Game Audio

Game Audio

When to Use

When defining audio direction for a game — music, sound effects, and audio systems.

Core Jobs

1. Audio Direction Brief

Define the audio identity of the game:

• Genre reference: "Dark Souls meets No Man's Sky — orchestral tension with ambient electronic elements"
• Emotional targets per zone: dungeon (dread, tension), village (warmth, safety), boss (epic, urgency)
• Instrumentation palette: live orchestra? synth? folk instruments? hybrid?
• Reference tracks: 3–5 existing tracks that capture the target feel per zone

2. Music System Design

Types of music integration:

• Linear: pre-composed tracks, play and loop (simple, less reactive)
• Vertical layering: single track with stems that fade in/out based on game state
  • Example: combat enters → percussion stem adds; enemy defeated → fade back to ambient
• Horizontal re-sequencing: different sections that transition based on state (Wwise adaptive music)
• Procedural: generated music (rare — used in No Man's Sky, some roguelites)

Define per area: which system, what states trigger transitions, how transitions work (crossfade, stinger, instant).

3. Sound Effects Specification

For each significant mechanic:

• Action trigger (what causes the sound?)
• Emotional intent (what should the player feel?)
• Audio character (short/long, high/low, synthetic/organic)
• Priority level (what gets ducked if audio budget is full?)

Critical sounds: weapon impact, footsteps on surfaces, UI feedback, damage received, death.

4. Technical Audio Budget

Per platform:

• Simultaneous voices: how many sounds at once? (mobile: 16–32, console: 64–128)
• Memory budget for loaded assets
• Streaming vs loaded: music streams, frequent SFX loaded into RAM

Key Outputs

• Audio direction brief
• Music system design document
• SFX specification per mechanic
• Technical audio budget

Anti-Patterns

• Music that doesn't change between combat and exploration
• Generic placeholder audio that ships ("we'll replace it later")
• No audio budget planning until console cert fails
• SFX designed without considering the emotional context