Jeffrey Amanor

Sound in Games

Why do we have Sounds in Games?

When it comes to gaming, sitting down and playing the game, figuring out puzzles, defeating enemies and getting rewards all partake in allowing the gamer to have a great experience playing, but one very powerful factor that makes that experience several times greater is the sounds and music heard in the game. Over the years as games have developed, different qualities of sound and uniqueness of sounds help to make the game on a whole even better.

Music in Games

Music is an extremely strong factor of sounds in games. It goes as far as to people tracking down the OST of games so they can listen to the great music put in that game on demand of will. Music is used mainly for the background of different levels, or in a cut scene in the game. One common use of music in games is Character Theme songs. For example, in the game Kingdom Hearts 2, there are specific boss fights where the character you’re fighting against has their theme playing, like when the protagonist, Sora, battles the villain Sephiroth. Sephiroth’s theme would be playing in the background, boosting the epicness of the fight greatly.

The image on the left shows the actual battle happening, and we can find the orchestral OST for this battle on the internet.

Environmental Sounds

These kinds of sounds are what enhance the naturalistic feel of games. When a character is in a certain place in the game, for example a forest, environmental sounds would be the breeze swaying the trees, and the leaves rustling against each other. Or it could be something different, like a volcanic level where the character is in some sort of earthy, unstable area, which your average person wouldn’t of actually been to a live volcano, but sounds of molten rock boiling, sizzling, loud sounds of the ground crushing

Animation & Games

Jeffrey Amanor

against each other, all work together to make it a more realistic and believable experience for the gamer.

General Surrounding Sounds

These sounds are the small, but important sounds, like footsteps. The thing about these sounds is that they are not always highly noticeable if they are there, but if those sounds are not in the game, it would be noticed. In a game like Sonic Riders where the characters ride on hovercraft boards, it has a good sound effect where if the board slows down, you can hear the power usage sound coming from the board get lower and slightly quieter, but when you speed up it stabilizes at a high pitched distinct sound, which can also notify the player that they have reached full speed. Also when the player performs a certain technique, like a dash, you can hear that the boards pitch and volume goes even higher, and you can hear the air around that character like wind being dashed through.

The image on the left shows the character Tails moving in the game, at that point you can hear the board making its standard speed sound, and on the right you see him whilst performing a dash, where you can hear him breezing through the air, and the board at its high pitched sound, boosting the in game feel whilst someone is playing.

Overall...

Sounds in games are extremely important, because they allow the player to be more comfortable whilst playing the game, enjoy it more and boost the overall experience of playing. Music can help to motivate the player to do something in the game, or just allow them to enjoy the music whilst doing something easy in the game. The natural sounds like footsteps etc. Help make the gaming experience a lot better than it would be without those sounds. Sounds are definitely a cornerstone that makes great games.

Animation & Games