Glossary

Audio Engine

The audio engine is a system that works in tandem with the game engine to manage the playback of a game’s sounds. Audio engines are often capable of doing additional processing to in-game sounds, such as adding reverb based on the environment being rendered in the game engine.

Audio Listener

A ‘virtual pair of ears’ that represent the listener’s position within the game world, determining what the player will hear through their speakers. Audio listeners are usually either attached to the game’s camera or sometimes the player character.

It is possible to have multiple audio listeners that you can switch between, for example when changing from first-person to third-person views in a racing game. In this case, you would switch from an audio listener inside the car to one outside of it.

Audio Scripting

Audio scripting is a term used to describe the basic coding used to implement audio into a game and create simple audio systems.

An example of such a system would be a simple mobile game where you have to dodge cars by swiping left and right, a car horn sound plays back each time you come close to a passing car.

Assets

In game development, assets are the actual content that gets implemented into the game. For sound designers, this means audio files for all the game’s sounds - footsteps, gunshots, explosions, etc. For the art team it would be textures, models, normal maps, etc.

Attenuation

The process of reducing the volume of a sound, usually done by the audio engine depending on the audio listener’s position relative to the sound source, reducing the volume of sounds that are further away.

Build

A build is a version of a game’s software that has all of the separate parts assembled into a single entity that can be run like a regular program. Builds are identified with version numbers, usually beginning with a zero for games in development (e.g. Alpha 0.0.1).

You will often hear this term thrown around by game developers in sentences like: “The build is broken” or “We are using yesterday's build for the Friday milestone”.

Diegetic Audio

Diegetic audio describes sounds that exist within the world of the game, that player characters would be able to hear, such as music playing on a radio, footsteps or explosions.

Non-diegetic audio refers to sounds and music that do not exist within the game world, but are played for the person playing the game, for example, the musical score or the UI sounds.

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

A piece of software used to record, edit and process audio. The process of designing sounds and/or composing music takes place within your DAW.

Game Parameter

A game parameter is a value in the game’s memory, usually a number with a minimum and maximum value, that is used to control a process in the game or audio engines.

For example, a player character’s stamina would be stored as a game parameter, which could then be used to control the breathing animation and sound effects, the character’s breathing becoming more intense as their stamina depletes.

Hooks

A hook is an audio event that triggers a sound in the game in response to a specific gameplay event, for example, the Legend of Zelda series’ “Secret Sound”, that plays when the player solves a puzzle.

This term is most often used in the context of talking to gameplay programmers, asking them to create audio hooks for certain animations or gameplay moments.

Implementation

Implementation is the process of adding sounds into a game and setting them up to play back at the correct time (e.g. implementing a door opening sound to play back when the player interacts with a door in the game).

Middleware

Middleware is a piece of software that sits between the game engine and the system’s audio output, which enables the playback and real-time processing of sounds. It handles the behaviour of how audio is played back and enables sound designers to build more complex audio systems without code.

Modulation

Modulation is the process of modifying a sound over time, often controlled by a Low-Frequency Oscillator or an Envelope Follower.

Procedural

Procedural systems are processes that follow a given ruleset, producing a result dependent on an external input.

In the context of game audio, this means an audio system that triggers and processes sounds in response to the player’s input or in-game events.

For example, a procedural footstep system might detect the surface a player character is on, whether they are running, walking or sneaking, and adjust the footsteps sounds accordingly.

An example of non-procedural audio would be a cutscene, where the audio may be designed and synchronised by hand, so that it plays back identically every time the cutscene is viewed.

Runtime

We use the term ‘at runtime’ or ‘during runtime’ to describe things that happen while the game is being played. For example, real-time processing done by the audio engine is done at runtime, usually in response to events in the game.

Source Control

Source Control is the process of synchronising files and software on your machine with others’, to ensure that everyone is working with a correct and/or up-to-date version of the game.

VO

Stands for “Voice-over” and covers any dialogue in the game, as well as exertions, grunts, breathing and other emotes, as well as any alien or made-up languages.