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[microsound] game audio
having worked in game audio for a few years I can offer these tips:
- learn to program in C++ - because you will always be at the mercy
of an audio programmer fresh out of college who knows NOTHING about
audio or how it is supposed to play in a game context
- also very important: study the *physics engine* being used in the
game!!! being able to use this intelligently will make the game sound
much much better
- get ready to arm-wrestle for CPU with knuckle-heads who also KNOW
NOTHING about audio except that it 'AWESOME GAME SOUND!' exists as a
tick-mark on the marketing spec
- learn how to stack and layer sounds until they take on a 'Lucasfilm
in-your-face quality' (they must also sound this way over crap
computer speakers of course!) that wet the pants of all the managers
of the game company who test drive the prototype
- game audio is *nothing* like film sound design -- the end users for
gaming are in need of nappy-wetting hyper-caffeinated sfx so they can
play for 20 hours at a time
- the main difference is that there is a linear narrative arc in
film while in games there are branching narrative arcs – each of
these demand a different set of brain functions of the user
- the other main difference is that sound designers for film don't
have to worry about stuffing all their audio into a small CPU budget
hence dictating what they can get away with (depending on the game
engine used)
- while it is true that films are sounding more games these days the
inverse is not true
- most game audio sucks due to various things that have usually
little to do with the skill/prowess of the sound designer
OK that's my 0.02 from having worked in the trenches for a thankfully
very short period of time
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