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External Audio Deliverable Spec

This document is handed verbatim to every external composer / sound designer we commission. It defines exactly what to deliver and how. You never need engine access: you work from gameplay capture videos we provide, and we wire your files in on our side.

File format

Property Requirement
Container WAV (PCM)
Sample rate / bit depth 48 kHz / 24-bit
Peaks ≤ −3 dBFS true peak. Do not loudness-maximize.
Loudness target ASWG-R001 ballpark: ≈ −24 LKFS for in-game balance; leave dynamics intact
Channels Mono for point-source SFX (impacts, foley, one-shots). Stereo only for music, ambience beds, and UI
Silence Trim leading/trailing silence; loops must be sample-accurate (no crossfade baked unless asked)

Music deliverables

  • Delivered as stems (our music system mutes/unmutes stems at runtime), plus a reference full mix.
  • Documented loop points (sample positions) per stem, all stems equal length and phase-aligned.
  • Tempo/meter documented per cue (we quantize state changes to your grid).
  • Leave headroom in the impact band — combat SFX sit on top of the music; EQ the mix around them.

Naming (source files)

<type>_<system>_<descriptor>_<variation>.wav — lowercase, underscores, no spaces:

  • Types: sfx_ (one-shots), mus_ (music/stems), amb_ (ambience beds), ui_, vox_ (vocalizations)
  • Examples: sfx_sword_impact_flesh_01.wav, mus_camp_stem_strings_01.wav, amb_saltflats_wind_01.wav
  • Variations: _01, _02, … Multiple takes of one sound are variations, not differently-named files.

Delivery & process

  • Delivery = drop into the shared masters folder we give you (git LFS; we handle versioning). Never deliver via chat attachments.
  • Weekly batched review; consolidated notes come from one voice (Oliwer).
  • Revision rounds and milestone payments are per contract; a deliverable is "accepted" when it's wired in-game and reviewed against capture.
  • Stems and session/project files are part of final delivery per contract.

Creative guardrails (summary — full brief in the Audio Vision doc)

  • Magical realism scored as uncanny-as-mundane: the world's strangeness is never announced. No orchestral bombast for world-weirdness, no monster-horror stingers, no synthetic-clean textures.
  • Muted, organic, hand-played timbres; decay and melancholy; rare bright accents are meaningful.
  • Drama belongs to the player's stakes: combat, greed, death.
  • Reference clips accompany every brief with a note on what specifically to take from each.