So in this Dev Diary, us at The Chinese Room’s audio team want to explain the processes and thinking that go into designing sounds and audio systems that one might take for granted: environmental audio, UI sound design, player traversal, combat and the mix process. These all contribute to making the world of Bloodlines 2 feel alive and believable. There is a lot of craft and passion that goes into getting even the smallest of details just right, so I’m proud to let some of the audio team members have the opportunity to show and discuss their work in progress.
-Audio Director Daan Hendriks
Combat Audio Systems
[previewyoutube=VufkjtN6og0;full][/previewyoutube]
Here's a short video demo to show off some of the techniques and processes we used when designing the combat sounds and how we used some of the V:tM lore to inform our creative sound design work.
-Sound Designer Marcus Bagshawe
Environmental Audio Systems
Audio of The City
Numerous systems have been developed for the game’s urban area, set in Seattle, that enable audio to create an adaptive yet cohesive soundscape. Many of these are designed to go unnoticed, yet there’s a lot to show underneath the bonnet, so let’s discuss some of these systems here.
Environment Sensor
Because the game is set in Seattle with its many streets, buildings, alleyways and rooftops, the soundscape needs to be appropriate in every location. To assist with this, we detect the size of the environment around the player at any given time. This is done by firing out traces from the player position and detecting the surrounding geometry, as seen in the below image (Green lines are the traces and the large green blocks are the geometry).
Description: One of our system set-ups in Unreal Engine.
We combine this information along with other variables to help us control what audio is heard in any given location. Gusts change from blustery rooftops to whistling alleyways. Street activity such as pedestrians and distant vehicles change to trash rattling through the backstreets. Reverb changes from close early reflections to a wider slap-back in bigger streets.
All of this is complemented by positional emitters such as trees creaking, buzzing electrical units, city aircon and human activity bleeding from building windows. Using Unreal's Mass framework we are able to efficiently process thousands of potential sonic sources allowing us to create a rich ambience.
Here’s a video I captured exploring a small section of the city, demonstrating some of what was discussed above. Please be aware that this is still a work in progress.
[previewyoutube=0UugU0IzZYg;full][/previewyoutube]
Reaction System
We want the city to not only be dynamic, but also reactive. As you move around the urban environments, the objects around you react to the cold winds of the Seattle winter. Fences, trees and even small things like trash bags and bicycles will react to gusts and bring that extra touch of reality to the world.
This means the ambient audio should respond convincingly to stimuli either driven by the player or from the environment. We achieved this by building a system of drivers and reactions. Sorry, this will now get a bit technical, but such is the job! We perform an overlap check to find what static meshes are around the listener at any given time. Audio components are then moved to these locations and if they are tagged to react to a driver, their audio will play based on how loud the driver is.
For this to work optimally, we limit the amount of audio component available and prioritise where these components will be based on proximity to the player. As an example, below you can see the sphere around the player that is checking for meshes. The green and blue spheres represent the meshes found - green have audio components and blue do not.
Description: Here’s how the debug tools for this system look like in Unreal Engine.
Player Traversal
Traversing the city should be a satisfying experience whether on the streets or rooftops. A big part of this is ensuring that the environmental materials always sound appropriate in whatever way you choose to move around.
This was achieved in multiple ways:
- Material Switching - Whether it’s the player’s feet or hands, we detect what material it hits and change the sound accordingly.
- Snow Build-Up – This is applied to objects in the world such as cars and bus shelters that have been covered in snow. We introduce appropriate snow sounds on top of the underlying material.
- Runtime Virtual Texture (RVT) - Covering the entire map, this texture allows footstep sounds to adjust depending on the level of snow, ice, and slush in the roads and alleyways. Our audio programmer intelligently compressed the resolution of this texture for optimal performance.
- Decals – Sometimes you’ll find puddles of blood and other ground cover like leaves and trash. We do an addition check for these and layer sounds on top of the base material, so you get, for instance, a nice blend of a concrete floor and ‘walking on leaves’ footstep sounds.
- Water and Wetness – Detected in a similar way to decals, except the play will remain wet for a set amount of time after leaving water for some nice soggy shoe sounds.
- Slopes – To support variation in elevation we cache the player’s height and check whether they are moving up or down. This then adjusts the pitch and footstep sound type.
There is even more to the player traversal audio than mentioned above, such as the different sounds for Phyre’s outfits, or the audio design for vampiric traversal abilities - but we’ll leave that for another time.
