Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

The production role can be very satisfying, especially after overcoming several
production challenges along the way and finally shipping a solid game that will entertain
many players. The pay range for producers varies by experience from $28K to
around $90K. Again, pay ranges must always be considered with great latitude.
Some developers prefer that their producers be ensconced almost purely in matters of
business and studio growth, while others prefer producers to have a more technical
inclination. Most successful producers seem to have some combination of both. They
combine a solid understanding of game construction technology and a reasonable
amount of business sense and experience.
A UDIO
Audio is a critical part of carrying emotion throughout a game. If you don’t believe
me, just try playing your favorite game with the sound off. It isn’t nearly the same
experience. Games these days have heavy audio requirements and support expanded
audio formats like Dolby Surround sound. Games require large amounts of music to be
composed along with numerous special effects or Foley audio. Several game developers
are also musicians, and these folks see an ideal combination of their own interests by
providing audio for games.
Learning how to prepare audio for games and working within the technical limitations
and memory constraints are a few of the big challenges. Many of the audio
engineers and music composers perform in music areas outside of games.
Audio Composer and Engineer as a Career Choice
C H A P T E R 1 1
The audio department at most developers is very compact. Several developers choose
to contract their audio requirements out to audio pros that know how to prepare
sound for various game platforms. If they work in-house with a developer, the audio
department is typically very small. This means that only a few individuals per company
are employed full-time creating audio in the audio department. It also means
that competition for these few positions is very heavy.
For those who love to create music and sound effects and grew up in love with
games, it can be an ideal job. Keep in mind that you are often assembling many versions
of each sound requested for audition. You are also composing different versions of a
music theme or movement for audition and assembly into the game.
Full-time audio engineers in game development make around $30K to $60K or
more. You can sometimes earn more as an independent contractor taking on work
for games and other venues concurrently. Overall, providing audio for games can be
rewarding and challenging as long as you can work under the challenging budgets,
timelines, and technical constraints that games place on audio content.
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Game Development Career Choices