Music in games

Hi everyone, today's aim is to understand the use of sound and music in games.

List of three games that use sound to show information: 

Destiny 2:

Destiny 2 uses a lot of speech to show emotion and information within the game, for example, when the main npc's talk it is to show the emotions between themselves and to allow the player information to progress the story and complete missions. Destiny 2 also uses music to show when an events is happening and when the boss appears.

Pac-man:

Pac-man uses music a lot to show different things within the game, for example, when Pac-man dies music is used to show the player that the game is over when you die. This also happens when Pac-man powers up and can go eat the enemies. 

Simpson's hit and run:

Simpson's hit and run uses four aspect of audio, for example, running to walking and activities. This is common is most games and is one of the main mechanics needed in games. Music is also used to show a level within games like this one or to introduce a character, usually alongside speech. 

How audio is used:

Sound:

Sound in games is normally used to display emotion or represent a theme or character, and has stopprd confusion within storylines throughout many games.

Speech:

Speech in games is used to show not only a character's personality but is also to show who the character is as a person. Speech is also used to show ideas and views within storylines and events.

Iconography:

Icons within games don't always have to be a logo, name or character, they can also be sound. For example the skyrim theme tune "Dovahkiin" is very iconic, aswell as the ding sound that plays when sonic picks up the rings. This helps the problem of advertisement because if something is iconic people want to hear or play the game it comes from.

Symbolism:

Like Iconology, Symbolism involves sound, characters and logos, this are normally iconic. For example, the atari logo is represented by their world renowned game Pong because the three prongs are the midline and the players beside it. This also helps the advertisment of the game.

Understanding sound design theory:

Why is music and sound FX so important within games development?

Music and sound FX helps a game to be completed, because there would be no themes, emotions and actions within a game. Music and sound FX are part of the experience within a game and allow the player to enjoy it much more. Music and sound FX are part of the immersion within games, which allow the player feel embedded within a game and can also make a game more realistic.

What is:

waveform:

Waveform comprises of Wavelength, amplitude and frequency. It is the temporal frequencies of sound waves which are generally expressed in terms of cycles per second.

pitch:

The quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of tone.

Hertz:

Hertz is the mesurement/unit for frequencey.

Decibel level:

A unit used to measure the intensity of a sound or the power level of an electrical signal by comparing it with a given level on a logarithmic scale. This is how loudness is measured.

sound generator:

A sound generator is a vibrating object which produces a sound.

What is Foley? 

Foley is artificial sound that is added as audio to a game or film, where the original sound can not be heard, due to background sound like white noise.