Guidelines for Sound Design in Computer Games - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 378

Second, and more important, to remind one how
significant such a bottleneck may be for this kind
of endeavor in general. Finally, to acknowledge
that, despite the predictability of such difficulties,
a priori conditioning the space of possibilities as a
function of the already available sound materials
would be extraordinarily limiting.
Finally, we realize the designed gameplay
includes a tacit approach to the problem of the
players' adaptation to the game model, in terms of
both interface and game mechanics. This addresses
an early concern: The introduction of uncommon
ingredients in interaction, unless carefully ac-
complished, can pose difficulties for players. In
the case of this exercise, the interaction with the
island creatures occurs as an iterative procedure
which is, in fact, a learning process. Most pleasing
is that such learning makes sense inside and along
the game: It is not an introductory level with a
tutorial goal. In that sense, it is the character, not
the player, who learns.

the importance of the integration of sound design
in game development practices and advocate the
requirement of conceptual guidelines for those
who will undertake sound design.
We reiterate that sound design should serve
the project's intentionality and constitute a whole
along with all other aspects of game design. At-
tempts to do sound design directed by the need to
provide “something to be heard” are limited, do
not honor sound's potential, and may even cause
problems with other aspects of the game. Implicit
in this thought is that this conceptual sound design
ought to be performed right from the early stages
of the project and be applied to all semantic layers
of game sound.
We contributed to the recognition of the value
of sound design by presenting an approach that
is based on a multi-disciplinary interpretation of
several concepts. These include: emotions, regard-
ing which we have empathy for the neurological
approach because it provides a less context-depen-
dent way to deal with personal behavior; context,
which allows us to understand the individual as
a complex being blended with others, with the
environment, with own prior experiences, and so
on; acoustic ecology, which provides a contextual
conceptualization of sound with emphasis on the
affective dimension; soundscape and soundscape
composition, both concepts derived from acoustic
ecology; resonance and entrainment, two physical
concepts with repercussions for perception, cogni-
tion, and emotion and that inspire interpretations of
emotion management through a game experience.
From a holistic consideration of principles and
insights subsidiary to these concepts, a set of guide-
lines for sound design in computer games has been
drawn up. The guidelines address several affective
aspects of sound design, including: valuing the
acoustic properties of all interaction protagonists
and their influence on perception and emotions;
conveying meaning to the presence of sound in
terms of consequence inside the designed world;
acting through sound by performing meaningful
actions which have valuable sonic expression;

cONcLUsION

We exposed the discrepancy that exists between
current exploitation of sound in computer games
and the value that sound assumes in interaction
processes in our daily-lives. We reinforced this
point by mentioning that in other domains, such
as music and cinema, sound has proven to be
effective in many aspects that are also critical
to the experience of computer games. We also
contextualized current game sound design with
sound design in the wider scenario of interaction
systems, namely those addressed by HCI.
We made a point of the fact that noticing the
relevance of sound in other fields is insightful and
can provide relevant synergy. However, computer
games have their own specifics that oblige proper
adaptation and, most of all, they provide oppor-
tunities that are particular to the field.
Considering our assessment of the current sta-
tus, we argue the need for a collective sensitivity to