The more fantasy orchestral "exploration" sounds are great, but I can't help but feel that the combat section is lacking in a few more options in the fantasy style.
I'm hoping that in the future there will be more combat tracks, that would turn this pack from an 8 to a 10.
Either way, everything sounds great and the additions of stems is very nice.
The pack is really great for 'mystical' atmospheric soundscaping and UI / environmental FX. It reminds me a lot of Genshin Impact or modern Zelda environmental / UI sound effects. (Down to the 'reverbing water droplet splash' sound from BoTW / ToTK shrines lol)
However perhaps I misled myself a bit, I was hoping that "Arcane Magic" would also refer to 'spellslinging arcane wizard' sounds, but unfortunately, in my opinion, there are no real combat usable sound effects.
Perhaps an idea for a future pack?
As always, sound quality is great :) I could hardly find any 'duds' in this pack, so you'll definitely get your money's worth. There's a huge variety of sounds so as long as you have anything that flies in your CG, there should be a suitable sound for it here.
Also random fun fact: I just noticed the ship in the trailer video is CGPitBull's RX6 Fighter lol, I've been collecting his assets as I started theming my racing game (which uses Shapeforms' assets for sound effects) WipeOut style. :' )
This definitely tends to be a bit more towards the 'old school' sci-fi style of warp holes sounds. If you love old school Star Trek & Sliders warp holes & bleeps and bloops, frequency sweeps and flangers and phasers, this might be your jam. It's quite 'loud'.
I took the game "Elite: Dangerous" as a reference point because I absolutely love the sound design in that game, especially the warp drive:
Now there are some samples in this pack that can help recreate this kind of eerie vibe, but not a lot. So make sure you really like what you hear in the preview before you buy this. I'd argue the pack is worth the price, but is very specific in terms of vibe and color.So, recommended? Yes, for what it is, but you have to love this kind of sound.
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Note to creator:
I would love it if this pack would get a 'modern' update with a lot more modern sounding sounds.
Ambience defines this library. It's full of eerie soundscapes that can instantly bring vibe to any kind of thriller / mystery / horror game. 10/10
As an amateur sound guy I own a plugin called Mysteria for Kontakt, it's $300 and is basically an 'eerie sounds' plugin with eerie vocals as well.
This is less than 10% of the price, lacks the vocals, but evokes that unnerving feeling just as well, which makes this a no brainer. Highly recommend!
For those looking for reviews, I'd rate this a 9.5/10 and definitely worth the price.
Now this pack is similarly priced to a pack I own from a movie production studio created by an artist that worked on AAA (Star Wars / Metal Gear Solid) media. But I'd say that in most cases this pack is either close to the quality of the AAA pack, rivals it or actually exceeds it. Therefore this is an easy recommend for me. It's pretty much drag & drop although you can tweak the sounds easily if desired.
One caveat: If you want deep heavy weapon sounds I do reckon you'll have to pitch down and post process a bit, this pack tends to to be a bit on the lighter side.
I've listed my findings below:
Positives:
(Minor!) Negatives:
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The negatives are really minor issues though, and all in all, this is another great pack by Shapeforms and an easy recommendation.
Heya! I reached out to your offer by e-mail.
Your response is more than valid of course. I think initially I was also a bit sour due to my initial findings. I've mellowed a bit over time and have grown to appreciate the sounds I do like a lot more.
You're right, "more" can be better for the average person. I think I'm just extra strict on this as an amateur audio / music production person. Since I already have a ton of audio production tools, any 'ready made' sounds that steer too close to 'regular' instruments or 'minimalist' sound engineering feel a bit like 'wasted money', if that makes sense.
Perhaps people without those tools feel less strongly about this issue :)
I've also never played Ratchet & Clank, so I'll give those a listen too to see how they did their minimalist sounds.
And for what it's worth, I still think this pack is great, the other points I raised are really 'minor' nitpicks, the only big concern for me was Impacts. And as you mentioned, it's hard to create those 'big' sounds if you don't have access to the right tools & machinery.
10/10, fully recommended!
