Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Challenges
What are some of the unique challenges you might face when creating
sounds for action-based arcade and console games?
Let's hear from
composer Brian
Schmidt. Brian's an
industry veteran who's
worked on tons of
games such as
NARC
,
and numerous pinball
games.
“
Sound for arcade games presented some challenges not
usually found in modern console games. Gameplay is
generally short and level-based, and more often than not,
a goal is to get the players' adrenaline pumping right away.
So, long, slow, melodic build-ups weren't used; in goes the
quarter, and immediately you hear music with a tempo
faster than your heart rate. Although games were short,
they'd often have a lot of dif erent modes or mini-games
within them, each requiring their own music. So even a
simple pinball machine game would have a good 25-30
minutes of interactive original score.
One of the more interesting challenges is designing
sound that will be heard someplace with a lot of background
noise. h is means limiting your own dynamic range, since
anything too quiet or subtle would more often than not get
lost in the ambient noise of the arcade, bar or casino. h at
said, we would dei nitely hold back some dynamic range for
the 'make everyone turn around' sound. h at's a sound that
signii es that the player did something signii cant—like
defeated a i nal boss, earned a free game, or hit the really
big jackpot. h at would always be signii cantly louder and
longer than any other sounds in the game.
”
