RegulusNSFW - Iris Conversation Animations, Audio fixes.
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RegulusNSFW - Iris Conversation Animations, Audio fixes. part 2
About This Title
Heyo everyone! Here we are again. This week was originally going to be focusing on a bit of an issue I had been having with the audio. Specifically during "Tempo Up"s. A solution has been found... at least seemingly so, we'll have to see how testing goes. That being said, there was another surprise! Iris' conversation art came in from Chien, so I got right to animating!! Let's jump into the progress report!
To start, here's the base art.
Each layer is broken apart onto an atlas. (1 of like..4 or 5)
After rigging, and control parameters, we give her a bit of motion
Beautiful! Let's add some emotions into the mix
And put in the clothing toggles:
I also decided to have a bit of fun and take Iris' "messy" hair from her Hscene, and see how it would work on her conversation art.
With that... it's a large chunk of the week. Now all that I needed to address was the audio issues with Tempo Up. The short of it is that I fixed it.... butttt.... if you want me to get into it, read ahead:
This next section I can go into details on exactly what the predicament was, and how I went about fixing it. Here's a technical section starring audio!
This clip showcases the standard method of Tempo Up. This was used in SpunkStock1. It's simple. I scale the pitch of the song with the speed of the notes. Raising the pitch of an audio source inherently speeds it up, so it worked out perfectly... The issue with SpunkStock2 is that vocals get the "chipmunk" effect. Now is it the worst thing? Not particularly, but it's very jarring, and I do feel it immediately makes Tempo Up silly. It is a light-hearted game.. but chipmunk voice is definitely not the sexiest thing in the world...
So the immediate solution was to add a "Pitch Shifter" Effect into Unity's Audio Mixer.
This Pitch Shifter is different that the Audio Source's pitch in that it will change the pitch of the mixer without changing the speed of the audio. If you counteract the pitch increase with this shifter it should in theory, equalize... and well... it did... sort of. The issue is that the method used for the pitch shift well.. to put it simply... not ideal for retaining the quality of the song. In this video you can hear that when you grab the first tempo up, it does indeed speed up and keeps it's pitch, but the song immediately loses a ton of it's quality sounding like you put it underwater. Once again... jarring in an unpleasant way...
Upon some investigation I found the muddiness didn't necessarily come from pitching up, then down. It was actually just tied to the Pitch Shifter on the mixer. I simply can't use it unless I want to take that quality loss.
I was left with a few options... get a plugin like Wwise, or FMOD, or export multiple versions of the song from an external DAW (Digital Audio Workstation... aka... a music program) that each have the different speeds. (In DAWs you can time-stretch songs very easily which is essentially my desired effect)
Wwise and FMOD are very powerful audio systems that are used in many AAA games. The biggest issue I had with bringing those in is... well... Do I really need to bring in such a big audio system just so I can Pitch Shift slightly better, or Time Stretch a song? That's like calling in the military for a neighbourhood noise complaint. I would really like to avoid such a heavy-duty answer.
And alternatively the issue with exporting several versions of the song is that A: It takes up wayyy more space for the game's file size, B: swapping the audio file in and out can cause hiccups, or pressure on the audio system... making things prone to falling out of sync. It would need to be treated quite delicately, and be quite complicated to code the speed, and ensure that the audio clip actually plays at the exact moment it needs to (1:15 in the main track would not be 1:15 in the sped up version).. It's technically possible, but you would just need to be tracking a lot of variables. Finally C: the other big issue with this, is managing the files in general. It would limit my ability to do more innovative/crazy things with the music.... take SpunkStock 1's finale as an example... there are 3 different tracks playing simultaneously(Lead, Rhythm, Bass/Drums), and are completely dynamic and can change... if I have several sped up versions as well, I would be juggling like.. 14 or more different audio tracks that need to stay perfectly in sync... basically... it would be a total headache.
