The Essential Guide to Game Audio

The Essential Guide to Game Audio

by Steve Horowitz, Scott R. Looney
Released March 2014
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781134595440

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Book description

The Essential Guide to Game Audio: The Theory and Practice of Sound for Games is a first of its kind textbook and must-have reference guide for everything you ever wanted to know about sound for games. This book provides a basic overview of game audio, how it has developed over time, and how you can make a career in this industry. Each chapter gives you the background and context you will need to understand the unique workflow associated with interactive media. The practical, easy to understand interactive examples provide hands-on experience applying the concepts in real world situations.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Foreword
  8. How to Use This Book and The Application
  9. Note for Educators
  10. Introduction: Why You Need This Book
    1. Opportunity Knocks!
    2. The Portable Market is Exploding
  11. Level 1: AAA (Animation, Art, Audio): Making Sense of Sound for Games
    1. What’s a Platform?
    2. A Video Game’s Structure
    3. Is it a Story or is it Interactivity?
    4. “Make It So“—The Game Controller
    5. Let’s Make Some Noise
  12. Level 2: On the Road—to NOW! A Brief History of Games and Game Audio
    1. The First Video Games
    2. More or Less
    3. 1940—1970: The Silent Era of Video Games
    4. 1970—1980: Early Arcade Games and Consoles
    5. The Golden Age of the Arcade
    6. 1990s
    7. The Rise of Home Computers
    8. 2000s
  13. Level 3: My Non-Linear Life: Audio for Interactive Environments
    1. Challenges of Interactive Media
    2. Digital Sampling Basics
    3. Audio Compression
    4. Early Console and Arcade Game Development Challenges
    5. Console and Arcade Workflow Improvements and Challenges
    6. FM Emerges, MIDI Helps Out Too
    7. Why Use MIDI?
    8. Digital Audio Enters the Picture
    9. CD-ROM Saves the Day?
    10. PC Gaming Comes of Age
    11. Game Audio in the Modern Age of Games and Consoles
    12. Middleware
  14. Level 4: What Is Hip? Styles and Genres: Welcome to Acronym Hell
    1. The Flavor Pill
    2. Gameplay Mechanics
    3. Evolution of Games
    4. No Joke—PC Games Get Serious
  15. Level 5: Bleeps, Blops, Clicks, and Pops: Sound Design in Games
    1. The History of Sound Design
    2. Sound Effects Layers
    3. Formats for Sound Files
    4. Open, Compressed Audio File Formats
    5. Birth of Sound Design in a Game
    6. The Asset List
    7. Where do Sounds Come From?
    8. Editing Techniques
    9. Creating Your Own Sounds
    10. Meet the Team
  16. Level 6: Compose Yourself! The Art of Composing for Games
    1. Music Creation for Media
    2. A New Breed of Composer
    3. Modern Day
    4. Speaking of Music
    5. Game Music Form and Structure
    6. Music Gets Dynamic
    7. Teasing Apart the Terms Interactive Music and Adaptive Music
    8. Elements of Game Music
    9. The Music Team
  17. Level 7: Do you Hear That Voice in My Head? Voice-Over for Games
    1. Voices
    2. Highlights in Game Voice-Over
    3. Voice-Over Functions in Games
    4. Who’s Who in Voice-Over Production
    5. Dialogue Production Basics
    6. How Microphones Work
    7. Studio Recording Session Overview
    8. Dialogue Production for Video Games
  18. Level 8: Meet the Middleman: Understanding Audio Middleware
    1. The Old School
    2. Why Do We Need Middleware?
    3. Audio Middleware Lets You
    4. 3D Sound in Games
    5. Obstruction
    6. Audio Engine Needs
    7. Audio Middleware Structure
    8. The Other Side of the Fence—The API
    9. Current Middleware Tools
    10. Other Middleware of Note
  19. Level 9: The Early Bird Gets the Worm: Preparing Your Audio
    1. Mixing for Games
    2. Audio Preparation for Game Engines
    3. Just So You Know. …
    4. The Importance of Looping in Games
    5. Creating Perfect Loops
    6. Audio Format Choices
  20. Level 10: ‘Silly Human…’: How Game Engines Think
    1. Background of Game Engines
    2. Current Game Engines
    3. Structure of a Game Engine
    4. How a Game Engine Thinks About Sound
    5. The Importance of Testing and Design Iteration
  21. Level 11: Unify My World: Audio in Unity 3D
    1. Getting Familiar With Unity’s Structure
    2. Unity’s Audio Engine: Under the Hood
    3. Extending Unity’s Engine: Supported Audio Formats
    4. How Sound Works in Unity
    5. Getting to Know The Unity Interface: Hands On
    6. A View To Your Project
    7. Moving Around in the World
  22. Level 12: Unity Too: Basic Audio Implementation in Unity 3D
    1. Importing Audio into Unity
    2. Native vs Compressed Modes
    3. Compressed Audio Loading Modes
    4. Other Import Setting
    5. Putting a Sound into Gamespace
    6. Triggering a Sound in Unity
    7. Under the Hood: More Advanced Audio Triggering Methods
    8. More Methods of Triggering Audio and Scripting Terms in Unity
    9. Getting (More) Help
  23. Level 13: Back To The Future: The World of Mobile and Web Games
    1. There and Back Again: The World of Mobile Games
    2. The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same…
    3. Mobile Game Styles and Forms
    4. Operating Systems for Mobile Devices: iOS and Android
    5. Structure of IOS
    6. IOS Audio Specifics
    7. Sound on Android
    8. General Considerations for Working on Mobile Game Platforms
    9. Tips for Working on Moblie Game Platforms
    10. HTML5: The Pitfalls of a New Standard
    11. Enter The Web Audio API
    12. Flash is Dead—Long Live Flash!
    13. Sound in Flash
  24. Level 14: Show Me The Money: Getting a Job in Sound for Games
    1. Getting Into the Game Audio Business
    2. Jobs in Sound: Steve’s Grand Theory of Adaptation!
    3. Questions, Questions, Questions!
    4. Marketing Yourself: Preparing a Killer Resume, Portfolio and Website
    5. Designing Your Website
    6. The Importance of Networking
    7. Networking/Skill-Polishing with Game Jams
  25. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Essential Guide to Game Audio
  • Author(s): Steve Horowitz, Scott R. Looney
  • Release date: March 2014
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781134595440