Playing Audio ​

Config ​

The play function plays audio, either music or sounds.

To use the play function, the game needs to have audio files loaded by adding them to the audio config file, usually located at data/audio.yaml:

files:
  calm:
    loop: true
    src: music/music.mp3
  battle:
    loop: true
    src: music/battle.mp3
  click:
    src: audio/click.ogg
  game_start:
    volume: 0.9
    src: audio/game_start.ogg
  failure:
    src: audio/failure.ogg
options:
  volume: 0.5
  musicFadeInTime: 0.5
  musicFadeInDelay: 0.5
  musicFadeOutTime: 0.5
audioTriggers:
  onPlayerAnswered: click
  onPressStart: game_start
  onSkillCheckFailure: failure

The path of the audio configuration yaml can be changed in the base config.yaml:

audio: data/audio.yaml

The audio engine used is Howler. Options added in the config of an audio file will also be passed to Howler. Refer to the Howler docs for possible options.

Playing music or sounds ​

Once there are audio files loaded in the engine, audio can be played with the play function at any time in the script:

play music musicName

Playing with mode music will replace stop and replace the current music to play a new one. There is only one music playing at a time

play sound soundName

Playing with the mode sound will just play a sound, no matter what else is already playing.

Stopping and pausing ​

It is also possible to pause or stop sounds or music:

stop music (no need to specify the name because there is only one music playing

stop sound soundName (name must be specified)

pause music will pause the music.

It can later be resumed with resume music or with play music musicName (the play command requires the name of the music to play)

For example, one could do a dramatic pause of the music

play music suspense
wait 1500
pause music
play sound scary
wait 100
talk character idle "Suddenly, something happened!"
resume music # resume the music

Title Screen Music ​

A music can play on the title screen, by adding the defaultMusic option in the audio config:

files:
  music:
    loop: true
    src: music/music.mp3

options:
  defaultMusic: music
  volume: 0.5
  musicFadeInTime: 0.5
  musicFadeInDelay: 0.5
  musicFadeOutTime: 0.5

Audio-specific fade timings ​

Individual audio files can have fade in/out and fade delays configured, which will override the default ones from the audio option when that specific audio plays:

files:
  music:
    loop: true
    src: music/music.mp3
    fadeInTime: 2
    fadeOutTime: 2
    fadeInDelay: 2

Audio triggers ​

Audio triggers allow specifying a sound effect in the config that will be played when a specific event happens. There are a few audio triggers available in narrat.

Simply add the ones you want to use to the config. For example:

files:
  click:
    src: audio/click.ogg
  game_start:
    volume: 0.9
    src: audio/game_start.ogg
  failure:
    src: audio/failure.ogg
  success:
    src: audio/success.wav

audioTriggers:
  onPlayerAnswered: "click",
  onPressStart: "game_start",
  onSkillCheckFailure: "failure",
  onSkillCheckSuccess: "success"
  onButtonClicked: click
  onSpriteClicked: click
  onItemUsed: click

Audio Volume mixing ​

All volumes are between 0 and 1.

The volume a specific audio file is playing at is calculated by multiplying the following volumes together:

• Master Volume (The one in options.volume in the audio config file, which players can also edit in the system menu)
• Channel Volume (Starts at 1, players can edit them in the system menu)
• Audio file volume: The volume specified in the audio config file for that specific audio file, if it exists. Otherwise it's 1.

So for example:

If I set master volume to 1, and music volume has been set to 0.5, and a specific sound effect has its volume set at 0.5, then the sound effect will play at 0.25 volume.