order to compete with Ultimate's gargantuan roster. I can already predict that if a platform fighter came out with 10 fighters, you'd get people saying, "what a limited roster, they could've added so many more characters", especially when these Smash clones are games like NASB and Multiversus where the cast potential is infinite.
Can only imagine the amount of pain it is to create sounds like footsteps for each individual character, on each individual stage with different flooring materials. That's true dedication that I want to stride for myself.
I am a sound designer (for video games, ideally, but it’s hard to get into the industry) and this feels like both validation and recognition for the amount of work that goes into the most subtle sounds in any game. Most players don’t notice, but they will when they’re taken out.
Sound design is one of those things that often doesn't get enough credit in games - it takes so much effort and can really make or break how a game feels to play, but at the same time when it's done well it's something you tend not to notice because it just feels natural and intuitive.
It is incredible the amount of effort that goes into SFX. The attention to detail like keeping footwear in mind when landing is so good. Also the sound of walking on different surfaces.
@@Dado_nastro special effects it isn't literal in it's abbreviation, as SE is South East in English. FX said aloud sounds like effects, so whoever made it, went with that instead. not intuitive but it works I guess.
@@Nomax_Official are you sure? I looked it up and it said special effects so they're both the same? I only guessed it was called SFX instead of SE because of South East, but it ends up clashing either way huh? how strange
In Animal Crossing New Horizons, there are so many combinations of shoes + surface that I can spend hours just testing combinations. I specially enjoy being barefoot in the art section of the museum, going from wood to marble and back to wood. All this while a harpsichord plays on the background.
I would be super interested to see how all the footstep sounds are created, as they all have to be unique. Foley work has become really interesting to me as of recently, so it would be neat to get a video on that at some point!
Foley work is really an artform in and of itself beyond game design though. I'm not sure Sakurai would have much to say on that specifically. You'd have to watch a more specific foley artist, I'd reckon.
What an incredible amount of detail put into Smash Bros! I feel like watching these videos gives me a greater appreciation for the development team and all their hard work
It is unreal that smash bros exists to the degree of polish that it has. I feel like I’ve analyzed that game to death but I never really thought about the foot steps or sound volume much. Such a cool video.
Sound is so overlooked, but that's how you know they're good - when you don't think about them, or the lack thereof. Still, it's so much work and so much detail for something most players don't give a hoot about.
The smaller SFX in games really add something major for me. For instance in something like Splatoon, you get things like all the subtle jingles that play for things, like in Tower Control, or for movement, the sounds you make when swimming through ink, landing in swim form from a jump, etc. Splatoon just has such good sound design, and it extends into other auditory aspects like the voices and of course, music.
So this is some of the reason as to why it is such a CHALLENGE to make new characters. All the different effects and other variables is hundreds for each character 😵💫. As always massive Respect!
A slight nuance to what is said about "The more relevant a sound is to the player, the louder that sound should be." is that this is not just about how high you set the volume of a sound. It's about the perceived loudness. An example mentioned in the video is that speech cuts through everything without any issues, that is because our brains are tuned to hear speech through almost everything. And like that there are some other tricks you can use to make sounds cut through the mix!
It's always a pleasure watching a video from the game designer who inspired me in pursuing this career. Sound Effects are indeed a key part of so many games, and sometimes they're a bit overlooked. Thank you for the video, Mr. Sakurai!
The sound design, much like the visual design, in Smash is absolutely incredible, full of billions of little details to help immerse you in the game more and make the game feel better to play. Every game should strive for disbelief-suspending levels of sound design. Thanks so much for another great video, Mr. Sakurai!
While I clearly hadn't noticed the amount of detail, for example in the sounds changing depending on the types of floor, one thing I had noticed in the game was Bowser's steps and landing sounds. They are incredibly intimidating, especially because the screen shakes more than any other fighter when he runs or lands. That's a wonderful detail and now I can't help but admire the other characters' sounds too!
Wow, I suddenly have much more appreciation for the level of detail many games have after watching this. Having to make different footstep sounds for every character while factoring in the type of floor they're walking on sounds painstaking to say the least.
As someone who spent way too much time seeing how the Star Fox characters' boots sounded against different surfaces and such, I've come to appreciate this sort of stuff more.
I feel like we need the scene from Eizouken where Doumeki throws up because the sound of footsteps don't match the floor surface. It really is an amazing subtle thing that players won't avidly realise, but make environments much more complete as a result.
When he talked about the sound of walking on different surfaces, I realised that, for smash, they would of had to make not just individual walking sound effects for each fighter, but also variants of those walking sound effects for every different type of surface. The thought of how much time & effort, in both designing and programming, must go into making all that, just for WALKING SOUND EFFECTS, terrifies me. So much work, for something most probably didn't or won't notice.