Honestly, not much more to say, it sounds exactly like what you expect, typing sounds lol.
As with all Shapeforms' other packs, the sounds are of pristine quality, and it covers almost all required use cases.
The only think if I could think of an improvement, would be to improve the categorization of files a bit more to make it easier to find textures within product categories. Not every laptop sounds the same, and it certainly sounds like more than 1 laptop keyboard was used for these sounds. (If not that, at least a change in recording setup) Some sound more like a cheap chiclet style plasticy keyboard, some sound more 'rigid'. But that's an extremely minor nitpick in an otherwise straightforward pack.
9/10. Would heartily recommend, $9.99 is a steal!
A bunch of sounds made with a balloon. At first glance it sounds ridiculous.
But realize that a lot of sounds effects in games are literally made by a dude playing around with random trash in a room with a bunch of audio equipment.
The sounds are pristine quality, and although some sounds are more useful than others, there's quite a wide variety of sounds available.
The high-pitched 'squeal' of a deflating balloon can be used as the 'skidding' of sneakers on a gym floor. (Think basketball court)
The down-pitched handling of a balloon underwater can be used as 'underwater' sounds.
Some of the 'Stretched Balloon Slaps' sound like scissors, typing, or the placing of a tile or card in a game of mahjongg.
Now you may ask. "That all sounds cool but couldn't I just buy scissor sounds, and typing sounds?"
Yes, BUT:
1. A lot of sound design is about evoking an image, rather than just copying the sound from an authentic object. (Especially more so when it comes to fantasy)
2. This has a little bit of everything in one pack.
Another great job by Shapeforms!
If you are looking for 'merchant' cash SFX, this is all you need. Easy 9/10 and a hearty recommend.
The audio quality is pristine and it comes with a ton of effects, structured in wallet sounds / wallet interactions / card interactions and coin interactions.
The only downside is that the wallet sounds are quite limited (2 opens, 2 closes, and that's it), there could be a few more of them.
But the quality of the coin / card sounds more than makes up for it.
To the creator: Great job!
Update: Raised initial rating to 7.5 and changed value estimation.
Update #2: Raised rating to 8.0, value estimation remains the same. I feel like the negatives made me feel a bit of purchasers regret and lower the rating more than necessary, but upon using the 'useful' samples a bit more, I really like the quality of the pack overall.
Original Review Below
If you're reading this wondering whether this pack is worth $60: It's hard to say. I love Shapeforms audio packs, and would recommend nearly all of them in a heartbeat. But at $60 it's a bit of a hard sell.
I think I'd give this pack a 7.5/10 for now. I believe layering and/or post processing is a must to make full use of this pack. If you are willing to layer / process and don't mind subpar impact sounds, I say go ahead, you're all set. Although I would sooner price this at $45-50 rather than $60, for one particular reason.
Want to know more? Read on ahead:
First the good things.
Positive Points:
* There's enough useful samples in pretty much every category. Every important category is represented, and then some.
* There is a variety of sound profiles available. 'Combustion' style sounds, alien pulses, there's a bit of everything. (Although some profiles are more 'prevalent' than others, and this 'slanted' distribution is present in every category)
* The sounds are really suitable for layering. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on whether you were looking for a drag & drop amazing sound experience. (Spoiler: This does not provide that in my opinion)
* There's a guide that explains how to use the sounds, with some suggestions on how to combine sounds for a vehicle. A very welcome addition for people who may not be as well versed with audio, and just good guidance in general. Especially since again, this seems to be strongly designed to be used in layering.
* Some pre-combined engine & boost sounds are provided, they sound quite neat.
* There's 3 sounds in the engine harmonics folder that should either be in a BladeRunner movie as part of a Vangelis soundtrack, or in some crazy trippy ambient production. They make me want to pick up music production again. (So this made me happy, and I'll give it a point for that)
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Now the bad things:
Minor Complaints:
* Not truly suitable for 'individual' sound use.
