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The Skills Required Of A Sound Designer

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The purpose of this essay is to look at and deconstruct the skills required of a sound designer as well as the pathways into the videogame industry as someone working in this particular role. The essay will look at recent shifts in technology and their impact on the way that the industry is configured, as well as looking at ways to take advantage of these shifts and changes from the perspective somebody interested in working in audio for games. The essay is built on research numerous gaming publications such as Game Informer as well as an online discussion that was conducted with Jack Gill, Managing Director of So Good Studios, a small but growing Independent studio. As is the case with the music industry, one of the biggest shifts to happen in the Videogames industry is the increase in accessibility of the tools and knowledge required to both develop and release videogames. This has given rise to the ‘Indie’ game movement, which consists of studios that are usually self-funded, have very few people working as staff and have the goal of successfully creating and releasing videogames without the need for financial help from any of the established videogame publishers. As a result of this, there is now an increase in demand for people working in videogame development. One of the key differences - if not the key difference – between working for an independent studio and working for a AAA studio is the broadness of skills required for the job of working as an audio specialist.

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