Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
11
In-Game Audio Debugging Tools
Simon Franco
11.1 Introduction
When working on previous generations of gaming hardware, sound designers only
had to worry about playing a few sound effects whenever the player did something
interesting and otherwise just playing a track of music. In contrast, current gaming
hardware now allows our game worlds to be more richly detailed, with potentially
hundreds of sound-emitting objects. In addition to this, we also have more complex
systems manipulating the game's audio. For example, we may have a context-
sensitive music manager. This monitors the game's state and chooses music to
match the on-screen action.
In order for sound designers and programmers to maintain control over all of
these audio systems, we need to develop more advanced debugging tools. These
tools must help both the sound designer and programmer to break down the current
soundscape (the combination of all the sounds currently playing) into its component
parts. The tools we must develop need to address the most common problems which
arise over the course of developing a game's various audio systems. Commonly
occurring problems with sound systems include sounds cutting off unexpectedly,
sounds failing to play (or unexpectedly playing too loud or too quietly), and the
wrong sound playing for a particular event.
11.2 Tools to Debug Sound Systems
This article discusses numerous tools that can be developed and integrated into
a game to facilitate the debugging of audio systems. The tools discussed can be
developed and integrated separately or can comprise a collection of tools for the
sound designer. Each tool provides information about a part of the game's audio
playback. When used together, these tools will reduce the amount of time needed
by both sound designers and programmers in tracking down issues.
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