Mix for clarity — the player must always hear what matters

Any game with a busy or unpredictable soundscape — action, shooters, anything with simultaneous combat, music, and ambience. Most critical where audio carries gameplay-relevant information (competitive footsteps, warnings).

Unlike film, a game's mix is unpredictable — any combination of sounds can fire at once — so a static mix will inevitably let something important get masked at the worst time [S-game-audio-practice]. The fix is a prioritized, dynamic mix: the engine decides in real time which sounds matter now and makes room for them. Ducking attenuates background layers (music, ambience) when a higher-priority sound (a callout, a warning) plays; HDR audio "declutters" by making loud sounds louder and quiet ones quieter (muting footsteps under an explosion, then restoring them). This is the audio expression of information hierarchy (UX-0003) and cognitive-load management (UX-0002): the player has limited auditory attention, so the mix must spend it on what matters. A mix where critical cues (AUDIO-0001) get masked is a failure no matter how good the individual sounds are.

Assign priorities/categories to sounds and let a real-time system (ducking, HDR, state mixing) enforce them. Protect the always-must-hear cues (danger, footsteps, callouts). Mix and QA under real gameplay chaos, not on isolated sounds — the masking problems only appear in combination. Give the player volume sliders per category (music/SFX/voice) for their own clarity and accessibility (UX-0006).

Little on "critical sounds must be audible"; the nuance is how much dynamic processing before the mix feels artificial (pumpy ducking, over-aggressive HDR) — a taste-and-tuning question, plus the rare deliberate-chaos exception.

The mixing principle that protects AUDIO-0001's feedback; the audio form of information hierarchy (UX-0003) and attention budgeting (UX-0002). Confidence 4.