Introduction to interactive audio with Unity

Overview

Michela Ledwidge (@michela)

This is the outline of a 6 hour course I developed to introduce interactive audio and the Unity game engine.

Outline

Introduction to interactive audio (1hr)

• References (Unity titles marked with *)

• Vib Ribbon
• Rez 
• Child of Eden
• Lumines
• Gitaroo Man
• The Sancho Plan (sample, presentation)

• Audiosurf
• The Impossible Game
• Braid
• Everyday Shooter
• Record Tripping
• Bit.Trip
• Battlestar Galactica Online*
• Inception
• The Dark Knight Rises Z+
• LA Noire (audio notes on Kpow) 10:26m into video
• Journey
• Proteus
• Sound Shapes
• Community

• dorkbot
• IGDA Sydney

Introduction to Unity (1hr)

• Overview
• 3D engine
• Application architecture

• Unity

• Editor

• Project

• Scene

• GameObject

• Component

• Variable

• Asset

• Audio file

• Player

• Audio functionality
• Basic Audio Workflow

• Create audio files in external software
• In Unity

• Import audio files as Assets into Project panel
• Attach Audio Source component to Game Object (drag asset onto object in Scene or Hierarchy panel)
• Update Game Object components in Inspector panel to manipulate audio context

• Programming Languages

• Javascript
• C#
• Boo

• Resources

• Community

• Unity Forum
• Unity Answers
• Unity Asset Store
• Sydney Unity Users Group
• Sound Libraries

• http://www.stephanschutze.com/

• Case Studies

• ACO Virtual Orchestra
• Babe on a beam

• Sample demo projects

• Tropical Paradise
• Angry Bots
• Car Tutorial
• Bootcamp

Exercises (1hr)

• Add Audio Source to a scene
• Configure Audio Listener variables
• Configure Reverb Zone variables
• Record via Microphone

Assessment (3hr)

• Develop your own interactive sound design using one of the demo projects

• Hook
• Payoff

Further Reading

• Procedural Audio
• FMOD

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.