After trying several other methods I looked into dealing with it through code. I only have so much knowledge of the technical aspects of Unity's audio system, so I did some digging online to educate myself. Across some forums and discussions there were some scripts and functions that I decided to try. After some wrestling I got something that worked.
It's not necessarily perfect, but it's a big step up from the other 2 examples. There are a couple things I would still like to flesh out, but it should work.. for now.
There are a couple concerns I currently have with this system, and it's that I still don't fully understand exactly how the script works. This also means I technically don't know how "optimized" it is. If it is very taxing on the audio system and creates latency then it's a bit of an issue. From the little I have tested, I haven't noticed an issue from it yet, but I think that's something we'll have to see once it's released and more people can test things.
I will have to research this code a bit more, so that I can make appropriate adjustments, fine-tuning, and possibly fix any potential issues that may arise in the future.
For now, I will close the book on the week though.
Okay! So where are we at? Well, this knocks 2 big things off the list. There are only a few things on the list to check off before the game is in a decent enough state for v0.1.
Yet another rework to the note system
Implementing rewards for the FEVER system, and potentially rewards for the "achievement/challenges" (Perhaps it will just be clothing toggles or something for now).
Polish... making sure Bios/Info screen are what I want, FEVER works properly, certain UI elements are touched up/reworked, etc.
I'll elaborate on the "another rework to the note system", as that is what's on the agenda next week. I touched on it a bit last week, but I'll reiterate.
Currently there are the lines that come in from either side, and when they reach the red line, that's when you click. This seemed to work quite well right up until I added the clothing break system. Considering there is another thing on the screen that demands your attention... there's just... a bit too much that demands your attention for it to be comfortable anymore.
I am planning to return to the idea that the chart follows your cursor. I will, however be completely changing it's design to something that will likely be more familiar to players. This will mean that I will need to make some heavy adjustments to the current core script, but it is necessary, as the current system, just isn't quite there yet.
Alright everyone! That should wrap things up! I'll catch you all next week with a look at the revised note system, and here's to hoping it feels as good as I am hoping it will ahhaa
-Regulus
Heyo everyone! Here we are again. This week was originally going to be focusing on a bit of an issue I had been having with the audio. Specifically during "Tempo Up"s. A solution has been found... at least seemingly so, we'll have to see how testing goes. That being said, there was another surprise! Iris' conversation art came in from Chien, so I got right to animating!! Let's jump into the progress report!
To start, here's the base art.
Each layer is broken apart onto an atlas. (1 of like..4 or 5)
After rigging, and control parameters, we give her a bit of motion
Beautiful! Let's add some emotions into the mix
And put in the clothing toggles:
I also decided to have a bit of fun and take Iris' "messy" hair from her Hscene, and see how it would work on her conversation art.
With that... it's a large chunk of the week. Now all that I needed to address was the audio issues with Tempo Up. The short of it is that I fixed it.... butttt.... if you want me to get into it, read ahead:
This next section I can go into details on exactly what the predicament was, and how I went about fixing it. Here's a technical section starring audio!
This clip showcases the standard method of Tempo Up. This was used in SpunkStock1. It's simple. I scale the pitch of the song with the speed of the notes. Raising the pitch of an audio source inherently speeds it up, so it worked out perfectly... The issue with SpunkStock2 is that vocals get the "chipmunk" effect. Now is it the worst thing? Not particularly, but it's very jarring, and I do feel it immediately makes Tempo Up silly. It is a light-hearted game.. but chipmunk voice is definitely not the sexiest thing in the world...
So the immediate solution was to add a "Pitch Shifter" Effect into Unity's Audio Mixer.
This Pitch Shifter is different that the Audio Source's pitch in that it will change the pitch of the mixer without changing the speed of the audio. If you counteract the pitch increase with this shifter it should in theory, equalize... and well... it did... sort of. The issue is that the method used for the pitch shift well.. to put it simply... not ideal for retaining the quality of the song. In this video you can hear that when you grab the first tempo up, it does indeed speed up and keeps it's pitch, but the song immediately loses a ton of it's quality sounding like you put it underwater. Once again... jarring in an unpleasant way...
