Grave Days – Digitized Insanity (Game)

 

*NOTE: Game is not yet released and I cannot share TOO much of the assets, I’d be happy to discuss more in private*

Creative Lead • Audio Lead • Interactive Music Score • Sound Design • Wwise Implementation

 

Set to release early 2020, Grave Days is a Survival Roguelite game, set in the Zombie Apocalypse. It thrusts you into chaotic situations where you need to make quick decisions on your feet! The important question during each encounter is fight or flight? The answer to which depends on your play-style, and the exact situation you found yourself in!

Grave Days brings together the Roguelite and Zombie Survival genres to set itself apart from the typical Zombie Survival game. It’s fast-paced and action-packed. It takes inspiration from games such as Streets of Rogue, Death Road to Canada and Project Zomboid.

 

Watch the teaser trailer above that features some of the audio work I’ve done in the game.

 

MUSIC:

 

The game boasts a highly complex interactive musical score that adapts with player actions and serves as feedback to game cues.
With a well thought through approach using vertical layering. The music will dynamically react to Game states such as safe, explore, idle, combat and horde. It also reacts to gameplay feedback such as low health, when a zombie spots you, and even jumpscares.

Here are a few tracks from the soundtrack that includes the main menu theme, as well as two in-game vertical mixed songs.

Main Menu Theme

 

 

Track 01 – Restart

 

 

Track 02 – Phase Limbo

 

SOUND DESIGN:

 

Sound design ranges from randomly generated ambiences, dynamic weather system, dynamic gore combat system, zombie voicing stages, foley, User Interface audio and several musically synced stingers.

Here is a short demo of some of the in-game sound design that I did:

The Demo features some:

• Weapon and impact sounds

• Gore (low to high)

• Zombie voicings (idle, angry, tonal, death and attack)

• User Interface and interaction audio

• Various musical stingers and transitions
In order:
Player Spotted • Infection Level increased • Jumpscare • General Music transition 1 & 2) • Mission Success • Player Death • Horde Activated Music Transition • Low health warning loop • Danger ‘shepard tone’ loop

• Music in the background is a branching ‘tense drone’ with multiple vertical layers (although only 2 layers present, in game it increases to high intensity with percussion and pulsing basses)

 

 

 

The game uses game audio middleware: AudioKinetic Wwise

Here is a very informal breakdown of very early sound design, as well as the interactive systems and Wwise implementations: (The informal tone was because this was a demo video for the rest of the team on an early progress report.)

For this project I wore many hats, Including but not limited to:
Audio Lead, Composer, Sound Designer, Wwise Implementation, some animation, trailer creation, game design, project & team management and UI Design.

If you would like to know more about the project or my roles and responsibilities, as well as a formal up-to-date in-depth breakdown of the Wwise implementations and technical music systems, please feel free to reach out.