Cube sound effects and soundtrack by Joan Martinez

Cube Game

97509923 — 2025-03-11 20:45:57 UTC

The game that has been presented to us for this semester has been a game called CUBE, a game that at the beginning of its development was completely different, becoming a game of magic and monsters with attack levels with different difficulties and with an extensive map list, it also has single player and multiplayer since it was designed with the idea of having a multiplayer, the game was after having been programmed they took a step to sound design, in a program called Wwise, where we will have to create and include the effects for each animation, enemies and ambient sound.

Wwise Introduction

97509923 — 2025-03-11 20:48:26 UTC

Wwise is a program to design and add auditory effects to the game as I have already mentioned, when we talk about effects we can refer to everything that moves and creates a sound to be able to capture the attention of the spectator in a better way and help create a better atmosphere, many times these effects can give an idea/help or anticipate an event in the games, and with the aforementioned Wwise program it is possible to connect and synchronize these effects to the movements of the character in the video game.

Weapons Effects

97509923 — 2025-03-11 21:28:43 UTC

in the video game we can see that it has some weapons that are a gem of different colors in a stick with opposite purposes that would be:

Poison (Green gem)

Lighting (Yellow Gem)

Fire (Red Gem)

Ice (Blue Gem)

None gem / no ammo

Ice Gem (Weapon)

97509923 — 2025-03-11 22:30:59 UTC

The Ice Gem is a weapon that does not have a projectile animation, it does not start from point A to point B, it just throws it and the sound is activated when it hits. At first, I had only made one sound for this weapon using a paper, hitting it on the ground and wrinkling it to give it that texture of breaking/snapping when it hits. I increased the pitch so that the effect would be faster and also to make it sound sharper.

97509923 — 2025-03-11 22:36:43 UTC

After a short chat with Mark (The tutor) about weapons in video games and their sounds, he told me that even if it is the same weapon and the same way of shooting it is not always the same sound / effect because if it were the same it would be very repetitive becoming a loop, but if we add different versions or variations, for example 4, 5, or even 6 it would be so much better since it would give our brain enough time to forget the first sounds and feel that they are new sounds and give us a different sensation and we can add program it in a way that they are random it gives us much more peace of mind when processing these sounds since we will not know which is the next one and we would avoid the main problem, an infinite loop

Analyse

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:32:38 UTC

After knowing what my job is in the game, I have to analyze each movement and write down what I'm going to need or how to recreate it to be able to put it

Fire Gem (Weapon)

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:35:59 UTC

For the fire gem, I decided to implement a different effect than the rest. But why is it different from the rest?

Because it's a visible projectile, since the player can see its beginning and end, two continuous effects must be added.

The first gives the sensation of fire coming out of the staff and moving away from the character. The second effect is that when it hits, the sound is like the fire going out (which was actually a sheet of paper with a very low pitch and a bit of a vocal transformer).

This way, it has a consecutive sound without a pause between the two sounds, with a fade out and a fade in that helps achieve the objective. This effect is only one since, being a projectile, it's not as repetitive as others and sounds very natural.

Lighting Gem (Weapon)

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:36:12 UTC

For the lightning gem, I decided to add a short shot effect but with a low beach so that the electricity could be heard, interference of when it is fired

Clearly there are different versions of the sound but they all imply that it is from that weapon.

When you shoot you can see the path that goes from point A to B, but in the programming I can't add an end to this, for that reason I decided that it would be an effect that would start with high volume and end by lowering the volume, in this way it would give the sensation that the shot is moving away from the character.

Poison Gem (Weapon)

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:36:36 UTC

For the green poison gem, the animation is nonexistent, so the only thing we have is the animation of the staff moving erratically. Taking this into account, it seemed like a good idea to make a very short and very striking effect so that it could be fired frequently, so that there would be no stop or silence while it is being used. It is an effect of less than a second with different variables so that it is not repetitive and helps with the gameplay at the time of combat.

None Gem

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:37:17 UTC

For the gemless walking sttick one, I thought I could add a sound that represents that it is dry without any power and that it would not cause damage since it does not have any gem available to be used.

