Steam Audio Patch Update - Now Open Source
Steam Audio is a great tool for game developers of all caliber who want to create immersive spatial audio.
I’ve never made a game, but right now sounds like the right time. There are free versions of RPG maker programs on Steam. And now there is an open-source audio development tool on Steam. Steam is a digital video game distribution platform launched in 2003.
Steam Audio is a free spatial audio program from indie games to triple-A games, released in 2017. It adds physics to sound for PC, mobile, and VR. For example: if you’re in game, facing an NPC (non-player character), and turn right, hearing them a bit less, and only in the left ear. That’s what this program can give game devs and more. Steam Audio makes real-time propagation or how sound bounces through the environment easier to replicate.
Almost seven years later from the original release, Steam Audio gets a patch making it open source. First, the program was headed by Valve, which owns Steam; only being updated by Valve. Now it’s open source, meaning, anyone can add to it.
“We welcome contributions from developers who would like to fix bugs or add features to Steam Audio; for more details, see the files LICENSE.md and CONTRIBUTING.md in the GitHub repository.” - Steam Support
Having an opening up Steam Audio means more resources because the community will constantly be adding and checking sources.
Chase Bethea, Multi-Award Winning Composer for video games, said, “I think it’s great. It means another audio middleware system that gives access to making great experiences with the entire game that the developers can use. The history of Steam Audio is quite interesting. Since Steam didn’t actually create it themselves, but acquired it from two people who developed it during their masters program in the South. Once they acquired it, it became more robust, and I heard good things about it.”
This program works with Unity, Unreal Engine, and FMOD Studio. That means you need to have one of these programs to use Steam Audio. The good news is it’s great for PC, mobile, and console games. The old patch included only PC and mobile.
Steam Audio can be found on GitHub. Happy developing!