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SKILL.md
npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill audio-design
Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization. Engine-neutral. Use when the user mentions audio mixing, audio buses, adaptive/dynamic music, ducking, SFX variation, music layers, or syncing gameplay to the beat.
npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill audio-design
Game audio is a mixing graph plus a music system. Route every sound through a
small set of buses so you can balance and process groups; make music react to
play through layering and re-sequencing rather than looping one track. This skill
teaches the portable practice; bind it to godot-audio, Unity's AudioMixer, or
middleware (FMOD/Wwise) for concrete APIs.
When not to use: for the engine's concrete audio nodes/streams, use
godot-audio or the engine's audio skill. Loading/streaming and asset import are
engine concerns. For UI sliders that drive bus volume, see the engine UI skill.
Master ← {Music, SFX, Ambience, UI, Voice}. Everything plays into a bus; the player's settings
sliders map to bus volumes. Never set hundreds of clip volumes by hand.0..1 through
linear_to_db (and back with db_to_linear). A linear slider on raw amplitude
feels like it does nothing until the very bottom.delta drifts; read the audio playback
position for musical timing, and account for output latency.finished, or use a small pool.references/adaptive-music.md — vertical layering vs horizontal re-sequencing,
transition timing (bars/quantize), stingers, intensity mapping, and crossfades.godot-audio — buses, AudioStreamPlayer, effects, and sync-to-beat in Godot.input-systems — trigger audio from input actions.physics-tuning — collision events that drive impact SFX.platformer, roguelike — genres whose feel leans on audio feedback.# A compressor on the MUSIC bus, keyed by the VOICE bus, lowers music while
# dialogue plays, then releases. This is "sidechain ducking".
# Setup (engine-specific): add a compressor effect to the Music bus and set its
# sidechain to the Voice bus. Then tune:
# threshold: level on Voice that triggers ducking (e.g. -30 dB)
# ratio: how hard to duck (e.g. 8:1 for a clear dip)
# attack: fast (~10 ms) so music gets out of the way promptly
# release: slow (~300-500 ms) so it recovers smoothly, not pumping
# No-middleware alternative: tween the Music bus volume down on voice start and
# back up on voice end.
func duck_music(active: bool) -> void:
var target_db := -12.0 if active else 0.0
create_tween().tween_method(
func(v): set_bus_volume_db("Music", v), current_music_db, target_db, 0.25)# Randomize pitch slightly and pick from a sample pool so repeats feel organic.
func play_varied(samples: Array, bus := "SFX") -> void:
var p := AudioStreamPlayer.new()
p.stream = samples[randi() % samples.size()] # rotate through several takes
p.bus = bus
p.pitch_scale = randf_range(0.94, 1.06) # +/- ~6% pitch wobble
add_child(p); p.play()
p.finished.connect(p.queue_free) # clean up one-shots# Schedule gameplay/visuals on musical time, not frame time, so they land on beat.
const BPM := 120.0
var seconds_per_beat := 60.0 / BPM
func current_beat(playback_position_sec: float) -> int:
return int(playback_position_sec / seconds_per_beat)
# Quantize an action to the NEXT beat boundary instead of firing immediately.
func time_until_next_beat(pos: float) -> float:
return seconds_per_beat - fmod(pos, seconds_per_beat)
# Drive timing from the audio playback clock, which is steadier than frame delta.