Description
A stinger is an audio file (generally short) intended to be played to provide a gameplay indication to the player. Stingers can be played simultaneously with another piece of music (e.g.: when a player collects an item during gameplay). In the case of win and lose stingers, they are instead used to interrupt the current music in order to signal to the player that an objective has been completed or failed.
When a stinger contains a melody, it is sometimes referred to as a jingle (e.g.: a victory jingle).
Considérations
- Since stingers are used to qualify and guide player actions, it is important that the character of the stinger is clearly audible from its very beginning.
E.g.: if it is a win stinger, it is important that the victorious feeling can be perceived by the player as soon as they hear it (e.g.: by beginning with a major chord).
- A win or lose stinger acts as a finale to the music that is playing in a loop. It is therefore important that these stingers sound conclusive in order to clearly communicate to the player that a game stage has just ended. It is therefore very common for a stinger to have a strongly cadential chord progression (e.g.: I6/4 – V – I or ♭VI – ♭VII – I). It is also common for this type of stinger to have a tempo that gradually slows down in order to reinforce the feeling of conclusion.
- If the stinger is intended to be played simultaneously with another piece of music, it is important that both pieces are in the same key. If this is not possible, it is preferable to begin and end the stinger with unpitched sounds (e.g.: a bass drum hit or a cymbal roll) in order to reduce the contrast between the two tonalities.
- If the stinger is intended to interrupt a piece of music, it is important that it begins with a short entrance gesture (e.g.: a brief percussion roll, a quick scale run, etc.). This will allow the interrupted music to transition more smoothly into the stinger by creating a small overlap during the fade out. If possible, ensure that the interrupted music and the stinger are in the same key.
Dans l’exemple ci-dessous, un stinger de victoire et un stinger de défaite sont intégrés de manière à interrompre une boucle simple.
Si vous souhaitez intégrer votre musique à un nouveau projet Wwise, vous devez d’abord créer un projet Wwise et un Work Unit. Pour ce faire, suivez les étapes de la page Créer un projet Wwise.