{"id":13825,"date":"2020-12-10T17:56:29","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T22:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=13825"},"modified":"2024-07-16T16:14:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T20:14:47","slug":"elements-video-game-audio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/elements-video-game-audio\/","title":{"rendered":"The elements of video game audio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> George Wylesol<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video game audio is in a creative league of its own, especially when compared to audio in linear mediums such as film.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When working on a film, a sound designer can know and understand the exact sound that’s needed for a precise moment. When a car whooshes past the screen, a designer can hand-craft every engine rev, gear shift, and tire spin. They can then, subsequently, place where each element will lie in the mix and have confidence that the audience will experience this scene the same way every time they watch the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game audio is different. When a player is engaging with a nearby on-screen vehicle in a video game, the auditory experience is totally reliant on the behaviors of the player and the game world.<\/a> The way the player hears a single vehicle can vary based on a number of things: the player’s orientation towards the vehicle, their distance from it, the speed of the vehicle, the number of activities in the world around the player \u2013 the list could continue on. The experience of a video game is controlled by the player. And with each player, that experience could be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a sound designer is tasked with creating an auditory experience for a game, there are tons of variables that they need to keep in mind during the creative process. Therefore, when creating an auditory experience, a sound designer is really creating a systemic series of sounds which is based off of a variety of questions that usually begins with, \u201cHow will the sound behave if the player does ___?\u201d This behavior can\u2019t be accounted for solely through the use of design capabilities in a digital audio workstation. As such, when designing sounds for a video game, additional tools must be employed to account for such behavior and modulate the sound accordingly. That behavior is dictated through the use of a game engine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utilizing game engines and game data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Video games are built within software that are known as game engines. This is a technical environment that provides developers a certain set of tools to create all sorts of different assets for their game, as well as control over the behavior of those assets. A game engine handles all tasks in the virtual world, spanning physics, character movements, animations, rendering, visual effects, audio, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound events<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, for sound designers, the game engine keeps track of when to (and when not to) call sound events<\/strong>. Because sound designers don’t know exactly how a player will interact with an environment, they have to set up behaviors within their sounds to account for various player responses and actions. This is done through the use of game data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game data and objects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a game engine, game data can come in a variety of different forms. Many game engines associate datasets in the form of objects<\/strong>. These generic objects in a game engine can vary based on the engine that you\u2019re working in, and can represent all sorts of different things based on context such as characters, vehicles, or scenery. Data on these game objects is then further manipulated through the use of sub-components<\/strong> and properties<\/strong>. Some examples of data that might exist on these objects are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n