There’s a single word whispered among budding sound designers. A word so devilish that it can only be uttered in hushed tones…
~*~*~*~*~*~Middleware~*~*~*~*~*~
And occasionally I’ll walk by a group of sound designers, only to have them suddenly stare at me in fear as if they were a pack of antelope, and I a hungry tiger looking for my next meal.
Even though they’re in the grips of awe at my handsome visage, they continue to whisper their sacred words of worship…
~*~*~*~*~*~FMOD~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~Wwise~*~*~*~*~*~
I know exactly what they’re discussing: how learning these pieces of software is going to get them every job ever.
Alas, this isn’t even slightly true. Knowing software like FMOD or Wwise isn’t a special skill. It’s just a basic expectation that most employers will have of you.
Knowing how to use them won’t separate you from the pack one tiny bit, but not knowing them will lose you tons of opportunities as a sound designer — especially in the AAA world.
That’s why it would be a good idea to go through all of Audiokinetic’s free Wwise courses here. They just released a new one on Unity integration too! Hooray!
And if you want to dive deeper into Wwise’s API and audio programming, go to Adam Croft’s site here.
What about FMOD you ask? There’s this new course right here that will walk you through the workflow pretty thoroughly.
There’s also the free FMOD TV Youtube Channel that will walk you through the basics — just note that most of the tutorials are pretty old. They still mostly apply, but some things have changed since they were released.
Are there other resources out there? Yes! Tons of them! But this is all I’ll share for now to keep things simple.
While there are tons of technical resources out there There are very few on how to actually make it in the game industry. That’s why I made two free courses for you to help you break into the industry, learn how much to charge for your work, and network with other developers.