I did some digging. Apparently, there are two sounds playing simultaneously during a step: one specific to the character and one specific to the surface they are walking on. Depending on the type of surface, those two sounds have different relative volumes: a carpet isolates walking sounds much better than stone, for example.
Sound design is probably the part I fear most as a wannabe Game dev. Sound volume is a part that had not even crossed my mind! Thank you for an illuminating, down to earth lesson!
If I ever have spare time in game development, I'm totally adding a secret setting that makes ambient sounds and footsteps unreasonably loud when compared to the rest of the audio.
I love how he touches on this. Audio on a game is indeed something to pay attention to. Things like running, walking, the sound of combat, the environment, items and the sound of characters are all important when making a game.
As an indie developer myself I have been struggling with sounds. This video clearly explains the why behind certain sounds, and how loud they need to be. Great job 👏 👍
I still remember when Minecraft was updated to have sounds for mining and walking on all kinds of blocks, and it made the game so much more satisfying to play. It's surprising how much of an impact these little details can have on the overall experience.
Minecraft might be the perfect example of just how powerful sound design is. If you try to look at the game as if for the first time, forgetting all your experience and what each block does, it doesn't really look like anything. It's a bunch of large cubes with vaguely suggestive colors on them, but the pixels are so big it's hard to tell what anything is supposed to be at first glance. But then when that oblong player cuboid makes contact with that brown block and it sounds like impact on wood, your mind is instantly convinced that you're seeing a wooden surface being knocked or walked on. Suddenly there's density and weight. Glass has brittleness, sand has texture, it's all filled in by the sounds things make when one cube brushes against another. If you imagine Minecraft having sounds to match its visuals, either low-fi, bitcrushed recordings of real objects, or chiptune style blips and bops, it wouldn't work at all. If you want a game to feel like it takes place in a real, tangible world, the *only* thing you really need is good sound design. Your character could look like an @ sign and the ground is made of #, but as soon as one lands on the other and it makes a sharp "clang" sound, you can tell that someone wearing metal just landed on an iron surface.
@@Roxfox Haha, I actually thought about making an ASCII game with realistic sounds back in college. I didn't have the means or skills to do it, but I absolutely adored the idea of an @ sign chopping wood, making a camp fire, unzipping a backpack, falling asleep with cicadas, being awoken by a storm, seeking shelter in a cave only to be chased out by a bear...
@@DominoPivot As do I! That's a wonderful idea! Man, if the graphics are simple enough and the audio realistic enough, it would almost be like an interactive audio play.
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with this. This is such an overlooked part of the development process behind games. I'll definitely keep this in mind if I ever decide to make my own game!
Finally! Something I’ve been waiting for since he first started the channel was something to do with the sound effects. As a sound designer, this topic is very important to me!
For a game like Smash Bros a lot of these low sound effects go unheard due to the chaos of each match and the background music. Moments where you’re alone after knocking out your opponents or while you’re waiting for an online match really make these effects stand out more.
Something important for action games that went unnoticed is that people actually react to sounds faster than visuals. That is a big part of what should determine the priority of each action. I'm not sure it needed to be mentioned, but I can imagine that people who are not aware of that might undervalue sound effects for reactions and input feedback when designing these systems. It might seem straightforward that audio needs to be balanced, but focusing on it the way you did in this video is sure to be helpful :)
Although footsteps in such combat-focused games as the Super Smash Bros series is definitely quiet compared to everything else, I do reckon the noises footsteps make can be elevated in certain games where it makes sense, such as horror games, where it can help add to make the atmosphere more tense and give players that little extra 'edge' to the horror alongside all the other minor factors, although the gameplay itself remains key as just about any team of developers can make a half-decent horror game that's good enough for one playthrough, *but answering the decades-long problem of making horror games still enjoyable and scary to some degree in repeat playthroughs is something that very few have succeeded in their video game development process.*
Oh boy. See these are things you normally don’t see with importance,but it gets to an insight that while you wouldn’t think at first is very easily comprehensible and visualizable. Thank you Sakurai🙏
I've been playing a lot of Grounded lately and it has great sound design. I was at the pond one day and heard stomping sound effects coming from somewhere. I realized it was the crow perched above me! Little details like that really add to the sense of scale for your tiny character
What a complex piece distilled so beautifully! And man, I never stopped to truly appreciated how much went into smash. This is such golden insight I love it. Thank you so much.