Body Effects

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:37:48 UTC

We can also appreciate different body movements and actions of the character, such as walking, jumping, changing weapons and falling from a high place, these are actions that generate sound in real life that we never pay attention to, and it is a good idea to add them because if it did not have a sound it would feel strange since we are used to it and our brain creates an expectation that it sounds.

Item Effects

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:38:11 UTC

Different objects can be seen floating around the maps and they are divided into three types:

magic, gem (ammo) and health

We can differentiate it by its shape and color.

Magic is represented by hats, one yellow and one blue, gems with their respective colors (red, green, yellow, blue), and for health there are two bottles, one with a red heart and the other with a golden heart.

And there is an unique item called SuperGem, and basically is like a power up to the character.

Enemies and 3D sound

97509923 — 2025-03-12 20:49:07 UTC

the enemies and the 3D sound for each enemy I

implemented different roars, footsteps and defeated effects

Maybe you're wondering what 3D sound is, well this option is to create space between the sound source and you as a player to be able to hear it, for example there are portals that are located in certain parts of the map, these portals cause a sound that confirms that they are in operation, that the player can interact with it, this sound when implemented in a direct way can cause problems such as being very far from said portal and hearing it as if it were in front of you and this is where 3D sound comes in, if the object is more than, for example, 30 m from the character, we would not hear anything from the portal, but every time we shorten the distance we can notice that the volume of this sound effect increases more and more, making it clearer

For the enemies, I used an option three very similar to the portal for the simple fact that in game situations there are too many enemies on the map and the most organic thing possible would be to listen to them when they are close to us. Thanks to this option, we can create a favorable distance to hear the footsteps and grunts of the enemies and be able to create a strategic plan to win the game.

Jump

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:00:15 UTC

For the jumping action, instead of adding an effect like a "boing", I decided to add something like a quick and short breath to the character every time he jumps so that he feels what he does every time he jumps, since when we jump it is only heard when we fall, but when we jump we involuntarily make a sound of force that comes out of our mouth, I also added different versions so that they alternate, and in this way it is not repetitive.

Walk/Running

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:00:27 UTC

For our protagonist's steps, I recorded four different steps for the left leg and four more for the right leg. This way, it gives a sense of realism and is not repetitive since we can add an option to produce the eight steps randomly. This way, there are many possible variables and it will take a long time for it to be repeated, and by the time it is repeated, our brain will have forgotten it.

Change weapons

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:00:46 UTC

For the weapon change I decided to put a fairly generic effect that indicates the change is complete, I thought about adding different effects for each weapon, for example, for the fire gem I added a sound of scorched fire, ice gem that sounds like ice breaking and so on, but in the basic programming of the game they did not include an option to put it for that reason I decided to go with a more general effect and that gives a specific idea.

Falling

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:01:36 UTC

For falls from a great height I put a sound of discomfort, like pain when falling, a sound that comes from the protagonist's mouth, similar to when he jumps each time, like a complaint about the fall, subtle but it makes the player understand that it has been quite bad and that he may lose health if he does not pay attention to the places from which he can fall.

Gems

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:39:39 UTC

For the purposes of collecting gems from the ground, my main idea was to add a specific sound for each gem. The problem is that in the initial programming of the game, they did not add this option, but it is only a general option for the four types of gems,

In this case, I decided to add a more general sound of grabbing an object and that's it because if I add something more striking it could confuse the player Because in the game there are different objects and in addition to these gems that are the character's ammunition, there is a super gem that provides power and is a fusion of all the main gems.

It's worth noting that each gem has its purpose:

red is fire

blue is ice

yellow is lightning

green is poison

Health bottles

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:39:54 UTC

The health bottles are divided into two groups, the red ones and the golden ones, the golden ones give more health to the character while the red ones give a smaller amount, For this reason, since they are divided, they have a different sound. The sound of the red one is more like grabbing a bottle and that's it, because it's not that big a deal, it's easier to find than the other bottles. The golden ones are harder to find, they give you more health, so in this case, The sound of the golden bottle, of the golden heart has a more characteristic sound which is that of opening a bottle that has a cork, so when passing over these it is easy to identify which is which.

