How important are footstep sounds in games to you?

[Beregon]

So, this is something I've heard mentioned quite a lot in reviews of RPG maker games and in youtube tutorials. A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that if the player character in your game doesn't make sounds when moving, then that is automatically a negative and worth mentioning as a criticism of the game itself. Usually without explaining why, as if it should be obvious. The way which some people I've seen treat this topic is as if it were as easy as just adding one sound file to the game, which would play over and over again.

Well, to give my opinion on it, for all the good they might do for the atmosphere, these constant, repetitive sounds have a great, very real potential to be absolutely annoying. I have watched some videos showcasing plugins that give you the ability to add footsteps sounds to the game. They are obviously a simple showcase of the features those great plugins grant and not the finished game. But watching them really gives you the feel how including this feature without putting in a lot of effort may make the game a lot worse then not.

If you have one sound constantly playing, it gets old real fast. You would need some random variety there to ensure that it sounds more natural and again, not annoying. If there's a variety of locales, then you would need multiple ones in the game. Walking over a grassland shouldn't sound the same as walking on cobblestone roads in the city. Not to mention that it's weird when your character is the only one whose footsteps make sounds, so it might bring in some more work if you decide to go all in.

I've seen three general approaches to this:

1) A game with no footsteps sounds. Totally fine, it might be a typical JRPG, it might be some abstract, artsy game where having footsteps would ruing the mood. Certain ones could benefit more from adding footstep sounds, like horror games, but atleast they don't break anything.

2) No generic footsteps sounds, but certain tiles produce sounds when you walk over them. Like, normally walking doesn't produce sounds, but there are these floorboards on the map that creak when you walk over them (and maybe attract monsters). Or maybe there is this one part of the game where the MC walks through deep snow to reach shelter from the elements and walking there produces sounds to enhance the atmosphere of that one scene. These are there in moderation, so you can get away with less detail.

3) A game with footstep sounds everywhere. These might be projects like a horror game that's set entirely in one location like a haunted mansion (and thus you can get away with less variety and still enhance the atmosphere that way), or it might be a typical JRPG that's added in more detail. In this case, you need to put in a lot more effort to make sure the sounds match and enhance the experience instead of detracting from it.

What are your thoughts on this topic? How important do you think footstep sounds are? Is their exclusion a significant drawback to you? Would you expect them in, say, a horror game, but wouldn't mind their exclusion in your typical 2D JRPG?

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

I don't really mind if games have them or not but I do love having some sort of indiction that there's some movement made by the player. It's nice to have foostep sounds but extremely repetitive footstep sounds? Hell no! I have one right now and I literally turn down SE to 0 during playtest because it's so annoying. A minute of non-stop walking and it starts to sound like a mini hammer XD I will definitely change it to make it a bit less annoying.
I think you can add different SEs so that it's not so annoying. It will also feel more realistic. Don't know if there are plugins/scripts for randomized foostep sounds but you can event one too. Put a bunch of SE names in an array and randomly pick one to be played after a set amount of intervals. And turn down the volume too.
It's also okay to not have it imo but there should be other environmental sounds to make up for not having it. Otherwise it feels a bit too quiet.

 

[Volourn]

Zero. There are some situations they can add to the 'atmosphere' but overall, not needed. Like you said, if they were being heard all the time, it would be annoying.

 

[Zalzany]

I mean some times its nice, but I seen some where its too loud, and its kind of annoying especially when they go all out and have different sounds for different tiles, I find myself wanting to walk in the grass over the paths in one game for instance, because i hate that generic sound of stepping on the stones, and I think its too loud, while the grass is more muffled.

 

[mlogan]

I've moved this thread to General Discussion. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[The Stranger]

Pretty important to me. Doesn't need to be super dynamic or anything, I just like to hear my character moving in games. It's something I notice when it's absent; same goes for the lack of sounds when opening doors, chests, and other actions.

 

[Former_Sky]

They're not important at all. Especially for jrpgs where footsteps have been absent for so long. Most of the time they add immersion, so if that's a goal for your project then it might be worth adding that in. Almost every time they work, because stepping on different surfaces adds a different sound and that makes it worthwhile. The only game that fails in this regard is Final Fantasy XIII, where the footsteps are so friggin loud.

 

[Milennin]

Depends on the quality of the sound effects, like not being overly loud or annoying, and having different sounds when walking on different kinds of surfaces. But I'd say it's only really "necessary" in games that aim for high immersion.
A run of the mill JRPG certainly doesn't need them.

 

[Conflictx3]

I'm usually not combative but im going to say footstep and other ambience sounds are ESSENTIAL to rpg maker games and not taking the extra 30 - 60 minutes it takes to fully implement them is definitely a fault to the maker.

This thread is addressing footstep sounds in video games in general where ofcourse its largely dependent on what type of game it might be and footsteps aren't needed.

But larger scale jrpgs and rpgs alike have had footstep sounds in majority of their games for the last 2 decades.

