Hello all, I consider myself quite experience in the world of virtual instruments, mixing, editing, processing, sequencing, etc. when it comes to straight music for just about anything. However, I would like to learn more about what a sound design and composer NEEDS to know if they are planning on getting into the game industry, possibly even in house. Basically I'd like to be prepared so if that app comes up that sounds like me, I can actually be confident in knowing how to do that stuff. So, when it comes to audio coding with tools such as OpenAL, XACT, FMOD, etc is there any resources such as books to purchase, or tutorial vids that are fairly easy to undestand out there? Or do I need to purchase the full manual for each engine (such as a full "How to program games with XACT" guide) Any resources would be great. Also, I looked at the sticky with resources, but it contained more about how to actually make the music.

Study the major audio engines out there: Miles, Fmod, Open AL and this should get you started. However, understand that most games will create proprietary elements as well. I'm learning a great deal since starting my in-house gig, so I understand completely how you feel The freelance side of things is more about just creating assets and then letting someone else who already knows the stuff implement it. As far as resources go- I don't know much off hand. I'm mainly messing with the tools themselves and learning from my peers. Oh, and reading the manuals as well. :)

If I might ask then, that in-house job you landed. Did you pretty much ignore the (extensive knowledge in audio programming techniques) that I already see in many game audio ads?

I just see things like this, and think (I guess I'm not qualified enough)

Then again, I'm not ready to move or anything. But I always think hypothetically for the future.

Well most of the jobs I've applied for always list extensive audio programming as an added bonus but not required.

What they do require you know is how to program VST synths and such- which you say you already know. Are you looking at audio (composer-sound designer) jobs or are you looking at audio programming jobs? Because most of the jobs I know do not require extensive audio programming knowledge. They usually reserve that for the actual audio programmer. :)

I'd prefer strictly composing and sound design. But I'm just trying to be flexible, and expand my expertise.

I can see now that I don't REALLY need to know though.

The other thing that kind of confuses me is I always see another requirement such as "Must have 3 professional titles out"

Does that mean just any 3 titles, even if there's a self funded project. Because to achieve that seems impossible since all of them ask for it.

The other question I have is what do you use for creation of unique sounds from absolute scratch in the terms of synths. Mainly for UI sounds, or Sci-Fi sounds. I have a lot of them, but I'm curious what people use.

Er...sorry for the bunch of questions. Thanks for your help.

Three professional titles usually means something that will be distributed to some degree (and this doesn't include just friends and family of the crew). They want to see that you've had experience working on a title that went through a dev cycle, was completed and then published. Many mod (or indie) games don't fit this mold- hence the wording "professional titles".

For SFX here we use:

* Collection of royalty free sound effects

* Create our own foley effects

* VST synths

and then mix them all together while applying a myriad of plugins.

I hope that helps!

Nate

I seriously doubt that you will need any programming experience to work on sound and music in games. The audio code will be handled by one of the programming team, and you'll just be creating assets for use by the game. Obviously a degree of familiarity with some technical concepts is fine, but you won't need to know anything about OpenAL, FMOD, etc.