I agree with Sakurai about the effort of footstep sound effects. It can make a big difference in a game. I remember playing One Piece unlimited adventure, and a fun lil' detail they added was that when you played as Chopper, his steps made a cute lil squeak whenever you'd walk with him. It was a small thing that made playing as him just that much more fun.
I feel like effective sound effects are underappreciated, not just in video games, but in any medium that requires audio. I suppose it's fair, you're not actively thinking about sound effects while playing a video game or watching a movie/TV show, but an ill-fitting sound effect, or one that sounds too quiet or loud can really stand out and detract from the experience. Conversely, they can also enhance an experience, either if used effectively, or if video game/movie/TV show in question just isn't that good overall and it's just one more think to laugh about. I see more and more people taking notice and mock certain popular stock sound effects, like the Wilhelm scream or that one vase breaking sound effect (you know the one).
Sound designs and sound worker are deeply undervalue by the casual gamiers because is something you can't directly see. People always be: "BUT THE GRAPHIC THO!!. 8K!!! 69K PURE GRAPHICS YOU CAN SEE THE CELLS ON THE FACE OF THE CHARACTER OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!. Meanwhile the wonderful sound team did on the game is ignored by regular even whe they are more important than graphics themselves because is what put the charm, the setting, the atmosphere and personality of the game. Mario is not Mario without the sound designs. Silent Hill is not Silent Hill without their sounds and music. Street fighter is not Street fighters without SHORYUKEN! HADOUKEN! SONIC BOOM! KIKOSHO! SPINNING BIRD KICK!, Alan Wake is not Alan Wake without the wind blowing,treets moving, whispering,steps and gun shots. To everyone reading this. Appreciate your sound staff. Not only see the games, close your eyes and hear the game sound effects, music, tone. They are what makes your game unique and special
It's interesting that Sakurai brings up the sound of footsteps in 3D games, because I think that's one of the first things a player will notice in that forefather of collectathons, Super Mario 64. Since the outside of the castle only has ambient noise like birds and the waterfall, Mario's footsteps are clear and unmissable. Since it's the first game in the series where Mario actually had audible footsteps, it makes even more sense for them to be included. I know Mario also makes footsteps in later titles like Odyssey, but by having that silence at the beginning of the game, it allows them to become a priority, and then a sort of comfortable background noise after the background music proper kicks in.
As a student who's learning sound and music for games these videos help me out so much. Thank you sakurai and the team for making videos on audio and not just programming ❤️❤️❤️
I knew certain stages had different sound effects for the terrain. I just tend to forget about them as I'm so use to hearing them. This has given me a new appreciation for all the little things that's in Smash. 😊
I agree wholeheartedly on the footsteps portion. My first console was the Nintendo 64, and it's still my favorite one ~ the platformers on that system, with the camera placement behind characters and running animations and the sounds of their footsteps I find satisfying in their own way. I love listening to my character traverse the world to this day, and it's one minor setback of the phenomenal Dragon Quest XI: Definitive Edition. The wonderful new orchestral soundtrack drowns out the footsteps where the original, bad MIDI could let them be heard easily! It was a very satisfying part of exploring the word for me. I remember messing with the volume adjustments years ago but not caring for the results.
I love how this idea of audio priority directly relates to the use of Sound Design to convey info-I feel it’s something that’s kind of overlooked. SFX should both sound “good” (i.e., what their corresponding action sound like) but also be distinct enough to be able to clearly communicate to the player what’s happening.
For other action game designers, the sound volumes are grouped by relavance to the player in this order: 1. Defeat Sounds 2. Impact Sounds / Parry Sounds 3.1. Special Attacks & Skills (further by strengh) 3.2. Voice Lines 4. Explosions 5. Dodge, blocks & Environmental interaction successes (ledge grabs) 6. Attack Swings, Dashing (Flying) 7. Movements like jumping and landing (while landing sounds are pointier than jumping) 8. Walking/Hovering
I never realized the walking sounds for the Mario Bros stage had the classic Mario Bros running sounds. I'll have to pay more attention to that. Smash is a series with so many years of research and building on attention to detail. It's so good to hear the breakdown of this because so many newcomers will not have thought of these things. Kind of wild that even on an individual character, if their alternate costume is wearing different footwear, the sound changes.
How can they think about everything? Like even 5 years later the release of Ultimate I discover that the footsteps sounds in the Mario Bros stage are the same as the original game. This level of detail is inhuman, I'm speechless 😶
A good example of footsteps when it comes to audio priority is most Sonic games. In almost all of the 2D games and the earlier 3D games, Sonic doesn't make any audible footsteps when running, and even when he did finally start making noise (in I believe 06), the audio is much quieter than the rest of the game. It makes sense since his feet hit the ground so many times in a much smaller time than most other characters that, if his footsteps where made any louder, it would come out to strobby, white noise that would distract the player far more than immerse them.
