Behind the scenes: How Slots Sound Design is Heading for The Next Level
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Behind the scenes of modern-day game music development. Sound design within online slots is becoming more sophisticated and immersive. Lightning Box CPO David Little, Michael Salih, Stellita Loukas of Stella Lukas Creative – Sound Design for Kalamba Games, Relax Gaming Sounddesigners Joseph Cherry and Per Klintberg, and Wazdan’s CCO Andrzej Hyla are interviewed.
Sound design is important in creating an entertaining online experience.
David Little explains how sound design is a central ingredient in the mix of a game. The game's maths stimulates imagination and the graphics provide a visual feast. Sound design brings aural triggers within a slot into play.
Andrzej Hyla is proud of his game Sizzling Moon's soundtrack. The game's music and sound play a pivotal role in elevating any slot experience to the realm of the extraordinary.
Sound is important in console games and slot games. Audio can make or break a game. Sound design is ten times more important than in other games, because 80% of the experience is lost without it.
Michael Salih explains why sound design is important in games. He also explains how to balance the music between the visuals and the sound effects.
Joseph Cherry explains how sound makes a huge difference to the game's experience. He tries to use real instruments and bespoke recordings and even sing himself if the games require it.
Player expectations of sound design for slots have changed in recent years.
Stellita Loukas explains how sound design is heading for The Next Level. Sound is catching up with slot graphics and animations.
Wizard Games is improving its game production to elevate the brand. The music within upcoming games will have improved orchestrations, tailor-made unique melodies, live recordings of various instruments and brilliant vocals recorded live. Sound effects are tailored using state-of-the-art audio equipment and audio libraries specifically created for the projects.
Per Klintberg is a creative professional in the casino game industry. He likes the more ambitious and innovative takes on casino games that drive development and raise expectations. In Relax’s game Marching Legions, the soldiers perform haka-style moves to celebrate wins. The player can clearly hear everything from rustling gear to the swooshing of the swords and grunting and shouting of soldiers.
David Little is in the industry. He believes that the quality of sound design has improved a lot since he started. Audio file size is still a problem, but it will improve with the introduction of 6G and bigger data storage.
Andrzej Hyla is the sound designer for online slot games. He explains the importance of sound quality in the online casino industry. He is satisfied with the quality of the games' sound design.
Technology has helped in developing more sophisticated soundtracks and effects for mobile devices.
Joseph Cherry is responsible for sound design for Slots. He has to be conscious of things like game size and find creative ways to make fewer sounds do more in-game. Laptop speakers, headphones, or even straight out the phone sound very different so they have to test mixes on all devices.
Andrzej Hyla explains how sound design in mobile games is optimized to increase the loading speed. He explains that the game sounds are muted by default, but they can be easily switched on by clicking a dedicated button.
David Little explains how HTML was used for mobile devices. Now they can layer sound over sound for a richer feel. Some people don't like that and play with the sound off.
Michael Salih explains why games are moving away from MP3s and adopting OGG and M4A. He says the true magic will always remain in the hands of the audio engineer.
Stellita Loukas explains why mp3 file format is still being used. She also explains the disadvantages of mobile slot audio. i.e. the quality of the audio is not as good as on-the-go play.
Regulation shapes sound design. Sound effects imply a win less than the stake.
Michael Salih explains how they comply with regulatory requirements. for wins that are less than the stake, they show a splash text of the amount and a short ‘ding’ sound. For higher wins, the text and sound are replaced with a visual count-up sound and big win presentations.
Per Klintberg explains how the game works. The only audio cues played are those tied to the counter and the winning factor.
Andrzej Hyla explains how regulation affects everything they do. It is vital they conform to each jurisdiction's demands. However, it is also a challenge to make sound stand out in other ways.
David Little believes it's wrong to play a celebratory win tune when you have won less than your stake. Most studios choose not to celebrate and just indicate that you got some of your bet back.
There will be an online game with audio as impactful and immersive as can be found on dedicated cabinets.
Andrzej Hyla is the sound designer for Slots. He believes that headphones with sound quality that can be achieved by the best speakers will be the future of gaming.
Studio's problem is that they can't predict what device a player will be enjoying the game on. They are also restricted with file size. For operators it becomes a trade-off: do you go with games of lesser size or fewer games with more size?
Stellita Loukas explains how important the quality of the audio of an online game is.
Michael Salih is a VR player. He believes that VR gaming is still niche. However, the industry is constantly pushing forward.
Per Klintberg is working on a 3D audio solution for games on the web. He thinks it hinges on hardware and standards. Web audio API has spatial positioning. He has many ways of making audio elements swirl around your head. Slots Sound Design is Heading for The Next Level.
