WWISE COURSE REVIEW
A review of the Wwise Course by the School of Video Game Audio
I recently completed the Wwise Course by the School of Video Game Audio and I wanted to share my experience of this audio integration course. In this review, I will cover details about the course, the pros and cons, a few recommendations, and also mention who I believe would benefit most from this course. I will also share my own thoughts about the course and by the end of this article, you will hopefully be in a better position to decide for yourself if this course is worth taking or not.
What is Wwise?
For those who may not already know, Wwise (Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine) by Audiokinetic is an advanced interactive audio solution for games. It is a third party software that holds and programs a game’s audio and connects to that game’s engine. For anyone who wants to get a job as a sound designer in a game development studio, Wwise (along with FMOD) is a standard program to learn as most companies require some sort of knowledge, understanding, and/or experience of Wwise in order to be hired.
Wwise Course by School of Video Game Audio
The Wwise Course is 1 of 5 courses currently offered by the School of Video Game Audio. It is an online course that covers the basics of Wwise. The course takes you from creating sound effects, to playing it in the game engine, to actually implementing it into the game, and finally playing the game with your own sounds in it. The course is hosted on Moodle.com. All the articles, written lessons, and videos can be accessed through Moodle. There is also an app that you can download on your phone if you want to go through the lessons while on your mobile device.
Moodle has a few different sections when you sign into your account. Once signed in, there is a dialogues tab where you can ask questions one-on-one with the instructor. There is also a group forum where you can discuss with other students on the platform. And on your main page, you have the weekly lessons, calendar, and other information such as site announcements.
The course is a 2-month long course that is completed one week at a time. Rather than having complete access to the entire course, each week, beginning on Mondays, the coming week’s lessons are unlocked. For the first 3-4 weeks, there is an assignment to submit based on the week’s lessons. The School of Video Game Audio recommends freeing up a minimum of 10 to 15 hours a week to complete the course work. I found this to be quite accurate, though some weeks I found myself working more hours on the course while other weeks a little less.
The Instructor
The course is taught by Leonard J. Paul, a well-reputed sound designer who has worked for EA in Vancouver on multiple AAA games such as EA’s NBA Jam, NHL11, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, NBA Live ’95. If you’re a fan of indie games, you might be familiar with Retro City Rampage, one of his award-winning titles.
When I took the course, there was also an assistant reviewing my work and weekly assignments. Her name is Viviana Caro, a senior audio artist at EA in Vancouver.
PROS VS CONS
One of the reasons why this is such a great course is that everything is online. You don’t have to spend time commuting just to learn about Wwise. You can do everything at your own pace from the comfort of your own home. It’s perfect for people who may have a busy schedule as you can do a lot of the work on evenings and weekends, as I did. As long as you have an internet connection, you’re good to go.
The videos are a little bit outdated since this course was first launched a while back. Of course, the layout of Wwise is pretty much the same, but I think the course could be more enjoyable if the videos are updated. It’s not a big deal but it’s something I noticed.
Leonard Paul is very responsive. Every time I contacted him with questions about the course or game audio, he would reply back to me usually within a few hours. Whether I had a general question or just issues with the game or the with Wwise, he was always able to answer my queries.
I personally did not like Moodle as a platform. I did not find it very intuitive or nicely laid out. I did get used to it after a while, but it took me longer than I would have liked to navigate the platform. Again, not a deal breaker here, but something worth mentioning.
The course only lasts 8 weeks. If you have long-term commitments such as work or school, this is a great way to build the skills you’ll need to get a studio job. The workload is pretty decent. It did not take up too much of my time. Of course, this is pretty subjective but to give you an idea, I was still able to work while taking this course at the same time.
If you have taken any of the free Audiokinetic certification courses, you may find a few similarities with the Wwise Course. In my experience, I learned nothing new in the first 2 to 3 weeks of the Wwise Course because it simply went over a lot of the Wwise 101 content. Personally, I found this to be a good thing as it allowed me to be refreshed about the Wwise 101 content. I would suggest that you take the courses together because they complement each other, but I could also see how some people may feel like they are wasting their money because they paid for the Wwise Course, while the Wwise 101 is a free course.
As an added touch, the course covers sound design techniques, recording techniques, and sound design exercises.
Perhaps the most useful aspect of the course is that at the end of the course, you will have a demo reel that you can use for your job applications.