Hats/Magic

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:40:13 UTC

For the hats I decided to put two completely different effects since the yellow one gives more magic than the blue one, the blue one is a more normal effect of grabbing something like cloth, but with the yellow one I put like two bells in a row giving the sensation that you have achieved something very good for your character, it is a more non-digetic effect.

SuperGem

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:40:25 UTC

For the super gem, when picking up this item, a power-up soundtrack would start, making it clear to the player that they have a time limit to use this power, which is approximately one minute and 25 seconds.

Ogre

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:59:26 UTC

For the ogre I decided to add footsteps similar to those of the main character since his build is similar and he is neither excessively large or excessively small. His grunts are in the style of zombies with low and high pitch changes so that it is not always the same when we defeat them. He also has the detail of his body falling to the ground and being able to hear it clearly. I also added the effect when he shoots us, hearing the shot from low volume to high volume and the impact.

Bauul

97509923 — 2025-03-12 21:59:43 UTC

For the final boss, since he is a large enemy with a striking color, I decided to give him a rumbling grunt to go hand in hand with his appearance, since he is very imposing and is a very strong enemy compared to the others. I also added some very heavy steps to give it more realism.

Rhino

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:00:02 UTC

Rhino is a small and fast enemy, for this reason his grunts are high-pitched and his footsteps are soft. I also added voices when he is not on alert to give the feeling that he is communicating with the other enemies.

Rat

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:00:16 UTC

For this character I decided to use similar steps of the ogre and goblin since their build is very similar but their attacks are different in this way you can differentiate when they approach or attack you.

Knight

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:00:42 UTC

For the knight I decided to add some footsteps with the sound of armor since this enemy always carries with him iron armor and a helmet. I thought it was convenient to add this detail that stands out among the others and when he is defeated I added another detail which is that his body falls and makes a sound coming from the same armor. The good thing is that this effect is random, it is not always heard and it is not repetitive for the player and it gives a little more realism to the game.

Hell Pig

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:01:02 UTC

For this enemy, being a completely different character from the others, his footsteps and his effects like grunts and when he is defeated are completely different since his shape and color make us understand that he is an annoying enemy and my idea was to add some effects to follow this idea of annoyance for the player, his steps sound like slime.

Goblin

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:01:31 UTC

For the goblins I decided to use more subtle steps like Rhino's since he is a small and thin character who would not create much sound through his walking but I added some roars and some slight defeats for the character

Teleport and Teleporter

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:01:42 UTC

For the teleporter, I used a constant mechanical/factory-type hum to give the impression that it was on and working all the time. At first, when I added the sound to the game, it would sound constantly throughout the map. This isn't very useful since the teleporter is located in one place, and it doesn't make sense to hear it on the other side of the map. Thanks to Wwise, it has a 3D sound option, which acts as a fade between the teleporter and the player. We can set it to any distance we want. The best option is to set it a few meters from the teleporter, since the closer you get, the louder it sounds, and it becomes more realistic, since this is how it is in real life. This way, we avoid this effect from being heard everywhere and it blends in with the rest.

And then there's the teleportation effect. I decided to add an electrical sound with a high pitch so that the sound plays faster and coordinates with the game.

Soundtrack

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:53:54 UTC

In this project, the soundtracks are key because they help us get a better idea of what the game is about. In this case, our tutors have asked us to make soundtracks for exploration, the final boss fight, and clearly they have to be different. It's a challenge because since they are for the same game, they must have a similarity but without taking away the magic. Something that Steve taught us and explained very clearly was that we must see the composition in a vertical way, since everything has to be synchronized with the same tempo, and that the music changes are not drastic, since it could overwhelm the player.

Steps

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:56:20 UTC

One of the problems I had making the footsteps was that when I added them to the program, they sounded good with a short silence in between and it sounded very natural, but then when I tested it in the game, it sounded like a loop without stopping, it didn't make sense and since the character doesn't go that fast and the volume was too high,

What I did to solve it was add a silence in between and record right and left and separate them. After doing this and testing it, it sounded like a galloping horse. Another problem I solved was adding another silence at the end so that there were breaks in each step and it sounded more realistic and natural.

