My First Game dev journey: Week 3

This week, I started exploring Wwise, an audio middleware tool by Audiokinetic that’s used to implement interactive sound and music in games. I downloaded the Audiokinetic Launcher, which comes with really helpful tutorials that guide you step by step through the basics.

To get some hands-on experience, I’ve been working with a demo game called Cube, which is designed specifically for learning audio implementation.

It’s a great starting point for anyone (like me!) who’s completely new to Wwise and wants to learn by doing, I definitely recommend it!

I began by completely stripping all of the existing audio from the Cube demo. Once the sound was removed, I followed the Wwise 101 tutorial

videos to learn how to re-implement sounds from scratch.

My first goal was simple: add custom footstep sounds, which I recorded earlier using a MixPre-3 field recorder connected to a rode shotgun mic in my dining room. It might sound small, but hearing my own audio play in the game for the first time felt like such a great achievement!

A particularly helpful feature I learned about was the Random Container in Wwise, which helps make sounds feel more natural and organic. I also experimented with pitch shifting so that instead of the same sound repeating over and over, which can quickly become tiring to the ear, the game chooses from several variations.

These small details make a huge difference, breaking up repetition and creating a more immersive, realistic soundscape. Repetitive sounds are definitely something I’ll need to stay mindful of as I move forward.

I’ll be following the Wwise Fundamentals tutorials over the next few weeks to keep building my skills in sound design and interactive audio, and to grow my confidence in what I’m doing. My plan is to gradually add more layers of sound: ambience, effects, and maybe even some simple music, as I get more comfortable with the process.

Learning Wwise has definitely been a shift from visual design to technical sound work, but I’m really enjoying the change of pace. It’s challenging, but also incredibly satisfying to see (and hear!) progress in real time.

Next week, I’ll continue with the Wwise tutorials and start building my sound library, which I’ll hopefully begin implementing into Cube, starting with some ambient sounds. I can’t wait to see (and hear) how it all starts to come together!