Start of a game development.
Game audio designer: Need some music?
Game developer: Fuck your music, I need sweet ass SFXs baby!
Game audio designer: Sure! Can I make some for you?
Game developer: Fuck no I’m fine with free samples, free is good for now.
Fine.
End of game development.
Game developer: DAMN I’M BURNING.
Game audio designer: still need some SFXs?
Game developer: YES, NO, MAYBE, PROBABLY, DEFINITELY.
Game audio designer: maybe some music too?
Game developer: NO, YES, NOT SURE, FUCK YOUTUBE KILLED MY TRAILER I NEED ORIGINAL MUSIC YESTERDAY.
You should stop seeing game audio people as vultures trying to make some paper on your back dear game developers, we’re all in this together. Whatever the project size, you’ll need audio. You’ll need someone to do it/deal with it, very quickly. Embrace it. Become professional in your output and dev process. Reduce the scope of visuals and pay attention to audio if needed, the resulting layer of polish will be more than worth it.
We are going toward a world of fanless computers as phones and tablets are showing us. It’s all about the Experience.
Audio is not an option, it’s required.