Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Unlike high school and college sports, professional athletics is all about business. Owners and general managers vie for the best players for their teams, giving them various incentives to come and play for the team, which typically revolves around money, but might have a variety of different options included in the final contract. Success for the entire team is dependent on gathering the best players possible, and once the group is in place, bringing them together in the most cohesive possible atmosphere.

Aubrey Hodges, Audio Director for 38 Studios

In many regards, massively multiplayer online game development companies are similar to these professional sports teams. The best designers, engineers, writers and artists in the industry are always vied for, being offered positions at the companies with the most promise, greatest concepts and most money to toss around.

However, championship sports teams aren't created through excessive spending alone - just take a look at the New York Yankees as a fine example - and again the same goes for massively multiplayer online game development. Perhaps the man with the most experience to this regard in the game development industry is 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, and he has been working for months at putting together the best line-up of all-star developers he can find.

One of his most recent hires is 38 Studios' latest Audio Director appointee, Aubrey Hodges. One look at Aubrey's resume shows an incredible list of gaming achievements and products - including DOOM, Quake, and the Madden titles - that he's worked on including credit as one of the first to use MIDI in a video game and the first to use sound effects in an online game. With so many credits to Aubrey's name, Ten Ton Hammer's staff was incredibly interested in why the former EA Tiburon Audio Director left his position to go work at 38 Studios.

"Well, it came down to several things," Aubrey said. "The most important factor was that one of the keys to happiness and success in any career is when your own personal interests and talents can intersect your chosen profession. So, for me the opportunity at 38 Studios was a chance to make that happen. I’ve always been fascinated with the fantasy genre--it’s at the core of many of my interests and hobbies. So the combination of my favorite genre with the professional freedom of having a huge world to score in terms of music and sound was very compelling. This was a chance for me to get back to what I really enjoy doing--making games come alive with audio! In a large company with many projects to juggle, it became increasingly difficult to get involved with the actual creation of content."

"Another key draw to the studio was the product itself, particularly in light of the talent involved," explained Aubrey. "Here was a world being created by a master storyteller and visually conceptualized by one of the most celebrated artists alive. I was honored that they selected me as the director of audio. They have given me their trust in my artistry and leadership for the studio, and I take that very seriously."

As a network focused on gamers, we wondered exactly how many MMOGs Aubrey had played in the past, and we were quite surprised with his answer. Although we didn't expect to find someone bereft of MMO experience, it was evident that Aubrey had been much more involved with MMOGs than we first realized, including audio work on one of the very earliest MMOs, The Shadow of Yserbius.

"I began playing MMOG’s during the development of music and audio for The Shadow Of Yserbius in 1991," Aubrey stated. "This was the fantasy-based game that was part of The Sierra Network (later renamed Imagination Network or INN ). This game can still be played today thanks to http://innrevival.googlepages.com/."

"Since that time I have played Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, and most recently Warhammer (which I also got the chance to work on a little bit while at EA)," he continued. "I have more high-level characters than I would like to admit in most of these games. In terms of a favorite . . . that is a hard question for me as all of them (even Vanguard *winks* had their high points. I love tons of things in EQ2: the music, the combat (heroic opportunities), the collections! But, I love what Blizzard did with WoW, too. 60fps is a huge win especially when they were still able to deliver a beautiful world and exciting gameplay. If I had to pick just one, though, it would be WoW. I’m sure that to some “hardcore” folks out there that makes me some sort of Blizzard fanboy, but I find that sort of thing laughable really."

Aubrey hopes to bring his extensive experience to 38 Studios to improve Copernicus.

Unfortunately a vast number of individuals that are part of the MMO industry are relatively inexperienced "rookies"; they've either played very few massively multiplayer online games or are just getting their start. Aubrey - on the other hand - is obviously a well-rounded veteran who has been in the video game audio industry for years. Experience always has a way of improving the way someone creates a product - take the first Harry Potter book compared to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - and we asked Aubrey how he plans on using his experience to improve upon Copernicus' audio.

"Yeah, I guess I have worked on my fair share of stuff, although in many respects solid audio design transcends genre," Aubrey said. "That being said, there are certain lessons learned from aspects of each title in the past that’ll come in handy while designing the audio for Copernicus. For example the attention to detail in the Madden audio design is surely applicable in the design for many of the core element in Copernicus. In my opinion this is the one issue that kills many audio features in tons of games. The ambient music design techniques I used on the Doom and Quake series will lend themselves perfectly in a world with many creepy places to explore. And of course the old Sierra Online games helped me to develop a deep understanding on what works well in terms of the best instrumentation and approach to music in fantasy settings. (Although, at the time the MIDI technology was terribly limiting.)"
 
