Production: 2024
Ludum Dare 55 - Hell of a Job
As the newest secretary in this hellish company, you’ll need to master the art of employee management… and summon last-minute meetings!
It is a card-management game where sound and music play a key role, creating an atmosphere that evokes a sense of adrenaline and completely transforms the perception of the game.
I was very proud that we won 2 prizes at Ludum Dare 55 at Behaviour Interactive! Super proud of the team and our game on the theme of summoning.
I had a blast making the sound design and music for this GameJam with Wwise and UE5.
Hell of a Job - Ludum Dare 55 Game Jam
About this project
Ludum Dare 55: Hell of a job | ldjam.com | Ludum Dare game jam
Demo available here: Hell of a job by boudoubouda (itch.io)
Given that the theme of the game was to create a card game centered around summoning, I designed this game demo with the intention of making it dynamic.
Before the Game Jam started, I was already prepared to use Wwise, which gave us a significant time advantage. This preparation allowed our sole programmer to focus on development without interruptions.
As I worked on Unreal Blueprints to ease programming, I maintained an effective naming convention to ensure that both programmers and artists could easily navigate and understand the assets.
After the Game Jam, we decided to continue working on this project!
Core Ideas
Sound Design for Animated Demonic Characters
For this 2D art style, I leaned into a cartoonish theme for the sound design. The "demon" aspect allowed me to explore a more surreal and fantastical sound palette. Some sounds revolve around office supplies and equipment, reflecting the setting of the game, where the player takes on the role of a secretary.
Dynamic Music
I chose to synchronize the music's tempo with Wwise to create a sense of urgency for the player. In the final 30 seconds, the tempo gradually increases to heighten the tension.The blend of synthesizers and orchestral elements brings a devilish yet serious tone to the music, creating tension for the player. As the tempo increases, the pitch of the music also rises to add variation.
Balance
The sound effects remain in the foreground, utilizing ducking with a dynamic bus to ensure they aren't overshadowed by the music.
In more recent versions of our game, we've integrated a tool to calculate in-game distances to accurately apply stereo imaging and depth effects. The camera's angle determines the audio perspective the player hears; otherwise, all sound effects would appear too similar, as the camera's viewpoint remains fixed.