The description mentions you can use some sounds individually, but I would highly recommend only getting this if you're into layering stuff together. There are a few sounds that sound good individually, but it's a fraction of the total set. (There are better options if you're looking for drag & drop)
* Some sounds are a bit too 'wet'.
As a result, they feel like they dictate the environment a bit more and make it a bit harder to post process, and also makes the quality between samples feel a bit inconsistent.
* I was hoping for a more "cohesive" feeling between the sounds.
For example I expected a set of x sounds for each 'sound profile':
"Alien Ship (Synthy pulsy waves): Take Off / Landing / Engine Loop"
"Combustion Ship (think Jet Engine): Take Off / Landing / Engine Loop"
etc.
Instead what you get looks more like:
"Turbine: Jet Turbine 1 - 2 - 3"
"Turbine: Sci Fi Thingamajig"
"Take Off: Spaceship 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-100"
"Take Off: Cool Sound SineWave Pulse"
I have two issues with this:
1: Not all sound profiles are represented equally. (1 folder can have 1 jet engine sound and another can have 10)
2: It makes it harder to find 'cohesive' sounds. I would've preferred a bit more organization/curation in the types of sounds provided. Does spaceship 5 sound good with Sci Fi Turbine 3? No idea until you try.
* Boosts is all right, but could've used some more diverse recharging loops and has some 'odd' one shots that feel out of place.
Major Complaints:
* Some of the sounds edge a bit too close to being a basic sound shape + LFO.
For $60 I do not want the sound to remind me of someone fiddling around with a DAW. Worst offender? Some of the Engine Loops - Pulse sounds. "Bass Pulse Layer Loop_01" literally sounds like an LFO'd C3 Sine Wave OSC from Fruity Loops,
* Impacts.
Oh boy, impacts.. Impacts does have some useful sounds like all the other categories, but overall too many of them sound either too 'flimsy', or like someone just took some drum kit samples & metal sheet, whacked it a few times and called it a day.
Worst offenders are:
"Impact Clean Kick Thud_01" (Sounds like a pure DrumKit bass drum)
"Ship Hull Impact 05 & 06" (Sounds like a pure big orchestral drum)
There's a few sounds that sound a tiny bit like you T-boned someone's KIA, but no "groaning metal" sounds, no big heavy bombastic metal crashes like you see and hear in your favorite space games.
This is the one category where this pack really dropped the ball, and could've provided some more heavy / deep metal clangs & clashes, screeching noises and groaning metal. If I could change one thing in this pack, it's a re-do of this category. And for this reason I would really wish this pack was priced a tiny bit cheaper.
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In conclusion: Despite my negative points, every category in the pack does have some useful sounds, some more than others. Layering these together and some optional post processing can make these sound epic. However the question is whether this is still worth $60 despite the shortcomings.
If you are looking for 'ready made' drag & drop sounds I might consider looking elsewhere as there are packs for $25-30 that provide 'ready made' sound profile sets for specific space ships.
But if you are looking for a layering product, I'd argue this pack would be easily worth $40, maybe $50. Now that's not $60, but do note that there are not really any proper alternatives as most packs don't focus on layering, so you don't have much of a choice. Do I regret spending $60? A tiny bit, but if the content issues were fixed (Impacts!), I would feel much happier already.
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Note to creator:
Please please please consider adding some additional Boost loops and revisiting the Impacts section to add some more proper impact sounds in there.
Awesome pack! If you are viewing this as a potential customer all I can say is imho Shapeforms produces some of the most high quality usable sounds you'll find on itch, and even in 'early access' this is easily worth a buy.
That said you should be aware that it's mostly 'slashy' (ie.: sword) stuff for now. And most of the sounds are a tad bit 'light/bright' sounding. You can easily process them to create a 'heavier' sound though, so it's not a huge deal but you should be aware of it.
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In terms of feedback:
I would like to see hammer-style sounds and more heavy sounding impacts. (I think this would be covered by your plans for future updates)
I would like to see some more 'pure' gore impact sounds: Almost all the impact sounds either have 'wet gore' added to them, or 'metal woosh' added to them. I think "Gore Splat Stab Poke" is closest to what I'm imagining here.
