Welcome to the fifth volume of Game Audio Programming: Principles and Practices – the first series of its kind dedicated to the art, science, and craft of game audio programming. In this volume, some of the top game audio programmers in the industry delve into audio programming topics from low-level subjects like oscillator techniques to high-level topics such as automated testing, reverb, and music.
Game audio programmers at all skill levels will find something to learn in this book. The methods in these pages have been used in games of all sizes and shapes, from large AAA titles down to small indie games, so they are all tried and tested and ready for you to apply in your own game audio code. There are chapters about speech systems, asynchronous multithreaded audio engine architecture, impulse responses, and more.
This collection compiles topics from a vast body of advanced knowledge and wisdom about game audio programming. Whether you are a newly minted game audio programmer or an expert, or if you’re just the lucky soul who gets to do the work, this book is for you!
List of Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Flavors of Game Audio Programming
Pablo Schwilden Diaz
Section I. Low-Level Topics
2. Oscillators for Real Time Synthesis
Collin Schupman
3. Recording Audio Data to a Memory Buffer
Guy Somberg
Section II. Acoustics
4. An Overview of Game Acoustics
Mike Filion
5. Multilayered Dynamic Reverb
Colin Walder
6. Creating Impulse Responses for Virtual Environments
Guy Somberg
Section III. Game Integration
7. Transient-Driven Events from Game Parameters: How to Treat Frame-Based Game Parameters as Signals and Filter Them to Post Meaningful Play Events
Robert Bantin
8. Addressing the Neglect of Sound in Reused Animations
Roberto Bender
9. Rule Systems and Context Aware Speech in Homeworld 3
Jon Mitchell
Section IV. Audio Engine Architecture and Features
10. Updates to the Sound Engine State Machine
Guy Somberg
11. Asynchronous Multithreaded Audio Engine Architecture
Guy Somberg
12. Asynchronous Multithreaded Audio Engine Code
Guy Somberg
13. Automated Testing for Game Audio Systems
Charlie Huguenard
14. An Algorithmic Approach to "Max Within Radius" Virtualization
Guy Somberg
Section V. Music
15. Synchronizing Music to Gameplay to Create Music Moments
Fiach O’Donnell
16. Remixing Musical Loops in Real Time
David Su
Index
Biography
Guy Somberg has been programming audio engines for his entire career. From humble beginnings writing a low-level audio mixer for slot machines, he quickly transitioned to writing game audio engines for all manner of games. He has written audio engines that shipped AAA games like Hellgate: London, Bioshock 2, The Sims 4, and Torchlight 3, as well as smaller titles like Minion Master, Tales from the Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. Guy has also given several talks at the Game Developer Conference, the Audio Developer Conference, and CppCon. When he’s not programming or writing game audio programming books, he can be found at home reading, playing video games, and playing the flute.
