The myth of interactive audio: game sound dichotomies and implementation strategies

Date
2014-06-13
Authors
Smith, Andrew
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Abstract
The audio development cycle for popular, mainstream digital games is currently a long-winded and highly convoluted undertaking, requiring several teams of full time audio specialists, composers and audio programmers for each release. This research report surveys the numerous advantages of sound in games, but also highlights the fundamental intractability of implementing credible soundscapes in interactive contexts. It examines why game audio practitioners are required to achieve far more with much less than their brethren working in linear media forms such as film and TV. This paper argues that recorded sound and interactive virtual worlds are uncomfortable bedfellows at best and, in some cases, can be thought of as mutually incompatible. As a result, many game audio strategies are little more than cunning attempts at bludgeoning temporally resistant audio files into interactive contexts. The report also explores a number of innovative sound design and audio implementation solutions for use in the digital games of the not too distant future.
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