Audio plays an essential role in building a game's atmosphere. Every single title that intends to immerse you in its world puts a great deal of attention on sound effects and music, especially in classic horror games. You are in a corridor, it is dark, and you can barely see. The appropriate combination of sounds will make you want to turn off the console immediately, in a good way. Moreover, sound also gives the player feedback and extra information of the game world. It is important to let the player know that their actions have a consequence, even during menu navigation. Every time they tap, swing, or use an element, there should be some kind of audio cue confirming the interaction has taken place.

This chapter tackles how to add both sound effects and background music to your Libgdx applications in an effective manner. We will start from the ground up so as to end with more complex creations such as dynamic and spatial sound effects.

Later in the chapter, we will dive into the Libgdx file's input/output system. This will enable us to load levels and save a player's progress, configuration profiles, and other useful information. The data-driven approach is always considered good practice as it enables non-programmer team members to modify a game's behavior quite easily.