For me, the lack of sound is just as important as sound, so those scenes when the BGM fades out and only the footsteps of your characters can be heard adds SO MUCH to a scene before it even begins because you know your either about to run into a badass, the stressful part is over, or a sad self reflection and possible revelation scene is about to take place.

Now dealing rpg maker, our games from our community are already under much scrutiny as is, if we have tools for us to make our games as quality as possible and don't use them its a strike against the dev.

Too many of the projects released have no atmosphere and just stock/royalty free music blarring at 100% volume which is far more annoying than hearing footsteps.

My 2 cents.

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

Lots of different opinions on this. The OP must be confused XD
@Beregon You can include footstep in general and create an option that enables/disables them. People who are bothered by it can just turn it OFF. This seems like a nice way to keep everyone happy.

 

[Thefirelion]

Depends on the genre of the game: For horror/mystery games it's good because obviously vitally depends on the atmosphere and the sense of hearing to achieve what you want, but in a jrpg at least I do not see sense it does not make sense.

 

[Aesica]

Generally, I don't care if a game has them or not, although I'm talking more about traditional RPGs, not horror games (where I can see them having more value).

I do, however, kind of dislike the automatically-added map transition footstep sound and always remove it every time I use the right-click event creation for doors or transitions.

CLOP
CLOP

 

[The Stranger]

@Aesica That clop clop SE was a step up from the distorted movement sound we had in Ace. xD

 

[Aesica]

@Aesica That clop clop SE was a step up from the distorted movement sound we had in Ace. xD

I only briefly played with Ace (got it massively on sale) before I got into MV. Was it like a "TSHHT TSHHT!" or something like that?

 

[The Stranger]

@Aesica Yes! xD It was called 'Move', but didn't sound like movement at all.

 

[Aesica]

@Aesica Yes! xD It was called 'Move', but didn't sound like movement at all.

Oh yeah I remember it clearly now. Thinking back, I suspect that's why I started removing sound effects from transitions in the first place.

 

[ADMtn]

Footstep sounds on every tile for a standard (2D) RPG doesn't seem necessary. I suppose if it's done well, it wouldn't even be noticeable, but can make a game feel more immersive (and polished).

At the moment, I don't have footsteps in my game, unless you count map-transition sounds when the player opens a door or uses stairs/ladders. I'm not using a sound for when the player simply walks from one map to another (the shuffling SE common in old school JRPGs doesn't make sense to me; if the character doesn't make those sounds walking on-screen, they shouldn't make that sound when walking to another screen).

Conflictx3's passion for footstep sounds has me intrigued. I may experiment with adding footstep sounds to my game just to see how it is. I'd prefer it to be super-quiet and barely-noticeable, so I guess I'll see how it affects my game!

Edit: Well, what do you know? I kind of like it. Just used a simple common event and a little scripting to have a sound play when the player is moving. Going to leave it as a placeholder 'til I find a better sound or utilize variables/regions to have different sounds depending on the terrain. Will see how I feel about it later. Don't think I'll add footsteps for NPCs, though (unless it's at a ridiculously low level so most people wouldn't hear it); don't want a cacophony of nonsense when there are a bunch of NPCs in one map.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

Footstep sounds, when done wrong, can be the most absolutely annoying thing ever. I would rather not have them in most rpg games. I can understand them in action rpgs where atmosphere and things matter a lot more than just the average rpg maps.

 

[WaywardMartian]

As always, it depends. Horror game atmosphere? Yes, useful. It adds tension because you're trying to be quiet but you can hear your own footsteps and maybe so can others, or you can hear other things walking around. Or it enhances the feelings of isolation, to hear your own footsteps and nothing else.

Any game where hearing footsteps isn't directly integral to the gameplay or plot? No. No no no no no never no. It adds nothing, it's just audio clutter. It is annoying and distracting. I can see that my character is walking, thank you, I do not need a constant tick-tick-tick-tick reminding me in case I forgot. Just because you can simply walk into Mordor does not mean I need to hear every footstep you took to get there.

 

[Pix3M]

On one end you have realistic aesthetics. Here's an example in Sniper Elite 4 where footstep sounds are absolutely mandatory. First, the interaction between the player and the physical environment is absolutely part of the gameplay. Second, it very clearly has an intention of creating a realistic aesthetic and the player will absolutely expect to be able to hear how the player interacts with their environment.

On the other extreme end is a graphical style like the original Pokemon games. Its graphical style is extremely stylized and the only sound effect to communicate the interaction between the player and the environment is when the player tries walking into an impassible space or into a door.

And here is sound design done wrong on purpose to show what happens when 'realistic' sound effects are combined with a graphical style:

I think @WaywardMartian brought an example where it footstep sounds can communicate something that adds to the gameplay experience. Otherwise if we're doing this for "immersion" (what do we mean by this?), we need to remember that RTP assets don't really have an art style that warrants footstep sounds in most cases