So... how do you use Audio in your game?
I'm still surprised as to what huge difference sound makes. It feels so much more polished. During development, I always think its not really that much of a deal. Plus, I'm listening to music while programming anyway, so music would probably just get in the way. In reality, though, with each sound added to the game, it feels more complete. And then, there is a lot more to it.
The creepy sounds in horror games really help to build that athmosphere (of course, in all other genres as well!). Not only the loud screams of monsters when they jump at you, but also the slightly unmelodic sounds that play as "background music". It's fantastic to see (by which I mean hear) all that.
Some games apply filters to the sounds at runtime, just as they may apply motion blur, bloom, or other fancy effects to the graphics. It's great. I love it when something explodes next to me in Half-life and I'm deaf for half a second. Or everything just sounds like I'm underwater (even though I'm kind of certain that I am in fact not).
Are you doing that in your game? Have you even added sounds at the current state yet? At least some? Do you think they're needed at all? What do you think about these filter-techniques?
What is with the music? Is it dynamic and reacts to the player's action? Maybe you "build it up" as the player goes, starting out with just the vibraphone and ending with a full orchestral track? Or maybe, the gameplay is dictated by the music, as opposed to the other way around?
Have you thought about adding sound and really making it a core gameplay feature? What if the screen was mostly black and you'd have to play just by judging on the sounds? Where do the footsteps come from, can you follow them? Does it get louder when you get near it? Or maybe, one controls a monster with great hearing abilities (not so much sight, though), that is hunted down and now has to escape? Do you have other ideas in which sound and nothing else could dictate the gameplay?
Let`s hear your thoughts
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Here is a technical question. I need an audio system more powerful as the one Acknex has. FMOD seems like a good choice, but what other are there, and which of those have a GStudio-implementation?
Specifically, I need to play sounds backwards as well, and jump to certain positions in the file (all for C-Script). Ahem.
