Audio Veteran Brian Schmidt Calls For More 'Realistic' Use Of In-Game Sound

Seasoned industry veteran Brian Schmidt recently spoke out on the unexplored realms of game audio, arguing that developers should introduce more "realistic" sound into their game design. "Using sound to propagate game information in a more realistic way is something that needs to be explored more," Schmidt said in a group interview with the Audio track advisory board members for GDC 2012. Schmidt explains that all too often in games, sound behaves in a simple and unrealistic manner, when in fact it could add an extra layer of depth to semi-realistic game scenarios. "In the real world," Schmidt says, "a sniper bullet wouldn't be heard until a significant time after impact -- often for several seconds, so why does the AI instantly know that your rifle was fired from a thousand yards away and start firing right away, instead of the 2.5 seconds it would take for sound to travel to the AIs ears to get a bearing on you?" Schmidt currently runs his own game audio company dubbed Brian Schmidt Studios. He is also credited in over 120 arcade and console games, and is responsible for designing the Xbox Audio Creation Tool and XMA Compression technology. In 2008, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild. For more from Schmidt and the other featured GDC 2012 advisory board members, check out the full interview, which is now live on Gamasutra.