Hello Unity forums !
We are an experienced team of audio designers, composers and audio integrators for video games, based in Lyon, France. For 8 years we have been designing audio and composing music for video games and animation films (our first video game experience was with Alone in the Dark and our last one with A.B.C. Murders) and 3 years ago we started promoting audio integration as a vital tool for audio creation within interactive media. And after a year of working on a Unity plugin to allow just that, we proudly present the Global Audio Manager 1.1 !
GAM 1.1
The Global Audio Manager (or GAM) is a new audio integration solution, developed with two goals in mind: 1) facilitatiing and accelerating audio integration in Unity and 2) Allowing sound designers and composers to go crazy thanks to a lot of audio creation options. Think of it as an audio integration tool made for sound designers and composers, as well as developers. Or as an alternative to Wwise and FMOD, completely integrated within Unity 5 and bypassing its audio limitations.
Production is sped up by… well we didn’t manage to find a number as the time gain seems to be exponential. No drag and drops: everything is automated using the folder structure (one is provided in the pack as an example).
- The AudioClip Manager gives an overview and allows a fast setup of all AudioClip options for any platform. You can find it here, in a separated bundle.
- GAMUI lets you build all your GUI audio in a minute. Those who ever had to integrate audio for an UI know how much of a pain it can be, and so do we. But NO MORE ! GAMUI is here to save hours and days of painful UI audio integration. Here it is.
- GAMAnimation makes audio animation events precise and easy to set up. The human ear is a very picky thing and usually discriminates audio down to 5 milliseconds. So your footstep has to be in sync. GAMAnimation allows just that. Speaking of footsteps, GAMAnimation allows an automation of surface-to-audio assignments: assign audio to a type of surface once, and it can be used by any animation event: suface is identified, relevant audio is retrieved and played. No need to browse through all animation events to change footsteps sounds.
The door to creation is opened by GAMSwitch and GAMMusic, respectively a full-featured audio switch and a music sequencer.
- Think of any variation you’d like for a sound. GAMSwitch can do it. The switch is the building block of game audio, and gives life to any little sound. Pitch (in semitones obviously), pan, spatialization, delay, weighted clips randomization and more are all controlled and pave the way for audio creation within Unity. We tried it, and its a breeze to work with, and can be used for anything from footsteps to music. You need it.
- GAMMusic is a more elaborate tool for building semi-randomized musical sequences. Want variation in your music ? Feel like it’s stuck in a loop ? GAMMusic lets your game music break free and gain a soul.
Some tools cross the production time vs. creativity barrier. Namely all kinds of GAMZones : these take a collider (or trigger) and allow it to interact in various ways with other GAM utilities. They allow you to craft the audio environment of your game. The Switch Group will trigger referenced switches on collision and/or trigger for any number of colliders. The Snapshot Group assigns a mixer snapshot to a collider/trigger. Other groups allow interacting with the music. All aim at giving life to the game space, by adding, modifying and substrating sound wherever needed. Craft your sound environment.
Audio Packs
We are also working in collaboration with the MAAAV - a Master’s degree in music composition and sound design - and AudioPlum studio - a French audio creation studio -, to produce a series of Audio Packs, each themed around a specific genre and containing both sound effects and music. Our Fantasy audio pack is pending review and a Cyberpunk one is expected by the end of March. The GAMSwitch is joined in the bundles to get the creative juices flowing.
Here are two of the musics of the Fantasy Audio Pack:
If you have any questions, feel free to post them in this thread. We are also open to suggestions, wants, needs and demands.
Media
Lots of pics
Launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajFIaFw-YxA
Component overview:
The AudioClip Manager:
GAMUI:
GAMAnimation:
GAM Auto collision sounds system:
GAMSwitch:
GAMMusic:
GAMSwitchGroup:
GAMSnapshotZone:
GAMStructureZone:
