THE BRIEF
Canyon Racer is a futuristic plane racing game where players choose between aircraft with different skills and stats, racing against AI opponents and using obstacles and power-ups to their advantage. The audio brief was straightforward: every plane needs to feel different, every shot needs to feel impactful, and the mix needs to survive on mobile speakers.
THE APPROACH
For the futuristic feel I went mostly synth-driven (Serum patches and heavy modulation) but anchored everything with real recorded textures so the game still felt physical. Players needed to *feel* the speed and *hear* the difference between planes within a second of switching.
ADAPTIVE ENGINE SOUND
The engine sound is the audio centerpiece of any racer, so I built it in FMOD with [N LAYERS: idle, low throttle, mid, max] crossfaded by an RPM parameter driven from Unity. As the plane accelerates, [WHAT CHANGES: pitch, volume, filter, timbre]. Different aircraft use different layer sets so each plane has a distinct sonic identity.
LASERS, EXPLOSIONS, POWER-UPS
Combat sounds were layered designs: a Serum-based [LEAD ELEMENT] for character, a [NOISE / TRANSIENT LAYER] for impact, and a [TAIL ELEMENT] for distance. In FMOD I used pitch and timbre randomisation so consecutive shots don't sound mechanical. Small variations make a small library feel much bigger.
IMPLEMENTATION: FMOD + UNITY
All audio runs through FMOD's Unity integration. Each plane has its own event emitter for engine and weapon sounds, and global events (UI, music, ambience) are handled through [APPROACH: centralised AudioManager / FMOD listener / etc.]. Unity's [VELOCITY / RIGIDBODY / INPUT] feeds directly into FMOD parameters every frame.
WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY
With hindsight, [SPECIFIC THING you'd change] (because [why]). Next time I'd [SPECIFIC APPROACH] from the start, especially because [REASON].