I would like to see a bit more variance in the length, specifically on the shorter end: A lot of them seem to run for around 300-500ms – incl. about 100-250ms runoff. I'd like to see some more impacts / overall sounds that finish right around 250ms, with minimal / no reverberation or runoff. The opposite would also be nice – longer, more 'epic' sounds – but less crucial as the shorter/current sounds could be processed to sound more epic.
Either way, great job! And looking forward to any updates (whether soon or in a year lol)
Heya! Great job on all the assets.
I currently own literally every single asset you've added here (and I believe I paid twice for a lot of them lol as it was hard to initially figure out what I did and did not own with all the different 'packs' you've uploaded)
Is there any way I could get access to the Season vol1/2/3 versions to make them easier to manage in my collections / download?
If it's too much hassle, I understand.
Since they are 2d assets & sounds I would prefer just raw assets, as then it doesn't matter what engine it's for, I can just load a PNG or .wav
That said, in terms of popularity I think Godot / Unity / Unreal are the big 3.
I use KorGE myself which is a Kotlin based framework, and not popular at all haha. (It's very nice, but still relatively young and not used for any big 2d projects)
As has been mentioned several times in the past, some people have big libraries with tons of products in them, some from huge bundles, others from simply a ton of individual purchases.
Given how much the library can grow over time, it would be great if we could simply apply a search filter to our own library, instead of to a website category. I know you can put everything in a collection, but at some point the collection itself is gonna be cluttered as well, and stops being useful in and of itself to a certain degree. This is my current problem as I have a lot of products in very similar categories.
Right now my makeshift solution is to spam-scroll to the bottom of my 'all purchases' list, then do a CTRL+F / CMD + F to find whatever I think I'm looking for. Which still is a bit more hit & miss since the associated tags might not be reflected in the title of the asset.
It would be great if we could simply apply the same search of the regular website, to only assets that we have purchased. (Or maybe we can already do that, in which case I apologize)
This pack is great, and the author was responsive when the 'full' zip was no longer accessible due to change in pricing.
However, it seems like the full zip is still not 'permanently' accessible for people who purchased it before price change.
If this pack were to be updated, I would have to contact the author again. (Assuming future updates are still supposed to be for free) Not sure if it's Itch's fault, but it's annoying nevertheless.
Although they didn't have any active animations, most enemies did have some form of idle animation.
Argument aside, are you planning on creating any additional 'player' sprites to go with this aesthetic in the future? I know you have the RPG Character Template, but I was curious whether any other expansions or updates are planned.
It's been a wild year, hope you don't feel pressured to do anything that you're not ready for yet. :)
As for questions:
I haven't referenced all dragon tier rewards yet, but do all animated battlers have spine resources in at least one dragon pack? Or are there animated ones that are png sequence only too?
I was hoping for it to be easy to either edit existing spine files or even rig up assets myself in the case of some statics. But naturally the less work required the easier it'll get for me.
Keep up the good work!
For people wondering if this is worth it: It is, every single penny.
Aekashics is one of the most talented and active Battler designers on itch, and especially if you want to be able to create new animations easily, the Dragon tier Spine/Dragonbone source files are a must. There's so much content created every year that these compilation packs simply become a must. Must buy!
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That said, if you are reading this aekashics, I have a few comments:
Is it correct that the oldest pack included in this compilation is the July 2017 Second Update Cycle? (One or two months also only seem to have one Update Cycle included) I thought that on the patreon I could see Second Update packs for months before July 2017. Are these not included for a specific reason? If so, where can I get those?
The Minotaur tier seems to include the exact same content every single month as well, would it be an idea to only include it once? Using the dropbox download button causes it to download a whopping 6 gb of files, but most of it is just duplicate content (a whopping 1GB each month)
Nowadays almost everything works with some sort of cloud support. Documents, spreadsheets, code, for almost everything there's a service to store your productive work online.
I'd like to see some form of integration for cloud services in this app as well. I don't expect you to host all of our files, but for example having built-in Google Drive support would be amazing.
