EpiQuake - New ORIGINAL HQ Sound and Music Pak

[rdmusic]

UPDATE - 01/29/2013
EpiQuake Released

Epiquake

Hello All,

Long time lurker, first time poster! I have recently put together a sound mod for quake lovingly called EpiQuake which is due to be released next friday (most likely earlier). For tons of info, music samples, and gameplay videos featuring the new audio in action, I invite you all to visit the moddb page here:
EpiQuake mod - Mod DB





This is a one man project, and as I had some free time lately I put this together over the course of two weeks. To my knowledge there have been very few (if any at all) attempts to bring the sound design heard in Quake up to today's game industry audio standard. There have been attempts to upsample the existing audio.... but never a Quake sound project of this scale. While close to 90% of the sounds have been replaced... they are all still in the same vein as Reznors original sounds but in some cases darker, more cinematic, and most importantly... full HD quality at 44.1 16 bit! In fact, many of the sounds stem from the original ideas and then expand on them while keeping them consistent with the quake world. Make no mistake, this is not one of the many humorous Quake sound mods out there... this is deadly serious and will take your Quake experience to the next level. The idea wasn't to do something better than Trent Reznor.. just to bring the games overall sound design up to date so it fits better with the killer upgraded visual paks and DarkPlaces. In fact, all of the video footage presented over at moddb was recorded utilizing rygels high res texture pak and the amazing Dark Places engine. This sound / music pak is the perfect companion for these visual tweaks!

Another notable addition... the sense of space. All of the original sounds were very dry and didn't reflect the world they are heard in. As of now, Quake 1 does not have a way to add reverb in engine to sounds... so many of the sounds have had a bit of reverb burned into the masters to give them a sense of space. The end result is a very engulfing audio experience.. one which has never been heard in Quake before!



For the purpose of this project, close to 20 minutes of new music was put together and included as a seperate PAK. While Reznors sound design minimalist style score was effective (and very cool) something more cinematic, tense, and thematic changes the intensity of the game without losing the original dark vibe of the original score. The music was composed originally for the project by me (Rich Douglas) and I have composed music heard in games across many platforms. Recent games I have composed music for include Evochron Mercenary (currently on steam), Stan Lee's Verticus (iOS), and most recently he is working on all of the music and sound design for the Shadowgate remake headed to tablets and PC. Bear in mind that this new score for EpiQuake changes the game and the overall tone slightly... which is why it will be included as a separate PAK file for the Reznor purists.

The mod is COMPLETE with the final touches currently being added. The PAK files will be available for download very soon. And samples of the new score as well as gameplay videos will be uploaded before release. This isn't your fathers Quake... it's EpiQuake.

More info about me and the games I've worked on can be found via my webpage: http://www.richdouglas.net

[Mindf!3ldzX]

3 words brah ; IM FUCKING READY.

My real question is ; does this offer itself in *any shape or form* to online gaming with NetQuake / engines outside DP. I'm a nerd and need to know these things. Truth is you could tell me 100 things and then I'd ask about the other 100 things you didn't tell me haha.

[Syluxguy28O3]

i watched your e1m1 video, and i enjoyed it. some input for ya:

-the shotgun sounded a bit under powered. even more than the original sound. your sound sounds like the shotgun has a silencer.

-in e1m1 there is a loud beep that i found irksome.

-loved the new pain sounds,the nailgun , the doors/elevators, as well as the ambient sounds from the slime. there were some other "tech" ambiance that i also liked.

overall, you have put together a fantastic piece of work. thanks for helping to keep quake alive! i cant wait!!!

[damage_inc]

This is freakin' awesome That's a big write up and alot of "talk"... but from what I've heard from your moddb page... you are more than capable of delivery exactly what you say you are, nice work.

I can't wait to load up Quake using your sounds and music, thank you very much for creating and sharing this modern day update sound pack.
- damage_

[rdmusic]

Hey mate,

I havent tested it anywhere else... but anything that is able to read PK3 files should allow this to work just fine! Of course, you could always open the PK3 in something like PAKSCAPE and then manually overwrite the audio files in the Pak0 / Pak1 pk files in the Id1 directory .

In fact, I just tried this and it worked fine in my steam version of quake.

