Porter's World

Audacity

Anyone who works with audio needs a good program. When it comes to game design, audio is incredibly important, and there is always a bit of editing that must be done. Many people are under the impression that they need to pay for expensive audio software, or even hire someone to do their audio work, this isn’t true. Audacity is a free audio program that will cover all the basic needs of a game develop, and with ease. I won’t cover the entire program, but I will go over the basics that a game developer doing sound work will want to know.

Adjusting Volume Levels

An annoying issue that many games suffer, is the lack of unbalanced volumes for sounds. Having headphones on and suddenly hearing an ear piercing sound effect is the last thing your players want, and believe me it happens. To keep your players pleased with the audio of your game, and to allow them to hear all of your sound effects properly, it’s important to balance the volume of your sounds. Doing so in Audacity is incredibly easy; simply open your audio file, highlight the entire sound (or specific parts if you feel like getting fancy for whatever reason), go to Effect, then Amplify. Here you can drag the bar left and right to alter the volume change. Remember that going negative will decrease the volume of your sounds. Test your sound after each adjustment to see if you have the desired volume. I suggest having your music done first, this way you can run the swf and listen to your sound over the music as well. You should also keep your computer volume at a constant volume as go through all your sounds adjusting their volume, this will ensure that in the end, you’ll have a library of sounds that will work well together, and stand out over your music just the right amount.

Cleaning Up A Music Loop

First off, and most importantly, you need quality music to work with. If you’re looking for sources, check out my article on music for games. If you’re taking the free approach, and using music such as that which can be found in the Newgrounds Audio Portal, you’ll likely need to do some editing to the tracks before they’re ready to use. If you download a song from the net, even a loop, you’ll still generally have some work to do, depending on the source. Once you’ve selected a music loop, go ahead and open it up in Audacity. You’ll see no issues at first glance, in fact, testing the loop will sound as if it will loop perfectly; in reality, it will be alright, but nowhere near perfect. If you click on the magnifying glass tool, found on the top left in Audacity, you can zoom in on the sound waves to get a closer look. Take a look at the very beginning and end of your audio, you’ll find that there’s a straight line of absolute silence; even if this is 1/5 of a second, it’s going to show (You may have to zoom in multiple times to see this). Zoom in as much as needed and remove the silence as best as possible be selecting it with the mouse, and pressing delete. Do this to the end of the loop as well, removing any silence found at the end of the track. Now for the testing phase. Highlight the entire track, then press Ctrl + C to copy it. Now click on the two arrows pointing to the right in your playback toolbar, this will take your current selection tool to the end of your track. Paste the entire track by pressing Ctrl+V. You should now have a file with your loop copied twice, the copy starting immediately at the end of the original loop. If you successfully removed the silence at the beginning and end of your loop, you should be able to play the sound file and hear absolutely no hiccups in the middle where the repeat is taking place. If the loop still doesn’t sound right, and you’re certain you removed all the silence and copied the track correctly, it’s safe to say that the “loop” you downloaded wasn’t the greatest loop after all. If all went well, press Ctrl + Z until the copy of the loop is removed (this was only needed to test that it does indeed loop). You now have an excellent loop and are good to go, be sure to save the file as a .WAV as well as .mp3, having both is always a great idea. If you’re using flash, you’ll want to use the .WAV file, this will ensure a perfect loop after flash compresses your file to an mp3. If you’re using something else, such as FlashDevelop and Flex to compile, you’ll be forced to use a .mp3 file since .WAV’s aren’t supported. There is a work around for this, however that’s a bit complicated and will be a different post for a different day. All in all, if you’re using flash, use the .WAV file and you should be good to go.

Creating A Loop From A Non-Looping, Full Length Track

If you’re not finding an existing loop with the feel you’re looking for, worry not. Many non looping songs will have portions of the song that can be taken out and turned into a loop, doing this is actually a common task for me, and I find it rather effective. This is where the true power of an audio editing program comes in, you can get some quality loops in a short time, without spending a cent. Take a look at the song Cobalt Blue Sphere, notice how long the song is, and the fact that it isn’t a loop. Now take a look at one of our past games, Gravibounce, created by Andrew and myself of Epic Shadow Entertainment. Go back to Cobalt Blue Sphere on Newgrounds, and listen to the song from 3:58 – 4:25. As you’ll see, this is the portion of the song that you hear in Gravibounce; it was cut out using audacity. Another example of me doing this is in my first solely developed game, Dominus Void. The song “Lost”, by Ryan Stevens, or Reasoner as he’s often referred to as, was edited by myself to be a title screen loop, it came out rather well. With a good ear, some patience, and a free program like audacity, you too can create great loops such as this. This is far more complicated then simply removing the silence before an already created loop, but it gives you a track that nobody else has ever used, and one of great quality. The trick is to listen to the song closely, and use your ear to find a portion of the song that can loop into itself. When you’ve located the proper position, roughly cut out everything before and after the portion of the song you’ll be using. Be sure to give yourself some extra wave length, this is a good idea seeing as you can remove whatever you want, but you can’t add to the file once you’ve removed too much. Zooming in during the editing process will also give you much more accuracy over what you delete, and you can often see where the new measures starts due to the visual increases in wave length. Use your ear and closely narrow the intro down to the first beat of a measure, this is usually pretty easy to determine in a song, unless it’s something with a tremendous amount of percussion. Once you’ve got the intro down, edit the end of the file so that it ends at the end of a measure, this is usually after 4 major beats as most music is in 4/4 time. Be sure to slice only a little off at a time, then use the testing method as mentioned earlier. Count the beats as the loop plays, if it hiccups before the 4th beat plays, you’ve cut too much off, if it plays a little bit passed the 4th beat, you’ve still got a little more cutting to do. This is an advanced technique, and takes some practice, but it can produce some pretty awesome loops, ones that only your game will have at that. As a rule of thumb, always ask the artist if you can edit their work to create a loop, and always give them credit for their original piece.

Cutting Down A Sound Effect’s File Size

Audio is by far the biggest contributor to flash game file size. Although there are a number of compression options to reduce file sizes for audio, there are also a number of techniques that can be done before the files are even imported into your game’s library. One of the most simple, and effective, is to cut the length of your sound effects. If you open up many of your sound effects in audacity, you’ll notice that the sound waves die out, and trickle for some time, often times doubling the wave length of a sound. Although there is indeed sound going on here, you often times can’t hear it, especially over music. To greatly reduce the file size of effects, simply cut off these trickling endings bit by bit. Each time you cut, listen to the sound to ensure that quality isn’t lost, if it isn’t, cut some more. You’ll be surprised at how much of a sound wave can be cut off before any audible changes occur. Using this method on your entire library of sound effects will greatly reduce your file size, making for quicker load times, and in the end, happier players.

Correcting Audio Files

Ever had an mp3 file that flash just wouldn’t accept? The reason for this is most likely that your mp3 file has a bit rate that flash doesn’t support. You can check the bit rate by right clicking on your sound file, going to properties, then to summary. If the bit rate is not one that is shown on chart below, you’ll likely encounter problems. The good news is, you can simply import your audio file into Audacity, then export it as an mp3 again; this will change the bit rate to 112 kbps, the default bit rate for mp3’s in Audacity.

Bit Rate Chart, Source: Articulate Blog

Conclusion

That’s a lot of power for a free audio program, respect to the authors for such an awesome program. Aside from the above, you can do plenty of other complex variations to your audio files. Some of these include pitch changes, tempo changes, adding echo, adding reverberation, bass amplification, and more. Audacity may not be a full fledged audio program, but it definitely has what’s needed to take care of your basic audio editing needs, and that should be enough for any flash game developer.

Music Sources

Every great flash game needs top notch music in order to fully succeed. If you’re reading this, I’m sure at one point or another, if not now, you’ve wondered where you can go to get great music for your flash games. There are tons of sources, some free, some not. Some are widely known, while others are known only by myself and a few others, up until now. I’ve mentioned the importance of game music numerous times, by utilizing the below sources, you can take those teachings, and apply them to your games.

Let’s take a look at some of the more well known sources. Somatones Interactive Audio may be a bit on the more expensive side for audio, but there isn’t a chance in the world that you’ll walk away feeling like you didn’t get your money’s worth. These guys know what they’re doing, and they do it flawlessly. They have more experience working with music than anyone else in the flash game industry, and it shows. They’ve worked with companies such as Disney, Konami, Nickelodeon, Sony, Ubisoft, and plenty more. Keep in mind that the work they do for you is exclusive to you, meaning your game will have custom music that no other in the world has. Visit Somatones and check out their work and customer feedback, if you can afford their rates, it’s definitely worth it.

Another great source for music is ibaudio. These guys have a huge library of royalty free music for a very reasonable price. You can purchase music for any genre and feel you desire, some for as low as $10 a loop. Music is purchased using credits which you buy from the site, buying in bulk can save you up to 40%. In addition, you can purchase a 1 year subscription for a one time payment of $213.69; this allows unlimited downloads, which is definitely worth it for anyone pumping out multiple successful titles in a single year. On top of that, any music downloaded during your year subscription may be used by you in the future, even after your subscription is up. Keep in mind the music can be used by you, and only you, any abuse to this system is of course illegal. If you are somehow not finding exactly what you need throughout there massive library, you can also request custom music, they’ll work closely with you to negotiate pricing and get the exact music you’re looking for.

Another great source, despite being less catered towards game music, is Stockmusic. They have an expansive library of music, most tracks being in the $30 range. All music is of excellent sound quality and very professionally done. The site as I said doesn’t exactly target game music, but they offer an amazing search tool that will let you find exactly what you’re looking for. You can also legally alter the music in order to create loops, add echo, or any other reason you may find, so despite the music not being perfect for games right off, it shouldn’t be an issue with anyone who knows how to do basic audio editing. Stockmusic also offers custom music. If you chose to do this, you will be working closely with a composer who fits your genre best, and are supplied demos of the works as they progress, allowing you to suggest changes and customize the music to your liking. I haven’t had any direct experience with these guys, but they definitely look like they know what they’re doing.

Audiosparx is an ideal source for anyone looking to find quality game music. I suggest filtering to search for loops as they’re much more suited for games, but that’s up to you. Rates definitely vary on this site, but the quality is consistently high. Be sure to view “B” rates, these rates pertain to the license you’ll be using in order to legally put the music into your games, distribute them, and profit. These guys have experience with the big guys in the industry, with music in games by companies such as Midway, Atari, EA, and more.

MusicLoops is another great place to find royalty free loops for your game development needs. All tracks are in the form of a loop, so little to no editing will be needed on your part. With a large variety of genres, there’s not a feel you won’t be able to find. The majority of music is roughly $20-$40, which isn’t much for a fitting piece of quality music. A clean design, variety of music, and affordable rates, make this an excellent addition to any list of sites to search when looking for affordable audio for your projects.

Now we’ll take a look at another company I actually have experience with. Partners In Rhyme is an excellent source for virtually all genre’s of music, including seasonal genre’s such as Halloween and Christmas. Each package includes various tracks, each with an incredible assortment of loops, track edits, multiple duration cuts, and the occasional stingers. Some packages will even come with bonus content, including various additional loops and sound effects, some of which you may find even more useful than the original content you purchased. Packages are places at various prices, most resting between $80-$90, which is well worth what you’ll be getting from these guys.

Another site that caters directly to flash games, is Twune. The music is of decent quality, and all packages go for a flat rate of $75. The convenient part of buying from Twune, is that all the editing is entirely done for you. Each package includes multiple loops cut from the same track, allowing you to have multiple loops throughout your game, all with a similar sound. The selection is a bit smaller than some sites, but they’re still growing. Overall, the convenience of multiple loops coming in a single package is convenient, and definitely worth checking out.

In addition to many of the large companies, there is an endless source of freelance musicians just dying to have their music heard by the world. These musicians are incredibly talented, and for the most part, unknown to everyone other than their friends and family. Despite their lack of popularity, these musicians have incredible talent, and will likely be known for it in the future. For the time being however, they lack exposure and are eagerly awaiting to hop on board a project.

