Porter's World

The Wheel

The world of flash games is a complicated one. There are numerous tasks that must be done for each game, sound effects and music being two of them. We’ve all heard the term “Why reinvent the wheel” throughout our lives, we all know what it means, but do we always follow such a practice? I’ve found that in this day in age, nearly everything that I need to do can be simplified beyond what I already imagined. I have a Korg X-50 Synthesizer that I planned on hooking up through Fruity Loops Studio 8 to create some 8 bit sounds, little did I know there was already a program that could get the job done as quick and easy as possible.

Upon a simple Google search for creating 8 bit sounds, I came across a page that spoke of a program by the name of SFXR. This amazingly small program looks like a simple Game Boy interface and offers amazing power for creating 8 and 16 bit sounds of every possible desire. The file itself is a simple 50kb download and installs instantly. The program consists of one screen that has default buttons to create specific sounds, such as NES sounding jumps, explosions, power-ups and more. You can fine-tune any sound by manually sliding the values, such as sustain and frequency, which will really allow you to get the sound you want. Pressing space bar is a keyboard shortcut for testing the current sound, which is simple, yet incredibly useful. There is a mutate button that slightly alters your current sound in a randomized way that keeps the main idea of the sound, yet still changes it up. There are a few other features to help mix up the large variety of sounds that can be made and all of these are incredibly easy to grasp once you mess with them for a few seconds. All files are exported as small .WAV files and can be tossed into your projects in just seconds. I noticed that the .WAV files were not accepted in flash right off, however I tossed them in audacity and exported them as a .WAV again and they worked perfectly after; this again could have been a personal issue, so feel free to test them in flash beforehand, but refer to my advice if you encounter the same issue.

Bottom line, this program is an amazing gift to anyone looking to do some great 8-bit or 16-bit work. Our newest game Tower of Greed will be using sounds I create using this program and I can already tell that it’s working wonders. This is again just one example of making work easier on yourself, if you need something done, be sure to check the internet for a simpler way to do it; nine out of ten times there will be a handy program or other simple solution like this just waiting to be picked, so do yourself a favor, make your job easier and use them.