Creating the High-Tech Audio of Battlefield 2
Find out how Sound Blaster technology helps to create the intense, combat action of Battlefield 2.

Interviewees: Jonas Kjellström, Audio Programmer, Digital Illusions
Henrik Andersson, Sound Designer, Digital Illusions

With my squad at my back, I battle my way into deepest Stockholm, Sweden. Mortars and rockets rake the streets, jet fighters scream in the sky above my head. Skirting mines and avoiding snipers, I take refuge in a nearby office. Inside, I find Jonas Kjellström and Henrik Andersson, ice-cool as only Swedish game developers can be, putting the finishing touches to the sound system in Digital Illusions' and Electronic Arts' multiplayer PC masterpiece, Battlefield 2! A perfect opportunity to find out about what explosive audio treats they have planned for us...

Q1. Please give us some background into your work. How did you get into working in gaming audio, and how long have been with DICE? What titles have you worked on in the past?

Henrik: Hi, my name is Henrik Andersson and I'm a sound designer on Battlefield 2. I started working at Dice in May 2002, and by that time Battlefield 1942 was in its last couple of hectic months before being released, and that was a really exiting time for me. Prior to working at Dice I was a Sound Engineer on two Swedish TV reality shows and I also got to work in a famous Swedish sound studio doing random tasks.

Jonas: I started working at DICE in 2003 after some eight years of experience from other industries. Initially I worked in the BF42 Live team doing patches for BF42 until an opportunity to do the audio programming in Battlefield 2 came up.

Q2. In terms of audio, how did you set about bettering classic games like Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam?

Jonas: Of course we wanted to add more detail and dynamics to the audio. Vehicle engine audio, for example, is controlled by a large number of parameters which makes vehicles feel more real and fun to drive. The goal was to make it a more cinematic experience.

Q3. The Battlefield series has always been 'mod-friendly' - is Battlefield 2 the same? What opportunities are there for modders to adapt the audio and music?

Jonas: Hopefully BF2 is easier to extend than other titles in the series, thanks to the editor. In terms of audio the editor provides templates for, e.g., engines and firearms, that should be fairly easy to tweak and modify.

Q4. And gaming? Outside of DICE titles, what games do you enjoy? Are there any titles that stand out for you, that you just haven't been able to stop playing?

Henrik: There is one game that I play every day (except BF2) because we play every lunch break and that is Pro Evolution Soccer 4 on PS2. We usually have 4 players (2 on 2) playing either "El Classico" Barcelona vs. Real Madrid or France vs. Brazil. Other games that I have played recently are Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, which are two great engaging games.

Q5. Should we look out for you on the Battlefield 2 servers, you must be a pretty good player by now, right? Can you tell us your gamer tag so we can avoid an ass-whupping?

Jonas: Well, you don't have to worry about meeting me on the Battlefield. Let's leave it at that

Q6. It must have been pretty exciting to work on supporting Creative's new audio technologies which were still at the time under development. How did you go about supporting a sound card which had not been released yet?

Jonas: Sure, it's always fun to work with new technology and X-Fi adds a lot to the detail in the game. The nice thing about using OpenAL is that the interface is relatively well-defined, so adding support for X-Fi was not that hard with the help from Creative's engineers.

Q7. In your opinion, what aspects of the gaming experience are enhanced when you play using Creative's X-Fi technology?

Jonas: Given the large number of simultaneous voices and support for mixing them in hardware, we don't have to be as aggressive with culling distant and/or low-volume samples. This gives a more detailed and living background than is otherwise possible.

Q8. Creative's sound cards are always being improved through driver updates and hardware refreshes. As a game developer, what features would you like to see introduced in future updates?

Jonas: Support for decompressing samples in hardware would be nice. We use compressed audio for ambient backgrounds and voice, and when things get hectic, the CPU cycles spent on decompression really start to count.

Q9. What can we expect from the game in terms of music? How did you go about deciding the musical style for the game?

Henrik: I'm proud to say that the in-game music was composed and recorded by Bence Pajor who's also a sound designer on Battlefield 2. The style we went with is a mix between the old classic "BF 1942" theme incorporated in a new vibe which has proven to be a good combination.

Q10. There are some truly breathtaking sound effects in the game, particularly weapon sounds and the ambiance of distant combat. How did you go about creating these effects? Was there a lot of real-world recording involved?

Henrik: Thank you! We set out to make sound effects for Battlefield 2 that would sound like the best "Hollywood" movie. We mixed real-world recordings that we recorded ourselves with some of the best sound effect libraries and ended up with what we think is the best sounding fps game ever. When you fire a weapon or when you reload it, it should feel like the real thing, or when a 30 ton (8,000 pounds) F-15 flies over your head it should sound like the real deal.

Thanks for your time!