Video game sound designers have a unique task in the world of sound design. In a film, the sound designer knows exactly what will happen, but in a game the designer must account for the player’s agency. The world will change depending on the player’s interaction with it. This is ‘adaptive audio’, audio that adapts to player input. An example of adaptive audio in game design is footsteps, they must first be tied to the event of walking (then the player inputs the signal to walk), the audio must then be matched to the walking animation. The necessary work to achieve audiovisual correspondence in games is far more than film. There is another degree of adaptivity beyond this, adapting to environment. The footsteps must change sound depending on where the player moves their character. This is especially important when there is an informative element to it, for instance if ice is slippery there should be an auditory cue for the player.
Another degree of adaptivity is how the sounds we implement interact with the environment in the game. Inaccurate reverb will bring the player out of the game, ruining the immersion. As sound designers our job is to immerse the player, and to avoid distracting their attention from where it ought to be.
To solve these problems we must include variation within the sounds triggered by the event. This can be done though designating certain reverbs to certain zones within the game. We can also implement gradual gradual transitions that is dependant on movement thought environments, this is usually tied to music transitions from the different locations. The most effective utilisation of adaptive audio, in my opinion, is when designers pitch sound effects to key of the background music. This results in a merger between diegetic interactive sound and the non-diegetic sonic/melodic world of the game. I hope to have the opportunity to explore implementing these parameters in FMOD.