THE FUTURE OF SOUND DESIGN IN VIDEO GAMES, Part 1 The following article contains excerpts from the “Future of Sound Design” lectures at GDC, VFS and Dutch Film Festival originally presented in 2006. Please note that certain expressions are personal opinions, and cannot be read as “fact”. In our endless passion to make games have a similar, or exceeding sound-scape experience … [Read more...]
The Next Big Steps in Game Sound Design
Some days ago I read this great article on Gamasutra created by my friend Damian Kastbauer, and I just realized that I didn't talk about it on the blog, so if you haven't read it yet, you can do it now: It's a great time in game audio these days. As we move forward in the current console generation, several emerging examples of best practices in audio implementation have been … [Read more...]
February's Featured Sound Designer: Charles Deenen
February will be a great month for Designing Sound. We'll have a lot of great stuff, starting with this month's featured sound designer: Charles Deenen. Bio In a career that has spanned more than twenty years, Charles has leant his hand to over 200 games, numerous films, and dozens of film trailers. In the 80’s, Charles and a partner founded the world’s first company … [Read more...]
From UT3 to UDK: Top 10 Changes to the Unreal Audio System
Chris Latham from Engineaudio has published a video with his top 10 changes to the Unreal Audio System from UT3 to UDK. 10. New Sound Actor Icons 9. Multiple Sound Slots for AmbientSounds 8. SoundGroups are now called SoundClasses 7. SoundClass Editor 6. Ambient Zones 5. Visual of Min Radius 4. Switch from OpenAL to XAudio2 3. Improved Distance Models 2. Improved Low Pass … [Read more...]
Audio Implementation Greats #2: Audio Toolsets [Part 2]
Developer created proprietary toolsets continue to provide a vital form of audio integration in the industry, especially in cases where the gameplay specific features need to be exposed and interacted with at a deeper level than what comes “out of the box” with most middleware. In the days before robust audio middleware toolsets this may have been the only way to get past the … [Read more...]
Test FMOD Sounds on the iPhone Simulator
Engine Audio has launched a new free application to test custom FMOD soundbanks on the iPhone Simulator. We here at Engine Audio were looking for a way to test the new integration of the FMOD audio system on the iPhone platform. So we developed an FMOD soundbank testing application for the iPhone simulator. Firelight Technologies, creators of the FMOD engine, provides great … [Read more...]
Audio Implementation Greats #1: Audio Toolsets [Part 1]
After steeping in the current console generation, several examples of best practices in audio implementation have been exposed through articles, exposes, and video examples scattered across the internet. In an attempt to overview some of the forward thinking front runners in the burgeoning field of Technical Sound Design, I've been pulling together examples of inspirational … [Read more...]