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| By
The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger
[Back To] Game Audio Resource Guide This article originally appeared in the February 2001 issue of:
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The Sound of Money (Down the Potty): Common Audio Mistakes in Kids' Games Do you make games for young kids? Would you like to know how you can stop flushing a whole load of cash right down the crapper? Please, read on. There is a great and tragic battle that has raged for decades and has taken a drastic toll on our industry. We have been fighting for dollars, but we have been losing business and alienating customers. And, oddly enough, the key soldiers in this battle are the musicians and the "sound guys." While they themselves may have respect for the unique nature of the terrain upon which they shed their blood, often the commanders of their forces do not. The most important point that gets missed is this: the person who buys the game (the parent) only experiences the game through the audio. This is an important point. History repeats itself, but since I am not yet history, I will paraphrase myself instead: Assuming that the game installs easily and that the kid can play the game mostly by him- or herself, and that the kid pretty much likes the game, all of the customer satisfaction, everything the buyer experiences, all of the motivation to buy the next product -- comes from the audio. The parents do not see or play the game. They hear it. Yet due to the inability of Command to recognize this fact, never so much as even three percent of resources has ever been directed to the soldiers at the very important musical front. Historians are still trying to figure that one out. Atomic Weapon: Use with Discretion Audio, especially game audio, is a powerful weapon. When used properly, it has the power to involve, immerse, elevate, and reward. It has the power to excite. It can make an artificial world appear to be deeper, older, and much more complex and complete than it actually is. But when misused, audio reveals its most awesome and deadly power -- the power to annoy. The annoyance situation for any game is already potentially dangerous. The game developers budget for an hour of music. That hour is stretched over a 40-hour entertainment experience. This can be likened to driving cross-country with one audio cassette that you didn't choose. Furthermore, the scarcity of disk space requires that the music be played at a low sample rate, or via MIDI, or, God forbid, through some crazy auto-composing routine like DirectMusic Composer. So what you're getting isn't exactly a direct view into the heart of Aaron Copland. Add to that tiny speakers and an audio environment that was never put through QA with anybody who knew what to listen for. Of course, I will be more than happy to send a formal letter of apology to anybody who can show me -- in writing -- that a feedback cycle exists in their development timeline in which the musician, the only one who knows how many times that D-minor section is supposed to repeat, is supposed to listen to the finished game and correct mistakes before it ships.
Now add to this dire situation the multipliers that are unique to kids' games. For some reason, somebody has decided that any game created for somebody under the age of nine will have the following audio characteristics:
Why? Because it's easy. Because people think kids don't notice these things. Because people think kids actually like these things. But that's insane. None of them is necessary or desirable, ever. Kids like good music, just like you and me. They get bored, just like you and me. And even if they didn't, it doesn't matter because you're never going to drive the kid crazy with good audio. But you're sure to drive the parent crazy with that crap you're giving them, and that's the last sale you'll make in that household. ________________________________________________________ |
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Atomic
Weapon: Use with Discretion
Resource
Guide 