Sylux - Never fear man... the video compression on moddb is HORRID and really took the umph (and high end) out of most of my sound work. The normal shotgun sounds great in game... and the double barrel... well... FREAKING HUGE and stereo panned.

Thanks all... really glad to do my part for the community (finally)!

[_Smith_]

These videos and this description... I was pretty sure it was another Spirit's trolling. Is this for real ?

[Syluxguy28O3]

if you are asking if the project is real, then yes. check out the moddb page he has.

[rdmusic]

This is VERY real....and not just some upsampling gimick. If I wasnt serious, theres no way Id be using my real name .

You'll see err...hear..for yourself next week my friend.

Rich

[Spirit]

Impressive! Much better and especially more creative than my project. More "cinematic", just as you said. That word really describes it succinctly.

I like how you made everything super loud. Fits the graphical style you use perfectly.

The telephone ringing gives it a nice subtle surreal feeling, reminds me of the Max Payne nightmare sequences. Maybe some baby crying might work for additional feeling of despair and confusion?

[gdiddy62]

Very cool sounds in most instances. This is a very ambitious project and I look forward to your work. It is AlWAYS nice to have new work being done on our Quake game we all love. I DO think your musicscore is GREAT!

[rdmusic]

Thanks all .

I just posted a news article over at moddb regarding exactly what was replaced... figured I'd post it here too. I plan on adding some old VS new sound examples next week leading up to release so be sure and check the moddb page and/or track the mod! Still on track to release next friday (possibly earlier).

What has been replaced exactly?
Bear in mind that the sounds done for this mod are 100% original, and in some cases stem from newly recorded foley and/or vocal work. Rather than just take sounds directly from sound libraries and slap them in the mod, all of these sounds were designed / edited carefully from many sound sources.

Weapons - ALL of the player weapon sounds are new. In fact, many of them stem from original recordings.

Ambience - ALL ambient sounds have been replaced with original sound design work

Monsters / Enemies - All of the Enemy sounds aside from the Bosses, Fish, Blob, and Shambler have been replaced. So outside of the exceptions listed above, enemy attacks, sight, pain, death, and idles are all new. In fact, most of the sounds were done from scratch and enemies like the Enforcer and Wizard have had new vocal work recorded on top of their sound overhaul. As an homage to the original sounds, I kept the Enforcers "Stop!" "You There!", etc etc vocal work the same, just re-recorded it and processed it slightly differently. In fact, the Enforcer is now more of a cyborg in sound... when you kill him and he slumps over dead computerized female voice now emits from his suit saying "Check For Pulse...". The Chainsaw creepiness of the Ogre has been overhauled and amped up and the Demon... well, the Demon sounds downright huge and nasty now. Just wait until you hear it jump and/or land next to you. Thats just a quick example of some of the small but cool details added to the sound design for EpiQuake.

Platforms, Doors, and Buttons - ALL of these have been replaced with new sound design work. While many of them are true to the originals, the sci fi / medieval factor was cranked way up through vicious sounding cranks to ethereal beeps to signify a platform has stopped.

Player Sounds - Basically EVERYTHING except for the player death sound, which I've always been kinda partial to. The new in / out of water, lava, slime sounds are all stereo panned with reverb added for a sense of space. The pain sounds now have a certain brutal crunch / blood splat vibe to them.

Items - MOST of the item sounds have been replaced. New armor sound, new quad damage suite, and new (more realistic) hazard suit sounds.

Miscellaneous - Various other sounds were replaced and designed from scratch including all of the GUI / Menu sounds on the front end side of things, all of the teleportation sounds, the "talk" beep, trigger sounds, and the key pickup sounds.

[rdmusic]

Added a couple of "Old VS New" examples to the moddb page for those interested.

Check 'em out:

SHOTGUN

You hear the old shotgun sound first, followed by the EpiQuake version.


DEMON

This is a quick comparison of old vs new sounds. You'll first hear the old Demon sight, jump, and death sounds, followed by the cinematicfied EpiQuake versions.

[damage_inc]

Ummmm... I "wet" myself with the demon LINK! Man, Quake is gonna be kinda scary again So eager, thanks.

[Polarite]

Very nice project !
I will definitely try this out.

[rdmusic]

Thanks!

Just finished up a very cinematic release trailer for the mod.

Really excited to get this project out into the world for all to hear!

Rich