Titan Quest Developer Blog #5
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 1146
As the audio guy on the Iron Lore team, I have a unique position in the process of development. Almost every aspect of my job is "reactive", in that I craft sounds based on what I get from those creative people before me in the chain - the designers, the artists, and the animators. This has a good side and a bad side to it. The good side is the freedom to modify, tweak content, and try different approaches without upsetting anyone's workflow. Being an in-house audio geek enables one to be in tune with the ever-evolving design and presentation of the game; and being last in line means I never have to suffer as "the bottleneck." On the other hand . . . there is a lot of pressure that can come with being at the end of the rope. Film composers suffer the same sort of pressure - now that we're done with this movie at the last minute (or in our case, this asset or monster or what have you) we need sound, and we need it NOW! Due to the ebb and flow nature of game development (and the evil Crunch Period) this can bring a sudden ton of unscheduled work crashing down, out of nowhere. Yes, the sound designer's job can be one of never-ending scrambling, diligently frosting all the cake that has come out of the Conveyor Belt of Development. Yet at the same time, it can be an unhindered and creative adventure, especially when you're working at a great company that values your perspective and contribution to the product as a whole.
