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• The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

• 
  Carsten Rojahn

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  The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

  Heya guys,
  
  some good reading for all you game producers and project leads. :o)
  
  "There is a serious problem today with game audio, and it is not production quality." So begins a new guide to game audio, written by a handful of experts from the sector.
  
  The problem is "[m]ost designers and producers do not understand the extent to which audio can be used to enhance their product quality, partially because they do not have a game audio language or style book that they can use when designing their games." This ignorance causes audio personnel to be left out of crucial planning and development decisions, the authors say. The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio" aims to diminish this problem by educating producers (and team leads, and lead game designers, and other lynchpin figures in a video game's production) about game audio from top to bottom. (source: http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/524/getting_along_wi...)
  
  You can d/l the PDF The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio" here:
  http://www.gamecareerguide.com/thesis/BBQ07_GameProdGuideAud...
  
  cheers,
  
  ~Carsten
  
  • 30 Apr 2008, 1:29 pm
  Carsten Rojahn wrote: > Heya guys, > > some good reading for all you game producers and project leads. :o) > > "There is a serious problem today with game audio, and it is not > production quality." So begins a new guide to game audio, written by > a handful of experts from the sector. > > The problem is "[m]ost designers and producers do not understand the > extent to which audio can be used to enhance their product quality, > partially because they do not have a game audio language or style > book that they can use when designing their games." This ignorance > causes audio personnel to be left out of crucial planning and > development decisions, the authors say. The "Game Producer's Guide to > Audio" aims to diminish this problem by educating producers (and team > leads, and lead game designers, and other lynchpin figures in a video > game's production) about game audio from top to bottom. (source: > http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/524/getting_along_with_game_au > dio.php) > > You can d/l the PDF The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio" here: > http://www.gamecareerguide.com/thesis/BBQ07_GameProdGuideAudio.pdf > > cheers, > > ~Carsten
• 
  Sebastian Cardoso    Group moderator

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  Re: The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

  Hey Carsten!
  
  Great stuff.
  
  I'm taking this to our sound and game designers :)
  
  Cheers,
  
  • 03 May 2008, 1:51 pm
  Sebastian Cardoso wrote: > Hey Carsten! > > Great stuff. > > I'm taking this to our sound and game designers :) > > Cheers,
• 
  Daniel Pharos    Premium Member   Group moderator

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  Re^2: The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

  Very interesting!
  
  - Daniel
  Game Composer
  
  • 06 May 2008, 12:51 pm
  Daniel Pharos wrote: > Very interesting! > > - Daniel > Game Composer
• 
  Nicolas Ducci

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  Re^3: The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

  Hello everybody,
  
  as a freelancer in this sector, trying to join the developer's league all of these facts are true. Until now I worked only for theaters and writers of plays. But the music nowadays has the same problem as the product - the game - itself. I'm sure you'll agree with me that in these days games become more and more closer to real movies. Of course the industry reacted with actors in dotted costumes. But there's so much more than body language, and unfortunately most of the art designers and producers are such bad directors. There do their work very well, don't get me wrong. But here's a point the game industry definitive has to work on.
  
  And with music it's the same. There are so many points a GOOD musician has to keep an eye on, but most of the music I hear in games is pretty boring. No hymns or music which is fitting to the atmosphere of the visual. A brilliant artwork in my eyes where shown in "Silent Hill", "Dead Space" and "Final Fantasy" and (again) of course there are a few more.
  
  BUT - It makes me a kind of sad to see that greater music and truly emotion-filled charekters also as games which last more than just 8 hours are not highly supported, because of the fact that "worse" games will also be sold. This creates a barricade to get better games and is in my eyes not required.
  
  • 25 Oct 2009, 02:34 am
  Nicolas Ducci wrote: > Hello everybody, > > as a freelancer in this sector, trying to join the developer's league > all of these facts are true. Until now I worked only for theaters and > writers of plays. But the music nowadays has the same problem as the > product - the game - itself. I'm sure you'll agree with me that in > these days games become more and more closer to real movies. Of > course the industry reacted with actors in dotted costumes. But > there's so much more than body language, and unfortunately most of > the art designers and producers are such bad directors. There do > their work very well, don't get me wrong. But here's a point the game > industry definitive has to work on. > > And with music it's the same. There are so many points a GOOD > musician has to keep an eye on, but most of the music I hear in games > is pretty boring. No hymns or music which is fitting to the > atmosphere of the visual. A brilliant artwork in my eyes where shown > in "Silent Hill", "Dead Space" and "Final Fantasy" and (again) of > course there are a few more. > > BUT - It makes me a kind of sad to see that greater music and truly > emotion-filled charekters also as games which last more than just 8 > hours are not highly supported, because of the fact that "worse" > games will also be sold. This creates a barricade to get better games > and is in my eyes not required.
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• 
  Mark Priest

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  Re^5: The "Game Producer's Guide to Audio"

  Very informative document, which was also included in our assigned reading materials during an online course on 'video game audio' which I attended last summer (2010, at Berklee Music). George Sanger (The "Fat Man") carries a big influence in the doc, and I personally like his philosophy on (or against) repetitive music looping in games: it gets boring pretty quick, especially when the player is stuck on a difficult game level.
  
  I always consider myself a learner, but I also like the idea of composing music with multiple layers (or variations) that fade in or out depending on the action of the moment. It's still not a "to the frame click" sync of the music with the visuals, though; anything more than a tenth of a second off and you notice it. (Compare with old movies where the dialogue is not quiet in sync with the lips; the timing doesn't have to be off by much!!)
  
  • 23 May 2011, 5:21 pm
  Mark Priest wrote: > Very informative document, which was also included in our assigned > reading materials during an online course on 'video game audio' which > I attended last summer (2010, at Berklee Music). George Sanger (The > "Fat Man") carries a big influence in the doc, and I personally like > his philosophy on (or against) repetitive music looping in games: it > gets boring pretty quick, especially when the player is stuck on a > difficult game level. > > I always consider myself a learner, but I also like the idea of > composing music with multiple layers (or variations) that fade in or > out depending on the action of the moment. It's still not a "to the > frame click" sync of the music with the visuals, though; anything > more than a tenth of a second off and you notice it. (Compare with > old movies where the dialogue is not quiet in sync with the lips; the > timing doesn't have to be off by much!!)