Sakurai: "You might not be able to tell during fights, but each character has distinct footsteps." SSBU footage: *Kirby walks with footsteps sounding nothing like anyone else's*
An very nice feature is to have the ability to control the volume of voices, background music, and everything else on 3 sliders. I have some trouble with understanding voices and typically turn them up (and turn subtitles on). Hollow knight had 3 sliders and there was a time I turned off the background music to listen to my own and a time that I turned up the background above the rest to make it foreground music. Very nice to have that control.
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Something not explicitly mentioned by the video but should be kept in mind: Higher audio priority does not necessarily mean louder volume! Someone's footsteps could easily be as loud as someone's special attack, in the right circumstances. The above video is the perfect example, because it's clear your ears aren't getting blown out by the KO sound, and it's not a struggle to hear the footsteps.
Where the "Priority" comes in play as Sakurai mentions it is in what's known as AUDIO DUCKING, wherein if two sounds are playing at once, the lower priority sound automatically gets reduced in volume (or "ducks") under the higher priority sound. Not understanding ducking (And dynamics in general) might easily make an extremely unpleasant listening experience, so be sure not destroy your players' ears!
Thanks for the advise! I have so much struggling to make my movements not "hovering" like sakurai said in the video, it's really helping
Viva Reverie himself is here🤯
@@JOJO-oj8gy *herself
Oh hey look who showed up
@@JOJO-oj8gy
*herself
It feels good to have Sakurai present the sound effects and come to the same conclusion before he spells it out
It’s just hella smooth
My kind of ASMR
The Homerun Bat striking an opponent is one of the most satisfying sounds in gaming.
Eargasm since 1999
i never realised how insane they went with making footstep sounds of all things.
This kind of sound design is like an unseen superhero, most of the time you don't notice his presence, but when you do it's either because it's outstanding or lacking, not really an in-between.
Don't forget Sound Design, it's just as important as everything else.
Which is one of the reasons why all the smash clones just don't cut it for me
None have this attention to detail
@@KaitouKaiju Tbf, none have this level of budget either.
@@staticchimera44 With Smaller budgets means choosing what to prioritize to make a better gaming experience. A lot of smash clones get to hung up with prioritizing the competitive feel of the game and think that it will make up for them not putting work into what they see as just small details. I also feel like some get too worried about the roster being too small at launch. It can help a game more to start with 10-12 fully detailed characters than to have 20-30 characters who all feel half baked.
@@staticchimera44 even the first smash game had a small budget but still captured the finer details
@@scarffoxandfriends9401 That's because smash clones are typically more focused towards a competitive audience. Let's be honest, Smash as a competitive game, sucks ass, but as a casual party game it goes hard. Smash clones typically end up prioritising the competitive aspect since we don't really have many good competitive platform fighters. They COULD cater more to the casual scene, and get a wider audience, and many do (for example NASB releasing items and such), but for a lot of these games, the competitive aspect is the priority. I do agree with the character pool though, but it's possible that they feel like they need to do something big in order to compete with Ultimate's gargantuan roster. I can already predict that if a platform fighter came out with 10 fighters, you'd get people saying, "what a limited roster, they could've added so many more characters", especially when these Smash clones are games like NASB and Multiversus where the cast potential is infinite.
Can only imagine the amount of pain it is to create sounds like footsteps for each individual character, on each individual stage with different flooring materials. That's true dedication that I want to stride for myself.
I am a sound designer (for video games, ideally, but it’s hard to get into the industry) and this feels like both validation and recognition for the amount of work that goes into the most subtle sounds in any game. Most players don’t notice, but they will when they’re taken out.
Sound design is one of those things that often doesn't get enough credit in games - it takes so much effort and can really make or break how a game feels to play, but at the same time when it's done well it's something you tend not to notice because it just feels natural and intuitive.
It is incredible the amount of effort that goes into SFX. The attention to detail like keeping footwear in mind when landing is so good. Also the sound of walking on different surfaces.
What does SFX stand for?
@@Dado_nastro special effects
@@Dado_nastro special effects
it isn't literal in it's abbreviation, as SE is South East in English.
FX said aloud sounds like effects, so whoever made it, went with that instead.
not intuitive but it works I guess.
@@Dado_nastro Sound Effects! Not to be confused with Special Effects which is what it stands for in the visual domain (movies, animation etc.).
@@Nomax_Official are you sure? I looked it up and it said special effects
so they're both the same?
I only guessed it was called SFX instead of SE because of South East, but it ends up clashing either way huh?
how strange
I could watch a whole video of every smash character's footsteps & walking animations, that was mad soothing!!
I play Perosona 5 and I was in Shido palace at the restaurant part, just walking for a good minute cause the footsteps and music was relaxing
In Animal Crossing New Horizons, there are so many combinations of shoes + surface that I can spend hours just testing combinations. I specially enjoy being barefoot in the art section of the museum, going from wood to marble and back to wood. All this while a harpsichord plays on the background.
I believe PkBeats has a whole video on that
I would be super interested to see how all the footstep sounds are created, as they all have to be unique. Foley work has become really interesting to me as of recently, so it would be neat to get a video on that at some point!
Foley work is really an artform in and of itself beyond game design though. I'm not sure Sakurai would have much to say on that specifically. You'd have to watch a more specific foley artist, I'd reckon.
Agree!
I agree to
hold up, aint you nathaniel b?
They don't have to be unique unless you are expecting the player to walk continuously for long periods of time with no other sounds going on
What an incredible amount of detail put into Smash Bros! I feel like watching these videos gives me a greater appreciation for the development team and all their hard work
Same! I love the series so much.
It is unreal that smash bros exists to the degree of polish that it has. I feel like I’ve analyzed that game to death but I never really thought about the foot steps or sound volume much. Such a cool video.
Seeing them differ based on terrain and even outfit was insane. I never imagined it went that deep. So awesome.
getting a tipper with marth has got to have the most satisfying sound effect
That detail with cloud is really cool. So much care put into little details
Sound is so overlooked, but that's how you know they're good - when you don't think about them, or the lack thereof. Still, it's so much work and so much detail for something most players don't give a hoot about.
It's amazing to see all of the little details he puts into his work.
The smaller SFX in games really add something major for me.
For instance in something like Splatoon, you get things like all the subtle jingles that play for things, like in Tower Control, or for movement, the sounds you make when swimming through ink, landing in swim form from a jump, etc. Splatoon just has such good sound design, and it extends into other auditory aspects like the voices and of course, music.
So this is some of the reason as to why it is such a CHALLENGE to make new characters. All the different effects and other variables is hundreds for each character 😵💫.
As always massive Respect!
"Footsteps can be a lot of pain sometimes", you tell that to Grandia 2.
They sometimes sounded painfully loud, especially on metal floors.
The way Smash does the sound levels certainly keep things more exciting. It's really interesting to hear them broken down like this.
A slight nuance to what is said about "The more relevant a sound is to the player, the louder that sound should be." is that this is not just about how high you set the volume of a sound. It's about the perceived loudness. An example mentioned in the video is that speech cuts through everything without any issues, that is because our brains are tuned to hear speech through almost everything. And like that there are some other tricks you can use to make sounds cut through the mix!
IMPORTANT TERM: Audio Ducking
It's always a pleasure watching a video from the game designer who inspired me in pursuing this career. Sound Effects are indeed a key part of so many games, and sometimes they're a bit overlooked. Thank you for the video, Mr. Sakurai!
This game is insane man. Changing footstep sounds based on terrain is such a cool detail!
the detail put into this, no wonder 1st party AAA titles never fall below 30%
The sound design, much like the visual design, in Smash is absolutely incredible, full of billions of little details to help immerse you in the game more and make the game feel better to play. Every game should strive for disbelief-suspending levels of sound design. Thanks so much for another great video, Mr. Sakurai!
Audio design for footsteps has to be the most thankless job in video games
While I clearly hadn't noticed the amount of detail, for example in the sounds changing depending on the types of floor, one thing I had noticed in the game was Bowser's steps and landing sounds. They are incredibly intimidating, especially because the screen shakes more than any other fighter when he runs or lands. That's a wonderful detail and now I can't help but admire the other characters' sounds too!
It is important to balance the volumes, even if realistically one sound is louder than the other.
Have always loved different walking sounds in games based on the material they walk on, especially if the characters wearing armour! 👌😁
Wow, I suddenly have much more appreciation for the level of detail many games have after watching this. Having to make different footstep sounds for every character while factoring in the type of floor they're walking on sounds painstaking to say the least.
This video shows how much little details like this can make development a LOT bigger
At this point these vids are just a way for Sakurai to flex all the effort that went into Smash Bros. Not that I'm complaining, it's well deserved!
As someone who spent way too much time seeing how the Star Fox characters' boots sounded against different surfaces and such, I've come to appreciate this sort of stuff more.
