By Eric Van Amerongen, Sr. Sound Designer, Somatone Interactive

Audio for games: It’s what we do. It’s what we breathe day in and day out here at Somatone. If you’re a producer and want your game to be engaging, creative, cohesive, competitive on the market and most importantly, FUN! for your user’s experience, then factoring in great audio is an important component of your production. From our experience, great audio not only begins with its inception, but also continues through to its final implementation, which is the most important part of game audio production. (more…)

As published recently in Audio Pro International

Sci-fi weapon sound design is the subject for the next installment of our Game Audio column, in partnership with Somatone Interactive.

This month, executive director Michael Bross and senior sound designer Eric Van Amerongen team up to share their insights into the creative process for this particular gaming genre from their respective positions. (more…)

The Circle of Development Trends

Casual and mobile game development tends to be cyclical, with a big hit game leading developers to create games with similar themes and gameplay. In the early and mid-2000′s, we worked on a lot of Match-3 style games that followed in the wake of the success of titles like Bejeweled and Zuma. (more…)

As an audio director, I’m always interested in ways to create the most amazing audio experiences possible in a game. In the last 10 years, we’ve seen valuable developments in game-side audio tools that have aided in these efforts. Once such software tool / engine is Wwise.

Wwise is a powerful interactive sound engine for games that has traditionally only been accessible by AAA / big budget games, but in the last couple of years, it also began supporting iOS and Android. This is a great benefit for mobile game devs, as it gives them access to tools that pave the way for an impactful audio contribution to the overall experience.

Here are 7 reasons why mobile developers should seriously look at using Wwise:

1. It’s free. For games that use under 200 audio assets, Wwise is free. This is great news for mobile game developers, since most mobile titles require less than that.

2. Lowers development costs. Instead of devoting precious engineering time to create an audio engine for your game, a powerful solution is available that requires little time to get up and running.

3. Reduces burden on developer. Wwise allows your audio team (whether internal or external) to effectively manage and integrate the audio content. This frees the rest of your team to focus on other tasks.

4. Proven tools. Wwise has been used on a ton of games, from Assassin’s Creed to Zoo Tycoon to hundreds of other titles. We’ve used it here at SomaTone for games like Marvel Heroes and Oddworld, as well as a number of other titles.

5. Exceeds Unity / Unreal audio tools. Audio features in Unity and Unreal are basic and don’t allow your team to harness the emotional power that great music and sound design can bring to the table. Wwise really blows away audio tools in these engines.

6. Unity / Unreal Integration. It’s already supported by the makers of these game engines, so that means less hassle for your developers to integrate into your game engine.

7. Better audio. Last but not least, it will allow your sound designers and composer to create a better audio experience in your game because it gives them access to a slew of powerful audio-oriented features from audio behavior settings to integration.

With all these benefits, there’s no reason why mobile game devs should not look at Wwise. For information on Wwise:
https://www.audiokinetic.com/products/wwise/

For more information on the free license:
https://www.audiokinetic.com/licensing/free-limited-commercial/

Watch for more in-depth coverage of this topic coming soon in our blog.

Dolby Laboratories and Somatone Interactive Join Forces Bringing Enhanced Audio Quality to Mobile Developers and Publishers Worldwide with Dolby Audio

In a move that will bring enhanced audio quality to mobile game developers and publishers, Dolby Laboratories, the world leader in audio innovation, joins forces with the industry’s most experienced sound provider, Somatone Interactive, to significantly advance the mobile game experience with Dolby Audio™. (more…)

SomaTone Interactive Forges New Collaboration with Immersion Corporation to Bring Immersive Tactile Effects to the Mobile Video Games Industry–Leading tactile tech innovator chooses the industry’s most experienced game sound provider to help advance the use of haptics in video games worldwide (more…)