Shoddyan (15002) on 4/17/2007 11:54 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Maw wrote--]Game development is so expensive these days developers use 3rd party assets like programming libraries and art/sound archives because it saves them from having to reinvent the wheel. Everyone does it, it's no big deal [/Q --end Maw wrote--]

This is nothing particularly new... in fact, playing games and watching different movies and TV shows... I occasionally come across a "smash", "gunshot", "beep" or "scream" or etc that I know I've heard before somewhere else. Just like the textures described, there are common libraries of sound effects that can be added (usually in post production) to any content that needs it. For instance the "beep" sound that comes when you activate a computer in Republic Commando, might not have been something that anyone particularly thought about designing until they reached the end of development with the game and realized that it needed a sound effect of some kind.

It comes as no surprise to me to find that certain textures are being distributed around as often as the average clipart. And those get sold as production material also.

As an aside, there's this certain "scream" sound effect that I hear in a lot of movies (actually more often the trailer to a movie) and TV shows... that my ear always recognizes. The first time I heard the particular sound effect was in Dark Forces, when Kyle falls off a cliff... and to my ear, it sounded more like a TIE Fighter than a scream... anyway, it's been almost 15 years since that game was released and I'm still hearing the exact same "scream" used in Hollywood.