Mark Rubin explains the new audio engine in Ghosts; talks about companion app possibilities

Infinity Ward’s Executive Producer, Mark Rubin, sat down with PostArcade for an interview discussing the new engine’s features and how IW is transitioning into the next-gen consoles.

Rubin confirmed that the new engine features aren’t next-gen specific; stating they are developing for all platforms ‘simultaneously.’

Rubin talks about how their new audio engine works in Ghosts, discussing the differences in environments on the audio:

With the new engine, we can actually model the way the sound travels in the space you’re in. If you’re outside next to a building or inside in a small room or inside in a big room, it’s all detected in real time and changes the sound.

The new engine also takes into account materials. If you fire a weapon in a small cement bunker the sound will be very sharp. But if you’re in a metal bunker the sound will be very ting-y. The sound will be altered based on the material it’s bouncing off of.

Another big change in audio – and this will have a big impact in multiplayer – has to do with explosions and reactive emitters. The world has triggers that will go off based on forces like explosions. If I throw down a grenade and it goes off, the chain link fence behind me might rattle from the concussive force of the grenade. Windows and doors and other objects will make noise after the explosion.

In regards to the companion app, Rubin confirmed the Beachhead is working on the Elite experience for Ghosts, but it’s tied into MP; not much info can be given about that yet.

It’s a little more of a challenge when it comes to our types of games. Looking away from the screen when the action is intense is obviously a challenge from a game design standpoint. So we have to be careful about that. We have some ideas that I think are going to develop further as we go along in this generation. As with anything with a next-gen launch, you’ll start by dipping your toe in the water in a few places, and then move along from there.

We actually have a whole department – a whole studio, basically – wrapped around the idea of second-screen. Our Beachhead group is doing a lot of work there. But a lot of it ties into multiplayer and I can’t talk too much about it now.

Mark Rubin also confirmed that this experience for Ghosts will be free and not required – similar to Black Ops 2:

It’s free. And this is where you have to be smart on your design: You can’t make it required, and it can’t confer a massive advantage. There’s some balancing that needs to be done. You don’t want it so the guy with an iPad has an advantage over other players in multiplayer just because he has the money to buy an iPad.

But it will definitely be free, and it will be a companion. It won’t be a revenue generator. It will be used to enhance the experience but not offer any advantages

SOURCE: PostArcade