A well talented individual that falls into this category is Mike Taylor. I met Mike when living in the wonderful rolling hills of Moscow Idaho. After meeting him, I found out that he was incredibly talented at the piano, as well as doing his own compositions in various other genres. He can do a variety of music, such as techno, trance, ambient, classical, 8-bit, and so on. As far as the flash industry goes, his music can be heard in Dominus Void and Tower of Greed. Dominus Void features features various tracks from multiple artists, track two being Mikes, while Tower of Greed was composed entirely by Mike from scratch. As you can hear, it sounds very authentic to the days of the NES, so much in fact that it sounds as if it could have appeared in a popular title in the early 90’s. Mike is always looking for custom music work, and will listen to all of your ideas and suggestions to make sure the music fits your exact needs. He’s a huge perfectionist, so don’t be surprised when he scraps something you’re proud of and comes back the next day with something far more impressive. His rates are incredibly affordable and definitely worth what they add to your game. He’ll help decide a fair price with you depending on various factors, all of which you’ll both discuss and plan out beforehand.  If you’re interested in having Mike do some work with you, you can contact him via Newgrounds PM, or email him at miketaylorandhisimaginaryband@gmail.com; I know, it’s an awesome email address.

Another excellent, and unfortunately lesser known artist, is Yiannis Ioannides. I met Yiannis recently while browsing the forums over at Newgrounds. I listened to his music and felt a strong urge to get in contact with him and talk business, so that’s what I did. Yiannis is an incredibly skilled musician who is currently studying film scoring and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music over in Boston, MA. He’s passionate about composing game music, and specializes in music that consists of jazz, electronica, world, classical, ambient, soundscape etc. He’s looking for work and would be more than happy to compose for all sorts of games, from young, colorful, interactive games, to darker, serious, professional games. Rates vary from project to project, and will be negotiated prior to completion. Definitely give his music a listen and keep him in mind for future projects; he’s got a lot of talent just waiting to be put into your future works. You can reach Yiannis for questions and work by emailing him at yioannides@berklee.net.

If you’re looking for some music on the cheaper side of the spectrum, perhaps free, there’s always the Newgrounds Audio Portal. Contrary to popular belief, nearly all of the music on Newgrounds is free. There are a few things to keep in mind however. You must always contact the author of a piece you wish to use, let them know of your project, and always request permission. They’ll decide on the terms when responding to you, but 99% of the time artists are just looking to get some exposure, and are thrilled to hear that their music will be used in a game. They’ll generally ask that you mention them in the credits, as well as link to them on the credits page if possible, which is more than acceptable. The audio portal offers a lot of music in various genres, so you shouldn’t have any issues finding some good music. Seeing as it’s an audio portal run off of user submissions, you will have to filter through a lot of lower quality music in order to find what you’re looking for, but that’s the price you have to pay if you don’t feel like forking over some cash.

Another free source is Incompetech, a website run by Kevin MacLeod. Kevin has a large library of royalty free music that he has composed and recorded himself. You can search by genre, or by mood, giving you plenty to work with when it comes to getting the right feel for your project. Kevin doesn’t charge anything for his music under the creative commons license, but greatly appreciates donations as all artists do. The only thing actually required of you is to list his name in the credits, as well as the piece(s) used. If you like what you hear, Kevin can also compose custom music for you, rates are negotiated on a project by project basis.

As you can see, there’s plenty of sources to get amazing music out there. Until recently, I was one to just go out and get free music and do my best with it, which has never hurt, but after doing the research for this article, I can’t stress how important quality music is. I had always thought that I did a fantastic job selecting music for my games prior to this article, however looking back, I did great, but these services offer a quality that cannot be matched for free. If the above prices sound a bit high, consider the fact that the value great music will add to your game is far more than you’ll be paying. If you can’t afford exceptional music from the above services, perhaps land a sponsor, then point out some music you would like to add to the game; chances are they’ll pay you the amount needed up front (out of your sponsorship money, or in addition) to let you boost the value of the game. If you do find yourself using the above sources, or any for that matter, always check the license agreements for the music you are purchasing, this is extremely important and cannot be stressed enough. All in all, you now have an incredible list of sources to find excellent flash game music, all at varying prices that should be affordable to everyone. I definitely hope to hear an increase in the quality of music in all of your future games, don’t let me down.

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.