10. New Sound Actor Icons

9. Multiple Sound Slots for AmbientSounds

8. SoundGroups are now called SoundClasses

7. SoundClass Editor

6. Ambient Zones

5. Visual of Min Radius

4. Switch from OpenAL to XAudio2

3. Improved Distance Models

2. Improved Low Pass Filters

1. Content Browser

Epic Games just announced that they were able to get the Unreal Engine to run on the iPhone/iPod Touch. This is quite amazing considering the limited resources available on the iPhone and the massive requirements of Unreal. The guys from AnandTech got a private tech demo from Epic Games to demonstrate how it works. Currently there are no announcements about licensing or availability to the public, but supposedly there is more to come in 2010. They are working on optimizing the graphics and the controller scheme, OpenGL ES 2.0 is now being used for the graphics engine. The video above shows control with a touchscreen in a classic d-pad interface, but Mark Rein from Epic says they are trying out other options.

It is exciting to see an engine as powerful as the Unreal Engine running on the iPhone. It shows that mobile platforms are becoming viable for realtime 3d gaming, and that game engines can be streamlined enough to run on them. Each generation of the iPhone is going to be more powerful, it won’t be too long before mobile processors can compete with current gen consoles.

Check out the link:
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3695

We here at Engine Audio have been working tirelessly for the past couple of months on new curriculum for Full Sail University. We have developed a full course called “Advanced Interactive Audio” which discusses game audio topics ranging from sound design and technology to implementation and testing.   The students are using industry standard tools to develop their own custom sounds for a demo game. The students are taught about the structure of a game team and how to get a head start in the industry.  They are lead through the complete process of creating audio for games, from the concept and design stage to creating their own sounds for an interactive audio system.

Asset creation is done in Pro Tools, with access to an amazing sound library, which can be used to supplement their own sounds they have recorded. The introduction to an interactive audio system and prototyping is done with the FMOD Designer.  Students learn about the basics of an interactive game audio system including 3d positioning, randomization, and real time parameters. Students also learn about preparing assets for mobile platforms using the iPhone Simulator and the FMOD Designer.  They create FMOD soundbanks specifically for the the iPhone, then test them out by manipulating them with real-time parameters and randomization.  The student are then required to implement all of the assets they have developed into a custom level using the UDK toolset provided by Epic Games.

Material Created for the Class:

Over 70 hours of class time in a month long series of Lectures and Labs

Hours of instructional videos on the use of FMOD audio system and the UDK engine

Over 100 pages of information on using and mastering the FMOD Designer and the UDK engine

Custom UDK sound design level with environments like a cave, factory, snowstorm, and cityscape.

An iPhone Simulator app for testing soundbanks created from the FMOD designer

A BIG THANKS to all the great developers of the tools that we use for the class.  FMOD by Firelight Technologies is a total audio solution for games that is available freely for educational and non-commercial purposes.  It is one of the most widely used audio engines on the market and their people are a very friendly and helpful bunch.  Epic Games recently released their extremely popular Unreal Engine to the public as the Unreal Developers Kit.   It contains the same set of tools that the professionals use to make hit video games.  This gives our students the chance to stay current on the most popular tools for game audio developement.