audio-systems_skill

Overview

This skill covers game audio systems including SFX, music, spatial audio, voice, and middleware integration for immersive experiences. It provides practical patterns for audio architecture, engine-specific implementation, adaptive music, mixing targets, and optimization limits. Use it to design, implement, and troubleshoot production-ready audio in Unity, FMOD, Wwise, and native engine pipelines.

How this skill works

The skill inspects audio pipeline stages from sources (SFX, music, voice, ambient) through middleware and processing (spatialization, reverb, EQ, compression) to mixing and final output (stereo, surround, binaural). It includes concrete code patterns: a pooled AudioManager for Unity and an FMOD event player with 3D attributes and parameter control. It also codifies spatial attenuation, adaptive music state transitions, mixing targets, troubleshooting steps, and platform voice budgets.

When to use it

• Building or refactoring a game audio pipeline for performance and clarity
• Integrating FMOD, Wwise, or engine audio with 3D positioning and parameters
• Designing adaptive music that transitions on beat boundaries and intensity
• Setting realistic mix targets and bus routing for final delivery
• Optimizing voice counts and streaming strategy for target platforms

Best practices

• Use audio source pooling to avoid allocation spikes and reduce popping
• Align music transitions to musical bars and crossfade on beat boundaries
• Apply logarithmic rolloff with sensible min/max distances for 3D audio
• Enforce voice limits and priority culling per category (SFX, music, voice)
• Match sample rates, add short fades (5–10 ms) to prevent clicks

Example use cases

• Mobile game: limit to 16–32 max voices, use high compression and streaming for BGM
• Console/PC action title: FMOD event-based SFX with spatial 3D attributes and rolloff curves
• Open-world: distance-based culling and ambient submixes to control CPU and memory
• Narrative game: voice bus targeting -6dB to -3dB and dialogue priority system
• Adaptive soundtrack: state machine that crossfades layers on 2–4 bar windows