Last year 4Players launched its latest offering, ODIN, revolutionizing gaming experiences with cutting-edge spatial audio features. ODIN is an audio SDK that offers crystal-clear voice chat. It can be seamlessly integrated into apps and games built with Unity and Unreal Engine 4 and 5. Native Swift support for Apple devices and a web SDK for use on websites and web-based applications are available as well.
The ODIN SDK doesn’t only offer immersive experiences in the world of gaming, but it’s also metaverse-ready, supporting voice experiences for the new age of interactive media. ODIN’s prestige is bolstered by the team of veterans who created it - seasoned developers with a true passion and understanding of the games and tech landscapes.
The next generation of in-game audio
Following the success of 4NetPlayers, our high-end, low-latency server hire service, ODIN’s tech levels up in-game multiplayer communications, with spatial audio that makes voice chat feel more real than ever before. These unique features allow users to integrate 3D spatial real-time voice in no time, and without complicated state management. Of course, voice functionality like full-volume radio communication independent of players’ position is also possible with ease, and can even be combined with 3D spatial audio.
Cross-platform functionality and low latency are two of the key tenets that ODIN holds over other voice services. Developers are encouraged to take full advantage of this. With ODIN, users can also select the zero maintenance solution with hosted services in the 4Players Cloud at 14 locations worldwide. However, if you want to host ODIN servers yourself in MS Azure, Google Cloud, AWS, Digital Ocean or any other known service provider, this is possible too.
Pricing structure
Self-server hosting can be incredibly valuable for developers with cross-platform game creation in mind. This service is possible for a monthly fee, based on the running instances in that month (€350 per instance and month plus taxes). ODIN servers report their state - for billing reasons - to 4Players. If a developer wants to run servers in an isolated environment - without the need for an internet connection - this can be done via the perpetual license, a one-time payment of €10,000 per instance.
ODIN’s price is flexible and scalable depending on the scope of the game you are using it for. Not only this, but it is cheaper than leading competitors. For indie projects, such as a small-scale MMO, the price for incorporating ODIN in a cloud hosting capacity is a tenth of that of a competitor, amounting to only €1,200.
Ease of use
Dedicated to privacy and security, ODIN offers end-to-end encryption and is fully GDPR compliant. Truly developer-friendly and quick to integrate, with the process taking under a day to complete - the game engine does the work. With a generic API, the SDK is flexible in its integration, giving ultimate freedom to the developer.
Using the tool is as simple as attaching it to an in-game environment, and then ODIN takes care of the rest. ODIN is not a layer on top of or beside the game engine that developers need to constantly feed with data. Instead, it is deeply integrated into Unity and Unreal, leveraging the native Unity AudioSource API for playback so that voice is part of the game engines´ scene. This, in turn, enables developers to use standard Unity tools like AudioMixer. ODIN is also fully integrated into the Unreal engine’s sound. The ODIN SDK for Unreal enables you to add real-time VoIP communication to your Unreal Engine 4/5 game, thus making it more social and interactive. The audio is played via a synth component and thus integrates natively into the entire Unreal Audio Engine with all the features that come with it.
ODIN also comes with custom-built audio occlusion APIs that will simulate the effect of thick walls and direction. The tool’s servers are horizontally scalable and are a single binary, available for all server platforms such as Windows and Linux (x84 and ARM). Developers can download the server and add a custom license in your dashboard, after this, 4Players will provide extensive documentation on how to run the server.
ODIN is currently being used by developers all over the world, on both small-scale independent games and large-scale, ambitious titles. Make ODIN integration one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2023!
To learn more about ODIN’s technical applications, you can visit our GitHub page here.