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for computer game development. Paramount
throughout decades of development has been
computational efficiency. Progress here provides a
one-off, lump investment that pays back dividends
forever. Any breakthrough or leap of insight into
cheaply obtaining a sonic behaviour can reduce
the cost of all subsequent models, or make pos-
sible those hitherto infeasible. Regardless, there
is an inexorable movement towards procedural
audio anyway, even if it is not much recognised
by the industry at present. Even if it were not for
the myriad advantages of procedural audio there
is a steady trend in the direction of run-time rather
than prior processing, simply because the march
of technology makes it so (Whitmore, 2009).
The software engineering principle of continuous
integration and revision can take advantage of
deferred form to avoid expensive mistakes being
fixed into code by premature decisions, good for
game development which already stretches the
limits of Agile development.
The real-time requirement has always made
insightful analysis and thoughtful construction
part of a constant technical and creative quest.
Something worth noting about spacial and tem-
poral structure here, is the need for reusable com-
ponentised objects and connecting flow, not only
because this is the natural computational model
but also because it is a natural, human-interfacing
model that satisfies the need for expedient de-
sign and robust, incrementally improvable code.
Dataflow programming already goes some way
towards this, on the surface at least, languages
such as Max/MSP and Pure Data are ideal during
model design.
Finally, the main goal is aesthetic and some
ability to discern satisfactory results (good ears) is
needed. This is possibly one of the hardest qualities
to value and one of the most expensive activities is
the refinement, testing, and evaluation of aesthetic
quality since it is often subjective (without metrics
or value boundaries) to the point of being arbitrary.
Like most art forms, conformity to genre norms is
an overwhelming consideration under marketing
pressures, and there are precious few who dare to
take a chance on artistically progressive projects,
indeed the games industry is remarkably conserva-
tive in this regard. However, Reiter and Weitzel
(2007) attempt some metrics and Reiter (2011)
discusses elsewhere in this topic the inter-modal
effects within an interactive multi-media system.
FrOM stAtE tO PrOcEss
The frequently examined question of whether
game sound designers should also be programmers
is perhaps misleading. They are programmers to
the extent that the tools (often externally supplied
closed-source “middleware solutions”) fail to al-
low them to express and design sonic concepts with
procedural reasoning. Rather, the questions are:
• To what extent can audio programmers get
away with not understanding sound design?
In other words, are fixed tools developed in
isolation (brick wall model) of the creative
design phase counterproductive, and if so how
can continuous integration and closer working
be facilitated by defining new roles in game
audio, or consolidating old ones?
• To what extent have we got stuck in a para-
digm that is restricting progress in sound?
Can middleware products offering an impov-
erished event-asset models grow to include
new approaches, or must they be replaced?
• What new tools and skills will be needed
for next generation game sound, and to what
extent can these be standardised in industry
and taught in higher education ?
Some of these issues have been touched upon
at the AES35 and AES128 (in panel W10 for
instance) and by Nicholas Fournell and myself
at other venues such as Brighton Develop Con-
ferences.
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