The Fascinating World Of Audio Design In New World’s Arena...And Some Patch Notes

New World shares the magic behind the audio in Arenas and their inspiration that grew from live sporting events. "We didn’t want to recreate a stereotype from fighting or FPS games because that voice was never diegetic and wouldn’t fit our soundscape," Audio Director Jean-Edouard Miclot said. So, they laid down microphones on the field and captured the reactions of about 20,000 people. Of course the team needed to do a little cleaning and remove some swear words, but after that the Arena crowd celebration was complete.

Jean-Edouard went on to say that "We needed the announcer to physically be in the Arena with the players, which meant we also needed to have the music feel like it was part of the space too." Therefore, all the music played had to sound like it belonged in the Arena. "We wanted the music to be exciting and dramatic but also authentic to what and where the music is being played in the game," the composers said. "We even experimented with some shouts and male vocals that ultimately didn’t work."

"If a sound gets too complicated, its function isn’t clear enough, it gets blurred in the wash of the soundscape, and it cannot lead to a strong emotional response. The best sounds are also the simplest ones. It takes courage to only choose the one that you found instead of layering it over mediocre ideas that will attempt to cover the weaknesses of your other choices." Mentioned Jean-Edouard.

The design started simple and slowly was layered and built in a way that made it feel real and alive. If New World adventurers are interested in reading more on the exciting world of Audio Design, please check out the full post on New World’s official site.

New World also received its newest patch on June 21, fixing a few important issues. The Reflected Mayhem earring will no longer break after one death and its durability loss on death is now the same as other earrings, as it should be. This patch also fixed an issue that caused AI loot bags to only show visuals indicating common loot was dropped. Then an issue that prevented players from making progress in the Grasping at Shadows Void Gauntlet weapon quest when they reset it has been fixed allowing players that were stuck to now properly advance. For the full list of fixes, please check out the official post here.