This is the first in a series of posts discussing the subject of game audio, audio technology and how it can be implemented in future game development.

Audio - whether it be music, sound effects or dialogue - adds the extra dimension to the visual user interface. In fact when audio in a game is bad - we notice it. When audio during gameplay is exceptionally good - we also notice it!

I would like to refer to Alexander Brandon’s article series in ‘Aural Fixation’, published on previous issues of Game Developers Magazine.

One of the things that Alexander Brandon points out is that music should not always be a prerequisite in games. He writes that some game environments would infact benefit from the use of only sound effects depending on the game play and story.

Large budget games that give the player an artistic experience beyond reality, should include soundtracks, that deliver sonically interesting music that corresponds to the drama enhanced by player.

BUT the greatest challenge of audio design in games is that most game players switch of the music during game play. Regarding this issue - two questions can be asked

• Is the player ‘bored’ with the soundtrack after a while?
• Is the music not corresponding accordingly to game play and story line?
• Is the soundtrack too repetitive?

In most cases: yes. Reptition is one of the greatest challenges in games. Brandon points out some of the ways to overcome the problems of repetition in music design:

• Composition of variations to each music or ambience piece that could change over time. Meaning that, if the player has been on the same sequence more than 10 minutes the music could slowly transform into a new piece.
• Implement a more interactive music design - for instance by triggering new themes, instruments and scales every time the player interacts with an asset that is going to have an importance for players mission.
• Compose minimal themes that indicate that the player is closer to a ‘treasure’ or an ‘enemy’ - just like in movies, where the characters have themes that indicate their personality - a very famous one: Darth Vader!

To be able to implement the above - several factors have to be considered:

1. The audio design team should be involved at an early stage of game development
2. Close collaboration with audio programmers to implement the newest audio technologies and thereby developing the audio engine much further

My next post is a summary on methods to improve interactive audio design.