Sound design for videogames

Sound design is an important part of any videogame. When we refer to sound design, we're talking about music and sound effects, and how they work together to enhance the gaming experience. 

Music and sound effects contribute to the tone and feel of your game, and should aim to reflect elements of the game itself. If your game is all about adventure, the music should reflect that. If your game is retro-looking then maybe some 8 or 16-bit music might suit it? If your game is set during a certain time, you might create music that sounds like it is of that time.   

Your sound design should complement something about your game. Perhaps the music can be fast-paced to match the fast-moving gameplay you’ve created, or eerie to match the dark setting of your monster-fighting game. It’s up to you, but consider how it can enhance the player experience.

Like graphics, sound design also communicates things about the game, from changes in state to overall mood. Sound effects and music can tell the player things they can’t see or provide additional prompts on success and failure, enhancing the experience and gameplay.

So, how do you want the player to feel at each stage or section? The music in the 'easy' level might conjure up images of freedom and expansiveness. In contrast, music for a boss battle might be scary and foreboding. Even if the player isn’t actively aware of it, the sound and music will have an impact, and thinking through what emotions you want players to feel will help you when it comes time to compose your soundscape.

This same idea applies to sound effects, which you can use to communicate changes in state and other things that are happening in the game.

Hear from sound designer / audio specialist Maize Wallin and their thoughts on designing sound for videogames.

Of course, not everyone is a musician but you can use programs like Beepbox to create your own music, even if you don't play an instrument yourself.

Using Beepbox you can create chiptune music, also known as 8-bit music. You might recognise this type of music from older videogames, so your game will have a cool retro feel about it. Create some music for your game using Beepbox. Make music for the general gameplay and some music for when your player wins and for when your player loses. 

The gameplay piece should be quite long, so it can play throughout the game. You can create loops in Beepbox so don’t worry about having to compose a really long piece of music. 

Make your ‘you win’ and ‘you lose’ music quite short.  

Before you make your music, think about things like: 

Tempo – do you want your music to be fast-paced, plodding, or somewhere in the middle? The tempo (similar to speed) will affect how the player experiences the game. 

Key – a key is a series of musical notes that work together. You can experiment with different keys in Beepbox, as you might find a key such as the default key of C sounds nice and upbeat. You might find other keys sound darker, or gloomier, such as G minor. Here’s a great breakdown that associates different musical keys with different emotions, feelings and tones.

Check out our instructional video on how to use Beepbox below:

Of course, if you're handy with other digital music recording programs, or non-digital instruments and have the means of recording that music, go for it!

Assuming your game is a functioning one, think about the different pieces of music you need, and where they will be used or activated within your game.

So think about the different moments, levels, or events in your game.

A classic example is the original Marios Bros. We all know the Mario theme music that plays during general gameplay and above ground levels, but think about how the music changes dramatically in the underground levels.

You could have music that you associate with a particular character in your game, you could have different music play depending on a win or lose state, it's up to you.

Depending on what you've created your game in, you might find there are inbuilt sound effects you can use, or maybe their isn't.

Either way, you might like to consider recording or creating digitally, your own sound effects.

Check out the footage below from Llama That Wandered a Bit Too Far, winner of the Junior Game category for Screen It 2018. You can also download the game from here, as well as other winning Screen It videogames here.

Time to either create or collect all the sound effects assets you need. Your game engine might have some sound effects available for use, otherwise. Otherwise you can check out this online listing from SuperDevResources.

Another way to create simple effects yourself is using Jsfxr or Chiptone.

Jsfxr is really handy and fairly self-explanatory, so use this is you're fairly new to sound creation.

Chiptone is a more dense and more for those with existing knowledge of music and digital sound creation but have a look at both and play around.

There is a good tutorial for Chiptone here if you're interested.

For some inspiration, check out this audio analysis of all the sound effects from Limbo.

As we don't know what program you have used to create your game, we can't tell you how to code your music and sound effects into your game, but have a look at find tutorials for your specific program.

The general idea is you want to associate sound effects with specific actions or interactions (things the player does, and also the player and objects interacting with each other).

Your sound effects should be short audio files, meaning they can play out in full.

With your music though, you might have to decide when the music will stop. For example, ending the level is an obvious one, but if a different piece of music is activated in level, should one piece stop, and another start?

Think about issues you might encounter, and develop a plan.