thaBigGeneral

Google Plus?

Not op, but yes the sound of footsteps falls within his domain. There are always decisions to be made about the quality and characteristics of a footstep, generally you would have a foley artist who would create the sound though (at least in film), but I'd imagine on an indie game the designer would end up doing it all.

For someone just starting out, hands down a Zoom recorder is what you want. They they just released the H5 model last year and it's really excellent, improved pre-amps and interface. Very simple and price is great for what you get (I believe it's under $500 cad, but can't remember). You can even buy additional recording capsules, it comes with one stereo XY condenser capsule though.

And if you want something that's really top of the line you can look a Sound Devices 633, amazing recorder but that'll cost you over $4000 and you'll still need to purchase mics. So I'd say start off with a zoom.