Halo Infinite update (March 2021) - Audio Evolved

[Akai]

Confirming Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic and DTS Headphone:X support:

One other way we're increasing spatial awareness in Halo Infinite is through Virtual Surround Sound. Halo Infinite will be the first Halo title to support the Virtual Surround Sound technologies Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic, and DTS Headphone:X. These spatial audio technologies allow us to make sounds feel like they're playing from behind or above you, when you're only wearing stereo headphones. We've created a custom setup for our in-game sounds so that you get a clear separation between spatial and non-spatial content. This way, whether playing over headphones or on a surround sound system, you can very clearly tell exactly where your enemies are when you're in combat.

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[wwm0nkey]

BR sound (3rd Person): https://content.halocdn.com/media/D...3p_close-42260c2c1d7f4ff0998090466cc66900.wav

First Person: https://content.halocdn.com/media/D...inite_1p-5edb65d8e02f487d9a18e19c121dd05f.wav

Skewer: https://content.halocdn.com/media/D...ewer_mix-d15b6388ac5741c7ba3e9dbe2850cf92.wav

 

[Akai]

This one sounds really nice. The sheer amount of audio sources:

We've shared and shown how Halo Infinite is the most expansive Halo game yet. How does this factor into building and delivering audio in the game? Are there new challenges and considerations given the less-linear, less-constrained nature of some of the game's campaign experiences?

CT: Absolutely! One of the biggest challenges of this game has been creating a dynamic ambient soundscape across such an expansive environment. In past Halo games we've had to manually place every ambient sound in the entire game, including things like birds, wind, rivers, trees rustling, etc. We knew that this approach wouldn't be feasible for Infinite, so we partnered with the graphics team to utilize the technology they built for populating the environment with visual decorators like grass, bushes, and flowers. We use this system to procedurally place hundreds of thousands of audio emitters across the ring.

The system uses color-coordinated debug wireframes to display where sounds will be placed in the environment, as seen below:

This image displays a top-down view within our editing tools of an environment featured in last year's campaign demo. The color coordinated dots are actually wireframe spheres, indicating the location of various audio emitters which have been procedurally placed by this system.

Getting the sounds placed is just the first step! We also built a brand-new system for controlling dynamic playback of ambient sounds. Each placement is actually a system combining a complex set of rules and logic that determine which sounds to play, how often, and when. A variety of factors feed into this system, combining gameplay states, time of day, location tracking, timers, and more, all working together to bring the environment to life. This gives us the ability to create a dynamic mix of ambient sounds that remains compelling and immersive the entire time you're playing.

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[FarSight XR-20]

Over the years we have tried to absorb as much feedback from the community as possible as their opinion matters greatly to us. It was this feedback that helped us decide to bring back all the original Master Chief shield sounds.

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[Akai]

Sounds pretty similiar to me: https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/mdbc04/banished_scarab_possibly_confirmed_the_image_of/

If true, I hope it's as fun to fight as the H3 Scarab.