Creating Audio Content for Mobile Games

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(No Transcript)
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Creating Audio Content for Mobile Games
Presented by Ben Long

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Personal History
Memphis, TN Birthplace of Rock and Roll
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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

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Personal History

Monster Panic (my first mobile game)
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Audio meets computers


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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
First mobile game in history Nokia Snake
released in 1997
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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
Color graphics and sound were slowly introduced
as the power of mobile devices increased
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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
Graphics advanced quickly but audio limitations
remained
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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
Graphics advanced quickly but audio limitations
remained
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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games

• Limitations
• Small speaker size continues to be a challenge
• Limited to frequencies between 100hz and 4khz
• Size constraints leave very little room for
  audio
• Early phones only supported basic MIDI
  technology
• Audio quality sounds similar to a ringtone
  (harsh)
• Phone brands have different audio specifications

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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
Graphics advanced quickly but audio limitations
remained
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Fragmentation
Each computer has a different way of singing the
same song!
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A Brief History of Audio in Mobile Games
Symbian Game project example

This is a sample of the music style the developer
wanted
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Back to Reality!

• Project Requirements
• Size limit for entire game 60K
• Size limit for music 4K
• Developer required .MID format
• Developer based in Turkey, where bandwidth is
  limited
• General MIDI sound quality is nothing like a
  live orchestra!
• Playback had to be tested on 40 different
  phones
• Each one sounds different when playing the same
  MIDI song

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mobile games composer
I thought I would be making music!
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Mobile
Todays mobile landscape
iPhone Android Blackberry Palm OS Windows Phone
7 Symbian OS Java ME (Sun) BREW (Qualcomm)
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Mobile
The iPhone Revolution
Audio quality is greatly increased

• Total app size limit is 2GB overall
• Total app size is 20MB (over cellular network)
• Almost every audio file format is supported
• MP3s are finally supported (bringing rich sound)
• Uncompressed WAV and AIFF files also supported

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Mobile
The iPhone Revolution
Challenges with developing audio

• Speaker size remains a limitation
• Looping MP3 files can be problematic
• Audio must be appealing when heard repetitively
• Headphone use must also be considered
• Audio can occupy 50 or more of entire game

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Mobile
The iPhone Revolution
General tips for developing audio

• Background music/ambience are typically MP3
• Mono MP3 files (96kbps) save a lot of space
• Use WAV files for User Interface and short
  sounds
• Check volume levels for consistency on iPod
• Create a test build to check for audio bugs

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Mobile
The iPhone Revolution
Payload Truck Game for iPhone

• Object sounds
• Background music
• Soundscape and ambience
• Quality of overlapping audio

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Mobile
The iPhone Revolution
8 Planets Educational game for iPhone

• Object sounds
• Background music
• Soundscape and ambience
• Human voice adds realism to games

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Mobile
Android Considerations
General tips for developing audio

• OGG format natively supported on Android OS
• OGG superior to MP3 in quality, size and looping
• WAV MP3 are problematic in Android game dev
• Test content on growing number of new handsets
• Galaxy Tablet should be included in QA process

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Mobile
Quality Headphones are important
Sony MDR 7506

• The headphone of choice in studios worldwide
• Flat frequency response and very accurate
• High quality sound and inexpensive

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Mobile
The secret of mixing audio for mobile?

• Open headphones and lay them on the desk!

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Mobile
Lode Runner for iPhone 1983 ?
2011
My Tasks

• Preserve and restore original sound effects
• Create new music for the menu and credits screen
• Modify audio content for 20MB app limit

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Mobile
Lode Runner for iPhone
Main menu

• A games main menu is like a lounge or lobby area
• Player should be able to relax and prepare
• Music needs to fit the era (1983) and sound cool

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Mobile
Lode Runner for iPhone

• Repair pops and clicks in broken sounds

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Mobile
Lode Runner for iPhone

• Original game sounds needed volume and EQ
  changes
• Original game had no background music either!
• Always use the same sample rate for files
  (44.1khz/16bit)

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Mobile
Lode Runner for iPhone
credits screen

• It sounds too good, can you make it sound worse?

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Mobile
Thank You!
contact me info_at_noisebuffet.com