I feel like we need the scene from Eizouken where Doumeki throws up because the sound of footsteps don't match the floor surface. It really is an amazing subtle thing that players won't avidly realise, but make environments much more complete as a result.
Impressive to see just how much thought went into each level of prioritization.
When he talked about the sound of walking on different surfaces, I realised that, for smash, they would of had to make not just individual walking sound effects for each fighter, but also variants of those walking sound effects for every different type of surface.
The thought of how much time & effort, in both designing and programming, must go into making all that, just for WALKING SOUND EFFECTS, terrifies me.
So much work, for something most probably didn't or won't notice.
I did some digging.
Apparently, there are two sounds playing simultaneously during a step: one specific to the character and one specific to the surface they are walking on.
Depending on the type of surface, those two sounds have different relative volumes: a carpet isolates walking sounds much better than stone, for example.
@@GiraPrimal interesting info, thanks for sharing.
Though I still feel bad for the designers and programmers having to figure all that out.
I priorize game sound more than graphics so that's a valuable information
People grossly underestimate how crucial foley artists are when designing games.
Glad Sakurai put a bit of light on the subject matter.
It seems obvious to say audio balance has a hierarchy, but you'd be surprised at how many games struggle with this...
I never thought about how much work goes into making footsteps
Sound design is probably the part I fear most as a wannabe Game dev. Sound volume is a part that had not even crossed my mind! Thank you for an illuminating, down to earth lesson!
Man, Smash has such good sound design.
If I ever have spare time in game development, I'm totally adding a secret setting that makes ambient sounds and footsteps unreasonably loud when compared to the rest of the audio.
That is the stuff I live for!
Sounds is one of the most important things I pay attention when playing, one reason I truly enjoyed BotW.
Sound design is extremely underrated
Fairly basic but useful reminder nonetheless, and it's nice seeing these things pointed out in game
Good sound design in games is a lot like good editing in a movie. When it’s done well, you probably won’t even notice it’s there.
The attention of details in smash never stop of surprise me
That is truly a lot of effort put into each character.
It is so satisfying to watch the perfect sync of each footstep and have it so naturally fit each character and environment.
SFX has always been, and always will be, the underrated and thankless element that goes into making a game or cartoon feel whole.
One of my favorite things about the Legend of Spyro games is the clickety clacking of Spyro's claws on various surfaces!
This might be my favorite episode so far!
I love how he touches on this. Audio on a game is indeed something to pay attention to. Things like running, walking, the sound of combat, the environment, items and the sound of characters are all important when making a game.
As an indie developer myself I have been struggling with sounds. This video clearly explains the why behind certain sounds, and how loud they need to be. Great job 👏 👍
I still remember when Minecraft was updated to have sounds for mining and walking on all kinds of blocks, and it made the game so much more satisfying to play. It's surprising how much of an impact these little details can have on the overall experience.
I even got a mod that changes the sugar cane to use a more bambooy caney sound it's so nice
Minecraft might be the perfect example of just how powerful sound design is. If you try to look at the game as if for the first time, forgetting all your experience and what each block does, it doesn't really look like anything. It's a bunch of large cubes with vaguely suggestive colors on them, but the pixels are so big it's hard to tell what anything is supposed to be at first glance. But then when that oblong player cuboid makes contact with that brown block and it sounds like impact on wood, your mind is instantly convinced that you're seeing a wooden surface being knocked or walked on. Suddenly there's density and weight. Glass has brittleness, sand has texture, it's all filled in by the sounds things make when one cube brushes against another.
If you imagine Minecraft having sounds to match its visuals, either low-fi, bitcrushed recordings of real objects, or chiptune style blips and bops, it wouldn't work at all. If you want a game to feel like it takes place in a real, tangible world, the *only* thing you really need is good sound design. Your character could look like an @ sign and the ground is made of #, but as soon as one lands on the other and it makes a sharp "clang" sound, you can tell that someone wearing metal just landed on an iron surface.
@@Roxfox Haha, I actually thought about making an ASCII game with realistic sounds back in college. I didn't have the means or skills to do it, but I absolutely adored the idea of an @ sign chopping wood, making a camp fire, unzipping a backpack, falling asleep with cicadas, being awoken by a storm, seeking shelter in a cave only to be chased out by a bear...
@@DominoPivot As do I! That's a wonderful idea! Man, if the graphics are simple enough and the audio realistic enough, it would almost be like an interactive audio play.
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with this. This is such an overlooked part of the development process behind games. I'll definitely keep this in mind if I ever decide to make my own game!
It's incredible how much work goes into sound effects, especially the different walking sounds for different characters and surfaces!!
Finally! Something I’ve been waiting for since he first started the channel was something to do with the sound effects. As a sound designer, this topic is very important to me!
All of these videos are so incredibly relevant to the game I'm working on. Thank you so much!
For a game like Smash Bros a lot of these low sound effects go unheard due to the chaos of each match and the background music. Moments where you’re alone after knocking out your opponents or while you’re waiting for an online match really make these effects stand out more.
I love the sound of Mr. Game & Watch's footsteps in Smash Bros; I can't even imagine what other sounds would make sense for his character
I feel like I learn a lot about game design in each of these videos, thanks you Sakurai!
I never noticed the walking on 75m! That's awesome!
The revelation that the footsteps of each Smash Bros. character is different is now going to live in my head forever.
Something important for action games that went unnoticed is that people actually react to sounds faster than visuals. That is a big part of what should determine the priority of each action. I'm not sure it needed to be mentioned, but I can imagine that people who are not aware of that might undervalue sound effects for reactions and input feedback when designing these systems. It might seem straightforward that audio needs to be balanced, but focusing on it the way you did in this video is sure to be helpful :)
3:06
Wow. The attention to detail in these games is incredible 🤯
Videos like this make me realize how much sound is important.
without the right sound, we lose the sense of collision and weight of the game.
So cool
Footsteps are such an important sound in games. If it's bad you'll notice, if it's good the game will "feel more immersive".
Although footsteps in such combat-focused games as the Super Smash Bros series is definitely quiet compared to everything else, I do reckon the noises footsteps make can be elevated in certain games where it makes sense, such as horror games, where it can help add to make the atmosphere more tense and give players that little extra 'edge' to the horror alongside all the other minor factors, although the gameplay itself remains key as just about any team of developers can make a half-decent horror game that's good enough for one playthrough, *but answering the decades-long problem of making horror games still enjoyable and scary to some degree in repeat playthroughs is something that very few have succeeded in their video game development process.*
Oh boy. See these are things you normally don’t see with importance,but it gets to an insight that while you wouldn’t think at first is very easily comprehensible and visualizable. Thank you Sakurai🙏
I did not know about the Cloud difference, that's awesome
I've been playing a lot of Grounded lately and it has great sound design. I was at the pond one day and heard stomping sound effects coming from somewhere. I realized it was the crow perched above me! Little details like that really add to the sense of scale for your tiny character
What a complex piece distilled so beautifully! And man, I never stopped to truly appreciated how much went into smash. This is such golden insight I love it. Thank you so much.
"Cloud's landing sounds differ based on his costume." That's fairly nuts.
Not to mention all the terrain differences!
I agree with Sakurai about the effort of footstep sound effects. It can make a big difference in a game.
I remember playing One Piece unlimited adventure, and a fun lil' detail they added was that when you played as Chopper, his steps made a cute lil squeak whenever you'd walk with him. It was a small thing that made playing as him just that much more fun.
I feel like effective sound effects are underappreciated, not just in video games, but in any medium that requires audio. I suppose it's fair, you're not actively thinking about sound effects while playing a video game or watching a movie/TV show, but an ill-fitting sound effect, or one that sounds too quiet or loud can really stand out and detract from the experience. Conversely, they can also enhance an experience, either if used effectively, or if video game/movie/TV show in question just isn't that good overall and it's just one more think to laugh about. I see more and more people taking notice and mock certain popular stock sound effects, like the Wilhelm scream or that one vase breaking sound effect (you know the one).
I do love how Mega Man landing makes a little squeak to match his 8-bit sound design
Sound designs and sound worker are deeply undervalue by the casual gamiers because is something you can't directly see.
People always be: "BUT THE GRAPHIC THO!!. 8K!!! 69K PURE GRAPHICS YOU CAN SEE THE CELLS ON THE FACE OF THE CHARACTER OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!.
Meanwhile the wonderful sound team did on the game is ignored by regular even whe they are more important than graphics themselves because is what put the charm, the setting, the atmosphere and personality of the game. Mario is not Mario without the sound designs. Silent Hill is not Silent Hill without their sounds and music. Street fighter is not Street fighters without SHORYUKEN! HADOUKEN! SONIC BOOM! KIKOSHO! SPINNING BIRD KICK!, Alan Wake is not Alan Wake without the wind blowing,treets moving, whispering,steps and gun shots.
To everyone reading this. Appreciate your sound staff. Not only see the games, close your eyes and hear the game sound effects, music, tone. They are what makes your game unique and special
It's interesting that Sakurai brings up the sound of footsteps in 3D games, because I think that's one of the first things a player will notice in that forefather of collectathons, Super Mario 64. Since the outside of the castle only has ambient noise like birds and the waterfall, Mario's footsteps are clear and unmissable. Since it's the first game in the series where Mario actually had audible footsteps, it makes even more sense for them to be included.
