I know there’s already a general thread about what you’d like to see on the Unity Asset Store, but I want to talk more specifically about what you feel is lacking from the set of available non-musical audio assets - this could be stuff that’s either not available at all or stuff that’s available, but with either limited variety or low quality. I’m a sound designer and I’ve been toying with the idea of releasing my own sound libraries for a while. Soon, I will be free of the shackles of my non-compete agreement and I’m taking a serious look at doing just that.
Looking over what’s available on the asset store, I see some things that, as a AAA dev, I would find lacking, but I’d like to hear from you guys what you’re longing for. Is it foley stuff like footsteps, door open/close sounds, and cloth movement? Is it impacts like swords and car crashes and building collapses? Ambiences? Vehicles? Trailer fx (i.e. whooshes)? UI?
Also, how much variety would you expect to see in a library (i.e. how many files)? And what would you expect to pay for them (assuming high-quality sounds, delivered as at least cd-quality 16/44 wave files, at a minimum)?
I’d wager your best starting point to capitalize on a mostly hobbyist market would be fantasy effects ( spells and monster sounds ), sci-fi weapons, modern weaponry, and foley. Then use your royalty free packs to cross-sell a more professionally focused bespoke sound design service. Be sure to include a very clear license as a PDF in each pack, on your website, and in the asset store.
As a professional studio we prefer to source or create stereo 24-bit 96Khz uncompressed wav with SoundMiner meta data, although I’d imagine most hobbyist developers would be okay with CD spec. Safest bet is provide both, or split into normal and premium packs. You may even consider including both mp3 and ogg conversions for those who lack sound editing software.
I would be interested in sounds that compliment or add to the music track of the game. So, a sort of matched set of sounds that go well together. I’m thinking of Mario style audio, where the blips, impacts, etc. become part of the music.
So, stylized sounds that all go together. In the past, I’ve tried to buy sounds and they usually just clashed with the music I was using so I ended up making my own.