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game audio tool they already know how to do in a DAW. We’ve based the design of FMOD Studio on those things common to all DAWs and expanded them to achieve things that are unique to games. If you’re already comfortable with DAWs, using FMOD Studio should feel very natural. Audio teams, of course, work in tandem with game developers specialising in other disciplines. How will FMOD studio improve the interplay between sound teams and the likes of coders, designers and so on? I think we’re seeing a trend, in both internal tools and middleware, of reducing iteration times. The best way to see if something works is to quickly try it – and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Accelerating the iteration process for the audio team gives them more time to experiment and collaborate with the art, design, and writing teams. With FMOD Studio we’ve actually tried to eliminate iteration time altogether by skipping the build step. Our live update system allows sound designers and composers to make changes on the fly and hear them while the game is being played. Is FMOD Studio exclusively for triple-A development, or will it offer pricings and a feature set suitable for smaller studios, and even indies and microstudios? From a design standpoint, we’ve worked hard to layer the complexity in FMOD Studio. Although there are some advanced features DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
that triple-A titles will exploit, there is a core set of basic features that will be used by projects large and small. We’ve focused on making these everyday things easy and upfront. We’ll be announcing pricing closer to the release date. However, it will follow our current pricing philosophy of offering the full product to everyone – free for educational and non-profit use, and variably priced for other projects, depending on their size.
Features like the live update system will allow game sound designers and composers to get content into the game almost instantly. Raymond Biggs, Firelight What challenges still face those working in game audio today? I think a common fight for all of us in game audio is for bigger budgets. Not just money – although that would help – but for system resources. High quality effects and synthesis used in the film, TV, and music industries are computationally expensive – the algorithms are very complex. For example, a reverb effect of the quality of Waves’ IR1 convolution
reverb would blow the entire audio CPU budget for most games – and that’s just for one effect. However, we are beginning to see greater value placed on game audio as attention increases from the press and from gamers. We’re also on the verge of the next console cycle with the muscled up Wii U launching next year. It’s a very exciting time to be in game audio and I think we’re going to be blown away by advances – both technical and artistic – in the next few years.
In designing FMOD Studio to be more like a DAW, Firelight Technologies hopes sound designers and composers will feel able to spend more time experimenting with dynamic sounds and music.
How important is integration with other tools and technology to FMOD Studio? It’s easy to forget when you’ve got your head stuck in developing a tool that you’re only one stop in a much larger pipeline. FMOD Studio sits between the DAW and the game engine, so anything we can do to improve the flow of content will help speed up the process. FMOD is already integrated with all the major game engines, and we’ll be looking to continue those integrations with FMOD Studio. Additionally, features like the live update system will allow sound designers and composers to get content into the game almost instantly. In terms of technology we’ve been lucky to have attracted some really great partners; companies like Dolby, iZotope and Audio Gaming have incredible technology far beyond anything we could do in-house. We know our own limits – and we can rise beyond them by working with great partners. www.fmod.org OCTOBER 2011 | 45