Description: Portfolio of compositional work done various game projects since Jan 2018
Note: Private & Confidential | Work in development. Please do not share.
Work in games
(2018 - present)
Since the beginning of 2018 I have involved myself in the indie games community in London. I have both attended and participated in game jams, notably; Global Game Jam 2018 and King Game Jam 2018. In summer of 2018 I organised and ran a Game Jam from a gallery on portobello road - bringing together artists and programmers.
Once I started to become more familiar with the indie development world and the tools used, tools like; Unity, Unreal, FMod, Pd, Python, Java, etc. The more I explored the more I saw that several of the compositional ideas I wished to express could be realised using this new language. This allowed me to 'deep-dive' into the engines in order to understand how I could implement sound within that space - what limitations existed for audio manipulation in-engine, how audio was treated in these environments, etc.
The main indie game I have been working on has been recognized and nominated for an award. My collaborator and I were invited to showcase the game in Berlin at the A.Maze awards in April 2019.
I have begun to learn Python, C#, C++, HTML, and Java; this has allowed me to better and more efficiently communicate with programmers when it comes to composing audio for games.
THE FOLLOWING IS
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
-
DO NOT SHARE WITHOUT
PERMISSION
STATIC - 2019
'STATIC' is a surreal walking simulator with audio puzzles. Inspired by Haruki Murakami and modular synthesisers. The game is made up of two distinct parts:
- Part I; a non-hostile adventure through a progressively abstract island in search of phone-booths
- Part II; an endless void with oblique machines in which you must decode incoming audio messages
The project began as an experiment between myself and indie developer / programmer Elijah Cauley, and has since flourished into a small-scale indie project that has been nominated for an Indie game award, been highlighted in games publications such as EDGE magazine, and been accepted as part of the games label 'Ice Water games'.
The opening theme for STATIC
For STATIC I have been entirely responsible for the audio - from environment and FX, right through to composition and BGM. What is unique to STATIC is that audio is a fundamental game mechanic in which players have to decode 'garbled' audio messages. I have been responsible for working within the game engine (Unity) to design and implement the puzzle audio.
The strength of the audio element of this game has led to a build of an in-game 'toy box' which is simply an audio playground through which players can interact with the oblique machine and use it to make abstract audio compositions.
STATIC is currently in its last stage of development.
It is due for release in 2021
To find out more about the design process, please visit: STATIC
Long Live Ebo - 'King' Game Jam, 2018
The King game jam was a 20-hour jam (across 2 days) held at the King offices in Central London. Our game 'Long Live Ebo' was runner up in 3 out of the 4 categories in London.
These are the 3 main themes composed during the game jam for 'Long Live Ebo'
In this team I was solely responsible for sound and character design, environment sound design, and BGM. All sounds were built from scratch during the jam and all music was composed during the jam period. The following video (length = 3:36) showcases my process and sounds - from physics sounds to incidental/interactive sounds, and the environment BGM.
Various short games - Jam For Change, 2018
Jam For Change was an indie community jam that happened in support of Women's Aid. The theme for this jam was 10 second games. Very quick games that anyone could play. I took part remotely as a composer and worked on 3 different projects simultaneously.
The three games came with very different composition briefs. All the compositions were completed within a few hours.
Dump or Hold is a game in which you see stock prices rise and fall over 10 seconds and you decide when to sell by clicking the DUMP button. The BGM needed to give a sense of urgency, that time was running out, whilst also being playful at the same time. The high melody line is ascending, whilst the bass line is descending, echoing the rise and fall of the stock prices in-game.
Pour The Juice / Juice Party is a game in which you must keep your guests well watered without spilling drink onto the cat in the middle. The programmer wanted a classy party vibe with party ambience. I opted for a slightly 'drunk slow-jazz' vibe for the party music to mirror the slightly clumsy nature of the gameplay mechanic - that you might spill the drink onto the cat. The party ambience was designed using multiple audio samples, chosen for the moments where the words are largely unrecognisable.
Save The Cats is a game where you must literally save falling cats in an upturned umbrella. The programmer wanted something to reflect the art style which was cute, pop, and 16-bit. The music should have both energy and a hook to it as this was a quick fire, scoreboard-challenge, style game.
HeyÜ - Global Game Jam, 2018
