Beta 2 Game Dev Saga - Processes and challenges of a Brazilian Game Development Studio

5) Sound On! Audio Design time

“I look around and think ‘what the hell can I use to sound like this?’”, says Eduardo Costa, our Audio Designer.

Welcome back, fellow beets.

Imagine this scenario: you’re an indie game developer and need the sound of a river.

Okay, just look over the internet and grab any open license sound.

Well, that’s an option, but let’s say you didn’t like what you found.

Also, you don’t live near a river.

What do you do?

Well, we at Beta 2 Games know a guy (Lucas Dornelles) who knows a guy. And this is Eduardo Costa, our Audio Designer!

“I used to play video games since I was a kid, and I believe that’s where it all started for most of us.

“What I believe is not that common, it is the fact that at the same age I was on my school’s marching band playing wind instruments.

“I got passionate about instruments in general, so I engaged in learning other ones all by myself.

“I wanted to join the city’s conservatory, but we didn’t have much money. Thus, I auditioned for them, and they gave me a scholarship! Years later I ended up being a teacher there as well.”

Eduardo graduated from school music in the federal university of our neighbor city of Pelotas.

“I worked in an orchestra as well during my music school years, and, after I graduated, I became the conductor there.

“Lucas was my student at the conservatory and played the violin at the orchestra.

“My main job as a conductor was to transform pop music into orchestra music. It was very cool. I really like to do these adaptations, create arrangements…

“I guess Lucas liked my work there and introduced me to The Boss.

Making music and making soundtrack are a bit different, but making sound effects for video games can be completely another level.

And he agreed pronto.

“Oh, I struggled a lot in the beginning lol. I’ve always been the type of getting my hands on my musical instruments.

“I had to adapt to the virtual/digital instruments.

“Believe it or not, I didn’t even know how to plug an amplifier. I just used to hop on stage and play lol.

“But Beta 2 Games made me hone this ‘do it yourself’ side of mine. Went head on onto this technological area—and era as well.”

So, there’s all this adaptation and updating you had to, and I believe this goes for every single kind of job out there.

I mean, I had to adapt to writing on spreadsheets, and now I'm actually going especifically onto some other softwares I had never thought about using before.

On this regard, I asked Eduardo about practical stuff. How does The Boss ask him, you know, the what, the how…

“Oh, it all starts with The Boss and the developers choosing the effects they know will be necessary for a particular level, like the floor colapsing, a car engine going off, a river sound, a animals in the forest...

“Then, at home, I look around and think ‘what the hell can I use to sound like this?

“How do I record something that is in motion? A tank? A spaceship?

“So, I throw things around, hit others and start editing.”

As a writer, I have my references—Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick…

In the game industry, I'd say Kazuhige Nojima (among many, Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts 2), Hideo Kojima, and Hideaki Sena from the first Parasite Eve, amid many others.

I was curious about his and, also, his favorite OSTs in gaming.

“I guess I don’t have a major reference, but there are some geniuses in the soundtrack industry in general, like, Hans Zimmer and John Williams.

“They influence practically everybody that worked, works, and will work in this field.

“I mean, they brought many sounds from classical composers to the soundtracking business, and thus, they bring us many sensations we are already familiar with, due to the fact we consume them frequently not just in video games.

“That said, now, regarding my favorite game OSTs, Castlevania Symphony of the Night for sure is top tier.

“Then I can say Undertale and, uhh, the Final Fantasy franchise has some epic stuff too. Nobuo Uematsu is pure genius.

“As you can see, I am a pretty much mainstream gamer. My favorite games are for sure Harvest Moon, Yu Gi Oh Forbidden Memories, Pokémon (GBA), and State of Decay 2.

“Oh, I got tendonitis from playing Tony Hawk pro skater 2 for 22 hours straight at my dad’s."

A lot of old school gaming with some Undertale influence from Lucas, I dare say.

The music creation process is something that has always intrigued me, because this is an art I know I can’t make anything barely enjoyable lol. And I have tried been a musician for at least ten years.

“It varies a bit. For example, on the ‘Prince Island’ project, I was one of the first from the team to start on it.

“The Boss told me more or less the feeling he wanted us to pass to the audience.

“I read your summary of the project as well, and then I sat my butt in front of the piano and started playing, you know. Didn’t promise anything to myself, just played.”

And it turned out pretty good! Check it out here.

“However, the ‘Mythos’ project had already been running for some time.

“So I needed to, you know, change the tires while the car was on the move.

“The nice part was that we had a playable build, with the first three levels, I guess.

“I could see what was going on. I could feel the game, and, of course, reading your plot, the character profiles, and all the material and talks with the team helped a lot.”

You can listen to level 1's track here...

... And 3's here.

To wrap it up, I asked him how he made the river sound on Mythos and his dream goal on the Game Industry.

“Oh, the river was very funny. My girlfriend has one of those Zen fountains, you know, so that you can sit down and just listen to the water and relax.

“I just recorded it a few times and then edited it, overlapped, copied/pasted… And we have a river lol.

“Almost a storm from a teacup.

“As for a dream goal on the industry, I guess it would be making a game fully with Brazilian music, you know? Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB…

“Those are my favorite genres, and so, it would be amazing if it were possible.”

Sound great to me (pun intended).

Well, as for Beta 2 Games… There are plans. Will they see the sunlight?

Stay tuned xD

Would you like to see a game with full Brazilian soundtrack?

What’s your favorite genre?

Pedro Porciúncula - Narrative Designer and Head of Marketing at Beta 2 Games