AAA (Animation, Art, Audio): Making Sense of Sound for Games

Why game audio is different

  • Real-time, non-linear systems: music and SFX respond to game state and player input
  • Technical budgets: CPU, memory, streaming IO, voice counts, spatialization headroom
  • Platform variability: APIs, device outputs, loudness targets, and certification rules

What’s a platform?

Arcade

More links: International Arcade Museum · MAME

Console

  • Generational hardware with strong middleware support (FMOD, Wwise)
  • Living-room context drives output choices and target loudness; certification influences mix and output modes
  • Devkits matter for validating device routing, controller headset paths, and compliance checks

See: Retro Consoles Wiki · webЯcade More links: FMOD Studio docs · Wwise platforms overview · XAudio2 (Microsoft) · Dolby Atmos for Xbox

PC in 2025: Windows, macOS, Linux

LAN
  • Windows remains the broadest target; plan device-routing tests (WASAPI/XAudio/ASIO)
  • macOS (Apple silicon): ports increasingly arrive via modern tooling; verify device routing and plugin behavior
  • Linux/SteamOS: many Windows titles run via Proton; validate controller/headset paths and any middleware conditionals

Further reading: Steam Hardware & Software Survey · Proton · Apple Game Porting Toolkit More links: WASAPI/Core Audio APIs · ASIO (Steinberg) · Core Audio (Apple) · PipeWire · JACK Audio

Handheld

  • From Game Boy to modern handheld PCs
  • Same middleware as PC, different constraints: battery/thermal budgets, smaller speakers
  • Budget CPU for HRTF/spatialization; plan a “handheld mix” profile

Also try: webЯcade More links: Steam Deck · SteamOS · Game Boy sound (Pan Docs)

Mobile

  • iOS and Android dominate; audio stacks include AVAudioEngine/Core Audio and AAudio/Oboe
  • Fragmentation: test on speakers and common earbuds; consider Bluetooth latency
  • Use mobile-specific EQ/DRC and format choices to protect intelligibility on phone speakers

More links: AVAudioEngine · Android Oboe · AAudio

Web-based games

  • Early multiplatform gaming with engines offering consistent visual interfaces
  • Flash is discontinued; modern web games use HTML5, WebAudio, WebAssembly, and increasingly WebGPU
  • Engine exports (Unity WebGL, Godot HTML5) have audio feature gaps vs. native builds
  • Native-web stacks: Phaser or PlayCanvas for rendering, with howler.js or Tone.js for direct control of WebAudio
  • Example archive: Flash Museum – Flash Games Online for Free

See also: Web Audio API (MDN) · AudioWorklet · WebAssembly · WebGPU · Unity WebGL audio · Godot export for web · Tone.js · howler.js · Phaser audio · PlayCanvas audio

Cloud/streaming as a platform

  • Audio is encoded/decoded in the stream; plan headroom and transient handling
  • Latency is network-bound; design UI and audio feedback tolerant of added delay
  • Test loudness and intelligibility across common streaming clients

More links: Opus codec · WebRTC · Cloud gaming (overview)

XR/VR snapshot

  • Object and ambisonic workflows; HRTF spatialization is the default
  • Geometry-driven acoustics (occlusion, reflections, reverb) via SDKs
  • CPU budgeting: plan voice counts; decide baking vs. real-time

More links: Steam Audio · Meta XR Audio SDK · Microsoft Spatial Sound · Resonance Audio

Narrativism and ludology

  • Video games as stories: cyberdrama, interactive fiction, multi-path outcomes
  • Video games as systems: rules, constraints, challenge navigation
  • Modern practice balances authored narrative with system-driven moment-to-moment play

Further reading: Ludology · Narrative in video games · Hamlet on the Holodeck

MDA framework (mechanics → dynamics → aesthetics)

  • Mechanics: data and rules
  • Dynamics: runtime behavior from player and system interaction
  • Aesthetics: the emotional responses evoked in the player

More links: MDA paper (PDF)

Emergence in games

More links: Emergent gameplay · The Sound of No Man’s Sky (GDC)

References and resources

Web audio stack

Spatial and emergent audio