[In this sponsored spotlight feature, Gamecues CEO Todd Resnick reveals his new service, which enables game creators to search and license audio easily from a massive library of sounds and music.]

Nowadays, high-quality tactical audio is as essential a component to video game production as perhaps the content itself. It's the sound (and the music) that amplifies game sequences and heightens emotion.

Sure, content is king but isn't it the dynamic pairing of audio and visual that together creates the real magic? Without a sound track or a theme song, how does the entertainment value of a title really play out, or does it?

We believe that it's the sound itself that carries, informs and completes the narrative of any game - which is precisely why we've invented a new means of audio delivery, better known as Gamecues.

Over the last 35 years, the very notion of game audio has progressed considerably - from generic sound effects and crude, simplistic melodies to full-scale orchestral productions and top-dollar studio affairs. And though the industry continues to advance, no one has stopped to address the growing concern of "access." And that is, how do independent game publishers and developers in say Kansas, or Kyoto tap into these resources?

Is it merely a budgetary concern or is it just as much about understanding how best to navigate through this relatively new terrain - comprised of talent, agents and a sea of red tape? These questions got us thinking about what we could do and how we could bridge the fundamental gaps in the sourcing process.

Gamecues is essentially re-engineering the way game audio is sourced, delivered and implemented. We've aggregated content from five distinct areas (soundtracks, original scoring compositions, sound effects, foley, and HD 5.1 effects) and published it in a searchable, library type format.

In short, we've streamlined game audio sourcing and have made high-quality audio available at a fraction of the cost. Even more, we're the first to market a licensing model built specifically and exclusively for those in the gaming industry - which is not only a unique proposition but also one that is of great value to our clients.

OVERVIEW

As part of the Gamecues service, developers and publishers can create a variety of licenses, build organized projects, assign cues to various acts, levels and environments, input production notes, choose from a variety of file formats, bit rates and sample rates (including HD 5.1 sound effects).

Though actual content partners (or vendors) cannot yet be disclosed, Gamecues is in discussion with several well-known copyright holders to acquire in excess of 1 million copyrights by year-end. Thus far, Gamecues has licensed users from 33 different countries and hundreds of licenses sold without any marketing or promotional efforts. For more information about the company, and its parent, please see below.

HOW IT WORKS

The Gamecues service essentially functions like a player - similar to that of iTunes. Content is arranged by category (scoring, soundtracks, sound effects, foley, and HD 5.1 effects) and users can browse by category, genre or with more specifics (title, artist, bpm, feel, etc). Each musical cue can be downloaded before it's actually licensed, however sound effect assets are purchased as downloaded.

This process eases comfort and enhances customer satisfaction. The idea is to use the Gamecues library to source your entire audio production, from foley and sound effects to more complex and complete scores. It's a fairly simple concept but so far, the market competition is limited, at best.

Click for full image

Per the actual functionality of the service, it's best explained as it is on the site:

1. Explore
2. Arrange
3. License