Simon Ashby

Founder & Product Director

Audiokinetic

Guy Concordia

Interactive Audio for Video Game

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Presentation Agenda

• General overview of the game development

• Audio Lead profile

• Interactivity, artistic and technology : A balance story

• Authoring example using Wwise

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Game Development Overview

• Development takes an average of 18 to 24 months

• Development team is around 50 to 150 persons

• Next-gen. titles cost is around $10 to $20 millions

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Key Persons and Positions

• Producer• Like the Conductor of an orchestra

• Creative Director, Game and Level Designers• The “holders of the vision”• In charge of the creative facets of the game• Define the rules of the game and the level design

• Modelers and Animators• Create the environments and animate the characters

• Programmers • Write and implement the game assets and

mechanisms

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Audio Department Disciplines

• Audio Director• Manages all projects and audio resources • Responsible of schedules and budgets• Oversees production• Administrates tasks such as licensing music and

outsourcing

• Audio Lead• The point person for an individual project• Ultimate understanding of a project content needs

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Audio Department Disciplines

• Sound Integrator• The person responsible to integrate the music and

SFX

• Sound Engineer• Recording, mixing and mastering

• Composer and Sound Designer• They write music and create SFX• Often subcontracted

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Audio Lead - Work Station

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Audio Lead Profile

• Artistic:• Design the artistic direction according to the game

design intentions • Overseeing Sound Designers and Composers Work• In-game tweaking and mix

The Audio Lead is the “artistic-manager” of the creation process and the audio assets integration.

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Audio Lead Profile

• Manager:• Planning and production follow-up• Tools creation, pipeline and workflow definition • Design audio according to the technological

constraints• Integration manager• Profiler and debugger • Performance keeper

The Audio Lead is the “artistic-manager” of the creation process and the audio assets integration.

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Audio Lead Profile

• Playing games (at least once in a while…)

• Knowing the basis of computer science

• Solid background of traditional audio• Music language • Recording and mixing• MIDI, audio synthesis, sound design techniques, etc.• Acoustics and physics• Most of the rules from the film applies to video

game

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Audio Lead Human Skills

• Being able to deal with insecurity and the “it’s-not-decided-yet-but-it-should-someday”

• Being able to work 6 days a week / 10 hours a day with the same teammates for 18 months

• Excellent communicator. Evangelization is part of the job… every day!

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Artistic Technology

Interactivity

• Audio production vs.

• Game intentions

• Linear vs. Modular

• Avoid repetition

• Dynamic environments

• Tools

• Platforms

• Performance

Constraints

• Budget • Timeline • Resources

Balance of Power

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“Interactivity” means “Modularity”

• Film and Music - Linear • At 10:52:32:15, the plane explosion• At bar 67, the second chorus starts

• Video Game - Modular • Event based• Generally, audio “reacts” to stimuli

• Ex. The suspense movie error

Interactivity

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“Modularity” means:

• Breaking up sounds in several parts and applying behaviors to them:

• Guns

• Real-time property modifications • Real-time parameter control• State changes

Interactivity

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Avoid Repetition

• Variation for most frequently heard sounds:• Audio Files• Audio Properties (volume, pitch, low pass filter, etc.)

• Random offsets within a defined range

• Envelopes

• Oscillators

• Music• Don’t write music with repetitive patterns• Silence is music’s best friend• Dynamic response to game events (Stingers)

Interactivity

Random Offset

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Artistic Direction

What serves as a vehicle for your artistic direction?

• The game design intentions

• The location in time and in space

• The main character

• The scenario

• Etc.

Artistic

Myst IV – Splinter Cell

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Mixing Your Game

• Rules that applies to cinema applies to games

• But mixing a game has special particularities: • Hard to reproduce all possible circumstances• Sounds properties: the art of compromise• The same sounds are used 1000s of times…• …but it is impossible to hear all voices in the game context.

• Solutions: • Establish reference levels with engineer & post production• Premixing before integration

Artistic

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Performances

• You wanna sound like Peter Gabriel… • But you’ve got 10% of a P4 3GHz• And 20 megs of RAM (if you’re lucky)

Technology

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Wrap up

• Audio Knowledge

• Human Skills

• Technological Challenges

• Long and Highly Involving Projects

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References

• Associations• G.A.N.G. www.audiogang.org• IA-SIG www.iasig.org• IGDA www.igda.org

• News and Articles• Develop Magazine www.developmag.com• Music4Games www.music4games.net• Gamasutra www.gamasutra.com

• Events• Game Dev. Conference www.gdconf.com

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References

David Sonnenschein Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema

• Paperback: 250 pages

• Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions (November 2001)

• Language: English

• ISBN: 0941188264

Cinema: A must-read for crafting an artistic direction

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References

George Alistair SangerThe Fat Man on Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness

• Paperback: 528 pages • Publisher: New Riders Games

(June 25, 2003)

• Language: English

• ISBN: 1592730094

A goldmine of info. Because the guy as invented the job.

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References

Alexander BrandonAudio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production

• Paperback: 240 pages

• Publisher: New Riders Games (October 7, 2004)

• Language: English

• ISBN: 0735714134

To understand further the audio production process

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References

Aaron MarksComplete Guide to Game Audio

• Paperback: 240 pages

• Publisher: CMP BOOKS(September 1, 2001)

• Language: English

• ISBN: 1578200830

Mainly oriented for composers.