"Now, as far as doing things that haven’t been done before, the truth is that I wasn’t seeking to be groundbreaking when all those things were done," he continued. "But, at the time I saw a need and did whatever it took to make the features happen. In the case of Doom, for example, I decided to create an ambient soundtrack because I wanted the experience to be enjoyable even while playing the game for extended time periods. I didn’t believe that I could meet that goal with the technology at the time in the rock genre. So I improvised. It’s not something I can predict because I am not even sure what challenges I will find in front of me. What I can promise is that I will make every attempt to craft a believable and extraordinary audio design that will immerse the player in the world we are creating. If that means I have to push the boundaries of current methods or technology then so be it, as long as the end result is a fantastic-sounding game."

Although the audio in MMOGs has progressed quite a bit since its very start, the experience many gamers receive is far less than what they might find in the more popular single player games. The fact that Aubrey was hired by 38 Studios showed Ten Ton Hammer that the studio was eager to innovate in the MMOG marketplace, and we wondered how Aubrey could push the audio into Copernicus to generally improve on what the MMO tradition has given us in the past.  

"I’d agree with you that some of the older stuff wasn’t all that impressive, but I do feel like the genre has dramatically improved over the last few years," Aubrey argued. "Certainly there are some areas for improvement in games like WoW and EQ2 and so on, but let’s also give credit where it’s due. Any MMOG is a huge undertaking, and the sheer amount of assets needed is a challenge in and of itself. The fact is,  in the case of quite a few of the current major players, the audio is quite pleasing more often than it is lacking. For example, I thoroughly enjoy the music in WoW, LotRO, and Warhammer. All three of those titles have moments where the audio really shines. This is also true for Guild Wars and quite a few others. It’s so easy to cast judgment on other products, but given the amount of work it takes to make games of this scale I don’t think I would refer to them as sub-standard for the most part."

"The problem is that usually a comparison is being made between very different types of products with very divergent game play experiences," he stated. "For example, there is a dramatic difference between the experiences in playing a single level of any popular first person shooter versus playing an MMOG in the same amount of time. Yet, because there is not always that pulse-pounding adrenaline rush audio design in the MMOG then it gets branded as being somehow less sophisticated. The reality is that if any MMOG tried the “wall of sound” approach of most console games in terms of audio design, most players would be turning off the sound in their games. In terms of what the challenges are, well, they are the usual suspects: Development time, storage space, RAM, and CPU usage. Increase any of these for audio, and everything usually sounds better."

The MMO audio experience has continued to improve, but Aubrey hopes to enhance it even further.

On a more detailed note, we asked Aubrey a number of questions about the Copernicus project specifically. First, we wondered if Aubrey was going to put a lot of emphasis in a particular theme, much like what many of us fell in adored in games like Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and EverQuest. Would we be trilling the tune in our head for hours upon hours every day?

"First, you write a theme with a prominent and simple melody in a style that matches the genre," Aubrey said. "Second, you beat people over the head with it so often that it sinks in. And finally, you revise it slightly from time to time and commence the beating all over again!"

*maniacal cackling*

"In all seriousness I think for the most part that writing catchy, hook-based melodies isn’t a primary goal for me on the project," he explained "I prefer simply trying to make you feel the emotions of the scene while playing. It will likely be the case that at times players will find the melodies memorable and prominent. But, in many parts of the world some of the music may not even contain traditional recognizable melody. Quite frankly, some of the most effective music in my career has been more mood than melody. My goal is to evoke the correct emotion as the players experience the story and the world."

Though a fundamental, repetitive theme may not necessarily be a focus, Ten Ton Hammer is happy to report that Aubrey did give us one little hint about the upcoming audio in Copernicus, concerning voice overs and that sort of content in the title.

"Yes, there will be dialog in the game," Aubrey answered. "As far as the specifics I really can’t comment. One thing I can say is that I will try my hardest to ensure that whatever approach we take is done to the highest standards out there."

As his final word, Aubrey wanted to show his eager enthusiasm for his new project at 38 Studios. His excitement was almost palpable in his final statement.

"Designing the audio for Copernicus is a rush like none other--honestly, more fun than I’ve had in years," Aubrey concluded. "I believe that this project will be the hallmark of my career. Given a few of the titles on my resume that should say something."