Pitch Black: A Dusklight Story pays its voice artists in EXPOSURE, not money
Channel: I Drink Lava - 3D Game Audio
Date: 2019-12-18

USE HEADPHONES ONLY with any virtual surround like Windows Sonic turned off. Best HRTF effects at 3:29, 6:55, 7:48, and 9:35.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pitchblackgame/pitch-black-the-aaa-audio-game
This is an interesting little thing I found while searching Reddit's small, depressing r/spatialaudio community. That's right; it actually pays to self-promote. Pitch Black: A Dusklight Story is an attempt to create an entire adventure game through nothing but headphone HRTF audio using Valve's Steam Audio API. In the past, there have been mobile games like Papa Sangre that have attempted this format, but Pitch Black seems to be the most ambitious one yet (hence, "The 'AAA' Audio Game"). The end goal is a 5-to-6 hour fully voice-acted adventure game with audio puzzles and an entire lore.

So far, the Kickstarter demo is merely a proof of concept. The only real goals seem to be finding the bar, then finding the simulations. The controls are awkward, as keyboard turning is extremely slow (as heard in the timestamps) while mouse turning is way too fast. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours testing spatial audio software, the binaural "presence" is only really effective when you're almost touching something. Sounds in the distance tend to get lost in the mix, which subtracts from the realism. Another fatal flaw is that navigation can be awkward, as there are no audio cues to let you know if you're bumping into a wall (like Microsoft's Ear Hockey). In one test playthrough, I had to listen carefully to hear if my character was still making footsteps. The audio beacons don't seem to work that well, either.

I have faith in spatialized audio technology. I believe that someday, it will be possible to create an entire game with the immersive audio of Thief: The Dark Project in Aureal A3D mode without the use of any graphics. Until that day, Purple Jam has a lot of work ahead of them with Pitch Black.


HRTF grade:
C+

Settings:
Windows Control Panel: Stereo

Links:
https://valvesoftware.github.io/steam-audio/
https://discordapp.com/invite/mvaxWrj

Credits:
https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/026/841/522/75272b4904695b612346edd0c63a2efe_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-2.1.0&w=680&fit=max&v=1571120761&auto=format&gif-q=50&q=92&s=26bae287a0eaf1c90ee993770c0c25d6
(Logo is copyrighted by Purple Jam. Use of this logo falls under fair use laws for non-profit purposes.)

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