# Sound Design Plan

The current sounds are procedurally generated sine/noise blends
(`generate_sounds.py`) — functional, but robotic. This doc is the path to
real sound design with zero budget.

## What's in place now

`AudioManager` (autoload, `globals/audio_manager.gd`) provides the plumbing
good sound design needs:

- **Bus layout**: `Master ← SFX ← {Weapons, Footsteps, UI}`, `Master ← Music`
  — created automatically at boot, so volume sliders and effects (EQ,
  compression, reverb zones) can target categories.
- **Variation playback**: drop `footstep_01.wav`, `footstep_02.wav`,
  `footstep_03.wav` into `assets/sounds/` and `AudioManager.play_3d("footstep", pos)`
  picks one at random.
- **Pitch randomization**: every playback is pitched ±6% by default — the
  single cheapest trick to stop repeated sounds sounding fake.
- **Pooled 3D players**: `play_3d()` is safe to call every frame; no node
  churn, no cut-off management.

```gdscript
# anywhere in gameplay code:
AudioManager.play_3d("ak47_fire", muzzle.global_position)
AudioManager.play_ui("hit_confirm")
```

## Replacing the procedural sounds (priority order)

Sound is ~50% of "game feel" in an FPS. Replace in this order:

1. **Weapon fire** (heard constantly): layered = body (low thump) + crack
   (mid transient) + tail (room reflection). Sonniss GDC packs have complete
   layered gunshots. One file per weapon is fine to start; add `_01.._03`
   variations later.
2. **Hit confirm + kill confirm**: short, bright, satisfying (this is the
   "touchdown" pillar in the design doc).
3. **Footsteps**: 4+ variations minimum, quieter than you think, on the
   `Footsteps` bus so they can be ducked while firing.
4. **Movement verbs**: slide (cloth+concrete scrape), dash (air whoosh),
   wall-run loop, jump/land (land intensity scaled by fall speed).
5. **Ambience**: a quiet room tone per map kills the "dead air" feeling.
6. **UI**: menu hover/click/equip from a Kenney UI pack.

Where to get files: see [ASSET_SOURCES.md](ASSET_SOURCES.md#sounds) —
Sonniss GDC bundles first, Kenney CC0 packs second, Freesound (CC0 filter)
for gaps.

## Conventions

- Files: `assets/sounds/<event>[_NN].wav` — 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, mono for 3D
  positional sounds, stereo only for UI/music.
- Ids are auto-registered from filenames at boot (`ak47_fire.wav` →
  `"ak47_fire"`). Names containing `fire`/`reload` route to the Weapons bus,
  `footstep` to Footsteps, everything else to SFX
  (see `BUS_HINTS` in audio_manager.gd).
- Keep source loudness consistent: normalize weapon shots to about -6 dBFS
  peak, footsteps/foley around -18 dBFS.

## Later polish (cheap wins, in order)

1. Distance low-pass on the Weapons bus (far gunfire sounds muffled).
2. A short duck (sidechain) on Footsteps/ambience when local weapon fires.
3. Reverb `AudioEffectReverb` per-map on SFX for indoor spaces.
4. Surface-dependent footsteps: raycast down, map material → sound id
   (`footstep_metal`, `footstep_concrete`).