Upon some investigation I found the muddiness didn't necessarily come from pitching up, then down. It was actually just tied to the Pitch Shifter on the mixer. I simply can't use it unless I want to take that quality loss.
I was left with a few options... get a plugin like Wwise, or FMOD, or export multiple versions of the song from an external DAW (Digital Audio Workstation... aka... a music program) that each have the different speeds. (In DAWs you can time-stretch songs very easily which is essentially my desired effect)
Wwise and FMOD are very powerful audio systems that are used in many AAA games. The biggest issue I had with bringing those in is... well... Do I really need to bring in such a big audio system just so I can Pitch Shift slightly better, or Time Stretch a song? That's like calling in the military for a neighbourhood noise complaint. I would really like to avoid such a heavy-duty answer.
And alternatively the issue with exporting several versions of the song is that A: It takes up wayyy more space for the game's file size, B: swapping the audio file in and out can cause hiccups, or pressure on the audio system... making things prone to falling out of sync. It would need to be treated quite delicately, and be quite complicated to code the speed, and ensure that the audio clip actually plays at the exact moment it needs to (1:15 in the main track would not be 1:15 in the sped up version).. It's technically possible, but you would just need to be tracking a lot of variables. Finally C: the other big issue with this, is managing the files in general. It would limit my ability to do more innovative/crazy things with the music.... take SpunkStock 1's finale as an example... there are 3 different tracks playing simultaneously(Lead, Rhythm, Bass/Drums), and are completely dynamic and can change... if I have several sped up versions as well, I would be juggling like.. 14 or more different audio tracks that need to stay perfectly in sync... basically... it would be a total headache.
After trying several other methods I looked into dealing with it through code. I only have so much knowledge of the technical aspects of Unity's audio system, so I did some digging online to educate myself. Across some forums and discussions there were some scripts and functions that I decided to try. After some wrestling I got something that worked.
It's not necessarily perfect, but it's a big step up from the other 2 examples. There are a couple things I would still like to flesh out, but it should work.. for now.
There are a couple concerns I currently have with this system, and it's that I still don't fully understand exactly how the script works. This also means I technically don't know how "optimized" it is. If it is very taxing on the audio system and creates latency then it's a bit of an issue. From the little I have tested, I haven't noticed an issue from it yet, but I think that's something we'll have to see once it's released and more people can test things.
I will have to research this code a bit more, so that I can make appropriate adjustments, fine-tuning, and possibly fix any potential issues that may arise in the future.
For now, I will close the book on the week though.
Okay! So where are we at? Well, this knocks 2 big things off the list. There are only a few things on the list to check off before the game is in a decent enough state for v0.1.
Yet another rework to the note system
Implementing rewards for the FEVER system, and potentially rewards for the "achievement/challenges" (Perhaps it will just be clothing toggles or something for now).
Polish... making sure Bios/Info screen are what I want, FEVER works properly, certain UI elements are touched up/reworked, etc.
I'll elaborate on the "another rework to the note system", as that is what's on the agenda next week. I touched on it a bit last week, but I'll reiterate.
Currently there are the lines that come in from either side, and when they reach the red line, that's when you click. This seemed to work quite well right up until I added the clothing break system. Considering there is another thing on the screen that demands your attention... there's just... a bit too much that demands your attention for it to be comfortable anymore.
I am planning to return to the idea that the chart follows your cursor. I will, however be completely changing it's design to something that will likely be more familiar to players. This will mean that I will need to make some heavy adjustments to the current core script, but it is necessary, as the current system, just isn't quite there yet.
Alright everyone! That should wrap things up! I'll catch you all next week with a look at the revised note system, and here's to hoping it feels as good as I am hoping it will ahhaa
-Regulus
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