Game Developing from SD view.

While sound and music can enhance and complement a game, they can also completely sink it, regardless of how great the visuals are.

I have been working in the field of sound design for computer games for over 10 years. During this time, I have accumulated some experience that I would like to share in this article.

There is a big difference between writing music for theater, cinema, and games—it’s like a helicopter, an airplane, and a drone. They all fly, but the difference is enormous. I’ve been fortunate to work in all these fields, but every time I had to learn from scratch. Often, when I’m asked whether I can write music, or more specifically if I can "sound-design" a game, I realize (thanks to my experience) that the game designer doesn’t fully understand the complexity of creating such a product from the perspective of sound. While sound and music can enhance and complement a game, they can also completely sink it, regardless of how great the visuals are.

Let’s say you have a triple-A project about dungeons and you want sound—so, what exactly do you mean? Music? Sound effects? Let’s break down these topics.

So, sound in games—which is our focus today—can be divided into at least three large subcategories that need to be filled by the sound designer:

1. Music

This includes soundtracks longer than one minute for the game itself (which should be capable of looping seamlessly), as well as for various animations, like story sequences, intros, etc. It also includes "spots"—short musical snippets approximately 25-40 seconds long, used to emphasize emotional moments such as a win, a loss, or reaching a milestone in the game.

2. Ambient Sound

This is the sound that is constantly present in the space where the player is located, usually in stereo or even 5D to create a sense of spatial immersion when the player turns their head in different directions. This type of sound can be quite long but must be looped seamlessly, meaning it might last only a minute, but the player shouldn’t notice when it restarts. Creating such soundscapes is challenging because the player must not detect the repetition. Ambient sound should provide a sense of total immersion and realism in the game world.

3. Sound Effects

These are short sounds, and their quantity can range from 10 to 500, depending on the game. This category includes character voices, object sounds, and various minor details. These can be mono, stereo, or 5D, depending on their source.

But that’s not all.

Music for games is a separate matter, and depending on the game designer’s preferences, it can be written and implemented in various ways. To jump ahead, we won’t discuss WWISE or FMOD today—that’s for another time. Music is something we don’t have in real life, unless we’re always wearing headphones. Music adds a crucial character to the game’s atmosphere, immersing the player unnoticed.

Understanding the Purpose of the Track

The game designer, much like a film director, must "see" the whole picture

The first thing you need to determine is the effect you want the track to achieve. Based on that, you can decide on the technical aspects of its implementation.

The game designer, much like a film director, must "see" the whole picture and select references for the composer, who will then write the music. While I’ve had the chance to write music without references, it’s not ideal—it increases the time needed, as there are so many music styles to choose from. Defining the style isn’t really the composer’s job, as I’ve mentioned before. It’s like going to a car dealership and saying you want a car without specifying the type, color, sedan or hatchback, cargo or passenger. You’ve got the idea)

Technical Approaches: Looping and Layering

There are two main options: looping a track or layering it like a sandwich, depending on the intensity of in-game events. A “sandwich” involves creating multiple layers of instrumentals, which can be dynamically adjusted during gameplay. This is technically more complex since it requires several tracks playing simultaneously at varying volumes. In terms of length, tracks are typically 60-120 seconds, but with layering, you can shorten the unique section, as the layering effect extends the soundtrack’s perceived length.

Ambient Sound – The Space’s Soundscape

ambient sound is, in my opinion, one of the most important elements in a game, especially in shooters or simulators

Try turning off everything around you that produces sound—your laptop playing music, the smart TV in the next room. Now listen. There’s still sound: the hum of a fridge, neighbors talking, or street noise outside your window. No matter what you turn off, the sound remains. In cinema, this is called "room tone." In games, it’s called "ambient." How does it differ from other sounds?

Ambient is a continuous, looped background sound not tied to specific objects or events in the scene. It creates the atmosphere of a space. The main task here is to ensure the transition from the end to the start of the loop is unnoticeable, creating a perfect loop. Ambient sound should avoid sharp, distinct noises, as there’s a risk the player will notice the repetition after 10 or 20 loops, which can break immersion. However, this depends on the specific case.

In my experience, I recommend making ambient sound at least 60 seconds long in stereo or 5D. A longer loop enhances the illusion that the sound is natural and non-repeating. To further improve immersion, you can apply the "sandwich" method we discussed earlier. Adding or layering additional sound elements randomly during transitions strengthens the feeling of realism.

To summarize: ambient sound is, in my opinion, one of the most important elements in a game, especially in shooters or simulators. Without it, full immersion is impossible, as even with headphones, the player will hear the ambient noise of their actual room while playing.

The Cherry on Top – Sound Effects (SFX)

It’s easy to say you need sound effects, but it’s much more productive to understand why you need them and how many. As mentioned earlier, our brain is accustomed to sound being everywhere. It’s so used to it that it "switches off" unnecessary noises when focusing on a specific sound. This psychoacoustic phenomenon is known as the "cocktail party effect"—when you’re in a noisy place, you can focus on the person you’re talking to, filtering out background noise. Without this ability, you’d likely go crazy.

Thus, even though there may be 100 sources of sound in a room, it doesn’t mean you need to implement all 100. Focus on the most obvious ones and gradually add more as needed.

All sounds in a game can generally be divided into the following groups:

Object Sounds

These include footsteps, weapon sounds, water splashes, and other interactions. Most of these are mono sounds since, in real life, their source is a single object. By positioning these sounds in the stereo panorama, you can "place" the object wherever necessary. Larger sounds, like explosions or spaceship engines, can use stereo or 5D.

Service Sounds

These are interface sounds like button clicks, menu navigation, and popup windows. Here, repetition is acceptable—you don’t need a unique sound for every button. You can group them and assign a single sound to each group.

Sound File Formats

Now let’s talk about formats. There are three main types (though many more exist), and we’ll cover the most commonly used:

WAV

This is the primary, "purest" format, but also the heaviest. It’s where everything starts. Unfortunately, due to their size, WAV files are unsuitable for direct use in games, as they would make the game files excessively large.

MP3

MP3 is a widely used format but may cause issues with looping. Specifically, some MP3 encoders add a fraction of silence at the end of the file, which can create a clicking sound during loops. While it doesn’t always happen, I’ve encountered this in practice.

OGG

This format is similar to MP3 but doesn’t typically have looping issues. It’s my recommendation for seamless loops.

When choosing a format and compression level, it’s crucial to consider the target platform—whether it’s a mobile game, PC, or console. Smaller sound files mean faster game loading times, so the choice is ultimately yours as the game designer or producer.

Implementation:

Here lies the difference between beginners and professionals, as well as between budget projects and AAA productions

Who and How?

A common question I’m asked is: "Who should implement all these sounds?"

Here lies the difference between beginners and professionals, as well as between budget projects and AAA productions. Composers and sound designers create sounds using specialized software and often expensive equipment like microphones and musical instruments. Learning to create music and sound takes years.

Thus, implementing all the sounds and music requires a specialist in audio implementation—a profession known as an audio programmer. This is a programmer who works in specialized software or middleware (like WWISE or FMOD) and focuses on integrating sound into the game, rather than creating it.

If your budget doesn’t allow for hiring an audio programmer, don’t worry. Most well-known game engines (Unity, Unreal, etc.) are fully capable of sound implementation without middleware. However, this requires close collaboration between three key roles: the programmer, game designer, and sound designer. I’ve worked this way, and it was highly effective.

Conclusion

I hope this text will be useful for planning your project or creating your game. It can help you avoid unnecessary challenges or wasted time.

Happy game development, friends!