I thought that this course could go more in-depth on certain topics. For example, going into more detail about how to optimize the game’s memory. Though that was talked about, it was not discussed in depth or placed around any assignments. I think I had the idea that because this is a Wwise Course, the course would cover all there is to know about Wwise. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The course is really only focused on getting you the basics and building out your chosen game so that you can create your demo reel.
Pros
- One of the reasons why this is such a great course is that everything is online. You don’t have to spend time commuting just to learn about Wwise. You can do everything at your own pace from the comfort of your own home. It’s perfect for people who may have a busy schedule as you can do a lot of the work on evenings and weekends, as I did. As long as you have an internet connection, you’re good to go.
- Leonard Paul is very responsive. Every time I contacted him with questions about the course or game audio, he would reply back to me usually within a few hours. Whether I had a general question or just issues with the game or the with Wwise, he was always able to answer my queries.
- The course only lasts 8 weeks. If you have long-term commitments such as work or school, this is a great way to build the skills you’ll need to get a studio job. The workload is pretty decent. It did not take up too much of my time. Of course, this is pretty subjective but to give you an idea, I was still able to work while taking this course at the same time.
- As an added touch, the course covers sound design techniques, recording techniques, and sound design exercises.
- Perhaps the most useful aspect of the course is that at the end of the course, you will have a demo reel that you can use for your job applications.
CONS
- The videos are a little bit outdated since this course was first launched a while back. Of course, the layout of Wwise is pretty much the same, but I think the course could be more enjoyable if the videos are updated. It’s not a big deal but it’s something I noticed.
- I personally did not like Moodle as a platform. I did not find it very intuitive or nicely laid out. I did get used to it after a while, but it took me longer than I would have liked to navigate the platform. Again, not a deal breaker here, but something worth mentioning.
- If you have taken any of the free Audiokinetic certification courses, you may find a few similarities with the Wwise Course. In my experience, I learned nothing new in the first 2 to 3 weeks of the Wwise Course because it simply went over a lot of the Wwise 101 content. Personally, I found this to be a good thing as it allowed me to be refreshed about the Wwise 101 content. I would suggest that you take the courses together because they complement each other, but I could also see how some people may feel like they are wasting their money because they paid for the Wwise Course, while the Wwise 101 is a free course.
- I thought that this course could go more in-depth on certain topics. For example, going into more detail about how to optimize the game’s memory. Though that was talked about, it was not discussed in depth or placed around any assignments. I think I had the idea that because this is a Wwise Course, the course would cover all there is to know about Wwise. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The course is really focused on getting you the basics and building out your chosen game so that you can create your demo reel.
My Experience
I can say that my overall experience with the course is good. It fit my preferences and schedule. Personally, the main reason I took this course is because I want to have a professional demo reel that I can add to my resume showing my experience and knowledge of Wwise.
I only spent around 15 hours a week on this course. I would usually spend about one hour in the morning and another hour at night on weekdays and around 3-5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Overall, I am really happy that I took this course. I learned a lot, gained new ideas, and improved my skills. The experience I received from working with Wwise for 2 months is great. I feel like if any work came up that required the use of the Wwise engine, I am confident that I have the proper knowledge and skills to do the work.
Who is this course for?
Now that I have completed the course, I would definitely say this course is for beginners who have little to no knowledge of the Wwise engine. If you have never used Wwise before and you have zero experience with it, this course is a good way to start. If you have used Wwise before, it might not be the course for you. (read more below)
If you are someone who wants feedback on assignments and wants that personalized touch of having someone you can ask questions to while learning, then the Wwise Course can provide that for you. The instructors are really helpful and offer a lot of constructive criticism to improve your craft.
Who is this course NOT for?
If you have ever used Wwise to work on a game project, you probably would not want to take this course, as you will most likely not learn anything new. The course basically takes you through what it would be like if you were going to work on a game project from scratch.
In addition, If you have already created a demo reel for yourself showing off your knowledge of Wwise or FMOD, then I do not think this course would be valuable to you.
If you have no experience with Wwise other than the Audiokinetic certification courses such as Wwise 101, 201, 251, and 301, then you will have to decide for yourself if creating a demo reel and having personalized feedback on assignments is enough value for you to take the course.
Final Thoughts
I finished the course more confident with my knowledge of Wwise than when I began. It helped improve my sound design skills and my understanding of audio integration and the work and processes it takes to make it happen.
If you want the same for yourself or if you just want to find out more information, you can check out the course at https://school.videogameaudio.com/apply/.
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