"Use your flying umbrella to traverse through Slumberland and repair the protective baby mobile so that you and the other inhabitants may sleep again."
I contributed all sound including:
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Sound design & Recording.
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Voice recording & Director.
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Adaptive music mockups, Composition.
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Implementing everything to FMOD Studio, Mix & Mastering.
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Sound forward thinking during team and feature meetings.
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Communication with The Team to develop and iterate the sound
Project Time:
15 weeks 70% ≈ 450 hours
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Me on audio
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3 Level Designers
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4 Graphic Artists
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2 Animators
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3 Technical Artists
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5 Game Programmers
Trailer
All audio in trailer is created by me
Storytelling through audio
The goal is to gather stars and return to the hub, so the audio should highlight its importance.
I chose a stinger for picking up the star to emphasize its gameplay importance and also added a ✨magical✨ looping sound to signal its value even before collection.
The star shrinks when picked up, so I adjusted the audio to reflect this by removing the mid-to-low sound layers, making it feel smaller.
↑The star in action + FMOD showcase↑
When creating sounds, it's crucial to not only consider quality but also context. I start by asking myself:
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What purpose does the sound have to the player?
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What is the story behind the thing or event sounding and what story are we trying to tell?
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What is the visuals (if they exist) telling us?
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What is the characteristics of the object or event. both physical and emotional. such as size, emotional impact, gameplay importance.
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Importance of readability. is it important to be able to hear where the sound is and what it is.
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Number of replays or how often the sound will be played during the game
Avoiding weirdness
For realistic footsteps, I need to avoid repeating the same sound—it sounds odd, like this:
avoiding this weirdness is essential for a natural sound.
So How do I avoid this when triggering the same event each time?
⚂ Randomisation! ⚁
Or some version of it
I applied this to all sounds, adjusting based on frequency. This isn't necessary for sounds heard only once per playthrough.
A multi-instrument lets me play an assortment of sound files in a random pattern. Adding random pitch and volume to this removes the weirdness.
I recorded these sounds myself using different mics and materials to hit. Here you can see me using my hoodie to dampen the sound of the wooden panel so the footsteps sound softer.
Storytelling through audio
The goal is to gather stars and return to the hub, so the audio should highlight its importance.
I chose a stinger for picking up the star to emphasize its gameplay importance and also added a ✨magical✨ looping sound to signal its value even before collection.
The star shrinks when picked up, so I adjusted the audio to reflect this by removing the mid-to-low sound layers, making it feel smaller.
↑The star in action + FMOD showcase↑
When creating sounds, it's crucial to not only consider quality but also context. I start by asking myself:
-
What purpose does the sound have to the player?
-
What is the story behind the thing or event sounding and what story are we trying to tell?
-
What is the visuals (if they exist) telling us?
-
What is the characteristics of the object or event. both physical and emotional. such as size, emotional impact, gameplay importance.
-
Importance of readability. is it important to be able to hear where the sound is and what it is.
-
Number of replays or how often the sound will be played during the game
Avoiding weirdness
For realistic footsteps, I need to avoid repeating the same sound—it sounds odd, like this:
avoiding this weirdness is essential for a natural sound.
So How do I avoid this when triggering the same event each time?
⚂ Randomisation! ⚁
Or some version of it
I applied this to all sounds, adjusting based on frequency. This isn't necessary for sounds heard only once per playthrough.
A multi-instrument lets me play an assortment of sound files in a random pattern. Adding random pitch and volume to this removes the weirdness.
I recorded these sounds myself using different mics and materials to hit. Here you can see me using my hoodie to dampen the sound of the wooden panel so the footsteps sound softer.
Adaptive music
The game has no transitions or loading screens (except for from the main menu to the game) this means that having interruptions in the music would be disruptive. Therefore I made all music for the different stages crossfade between each other.
It's all controlled by one parameter (where the player is). That is set by a few giant, invisible collider boxes in each aria.
↑Music system walkthough↑
NPC dialogue & player voice
We took inspiration from animal crossing for the NPC talking sounds. I did some reasertch, recorded and directed some friends in the group saying every letter of the alfabet.
Then I took that recording, edited it and cut it upp in to every letter for each NPC, We then placed each letter in an event that gets triggered for each time that letter comes upp in the text box to the correct NPC
we also recorded the npc's snoring sounds and the players different grunts for movement abilities that I added to the player's ability sounds. in total I worked with 4 voice actors in this project.
Communication
Communication is a vital yet often overlooked part of game development that requires significant care and time.
Meetings:
We held weekly in-person audio meetings lasting 1 to 4 hours to discuss:
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The current state of the game
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New features needing audio and their implementation
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How the audio systems I created work
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Changes to existing audio or systems
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Feedback on current audio
You FOUND my CV! Thank you!
These meetings primarily involved me, level designer Frans Alexandersson, and programmer Thomas Holtz, with other team members joining as needed. I also conducted independent check-ins with each discipline to ensure consistency on features.
Other Communication:
I created change logs for each new FMOD build, detailing changes since the last build and their intended functionality. Additionally, we communicated daily on Discord for feedback and minor issues, reserving larger topics for in-person meetings.
