Windows 8 Audio trouble (live in the app store!)

Hi there,

I tried this in the pro forum, but it seems to be getting no traffic (1 view in several hours)

So I was super happy that my app got approved today and is live here:
http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-US/app/fishtronaut-mini-adventures/820410bb-fad9-4a61-8ed2-a0b0b8ef31e5

However I'm a bit concerned to discover that upon testing on some new devices, audio is buggy. on a windows 8 parallels session on a macbook pro (using a full / legit versoin of windows 8 pro) i have no audio. Audio works fine in other games and apps.

The other device i tested it on is an Exo PC tablet which the audio plays fine, but doing a scene reset kills looping music. This doesn't happen in iOS or Android. I'm going to send this to support as well, but wanted to put this coversation out there for other pro developers to watch out for.

Wen I tested it i was testing it on an old spare Pentium M XPS laptop with the temp dev version of Windows 8 dev on it. That version from the testing i did had no audio issues..

It sounds kinda like the old Android audio trouble back in the early Android publishing days.. I just hope this is something that can be worked out fast! Because this is really bad for consumers to buy an app with basic audio trouble.

Thanks!
Caleb

Comments

  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    bump..

    also it seems that so far.. the no audio issue I experienced might be something specifically to Parallels 7 (not the latest version of parallels, which i have since upgraded too) and using Windows 8..

    however the issue of looping music resetting when a scene is reset is a very real and repeatable issue.

    So if you're porting a game over.. just be ready for this to happen and if possible design around it. hopefully something they can remedy because it is so specific and repeatable.
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    additionally the response time for rapid hits is also pretty awful. I've developed a drum game that works fine for android and iOS.. but fast drumming results in tons of hit sound triggers.. i suspect its all related to the same root problem. audio is simply not responsive like it should be..

    There must be others out there who are experiencing a similar problem because i'm seeing this in all of my games as i port them over.. and i simply can't see how else I could be expected to make the game behave better..
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    edited October 2012
    ok another issue in the same vein of windows 8 audio trouble.. if you swipe out of a game with music playing.. it will get cut off.. so leaving a game and coming back in, the music will cease to play.. until told to play again by another action..

    I also had a situation where an audio clip (not music) cut off the music as well.. the music track was about a minute long.. and 30 sec in.. as soon as a voice over came in it killed it.. alternately in another game, the 30 second warning voice failed to play and music continued.. all the while the drum stick sounds fail to fire unless i drum very slowly.

    lastly (so far) i've also noticed that when an audio track is being told to play at an octave lower in the audio trigger behavior.. it doesn't recognize it.. the pitch plays normal not lower as it does for iOS and Android.

    Thanks!
    Caleb
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    @saladstraightshooter and anyone else here. Am I the first / only person who has launched an app to windows 8? I'm not hearing anything at all from anyone about this.

    I've contacted support as well via email and not hearing anything. Normally Bob and Puck have been awesome in responding so I'm sure they have good reason, but as I port more games over experiencing basically the same audio problems in each of them, I would really like to know what GS is doing doing about this.. an ETA for a hotfix please!

    I really appreciate that this platform has been explored and 95% of this is fan-freakin-tastic in how it works and the process overall.. but audio is a BIG 5%... making my ports look bad in the big picture here.

    Sadly I have to blame GameSalad on this one and I'm about to give a big Windows 8 porting presentation on the 13th of November over at the Microsoft building in Cambridge, MA and explain this problem which is not exactly a great selling point for the technology.

    So a WARNING TO ALL DEVS WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT MAKING SOMETHING FOR WINDOWS 8, AUDIO IS SCREWED RIGHT NOW.. unless you:

    1. don't need music, especially looping / ongoing music
    2. don't require rapid / precise audio triggering

    I'm hacking my games to use less audio now but this is really not the way it should be and i'm surprised in the scope of everything that audio of all things would be the broken part of the process.

    Thanks
    Caleb
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    ah sure no problem. i'll submit both of the projects i've worked. Thanks!
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    @saladstraightshooter ok sent.. both project files.. one via the submission form as an attachment and the other via a dropbox link to download.

    Thanks!
    Caleb
  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    I have submitted my first game 'LAD' to Microsoft and is in review at the moment. During testing on Parallels 8 Windows 8, I have no Audio whatsoever ... Music in other apps downloaded from the app store is playing!
  • part12studiospart12studios Member Posts: 620
    i'm sorry that solution didn't work for you. my best suggestion would be to use bootcamp.. this definitely works and is closer to real world for most users.. seems the NO AUDIO is specifically with Parallels.. i don't use Fusion, as Parallels IMHO is the better of the two..

    The only snag i hit with bootcamp/parallels is that since i activated it as bootcamp.. the parallels session is seen as unregistered by microsoft.. it seems that i have to be in bootcamp to successfully sign an app. So if you're really wanting to do the parallels route, perhaps use bootcamp, but don't register it in bootcamp.. register in parallels so that is the version that MS sees as legit..

    Thanks
    Caleb
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