Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524863
114 M PS E . O R G The Foley mix is largely focused around representing the players' and teammates' current equipment. Picking up a big weapon or backpack in the game changes levels to our base Foley layers, allowing the equipment with more gameplay effect to have higher priority in the soundscape. Helldivers 2 is primarily a third- person shooter, but can also get very close to the players' back when aiming and enter first person for more precision. When aiming down sights, we mix footsteps louder and give more presence to the carried weapons. How was haptic feedback approached, what audio techniques were used to create the sensations felt through the controller? DR: As we all know, Helldivers are an elite peacekeeping force, and the haptics should reflect the superior engineering and firepower that Super Earth has to offer. For this reason, I approached haptics in a very intentional and precise manner. The goal was to create sharp, tactile, feelings with player actions to make them seem more disciplined. For example, in weapon reloading, instead of addressing every possible friction, rattle, or movement of the weapon as one would in Foley or sound design, I focused only on the core elements of reloading. The result was that each primary action of the weapon wielder consisted of strong transients rather than a dynamic sound that addresses the whole process, creating a clean and sort of crisp effect. The goal for Super Earth-designed munitions and explosions was to make them clean, punchy, and deadly. To differentiate rumble from haptics, I avoided prolonged sustained feedback and used randomness very sparingly, primarily in weapons that overheat. To exemplify the epic, liberty- spreading scale of explosions, I created two explosion haptics for the larger explosions. One you would feel if you're in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, and one player feels in an outer radius. The difference is akin to the explosion shaking you to your core when you're nearby and a concerning distant "thud" and "hum" when it's not in your vicinity. The two explosions would blend and transition seamlessly if you're around a middle-distance threshold. How does the live service aspect of the game affect your editorial and implementation workflow/ strategies/scheduling? BS: The development and release process for traditional games with a fixed narrative typically follows a more linear path. Updates often consist of larger, less frequent expansions and upgrades, resulting in an implementation process that is more static and planned out in advance, with less need for quick iteration. In live service games, like Helldivers 2, this dynamic nature of frequent updates and new content releases requires an editorial and implementation workflow that is adaptable and capable of quick iterations. The ease of integrating new game content necessitates a foolproof and strong pipeline. We aimed for our dialogue system to handle dynamic content delivery. So, when Arrowhead introduces a new story arc in the world of Super Earth, we had to be prepared to initiate our production based on new updates to the narrative after each DLC milestone. The challenge was that our production scheduling and workflow were constantly in flux, compounded by the limitations of working with a small scale team. The need for rapid response and quick implementation required "For game audio, one big part of the puzzle has always been achieving a cinematic quality mix with the correct focus for the viewer or in this case, the player." –JUUSO TOLONEN Weapon fire was a backbone component of the soundscape.