Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Sound Designer
The sound designer creates sounds of all types for games using digital
audio workstations and other sound-editing programs to blend natural
and electronic sounds. As discussed, these sounds may be custom
made using foley techniques, synthesis, or sourced from sound-ef ect
libraries. In some cases, the sound designer may also i nd themselves
implementing the audio they create into the game they are working
on using a variety of tools. These tools may be of -the-shelf popular
middleware applications or proprietary software developed by in-house
programmers.
Audio Programmer
The integrator, or programmer, works with a game engine, middleware,
and other production tools to integrate all sounds into the game.
Programmers are not usually given the role of designing sounds.
They have coding experience with languages like C++, Objective-C,
Python and more, to go along with a deep knowledge of audio systems
and hardware capabilities. Audio programmers often write custom
applications and tools that are used by the rest of the creative team.
Conclusion
So as you can see, there's a lot of things to keep in mind when designing
sounds for games. On the one hand the process of creating or sourcing
the sound is nearly identical to what you'd do when making sounds
for i lm or TV, but on the other hand, the open-ended nature of sounds
in a gaming environment means the sound has to potentially react
dynamically at each moment. Sounds can be directly linked to player
actions, or to open-ended looping backgrounds. In addition, we see
that keeping track of exactly which sound has triggered is as integral
to the game audio process as designing the sound itself. And if that
wasn't enough, you have to contend with constantly changing software
and hardware standards. A good game audio sound designer, is also
somewhat of a technical evangelist, so it becomes part of your job to
know what's possible and what's not. It's dei nitely a crazy mixed up
world out there, being a game audio denizen.
The Interactive
Quiz for this Level is
available in the App. In
the main Classroom,
click on the Quiz
book to test your
knowledge!
