Rumble in the Jungle
Welcome back to our deep dive series on Primal Carnage: Evolution!
So far we have explored upgrades to the Gameplay, Visuals, and Optimization!
Today, it’s all about AUDIO.
In this article, you’ll hear how we’ve evolving The Sound of Carnage, by exploring a few key areas such as Weapon Sounds, UI effects, & Voiceover Dialogue. Interested? Take a listen…
Let’s Get Loud
Weapon Sounds have had the biggest overhaul. Our new sound design features bigger, more impressive gunshots that each have their own unique reverb characteristics. The video below highlights a few before & after comparisons between the old PS4 Extinction to Evolution, showcasing not just the revamped audio but improved particle effects...
A new sound tweak is weapons changing pitch as you near the end of your current clip, which is also tied to the barrel heat visuals (where the gun starts glowing when you near the end).
Firing your weapon in first person perspective now also has more detailed effects compared to hearing somebody else shooting (3rd person). The player's own gunfire has several extra sound variations, instead of just the exact same cue repeated over and over the way it is in 3rd person. This kind of “psychoacoustics” treatment makes your own gun always feel like the most powerful one in the room, whilst also optimizing the soundscape...
If we used the first person soundcues for everyone in the scene, the game would have to pop off a dozen sounds every time someone fires (shot, tail, reverb, shell casing, etc). This would often hurt performance. Instead, we now use a different pre-combined cue for other players, which reduces memory load and helps keep the mix clean.
Something we tweaked recently and have been continuing to improve are the much more advanced Flamesaw sounds…
Idle effects for the Flamesaw vary based on if you've been using the saw or the flamethrower, and the pressure level of the flamethrower determines which start sound plays.
On the programming side, over the past year we finished moving all auto-firing guns to a new looping system which is much more efficient. This system also makes use of the split 3rd person / 1st person weapon sound tech, so that the complex layers of something like the Flamesaw are streamlined into less complex versions when heard by other players.
The before / after clip further up actually shows a bug this system fixed, with the assault rifle sounds cutting out at times in Extinction, because it was spawning so many cues on full-auto that the audio engine just gave up!
Foley Finesse
On the more subtle end, each human will have unique footstep sounds. For example, Commando wears heavy army boots, while Scientist has a much lighter step, and Trapper has some jangling cowboy spurs.
Additional foley effects were added a while ago for actions such as sprinting, where if you’re holding a long gun you’ll hear it shaking in your hands as you run. Pyro’s fuel tank rattling about will now be more noticeable when sprinting, too. Reloading now feels more badass, filled with lots of extra little rattles, clicks and other mechanical effects.
Hearing the HUD
One of our ongoing improvement drives has been adding extra cues tied to gameplay events. The HUD / user interface has been updated over time with more visual notifications, and various new sounds have been created to go along with these.
We added varied hit notifications to the HUD a little while ago. Depending on where you shoot, you see different crosshair symbols if it’s a weak point, strong point, or regular flesh - and the sound changes too. Firing at armour produces dull Thunks on impact, whereas weakpoints are louder and sharper. Land a critical hit and there’s a juicy splash (plus a bullet ping if it’s a headshot).
Coupled with in-world sound effects for feeling hits yourself, such as the satisfying CLONK of a Pachy’s headbutt - or the bone breaking impact of a T.Rex tail swipe - it means Primal Carnage: Evolution has way more audio feedback for both instigators and victims compared to Primal Carnage: Extinction (PS4).
Stamina now has unique sounds for when it is stolen from you by enemies, or being restored by teammates. There are also more subtle indicators for when it starts being used, begins regenerating, and fills up fully. If you have a keen ear, these allow you to focus more on the moment to moment combat instead of needing to keep an eye on your bar.
Even though we’ve added more visual indicators for the roar mechanics, the same is true there as well. The “roar ready” notification popup can be turned off for more immersive visuals, but you can still hear a helpful UI sound cue for it.
Menu Modifications
Every part of the customization / equipment screen will now have custom sounds when interacted with. This is an extra level of detail we never had time for in the past, and which makes just the basics of interacting with these much-used screens more fun.
