When a massive dragon crushes a knight in a video game, the sound you hear isn't a magical beast. It is a sound designer in a padded room aggressively twisting a head of cabbage and snapping a handful of dry celery near a highly sensitive microphone. This book explores the bizarre, tactile world of Foley art in video game development. While graphics cards push millions of polygons to create photorealistic visuals, our ears are easily fooled by everyday household objects. We uncover the psychoacoustic tricks audio engineers use to build the sonic texture of virtual worlds, proving that "realistic" sounds rarely come from the real source. From the heavy thud of a space marine's boots (often recorded by dropping a leather jacket filled with phonebooks) to the squelch of alien gore, you will learn how the brain links specific frequencies to physical materials, creating deep immersion out of sonic illusions. Listen closer to your favorite digital worlds. A fascinating journey into the studio magic that makes the impossible sound perfectly real.
