Sound & Foley

Why is music and sound fx so important within games development?

Aspects like sound and music in games can often easily go over-looked even though a lot of thought goes into the process.The main aim of sound effects is to help immerse the player in the experience as it appears more realistic and captivating, creating an enjoyable experience.The more engaged your five senses are, the more atmospheric the game appears, for example a certain sight could be associated with a sound and feeling (engaging 3/5 senses) eg. axe hits wood—> hear wood being chopped—> Dual-shock controller vibrates.Without sound effects and music, video games would seem very different to how they are now and we certainly wouldn’t find them as entertaining and enjoyable. Music can be used in the background to fill silences and be placed specifically to create an effect, like screechy suspenseful music could be used in a horror game to add tension at an intense point. Also some games music is iconic and can easily be recognisable, like Super Mario Bros.

(By Google definition)
Waveform- a curve showing the shape of a wave at a given time
Wavelength- distance over which the waves shape repeats
Amplitude- maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium
Frequency- the rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time or in a given example
Pitch- the quality of sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone
Hertz- unit of frequency
Decibel- a unit used to measure the intensity of sound
Sound generator-a vibrating object which produces a sound
Loudspeaker- an apparatus that converts electrical impulses into sound, usually used in public places

What is Foley?
Foley is adding sound effects after the shooting of a film, here's an example: