During week 9, we’re tasked with completing a first pass of sound design for our game.

SFX and music for the game

The sound design doc is a living document, but I will reflect on the current-at-the-time-of-writing-this version (Git commit hash c2c478c) of the document here:

https://github.com/juanuys/ccgdd/blob/c2c478c/sound-design.md

I spent a bit of the evening shuffling a pack of Exploding Kittens in front of a condenser mic (is that even the right type of mic?) and will spend subsequent evenings mastering and importing into the game.

This is a card game with very basic audio requirements. I think as long as the audio doesn’t detract from the experience, then we’re good. The music should also be low-key, so players can think about what card to play without being distracted.

Prior work

I’ve recorded SFX for games before, my favourite being what I call “thwack-wobble”, which you can imagine being some sort of steam-punk projectile-launching weapon, and is a combination of stapler, scissors, knocking on a window (reversed), wobbling an A4 sheet of thin cardboard, and sticky tape coming unstuck (with reverb).

I’ve also recorded music for games. For instance, I made some chip-tune blues for a farm-themed game once, and was made with my AKAI MPK mini, and Logic Pro.

Some of the more advanced audio techniques I’ve used recently is Godot engine’s pitch randomiser, which I used with the football kicking SFX in the 7DRL challenge.

Conclusion

I’m sure there’s a bunch of fun to be had with 3D audio design, and tools like FMOD for mixing streams and setting complex triggers, but for now my basic 2D games need minimal sound design, so I can focus on continuity of theme, audio balance, and generally making sure sound doesn’t get in the way.

Bibliography

Nada!