Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
LEVEL 4
What Is Hip?
Styles and Genres—Welcome to Acronym Hell
The Flavor Pill •
Gameplay Mechanics •
Evolution of Games •
No Joke—PC Games Get Serious •
Learning Outcomes:
Comprehend gameplay structure and interactive design •
Gain familiarity with game styles and genres •
Understand the audio challenges faced by professionals •
The Flavor Pill
Games come in all kinds of l avors and forms, and part of your job as a
game audio professional is understanding these forms. How you create
sounds for an MMO may be very dif erent from the way you'd work with
an RTS game or a FPS or TPS game. Wait, you don't know what all those
acronyms mean? Well, welcome to Acronym Hell . . .
Seriously though—as audio experts, it is crucial for us to understand the
basic gameplay mechanics for each of these genres. Another thing to
keep in mind—game mechanics and genres are constantly in l ux and
many designers will often combine elements of several of these types
of gameplay. If the game sells well, it can sometimes become a genre or
style by itself that can then be copied or adapted further by others.
It's all part of the evolution of games. Our job is essentially, to tell you
about the current DNA of games and how that can inl uence the types of
decisions you might make on the audio side.
