Sound in video games

Sound in Video Games

exercises 1 and 2

Important Definitions:

Wavelength is the distance between the highest points of a sound wave, a higher wavelength indicates a low frequency and therefore a lower sound.

Amplitude is the difference between the top and bottom of a wave a taller wave indicates a louder sound. 

Frequency is the amount of waves per second, a higher frequency results in a higher sound. 

Pitch is how high or low a sound is, it is determined by the frequency at which the sound waves occur. 

Hertz is the unit used to measure the frequency of a sound with 1 Hertz being equivalent to 1 wave per second. 

Decibels are the unit with which the volume of a sound is measured a higher number of decibels is a louder sound. 

A sound generator is a device with the purpose of creating sound; a loud speaker or headphones. 

The Psychology of sound -Why sound is important in games:

Games are made with the intention of evoking an emotion from the player, what that emotion is is up to the developer. Trying to make people feel a specific emotion can be quite difficult, everybody is different and everyone may have different reactions to certain story or game elements. To predict how players will feel when playing a game a developer has to consider every aspect of the player's experience, from how a game looks to how it sounds. Luckily for game developers the idea of evoking emotion through sound has been around for quite a while and as a result music is one of the most used ways for developers to impact a player's emotions.

The emotion that a piece of music creates is based on a variety of things, the most important being the rhythm. If the rhythm of a piece of music is fast a punchy it will make the game feel exciting whereas a slow rhythm may cause the player to feel sad or even tense (this is the kind of music used in a lot of horror games because it makes the player feel uneasy and often builds tension which helps to scare the player at a later point) 

Games also contain sounds other than music, in a lot of games sounds are used to convey information, an enemy may shout to his comrades that he/she just threw a grenade or heard something and is going to "check it out", these cues are nicknamed 'barks' and are often used in games to give the player information about the movements and actions of AI that they otherwise may not have known and could help them to successfully traverse a level or achieve an objective. Games also use sounds to notify the player to something, a lot of strategy games partner specific sounds to specific events, it may be a subtle jingle of a coin purse to inform the player that their steward collected some extra tax or it could be the loud clashing of swords when war is declared against the player. The use of sounds to notify the player is great for complicated strategy games because it helps to convey information without further clogging up the U.I.