Mobile App Audio Middleware

Question

Hello!

Has anyone out there seen more material on using middleware for mobile games? Wwise or UDK cue editing interface?

Are these subject to royalty fees on each app using the tech? They apparently do for console games.

How do you go about implementing as a contractor with these 'sole proprietorship' (most of the time) app developers and pay a license fee? - does the main developer pay the fee or can you get a blanket license as a freelance audio designer to use the middleware on any project you are attached to as long as royalties are paid? (Basically just asking if you have to pay the license fee for each title that uses the middleware)

You all are rock at knowing good reading material - got any ideas?

Answer 1

As I understand it, these middle-ware apps are licensed for use on a per project basis. The owner of the IP pays the licensing fees. There are more knowledgeable people on here concerning game audio though, and I'm sure one of them will chime in and give confirmation if I'm correct in this or not.

Answer 2

I'm no expert, so hopefully someone here can add to this - but when you get into the realm of games for mobile, middleware is available to use depends what is the target platform, e.g. if the game is for iOS only then the options are much great, than creating games for Symbian, Android or Windows. Creating multi-platform phone games is a pain as there are just so many different specs. Open AL is a quite common solution for phone audio, as it can be modified easily for each platform - but this is an SDK rather than a sound designer tool, so any tools will need to be programmed on top of it.

There is a general lack of information on developing audio for handheld devices, however things like Wwise or FMOD will work pretty much the same on iOS as they do for consoles, but what is actually available to use will be based on what the developer makes available to use e.g. DSP's, parameters etc. and this will be more limited than for console titles.

As @Shaun Farley says the developer or publisher should pick up the bill for the middleware, and for consoles at least you buy the license per title, then there are addition costs per platform. There are blanket licences for some middleware but the only time I've come across then is when working for big publishers, however it may be possible to do for individuals too.