Select a weapon skin in the customizer and you’ll hear the equip sound for that gun, choose an outfit and there’s a suiting up sound, every single slot has a unique cue to go with it...
Console players, please ignore the Xbox button icons - it's just the default control method when using gamepads on PC.
The actual functionality of the customizer itself will also be getting a few usability improvements too, but that's something for a future post.
More Music!
You can find several preview tracks from the expanded Evolution OST on our YouTube channel, and read our blog post about how the new soundtrack is being implemented for more juicy info!
At The Mixing Desk
One special track featured in the Evolution OST features a band of live musicians jamming together. It was a fun recording session!
We're happy to confirm every single sublcass in the core modes now has their own custom soundtrack, with both light ambient pieces and heavy combat themes for each! Keep a lookout for more soundtrack selections going live in the run up to relaunch…
Voiceover
It's been mentioned before that the human team is getting re-voiced, to allow for a greater dialogue variety. Unfortunately there was no info regarding who played the original characters for Primal Carnage way back in 2012, so we had to cast new actors.
The Trapper was already largely re-recorded for Extinction in 2014 at the special request of Pub Games (they’re Australian).
We were lucky enough to bring him back to record additional dialogue for Evolution nearly 10 years later!
Likewise, we were able to track down the voice of the chopper pilot in Extinction for round two of his inimitable drawling insults!
Bonus lines recorded for him include contexts for actions such as getting to the boat and getting to the train, and all that implies…
In total, there are now over 3500 lines of recorded dialogue in the game. This includes the mercenary voiceover set with several hundred for each class, the chopper pilot’s 130 lines, dialogue for each of the vending machines, the announcer, and various new public service announcements heard in the world.
All of these add more life and character, while hinting at times to the larger backstory. Many of the new lines actually tie into specific gameplay events as well. For example, when facing the AI horde you’ll hear characters shout the names of various dinos the first time they see them (although they won’t always pronounce them properly!).
We’ve held back from adding the automatic spotting mechanic to the other game modes, as it could give your position away. It’s possible we may add manual spotting in future if there’s interest in it. Numerous other dialogue triggers include (but are not limited to):
getting a multi-kill streak
landing a headshot
killing dinos with specific weapons
beating a boss wave
throwing supplies
capturing objectives
starting, losing or winning a match.
There’s many more, but we’ll let you discover those in-game yourself!
Good Vibrations
Related to sound, a major part of improving the feel of the game for Evolution involved making a wide array of controller rumble effects. The vibrations you feel from the gamepad can enhance gameplay massively, but this feature didn't receive much care and attention back when Primal Carnage: Extinction released.
This time around, we’ve gone HARD on rumble for Evolution. Roaring was given tremendous vibration effects a while ago for PCE on PC, but we’ve taken that even further in Primal Carnage: Evolution by creating custom rumble curves for each class that line up better with their actual roars. Tyrants can now be felt,not just heard. Their footsteps create heavy vibrations that you’ll pick up through your controller when they are within a few dozen metres.
A new “hierarchy of rumble” will also ensure important events like roaring are not interrupted by other vibration effects going on. This was an issue for PCE on PC previously. For example, roaring as Ptera or Tupa used to get cut off by your wing flaps in flight, and Tyrants could interrupt their roar effects with the rumble of their own footsteps. Not anymore!
Other bespoke rumble events include diving as Flyers.
Pretty much every attack now has some form of vibration effect (both on button press and when actually landing a hit).
Even small actions such as reloading your gun now have little rumble triggers, with motions like shoving a new magazine into the carbine rifle creating a satisfying hit.
Of course, if your hands can’t handle all of this, vibration function can be disabled within the game’s own options menu. Additionally, one of our stretch goals is making a “rumble intensity slider” that globally adjusts how heavy vibration is across the whole game. This slider may not be there on day one, but we’ll continue to add more accessibility options after Evolution releases.
Next Time... SANDBOX
We’ll be back with another deep dive soon, where we will be exploring the evolution of Freeroam mode and some of the fun extras that come along with it. See you then!
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