Hey guys. I know this is a hot topic with some of us, but I know personally I'd love to hear more information on this:

So, I went to GDC a few months ago and a lot of the audio guys I talked to thought it was really important these days for game audio professionals to know how to implement their own audio. This gives the composer/sound designer control of how the audio is used in the game as opposed to throwing your assets "over the fence" to the game developers and hope for the best. I can talk about how important that it might be for the audio person to be mixing in-game, controlling audio behavior, etc, etc, but I'll leave that for another time.

I know how to used FMOD very well, but it's what happens afterwards is what I would like to be more involved with. Where does an audio guy like me begin with learning how to program audio? What programming language should I be looking at? Are there any good resources available to concentrate solely on audio implementation programming and not learning a whole broad language? Should I even bother?

I know the argument has been made that audio people should be focusing on music/sound. I am considering all options and want to assess how much time/effort it would take to learn audio programming. Any thoughts?

Are there any good resources available to concentrate solely on audio implementation programming and not learning a whole broad language? Should I even bother?

Broadening your skills is almost always "worth the bother" :)..

If you can find a cheap community college programming class in something like C++ or C#, it's probably well worth it. Not necessarily because you'll be coding in the game itself, but to give you a much better perspective on what it is the programmers actually do :)... Or to quote Marty O'Donnell.. "Oh, and everyone should learn some programming."

"Scripting", which is sort of 'programming-lite' is also very useful, for being able to create complex audio behaviors--either for things that FMOD/WWise don't do, or for the (very large) percentage of games that don't use middleware.

Knowing how to code of course won't make up for inadequate music/sound chops. But presuming you shine in those areas, understanding more of the tech that goes into the game can help differentiate you from others. In the end, it's all about making the game better, and if you can talk turkey with the programmer, or even help them out, it's only a plus.

As a one-person anecdote, I'm working on a game right now that, because I was able to whip up a (very) simple demo using middleware, convinced the developer it was worth the $'s to license it. And the game will sound that much better for it.

I have a quote on the front page of the GameSoundCon web site from the audio director of Volition discussing his hiring process:

I see a lot of applicants who have experience in [traditional] media... if this is all you got, then you will be outgunned

..if you've got other skills that make you valuable, like knowing how to script... or knowing how memory and streaming work.... well, that is awesome, because that sounds like someone I might want to work with.

And to re-iterate... If you still need to get your composition, orchestration or sound design skills up to snuff, you're better off spending time practicing those. But if you're competitive on those-- knowing some coding can only help you in a career in game audio.

+1

Brain, thank you for the great information. I definitely appreciate your insight on the topic.I definitely feel good about my composition skills, but it's something you can still spend a lifetime perfecting. However, knowing how to communicate with programmers alone seems to make it worth it for me to learn programming. I'm working on a project now and we have to work pretty hard to understand each other at times :).

Where is a good resource for learning audio scripting?

Stormwave, those are some great points as well. Even using "middleware" changes how I compose and record sounds, so understanding the principles of implementation might improve my whole processes.

Valoon, that was explained really well, thanks. From what I understand C# is a bit easier to learn and it is used in Unity -- is that correct? Could I just learn within Unity at least initially?

Also, just a bit confused on the terminology here, but a lot of people tell me scripting is easier and more practical. Is that the same thing as what you described as implementation, Valoon?

Thanks Valoon! So, it looks like starting with C# within Unity is the best bet for me. Once I get a grasp on that I may then look into C/C++. For now, I just want to learn how to implement my audio and FMOD projects in the game code and go from there. That way when the game is release I can go all Shake'n Bake and scream "and I helped!" :)

I've bought a couple books and it's actually quite invigorating stuff so far! So, what tuts would anyone recomend to learn C# (for the first-time programmer) within Unity. I'll be learning on a mac so all of the visual studio tuts won't help me much anyways.