🔊Improve Your Game with SFX

Sound Effects (SFX) are crucial to bringing your game to life. However, they’re often forgotten by new developers. We’re going to be diving into the three approaches to add sound to your game: using online libraries, SFX generators and finally recording SFX yourself. All three of these can be fantastic.

Approaches to Sound Design

Let’s begin with online libraries. If you’re looking for some free SFX Kenney's is one of the best places to start. There’s hundreds of SFX here all of which can be used free-of-charge in commercial projects!

Next up, if you want to make your own sounds, I’m a big fan of BFXR a free, 8-Bit sound generator. This is how I made my first SFX and will work especially well in retro-inspired games.

Finally, how do you record your own SFX. This is pretty daunting at first, but trust me when I say its a ton of fun!

Much of recording SFX is about creativity. So, start rummaging around your home and see what you find that sounds cool. In my game Synthetic I used watermelons, paper plates, wet sponges, pillows and much more!

How to Edit Sound Effects

After each of these steps, you’re probably going to want to polish your SFX a bit.

For this, I’m a fan of Audacity, which is both free and open-source.

My best starting tips are:

1. Try layering different sound effects/recording together to create more interesting and unique effects

2. Boost the high and low pitches of your tracks. This is done through a process called Equalization and makes your SFX feel more “full” and “balance”. Increasing the bass (low frequencies) of weapon sfx is a fantastic game feel trick.

Until next time, have a great week 🎉

Adam