Have you ever wondered what constitutes as “game development” in the industry? It’s not just about what you can see or feel, but also what you can hear. And at Square Enix, you might not realize how impactful the lead sound designer can be for Final Fantasy XIV.
As Go Kinuya — the lead sound designer of FFXIV — said, sound effects don’t make their way out into the spotlight very often. Players often overlook sound effects as part of a game’s sound production, while music usually is at the centre. Sound effects have their own, often overlooked, challenges. One of these challenges is the mental hurdle that many players may not recognise your work, and may even consider it minor.
Come check out how sound designing works with us! We’ve summarized the development panel from FFXIV’s Berlin Fan fest, but there’s a lot to learn!
Who is Go Kinuya?
Go Kinuya（絹谷 剛）is the Lead Sound Designer of FFXIV. He joined Square Enix in 2012 after working on sound effects for another company. When he joined the company, the team was preparing for the transition from Legacy to A Realm Reborn. During this transition, he was working on waves of monsters coming to destroy Ul’dah. To Soken and Kinuya’s surprise, the larger plan called for destroying and then rebuilding the entire world. Since then, he has worked on every category of sound effects, and ultimately became the Lead Sound Designer in 2021.
What is Considered Sound Design?
Sound design encompasses far more than music; it includes the voices you hear when spamming emotes, sound effects, and the environmental sounds that play when people gather. The sound engine holds all of these elements together. Sound effects are the focus for this Development Panel.
Many sounds are quite subtle, but are important for relaying the status of the game or player actions. For example, the duty finder sound is likely the most recognizable for everyone. The development team originally requested the creation of this sound to indicate when the limit break gauge was filled. They wanted a sound that would pierce through even the fiercest of battles.
Another example is the login sound, which needed to be quickly recreated during A Realm Reborn’s open beta test. The team intended to carry over the original login sound from Legacy. However, the login servers were highly unstable during the early phases of the open beta. As such, players needed to try logging in repeatedly. The login sound was meant to be only heard once, rather than over and over.
Players grew quite frustrated with this, with Japanese players referring to the state of FFXIV as 「ガシャーンオンライン」 (Gashaan Onrain, “Breaking Glass Online”). After realizing the situation’s urgency, they then created the current login sound we know today. This is how working together with players will help create a better product for everybody involved.
Animation Effects
Boss effects are widely varied due to the range of different themes in Final Fantasy XIV. There are many bosses that have a fantasy theme, and others that have a more sci-fi oriented theme. The signature moves of the bosses typically have the most work put into them.
One example is Shiva’s Diamond Dust. The sound for the pivotal moment of Diamond Dust was two high heels clicking together. Originally, the development feedback was that the effect was not feminine enough and it did not sound right. The team spent several weeks working solely to create something better aligned with Shiva’s image.
Two other boss examples showcased were Kefka and Phantom Train, both bosses from Final Fantasy VI. FFVI was originally released for the Super Famicom in 1994. The console only had 64 KB of audio RAM, which introduced certain constraints for sound effects. As such, when transitioning from the Superfami to modern-day PCs, the sound team wanted to hold true to the FFXIV versions of these bosses, while also making them sound more refined.
Foley Recording
Foley recording is essentially going into a sound booth with a lot of “junk,” also known as everyday objects. Objects that are commonly used include:
- Hot Oil
- Frying Pan
- Cloth
- Sponges
- Training Katanas
The team used hot oil, a frying pan, and a cloth to recreate the sound of frying eggs. If you’ve crafted on Culinarian before, you’ll have a good idea of what this sounds like.
The process of achieving this effect was putting hot oil in a pan with a wet cloth. Combining these materials creates a pleasant sizzle that the team can record as a frying sound. Instead of a cloth, you may also use a sponge in this process.
A very versatile equipment we can use for foley recording includes the practice katana made of bamboo. With a plethora of sounds, you’d have never imagined it’s the same sound that plays when you go ocean fishing. The next time you set out on a fishing voyage, the team would like you to think of a sound guy standing in the booth making strained sounds twisting a practice katana.
Myriad Footsteps
If you’re curious about how your character might sound like in reality, you might like to know there are over 700 types of footstep sounds. This is because the game tailors the sounds to your character’s exact state. Some factors include your race, gender, speed, foot gear, terrain, and ground condition. So next time you play FFXIV, maybe consciously listen to how the sound changes as your character walks.
In addition to having 700 types of footstep sounds, there are many different variations of those types. To account for all the variations, there are over 10,000 files for footsteps in FFXIV. The greatest fear of the sound development team is the addition of a new type of floor. Soken prays that there will be fewer floors in the world.
Environmental Sounds
Environmental sounds are the sounds that inform players of the environment around them. There are all sorts of sounds queued and they change based on your location and camera angle. Often times, these things are not visible through graphics, but rather things you may expect based on the environment. When the team approaches environmental sound effects, their intention is to simulate the earth.
They didn’t have enough time to explain in Berlin, but would love to go further into detail some day in the future.
Cutscene and Trailer Sound Effects
Cutscene sound effects are more precise, because the team is able to create the effects on a pre-determined timeline. With a pre-determined timeline, the team can more precisely match the effects up to an animation and convey the feeling of the cutscene or trailer. The team produces all trailer and cutscene sound effects in 5.1 surround sound.
That reminds us, there is an immersive sound pack available for FFXIV… 👀
The Sound Engine
The team must be able to fine-tune and play back sounds to ensure they work correctly in-game. The sound engine serves this purpose. Soken originally created this sound engine on his own in a mad rush, and it has been subject to constant development and refinement ever since.
Playback Limits
Memory constraints limit the amount of sound that the game can produce at any given moment. The game queues sound effects and plays them according to a pre-determined priority. Prior to the current sound engine, the game used to support much older hardware leading to many more constraints.
If there is not enough memory to produce a sound, you may not hear important sounds like the sound of a waterfall or the sound of a battle raging. Without these sounds, Eorzea would be pretty strange and non-immersive. As the team produces more sounds, their goal is that you may feel like you really stepped into Eorzea.
The Ending
At the very end, there was a quiz with 5 questions demonstrating sounds that are rather out of the way of the MSQ. Kinuya created this quiz for the purpose of making the audience hear sounds that he wishes people would notice. To the surprise of Kinuya, Soken also brought some bonus files for the quiz. It turned out that these files were sound effects for the upcoming DPS job. Security promptly dragged Soken off of the stage as Kinuya reprimanded him. Kinuya thanked the crowd, and Soken returned to thank the crowd as well. Security again dragged Soken off the stage.
And that wraps up the sound development panel from Berlin! Did you have fun learning more about how immersive the world of FFXIV can be? Keep a close eye on Icy Veins for more FFXIV news and guides!
