Hi everybody!

I'm in charge of the sound and music here at Citadel Wars.
I'd be happy to hear your feedback and suggestions.

Please post here!

So this is admittedly impressions from the demo (I purchased the game, but wasn't logged in, account issues, etc, I sent an email) but here they are.

The biggest thing that struck me was the sound of clattering and crashing rubble when you destroyed a chunk of the level with a grenade. Debris already made me go "Ahhhh. . .crap" as it flew towards me in a giant wave, but hearing the roll of stone and shale as it impacted made me enjoy dodging it that much more. (That leads to the question, will rubble eventually damage you? Something for another thread I'm sure.)

The music is fantastic. Lilting, haunting, very fantastical. I enjoyed it. Hell, I enjoyed it so much I stopped destroying things for a solid 3 minutes to sit there and listen. Well done there.

I have three, what I'd like to think are, fairly minor complaints.


1. The bow. The clinkthc of it hitting stone (or the braziers) is good. I think the loosing sound itself could use a little work. I don't necessarily think it should overpower the sounds of "battle" (keep in mind I have yet to hear it in that situation), but it sounds a bit thin.

2. The music, while fantastic, seems a bit. . .how to put this. Melodic? This is probably as cliche as it gets, but more drum, more treble might be a good thing. Dorf likem boom boom. I don't know if you procedurally (is that not spelled right? Hmmm) call up music or if it's just a looping soundtrack. What you have now certainly works.


3. Grenades. While I love the sound of the pin (probably the best I've ever heard, regardless of era, it (the explosion) sounds a bit, mmm, tinny? I'm not really sure how to describe it. It sounds like someone just popped a string of M80s at the bottom of a well. More bass? I'm not sure. It's certainly fine as is, it just seems off to me. (Because I know how your grenades work. )

If I think of anything more after I try the "full" game once that issue gets cleared up, I'll let you know.

Hello Orvidos!

Thanks for the interest you bring to this topic.
I'm happy that you like the music. You are right, the music in the demo is "only" melodic and not percussive at all : It was created like that, because there's no enemies in there. In the full game, you can hear battle music, which sticks to the action, with sometimes some quieter music. It is a random playlist for the moment, there's no looping track.

About the grenade sounds : Are you sure that your OS is set to stereo speakers (if you have only 2 speakers)? It may depend on your sound system response too. I'll keep your remark in mind ; sound settings are improved at each update. But many destruction and stone sounds are played at the same time, at random and according to the physics, which causes many problems of frequency addition. No game (to my knowledge) before Citadel Wars had done it.

Let me know when you have tried the full game, I'll be happy to read your comments.


Regards

So I went ahead and spent about an hour with the "full" game.

On the point of grenade detonation sounds: What I described as 'tinny' isn't exactly that. It's more of an echo, which, now that I think about it, fits the inside/underground theme. I'm not going to bother to try phoneticizing it, I wouldn't know how.

On listening to it again, it's fine. It just, as I said, sounds like a detonation going off underground. *Thumbs up*

And the battle music is again excellent. Love it.

If I find anything else in subsequent playtesting, I'll let you know, but it's all seemingly solid.

Hi Orvidos,

Yes, I thought it was the reverberation that you heard as a sound deep inside a well... That's why I asked you if your system was set correctly, because if it's not you may just hear the reverberating sound, not the direct sound.
It is an artistic choice to set the reverb effect so "big" and deep. But not so far from reality I think. As you can see, the environnments are huge halls, and reverb effect is different for each.

Cheers

Really enjoying the music and game overall.
Just wanted to add some input:

I think it would be neat to maybe have a single dwarf say something comical or like a battle cry/tiny one liner during the period between the waves of enemies (or maybe after killing the last enemy in a wave). Or perhaps even have one/few of the units say things during the preparation period before the waves spawn. Just to give some more life to the units. In response another dwarf can grunt or something like that.

I can't recall if the archer unit has a voice, but I think as more unit types are added to the game each class should get their own unique voice/voice actor.

Sorry if what I typed is messy or unclear.
I look forward to the game updates!

Hello KizAsH.

Thank you for posting.
I'm pleased that you like the music! Concerning units' voices, we plan to make one type of voice per unit, if it really seems necessary. It is tremendous work, given our means and available time. But rest assured - we will always aim for the best!
An important update will come soon, with (regarding the audio part) new music, new sounds, and improved settings.

Regards