What are your thoughts on/preferences for audio in games?

[blorp-blorp]

Hello all,

I want to make a game but I have a question about audio. It's not related to development! It's about preferences.

I am HoH (Hard of Hearing). As such, I don't listen to games I'm playing and rely on subtitles. I'm wondering how much audio adds/retracts to others' enjoyment in games.

I'm just a bit worried if I make a game without audio no one will enjoy it or want to play it...

 

[Deleted member 440241]

I typically have the sound off on my computer unless I'm using it to stream. While sex sound effects can improve a scene they're not necessary for me to enjoy it.

 

[Sunny]

Audio helps, but is not needed. For some games it improves the experience because of the time and effort put forth in making good music and effects. But a game with generic music, yeah, I am putting that on mute.

 

[sexypeanut]

Background music is the least on sound stuff a game should have, for me. Sound effects, not so much (including VA, which I don't listen to at all)

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

Background ambient and other sound effects - both important aspects that assist with immersion.
Ambience and sound effects can set the mood you want in a specific scene, and in general.
If you want to make something truly great then sound aspect is as important as any other aspect of game-making.

 

[justpassingbyreally]

Voted for sound effects with ambient sounds in mind. Windy mountain tops, busy markets and streets, wildlife sounds in the woods, rain falling during a storm, and so on. I prefer that to music that too often is badly chosen, distracting or gets tiring after a few loops.

If there's actual gameplay involved (combat, platforming, interacting with the interface a lot, etc.), then sound effects also help reinforce the feedback you get for your actions.

If the game has no sound at all then I can supply something genre-fitting myself or live without it, but it weakens the experience and puts a bit more demand on the graphics/story/gameplay to be entertaining. In case of interactive fiction and wordy/descriptive visual novels it doesn't matter that much as it's easier to get in the book-reading mindset with them and the story is already their raison d'être.

Regarding development choices, I'm grateful whenever the developer either leaves the sound/music files accessible to the player (so one can easily replace an offending track or too-loud sound effect) or does something like Age of Wonders games did with

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(though understandably it's not something that would fit in just any kind of game).

 

[Biceptual]

I like sound during sex scenes. I like sound effects. I've heard voice-work done well, and I enjoy it. I generally turn off music.

 

[blorp-blorp]

Voted for sound effects with ambient sounds in mind. Windy mountain tops, busy markets and streets, wildlife sounds in the woods, rain falling during a storm, and so on. I prefer that to music that too often is badly chosen, distracting or gets tiring after a few loops.

If there's actual gameplay involved (combat, platforming, interacting with the interface a lot, etc.), then sound effects also help reinforce the feedback you get for your actions.

If the game has no sound at all then I can supply something genre-fitting myself or live without it, but it weakens the experience and puts a bit more demand on the graphics/story/gameplay to be entertaining. In case of interactive fiction and wordy/descriptive visual novels it doesn't matter that much as it's easier to get in the book-reading mindset with them and the story is already their raison d'être.

Regarding development choices, I'm grateful whenever the developer either leaves the sound/music files accessible to the player (so one can easily replace an offending track or too-loud sound effect) or does something like Age of Wonders games did with

You must be registered to see the links

(though understandably it's not something that would fit in just any kind of game).

That's a really cool thing they did there. I'll have to keep the juke-box thing in mind! I'm making an rpg with different regions so it could work for (if I do it right lol).

Thanks all for the responses (I wasn't expecting any tbh)! It seems like I'll have to look into audio and do open testing or something to ensure the audio works for those whose ears work properly lol.

 

[Deleted member 4162859]

Background music isn't needed but It would make a difference. As for sound effects and voice-overs, I never really enjoyed them in games dunno why. Probably cause the sound effects are inconsistent with the scenes most of the time

 

[coffeeaddicted]

I never have audio on. The most i allow is sound effects.
Worst are voice acting. I never want to hear any character talk.
I come from the time when games did not have a lot of audio to begin with and i think the immersion is larger when less audio is involved. Plus it makes it easier to make games too.
I am not really hard at hearing but still avoid sounds if possible.
My bottom line is, voice and music are a immersion breaker for me.

 

[Doorknob22]

I just hired a composer to compose music for my game so obviously I think it's important... As for sound effects, if you have no music playing they might sound a bit detached in my opinion but with music the contribute. Voice acting could be cool but the rare games I saw utilizing it, voice acting was reserved for very specific sentences and not 100% coverage of a character so it ended up creating a disconnected effect.

 

[Niv-Mizzet the Firemind]

In my experience the audio in adult games sucks really hard even in the highly rated games, with a couple of exceptions. My first move when I open up a game is mute the music completely and leave sound effects on just in case they're good, but they are usually muted as well and I just listen to things on Spotify.

I do think that audio is really important for a game, but most adult games don't have the team composition or the budget to deal with audio well.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

Games without any sound feel dead and lifeless to me. Sure, most people suck at picking good music or using sound effects in a smart way, but most people also suck at writing and making good renders, that doesn't mean they shouldn't try.

 

[Meaning Less]

Audio is really important for real games, but for porn games? No thanks.

The first thing I do before even opening the game is muting it, on the rare occassion that I see a game with voice acting I might unmute the voice only.

I'm either listening to music or podcasts in the background so both music and sound effects are always annoying in porn games.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

I always turn the sound off.
I dont want to risk others hearing it.
Also moaning tents to hurt my ears.

 

[Multy2k]

Both is a must especially for VN