How Drillimation’s Games are the First to Adopt the Better Sound Design Standards

Nearly every game produced by Drillimation does not use any well known stock sound effects from major libraries produced by industry giants such as Sound Ideas, Hollywoodedge, and SoundDogs. If you’re working to create a game with us, or if you’re planning to bring us in for one of your projects, this article will help you understand our policies and restrictions, as well as the challenges you may face with our internal teams.

Abstract

Sound effects that are poorly-received are bad for everyone. Some annoy consumers because they break immersion, aren’t relevant, or disrupt the experience. They come in many shapes and sizes, and bad sounds lead to a degraded experience.

Some people who become frustrated with these experiences will usually mute the audio and turn on subtitles, or plug their ears if that option isn’t available. When this happens, every publisher pays the price because the consumer didn’t hear the soundtrack to that piece of media and that means less revenue. For creators who make good sound experiences, it becomes challenging to connect with consumers. For consumers, it means they’ll no longer hear the good experiences.

To solve the issue with annoying and disruptive sounds, we needed an industry-wide solution. Drillimation Systems’ goal is to improve consumers’ experience with sound. Together, we developed the Better Sound Design Standards with the goal of creating an entirely new standard that is backed by empirical data, and to clarify how to identify and fix annoying and disruptive sound experiences.

Introduction

In this article, I will cover the Better Sound Design Standards. In all of our titles, we are always working to improve the sound experience and to ensure sounds are relevant and non-disruptive to consumers. This applies to all forms of business you throw at us. We aim to create a positive sound experience for players and developers.

The Better Sound Design Standards is an industry reference that defines positive and negative sound experiences for players. It is based on extensive user research conducted by Drillimation Systems about which stock sound effects and experiences consumers think are the most annoying and disruptive.

We talk with a number of industry trade organizations, publishers, and other technology companies about the development of these standards. These are defined by a data-driven approach to improve these experiences. Through this research, we aim to tackle the challenges posed by negative sound experiences that could threaten the sales of entertainment products as consumers turn to either sound muting alongside turning on closed captions and ear plugging if they cannot do the former. One bad experience can prompt someone to do either one, and when this happens, every publisher pays for this.

What does this mean for me?

The Better Sound Design Standards will be a huge step forward for the entire entertainment industry. This is why Drillimation Systems has codified it in their user contracts and as a developer policy. Furthermore, we expect every one of our clients to comply with it, and failing to do so would mean a policy violation that could impact your relationship with us.

Through the Standards, we cover all forms of sound design including stock sound effects. The first set is based entirely on direct feedback from consumers on the least-preferred sound effects and formats. Simply put, you must not use stock sounds that do not conform to these standards.

The prohibited sound experiences include any stock sound that has been designated as “arch nemesis” of at least one user on the Sound Effects Wiki. In addition, the following sound experiences in the file below are prohibited (keep in mind this isn’t a complete list):

There are a number of benefits from developers and publishers who implement these standards. If you adhere to them, you will benefit from an improved ecosystem which results in a shift from user demand for sound muting or ear plugging. Publishers removing bad or negative experiences to adhere to the standards will offer their consumers better experiences. This has the potential to increase user engagement and improve brand perception, as well as reaching consumers in a more relevant and engaging way.

You should be in good standing with the standards and Drillimation abides by them completely when making their policy decisions. If you believe you have been impacted due to issues with the Better Sound Design Standards, you should check the Sound Effects Wiki and the page for your product to know which stock sound effects your sound editors used and the experiences consumers have had with them.

If you are working with us and we find you have violating sounds in your design setup, we may ask you to address these violations before release, before we take any enforcement action against you.

Afterword

We recommend you browse the Sound Effects Wiki to know about the different stock sound effects used in multimedia. We are always working to facilitate a healthy sound ecosystem, and the future of Drillimation and our partners is linked. We are committed to fostering an environment where consumers and publishers can all thrive. By valuing all, we help to ensure the sustainability of the entertainment industry.

If you are currently under contract with us, check to be sure the content you are creating is in line with these standards. We hope this article helps you understand our standards.

Sources

• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/diddy-laugh-sound-effect-origin _{(free access subject to free trial, subscription normally required)}