Meet Ivy Xu | Game Audio Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wenqi (Ivy) Xu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ivy, why did you pursue a creative career?
Life has subtly been a journey of discovery for me before everything came together. I followed the traditional path from pre-school to college, having a hard time making the decision to commit to a career. For my degree, it was a common route to become a software developer with some musical hobbies on the side, but I felt an urge telling me to pursue something that keeps me alive in many ways. So here I am, at the crossroads of so many things that I love – making game audio and enhancing player experiences, surrounded by so many enthusiastic and talented game creators.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a sound designer, I started at the intersection of computer science, music and games – an area where sounds behave in a non-linear way. I explored computer science and music as an undergrad, and decided I wanted to apply my skills in the game industry. It wasn’t until I started learning game sound design that I realized it’s still a relatively small field, yet veterans are very willing to share their knowledge!

My technical background made learning some aspects a bit easier, but ear training can be extra challenging without proper equipment and a mentor. I’m still overcoming this challenge, but many people have helped me along the way – my boss at Salt Sound Studio who took me in as a novice intern, colleagues who selflessly taught me sound design thinking and workflow, designer friends who trusted me with assets for their games, composers I collaborated with, and industry veterans who shared experience and guidance.

Now I learn every day by playing games and getting hands-on with game audio. Besides communicating with dev teams, I really enjoy recording foley, making the assets, and implementing them into middleware or the game engine. I feel there’s always room for improvement.

My favorite experience so far is creating audio for indie games. The designers I meet are truly passionate about making the games they love and sharing that joy with players. Rather than just pursuing photorealism, I get to see how they use unique style to achieve immersion and fun – which opens up space for creative sound design! I love helping these passion projects come to life, and hope to keep doing that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It totally depends on what the friend likes!

If they’re an indoor gamer like me, we might spend half the time at home playing games together, and go food-hunting around Ktown and San Gabriel at meal times, or even cook and bake something together!

If my friend loves sunshine and shopping, I’d take them to the beach (maybe Santa Monica), Huntington Library, Getty Museum, and actually join them while they explore fun shopping spots like Melrose or The Grove.

Some of my favorite LA food & snacks include Ruen Pair, Dolan’s, Sol Agave, Hangari, Cafe de Mama, etc.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to thank the USC Games program for providing amazing professors (especially Tracy Fullerton and Richard Lemarchand), talented game makers, and a variety of game projects. It’s been truly rewarding to make games together with these people, see our projects come to life, and watch players enjoy them!

Website: https://www.31atlarge.com/