creaothceann wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:45 pmIf it's around a corner, the sound would be louder from the left or right side.
That's kinda moot considering the player can be facing pretty much any angle.
(Assuming of course that there will be no simulated sound reflection.
)
Actually... I was considering using the BSP or the sector map to try to position each sound at the point where it emerges into line-of-sight with the player. Each level of indirection would increase the muffling level, up to (say) 3. Perhaps two versions of each muffling level might exist, with one having additional reverb baked in for each level, and the other only having additional reverb starting at the second level (so that indirect sounds coming from an adjacent sector flagged as outdoors wouldn't have additional baked-in reverb).
BSP notwithstanding, I think actual audio raytracing might be a bridge too far, so it might be okay to just have the sound come from the side of the opening furthest from the indirect source (or the previous propagation point), or maybe from the nearest side, or maybe even just from the middle of the opening... whichever turns out to be least confusing in practice...
So anyway, if the sound source behind that corner I was talking about was indoors, it would
not sound the same, because there would be extra reverb baked into the sample. If it were outdoors, the reverb level would be lowered by one, so it
would sound the same.
...
I don't think it's a good idea to use a cue that's established to mean "the sound source is behind a sturdy opaque barrier and therefore not an immediate threat" to also mean "the sound source is breathing down your neck". The mere fact that the sound is
not muffled, yet you can't see the source, should be the right sort of clue. Also, if it's monsters, they tend to make different noises depending on whether they can see you or not. So that could help too...
Of course, if you can use Dolby Surround (either because you have a surround setup or because you have headphones and the right sort of brain), all this is irrelevant because it will actually sound like it's behind you.
lowered volume, pitch shift
I don't think those are ideal either. Lowered volume means "the sound source is far away", and pitch shift is already being randomized for the sake of variety. If that last wasn't true, downshifting sounds slightly might actually work, but as you say it wouldn't be realistic...
I'm pretty sure the original Doom on PC didn't do any fancy tricks. Monsters sounded exactly the same whether there was a wall in between or not, and I'm pretty sure it was only stereo and not surround (although apparently at least some source ports have surround). Adding reverb (both baked and using S-DSP echo) and muffling and relocation for indirect sounds is already a huge step up, assuming it can be pulled off in a way that sounds good.