Creating the Audio Environment

 3 ways of creating audios/sounds in video game:

1. Foley

Foley recording is the creation and compilation of a library of appropriate sound effects through the manipulation, performance, and recording of materials and objects. Each sound effect is created using various objects and materials.

Foley is divided into three main categories:

Footsteps: Walking surfaces are used to simulate the sound of a character walking.

Movement tracks: a character's clothing movement is replicated using similar materials and a performer who mimics the character's body rhythm and movement.

Spot Effects: sound effects such as a match being lighted, door creaks, and gunshots are recorded.

How foley sounds are made?

Foley artists generate sound effects on foley stages, which are vast recording studios with thousands of objects, textures, and surfaces from which artists can make sounds. Foley artists view the entire film before recording in the foley studio, noting what noises they will need to make in each scene and gathering the relevant props and equipment from the studio's warehouse or storage area.

Foley artists used to record sound effects for movies in one lengthy take, projecting the movie onto a screen and flawlessly timing each effect. Foley artists can focus on particular sounds, do numerous takes, then further edit and/or enhance the effects with sound editing software using modern film editing techniques.

Uses

Foley sounds are used in the film to enhance the auditory experience. Foley can also be used to mask unwanted sounds captured on a movie set during filming, such as passing traffic or overflying airplanes.

Example

Here is an example where the man or in this case, the SFX designer/producer tried to create sounds by using raw materials for that certain scene in a video game. At this time, he uses real life rocks and bricks as the impact of the player’s footsteps sounds walking through the video game. 

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Ambient sounds that are more convincing. Background and ambient sounds in a field recording are typically not loud enough to enhance the action on their own, so foley artists recreate them in the studio to make them louder and more believable.   Enhances the concentration of a scene. Sound is an important component of storytelling. Sound effects help to create atmosphere and draw viewers into the story.

Raw Materials Sometimes finding the specific materials to create the sound effects can be complicated and hard to produce during the project.   Outside Recording Difficulty It's trickier when recording outside, where people, wind gusts, traffic, birds, and strange acoustics, among other things, can ruin a good take. The acoustics can be terrible and completely ruin the primary sound you're attempting to capture.

2. SFX

Sound Effects (also known as SFX, though this acronym may be confused with the acronym for Special Effects) are sounds that are used in various forms of media that are not the sounds of human speech or music.

Sound design is used in more than just the entertainment industry. Advertisements, for example, employ sound symbols specifically designed for various products. This technique works perfectly with the collective unconscious: when the customer hears such a noise symbol, he will instantly understand which product is in question, even if he does not see it.

Uses

Sound effects in video games are frequently cut, designed, and optimized to serve as many functions as possible, maximizing efficiency on the CPU, RAM, and game file size. For example, in the code of a game's audio engine, events are constructed from multiple smaller sound effects by layering them and applying real-time processing to them to alter them in some way.

SFX (sound effect, audio effect) is a type of artificially created or processed sound that is used to increase the sense of presence. These are the audio elements that make up the world depicted in your video or episode of a Television program. Consider the sounds produced by a rock falling into water, a crowd of people, or the howl of a fire siren.

Example

The video game taken is from Minecraft. From this image, viewers can see that there’s a monster or mob standing infront of this player. In Minecraft, if a player stands closely beside this “Creeper”, the player could take damage from it because the creeper can blow up and destroy everything that gets nears it especially for Minecraft players. So, the example of sound effect here is the sound designer makes a research of wanting to find specific sounds of bomb blowing up, the environment (soil, stone, sand) gets destroyed and the player got hurt.

ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
Immersion Sound effects exist to provide feedback to players, to immerse them in the virtual realm, and to provide an entertaining experience—all of which are essential components of a successful video game.   Mood Sound effects in video games do a lot to set the mood of the environment, giving clues to what's going on and providing some quality entertainment in the process.	Weak Content If the video game doesn’t focus on to the work and eliminate elements, it can that cause the audience to be unable to place themselves in the narrative and story arc.   Poor Result Sound design in video games can be bad if no creativity or effort is put into it, leaving players completely disinterested.

3. Background Music

Background music is a type of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be the primary focus of potential listeners, but rather its content, character, and volume level are purposefully chosen to affect emotional and behavioral responses in humans such as concentration, relaxation, distraction, and excitement.

Uses

Background music is not intended to be carefully listened to, but rather to fill silence and create an atmosphere. It also allows for the creation of a unique atmosphere with a more or less discrete background in order to extract different emotions in the minds of viewers of an audiovisual production.

Example

Video game example is Street Fighter. Here the image shown is two characters or players are getting ready to fight against each other. While they are fighting, a background music will start to add more effect of excitement and action towards it. The background music used for a fighting usually is loud.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Makes your content more interesting Background music adds texture and aural interest to your presentation, engaging and capturing your audience's attention. The modern viewer is extremely sensitive to musical cues; in fact, they almost expect them. Keep them present and focused on your message by adding this layer of interest.   Sets the tone and inspire your audiences Music is an excellent shortcut for inspiring an emotional connection between your content and the audience. The background music can create the right tone for your message in an instant, whether that’s positive, playful, mysterious, or energetic. The effect will almost always be subconscious and enhances your viewers’ experience.

Distraction The background music would distract from the actual task at hand, which would be the video or text. As a result, it is only recommended to include music if there is an appropriate application area or if creating an effect would aid in the communication of data. The task performed may be prompted.   Multitask Music proves to be an additional factor that makes multitasking difficult. If the music is too loud, the audience may struggle to focus on a specific part of the game making audiences irritated.