Overview:

Communication between a game and an audio engine is often a one-way street. The game passes information to the audio engine whereby audio is played back. With no information going the other way around, the game resembles a dancer unable to hear and respond to the sound playing.

Being a temporal medium, sound often plays a key role in articulating temporal qualities such as pace, suspense and release. In order to retain continuity in such temporal experiences, and transition seamlessly from one temporal quality to another, the game needs to listen and adapt to the sound playing.

Using Playdead's INSIDE as an example, various approaches to feedback loops between game and audio that have resulted in a refined temporal flow of the gameplay experience will be demonstrated. Examples include audio-driven gameplay, situations in which sound conducts in-game actions, and seamlessly incorporating death-respawn situations in the overall sound structure.