[previewyoutube=CQGCSagS8Bs;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=RAVgDaG9bZU;full][/previewyoutube]
City Sense
Being hundreds of years old, Phyre has seen cities change as people live and die, and knows that rooftops are a great place to avoid breaking the masquerade (and sometimes take in a vista). Having acute vampiric senses, we wanted the player to be able to tune into the city’s past and present, in a hyperreal way. To do so we detect whether the player has been sat still over a certain time and above a certain height. We then subtly attenuate the diegetic audio and gently introduce more designed ethereal sounds.
Description: In-game image of the city that will provide a rich auditory experience
Our Seattle is comprised of many other elements that complete its full soundscape, but hopefully this will give you something to listen out for that you otherwise might not have. Thanks for your interest!
-Sound Designer Mike Lane, Senior Audio Programmer Joe White and Lead Sound Designer Tessa Verplancke.
Audio dev processes, player foley and/or UI Design
In Bloodlines 2, the UI audio serves as an extension of each player character, reflecting not only their distinct personalities, but the essence of their eras and supernatural depths. For our protagonist Phyre, the UI sounds evoke her origins, weaving in period-specific instruments and relics. This is a representation of their specific mind and thoughts, it also keeps that more fantastical energy of the vampire in mind.
-Lead Sound Designer Tessa Verplancke
Pre-mixing and Mixing Audio in VtMB2
In the final stages of game development, one of the most challenging aspects for the audio team is bringing the mix together. The diversity of narrative and gameplay contexts means we need to go through the game meticulously, room by room, encounter by encounter, ensuring each moment elevates the player experience. The precision is key - we have to zoom in and work with exacting detail.
At times, this means bending the rules to amplify the moment. The game’s acoustic model might suggest, for instance, that you shouldn’t be able to hear an NPC through two doors and a window - but if it feels right to hear them, we’ll definitely make that exception for the sake of immersion.
One of our core pillars for the audio experience is contrast, and it plays a vital role in mixing. For gameplay, this means highlighting the difference in feel between the raw intensity of combat and the fluidity of vampiric traversal. Audio helps ground you when it counts, or lets you feel light, stealthy, and almost ethereal when you’re on the move. For instance, we cut low-end frequencies from player foley sounds during agile movements, adding a low, ominous ‘whoosh’ as you close in on a target - reinforcing the sensation of a predator honing in for the kill.
Combat mixing is especially tricky; we aim for impact without overwhelming players with repetitive, sharp sounds. To balance this, we use priority mixing within combat audio. High-priority sounds like player punches or hits lower the presence of background sounds like footsteps or foley, while firearms are mixed at an even higher tier for clarity - essential information for survival.
We always mix with surround and LFE content in mind as we never want players to be disappointed when they plug our game into their swanky 7.1 home cinema setup. We even use deliberate surround mixing to accentuate some of the core narrative components in our title. For example, we position Phyre's first-person speaking voice very differently to where Fabien's voice plays from in your head, which certainly adds to the immersion. So yeah, there’s a lot that goes into all of it, we hope you enjoy all the layers!
- Lead Sound Designer Dom Parker
Ambient & Narrative Audio Design
For me, Ambient and Narrative Audio Design is a way to breathe a haunting, layered life into the world - a craft I’ve especially relished in Bloodlines 2. Through audio, we can lend depth to the environments that other departments have painstakingly crafted, imbuing each location with that sense of story, history, and character that oozes through the game.
Our approach allows us to amplify the narrative tone through soundscapes that subtly guide the player’s emotions. When we want the player to feel truly alone, we pull back elements from the soundscape, creating an eerie sense of emptiness that heightens their isolation. Or does the player need to feel more tense and on edge, we can then add in more obscure elements that contrast with what would normally be an ordinary ambience.
Through narrative audio design, we can also shape how players perceive their own presence within the environment. Do they feel like unseen observers, or do they sense they could be spotted at any moment? Do we want them to feel more secure in the area they are in and that they are able to blend in?
One way I’ve been looking at creating this are ways in which we push and pull the players focus of the ambient sounds, pulling sounds closer and playing back audio that sounds close up, draws attention to the player immediate position and actions, whereas playing more distant sounds bring focus onto the wider area, could allow the player to feel like they can blend in more.
I’m truly looking forward to seeing how players respond to our audio design, and how these crafted sounds shape their experience in the world of Bloodlines.
-Senior Sound Designer Lewis Bean
[previewyoutube=o3aO5Ma5aQo;full][/previewyoutube]
Description: An illustration of the complexity of filling an environment with sonic detail.
Holiday Break
And with that, the Dev Diaries will take a holiday break and return on the 15th of January next year. We look forward to the new year, and can’t wait to show you everything we have planned for 2025. This includes showing off how you can customise Phyre, more information about the weapons system, the planned DLCs and most importantly: the release! From us at Paradox and TCR we wish you all a pleasant holiday season, full of food and fangs!
