# Audio

Audio is the weakest area of solo production capacity, so the plan here is **pragmatic and refinable** — a workable starting point that can ship and improve over time, not a finished design.

## Direction

**Music: Kelethin-style mellow fantasy ambient.** Slow, modal, woodwind-forward with string accompaniment. Long compositions, lots of breathing room, gets out of the way. Reference set:

- **Everquest Kelethin / Greater Faydark / Felwithe** — the canonical "wistful fantasy ambient" sound, slow flowing melodies that loop without feeling looped
- **Diablo II Tristram** — solo acoustic guitar atmospheric, the gold-standard town-hub theme
- **Machinarium** — minimal piano and wordless vocal, very atmospheric
- **Bastion** — plucked strings, folk percussion, atmospheric
- **Planescape Torment / Baldur's Gate** — orchestral fantasy, often subdued

**SFX: clean, satisfying, era-appropriate.** Hammer rings, page turns, glass clinks, soft chimes, low rumbles. Nothing cartoonish, nothing synthetic-sounding. Sample packs as the foundation, layered + tweaked + rotated so nothing becomes a Wilhelm scream.

## Music production approach

### MIDI generation pipeline (recommended)

1. Generate MIDI compositions with AI tools (ACE / similar) using prompt parameters: mood = "mellow fantasy ambient," tempo = 60-80 BPM, instrumentation = woodwinds + strings + harp, length = 3-5 min, key/mode = Aeolian / Dorian / Phrygian for fantasy modal feel
2. Curate the best
3. Optional MuseScore pass for hand cleanup
4. Render through a high-quality soundfont (FluidR3_GM, GeneralUser GS, or a specialty fantasy soundbank) via FluidSynth
5. Export as OGG Vorbis at 96-128 kbps mono or low-bitrate stereo
6. Keep MIDI source files committed alongside audio so re-instrumentation is possible later

**Why MIDI-source over direct audio gen:**
- Tiny working files (10s of KB vs. multiple MB)
- Procedurally controllable (transpose, tempo shift, re-instrument at runtime if you want)
- Better quality results from AI tools than direct audio gen for instrumental music
- Vanilla MIDI sounds dated, but a good soundfont makes it sound like real instruments

### Anti-repetition strategies

The Kelethin trick is that the music never feels like it's looping at you. Apply these:

- **Long compositions** — minimum 3 min per loop, ideally 5+
- **Multiple variants per location** — 2-3 themes for each major surface, crossfade between them randomly
- **Time-of-day mixes** — if Guild Hall has morning/evening backdrop variants, the music has matching mixes (lighter morning instrumentation, denser evening)
- **Silence is allowed** — music doesn't play 100% of the time. 30-60 sec gaps with just ambient SFX (hearth crackle, wind) are restorative, not awkward
- **Same key signature across related themes** — when crossfading between Guild Hall and Workshop themes, key continuity makes transitions feel natural

## Music inventory (working set for v1)

| Surface | Theme |
|---|---|
| Guild Hall (home) | 2-3 mellow themes, primary ambient — player hears these most |
| Forge | Workshop variant, slightly more rhythmic to match hammer ambience |
| Alchemy Table | Wispy, sustained chords, glass-bell accents |
| Library | Quieter, sparser piano + cello |
| Patron Court | Slightly more formal/regal but still mellow |
| Each region (~10) | One zone theme per region, all in related modes for tonal coherence |
| Special stings | Short (5-10 sec) musical moments for: rank up, Legendary craft, Patron completion |

## SFX production approach

### Sourcing
- **Sonniss GDC bundles** (free, ~30GB+/year) — covers most generic SFX needs
- Targeted purchases from Sound Effect Studio, GameDev Market, Boom Library for specific gaps
- **Layer simple sounds for complexity** — a "craft completion" can be hammer + chime + soft applause = unique signature, even though each component is a stock sound
- **Pitch/tempo shift** in DAW to create variants — same source sound, six different timbres

### Anti-Wilhelm discipline
- Every frequently-played UI sound has **4-6 variants** in a rotation pool
- The audio engine picks one at random per trigger, never repeats consecutively
- Workshop ambient loops are slow-evolving (no obvious 2-second loop point)

## SFX inventory (working set for v1)

### UI
- Tap (3-4 variants — soft thunk, light click, small chime)
- Swipe / tab change (2-3 variants)
- Modal open / close
- Notification chime (3 tonal variants — info / positive / warning)
- Badge appears on Guild Hall scene (subtle ping)

### Workshop ambience (looping under music)
- Forge: bellows, hammer rings, occasional metal clang
- Alchemy: bubbling, glass clink, drip
- Loom: rhythmic click-shuttle
- Carpenter: saw, plane, chisel
- Library: page turn, quill scratch, candle flicker

### Crafting (per [13-reveal-choreography.md](13-reveal-choreography.md))
- Crude reveal: soft thump
- Common reveal: hammer crunch
- Fine reveal: hammer + metallic chime
- Masterwork reveal: hum → rising chime → metallic clang → soft choir flourish
- Legendary reveal: low rumble → slow rising swell → *crack* of light → choir + organ swell
- Critical-success break: rising "wait — no" tone before upgrading
- New Discovery: parchment whoosh + book shut

### Expedition
- Door open / close (Guild Hall front door)
- Soft footsteps fade-out (departing party)
- Soft footsteps fade-in (returning party)
- Coin drop (loot received)
- Map page flip (world map open)

### Ambient (per backdrop)
- Hearth crackle
- Wind (soft, looping, with subtle variation)
- Rain (for relevant zones)
- Distant tavern murmur (for town-adjacent zones)
- Insect chitter (for forest zones)
- Cave drip (for subterranean zones)

## Mobile audio engineering

- **Format**: OGG Vorbis throughout (smaller than MP3, no licensing concerns, native support in every engine)
- **Music**: 96-128 kbps, stereo or low-bitrate stereo
- **SFX**: 64-96 kbps, mono (mobile speakers are mono; saves space)
- **Master normalization**: all assets normalized to a consistent loudness target so nothing pops at full volume
- **Bus mixing**: separate buses for Music / Ambient / SFX / UI with independent volume sliders in settings (accessibility requirement, also good for player preference)
- **No spatial audio needed** — 2D card game, no 3D positioning required. Slight stereo positioning of workshop sounds (forge slightly left, alchemy slightly right) is a nice touch but optional.

## Accessibility

- Independent volume sliders per bus (Music / Ambient / SFX / UI)
- "Reduce ambient loops" setting (some players hate constant hammers / bubbling under everything)
- Music-off / SFX-only mode
- Visual feedback for all important audio cues (the reveal choreography is already visually complete — audio enhances, never replaces)

## Open questions

- Which AI MIDI tool ends up best for this style — ACE, MuseNet-style, or something newer
- Soundfont selection — do we ship with FluidR3_GM (free, decent) or invest in a fantasy-specific soundbank
- How many distinct music tracks for v1 — probably 8-12 minimum (Hall + a few workshops + ~3 zone themes + stings)
- Total audio budget on disk — likely 30-80 MB for music + SFX combined, plenty for mobile
- Voice acting — none planned (matches our "no LLM in critical path" discipline and saves significant scope), but worth confirming
- Haptic feedback on mobile — paired with audio cues (vibration patterns per quality band) — meaningful enhancement or unnecessary?