I know Mario also makes footsteps in later titles like Odyssey, but by having that silence at the beginning of the game, it allows them to become a priority, and then a sort of comfortable background noise after the background music proper kicks in.
As a student who's learning sound and music for games these videos help me out so much. Thank you sakurai and the team for making videos on audio and not just programming ❤️❤️❤️
Far out this makes me appreciate the intricacies of ultimate even more. Landmark game
Fact: With every video, you become more cultured and intelligent.
I knew certain stages had different sound effects for the terrain. I just tend to forget about them as I'm so use to hearing them. This has given me a new appreciation for all the little things that's in Smash. 😊
I agree wholeheartedly on the footsteps portion.
My first console was the Nintendo 64, and it's still my favorite one ~ the platformers on that system, with the camera placement behind characters and running animations and the sounds of their footsteps I find satisfying in their own way.
I love listening to my character traverse the world to this day, and it's one minor setback of the phenomenal Dragon Quest XI: Definitive Edition. The wonderful new orchestral soundtrack drowns out the footsteps where the original, bad MIDI could let them be heard easily! It was a very satisfying part of exploring the word for me. I remember messing with the volume adjustments years ago but not caring for the results.
Further proving that he is in fact, a wizard
An audio soundscape, I feel, is not often thought about in game development, so it's good to see Sakurai considering every little detail.
I hope we get a voice effects video. This is one shows how much perfect work Sakurai-sama and his amazing crew puts into the games they make
Mr. Sakurai-sama...
Sakurai-san-sama?
@@KanaIzumiya is san-sama grammatically correct though i feel like its not but im probably wrong
@@SeantheDracunyan76 It isn't, as far as I know. I just thought saying Mr. Sakurai-sama was odd since it's like saying what I typed in my comment.
@@KanaIzumiya oh i didn't notice that okay I'll fix it
A fantastic video, Sakurai! You really explained the concept well and showed us how much work goes into making the perfect sound effects.
I love how this idea of audio priority directly relates to the use of Sound Design to convey info-I feel it’s something that’s kind of overlooked. SFX should both sound “good” (i.e., what their corresponding action sound like) but also be distinct enough to be able to clearly communicate to the player what’s happening.
For other action game designers, the sound volumes are grouped by relavance to the player in this order:
1. Defeat Sounds
2. Impact Sounds / Parry Sounds
3.1. Special Attacks & Skills (further by strengh)
3.2. Voice Lines
4. Explosions
5. Dodge, blocks & Environmental interaction successes (ledge grabs)
6. Attack Swings, Dashing (Flying)
7. Movements like jumping and landing (while landing sounds are pointier than jumping)
8. Walking/Hovering
Still a masterclass on every subject limited to a short and accessible video. Arigatou gozaimasu Sakurai San!
the impact sfxs in smash ultimate are so good especially the high impact ones & the spikes
I never realized the walking sounds for the Mario Bros stage had the classic Mario Bros running sounds. I'll have to pay more attention to that. Smash is a series with so many years of research and building on attention to detail. It's so good to hear the breakdown of this because so many newcomers will not have thought of these things. Kind of wild that even on an individual character, if their alternate costume is wearing different footwear, the sound changes.
How can they think about everything? Like even 5 years later the release of Ultimate I discover that the footsteps sounds in the Mario Bros stage are the same as the original game. This level of detail is inhuman, I'm speechless 😶
A good example of footsteps when it comes to audio priority is most Sonic games. In almost all of the 2D games and the earlier 3D games, Sonic doesn't make any audible footsteps when running, and even when he did finally start making noise (in I believe 06), the audio is much quieter than the rest of the game. It makes sense since his feet hit the ground so many times in a much smaller time than most other characters that, if his footsteps where made any louder, it would come out to strobby, white noise that would distract the player far more than immerse them.
Sakurai: "You might not be able to tell during fights, but each character has distinct footsteps."
SSBU footage: *Kirby walks with footsteps sounding nothing like anyone else's*
An very nice feature is to have the ability to control the volume of voices, background music, and everything else on 3 sliders. I have some trouble with understanding voices and typically turn them up (and turn subtitles on). Hollow knight had 3 sliders and there was a time I turned off the background music to listen to my own and a time that I turned up the background above the rest to make it foreground music. Very nice to have that control.
Thank you, Sakurai! This was a topic I was actually having a lot of trouble with! This is very helpful! 😄
This is... incredible.