Jumps

97509923 — 2025-03-12 22:56:26 UTC

I had a problem when I added the jump effect because for it to sound good and organic I had to activate some special settings so that when I pressed the skip button which is the space bar it would not continue playing and that all the versions would not play at the same time but that when I jumped each time an effect would play and stop.

in and out

2025-04-29 17:50:15 UTC

In some maps of this Cube game there is water and we can add sound effects to the action when we enter and leave the water, for example it can be a fountain, a river, the sea and for this I have put each time the character enters you can hear him submerge and each time he leaves you can hear how the water runs through his body drying, this also applies to enemies but with a slightly different setting, which would be the 3D sound so as not to hear it all the time very close, only notice it when he is a few meters away.

Combat

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:31:11 UTC

For the soundtracks I decided to start with some drums to create a bit of atmosphere around with the program massive X with a couple of synths and space using the reverb in this way I could start to build something for the whole game with a similar idea exactly the bit I did was combat style since the drums give a sense of action

explore

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:34:07 UTC

For the exploration soundtrack, I thought it was a good idea to take the combat soundtrack and analyze it in a way that I could convert it into the exploration soundtrack so that there weren't such radical changes and it would be easier to detect where you are. For example, in this soundtrack, I decided to remove the drums and background percussion parts and decided to add my background voice, making a very deep sound with a lot of body and completely distorted to give a dark atmosphere since the level where it can be appreciated is based on a kind of catacombs.

Final Boss

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:39:19 UTC

For Efe, I finally considered that it had to be different from the combat one since it is an important situation or moment in the game and being key in this, it would have to be given a completely separate prominence to the rest. For this reason, the last soundtrack is different but at the same time it carries with it a style similar to the combat one, but the difference is very noticeable.

Foley

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:44:38 UTC

The sounds effects, 50% of them are recorded and edited by me, this way it gives a more original feeling and throughout this project it has been a challenge to be able to make these sounds and make them sound good. I recorded them with a dynamic Snow Blue microphone with a USB B input connected to my laptop with a USB A to USB-C adapter and this way I was able to record them. I didn't need much more but I did need a lot of attempts.

Voices

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:44:45 UTC

for the voices of trunk and other characters like goblin and I recorded them on my own trunk is me and the other two are from a classmate of mine from another course with whom I studied a long time ago we both dedicated a day to be able to do it in a calm way and to make it come out as best as possible we used the same Snow Blue microphone and the same laptop to be able to create these sounds we decided to spend time doing them in front of the microphone and playing with the pitch Reverb AutoTune etc.

Microphone

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:50:02 UTC

Items

97509923 — 2025-05-06 20:51:02 UTC

Fatal error

97509923 — 2025-05-06 21:02:35 UTC

A problem I had during the course of this project is that with four days left to deliver it, the program WWISE decided not to let me add more sounds to the game because it says that I have already exceeded the 200 allowed and that to continue I need to have a valid license if I want to continue this is a big problem for me since I was adding the last details such as picking up things from the floor as ammunition, the steps of the final boss and mixing all the sounds to make it a much better experience. I will try to fix it. I have already contacted my tutors about this case, in case I can't solve it, this post will remain as is, if I get any update on this I will add it.

Story

97509923 — 2025-05-08 00:30:07 UTC

The story soundtrack is a combination of the combat and exploration elements already created, a way of interluding between those two soundtracks to continue with the idea and not stray from the already established concept.

WWISE Project

97509923 — 2025-05-08 00:30:40 UTC

Fatal Error solution

97509923 — 2025-05-08 00:35:24 UTC

I spoke with my teacher Mark about the topic, and he shared with me an extremely long link that I had to copy and paste into my project in order to add all the sounds I wanted, this way I was able to add the remaining soundtracks and a couple more effects and be able to mix the sounds in a better way.

Pain

97509923 — 2025-05-08 00:38:31 UTC

Every time our character receives damage I decided to put a kind of complaint every time he gets hurt, this way we know that we are losing health and we have to act quickly and start the search for health.

Enemies Weapons

97509923 — 2025-05-08 00:48:24 UTC

The enemies also have their own weapons and attacks, they can throw slime balls, fireballs, proyectil and ice to us, for these attacks I decided to add a sound every time they hit, but I also added the 3D option since it would be crazy to hear everything at once and even without seeing the enemies, this way we will only hear them when we are close to the attacks