Things are ticking along very well here at Nimmles. The mechanics for IPS are all done, and we’re starting to get happy with the visuals. One thing we are getting excited about is our sound design.

As IPS is a relatively small game designed for mobiles and tablets we’ve had a few interesting decisions to make. Firstly, does the game need sound at all? We can imagine people sitting on a bus or a train with IPS as their only ally to save them from a tedious commute on their way to work or school. They might have their headphones in listening to their own music, or a podcast, or they might not have any sound on at all. Would these people care if there was any sound in the game? Would they even notice?

But then we thought of the games we’ve loved playing in the past – almost all of them have great sound design which really adds something to the game. Also, we wanted to get the experience of making as immersive a game as possible. All or nothing, that’s the Nimmles way. So despite the extra time and effort it will take, we decided that sound would be an important part of the game – all the while remembering that it needs to be just as fun, sound or no sound, for all those people on the tube.

To include different types of sound, we needed access to a sound library. One such library we are currently looking to use FreeSound. FreeSound has gazillions* of sounds all categorised and searchable – everything from a boing to a zok, and everything in between. We haven’t yet found the right place in the game for a Wilhelm Scream.

For the background music, the only real source at the moment is MusOpen.This site has a whole bunch of royalty free music that game designers, video editors and powerpoint enthusiasts can use for free in their projects. Check the royalty situation first, though, track by track, as not all of it is free.

We haven’t yet finalised the sound. We’re trying to achieve a delicate balance between the right atmosphere and the right mix. It’s been bizarrely fun trying to pit the sound effects against the music, working out what works best without putting too much emphasis on one area or the other. We also don’t want to bother you all too much – we all know how irritating overly-repetitive, badly sampled noises can be in some of the games out there.

Nimmles puts user experience above everything else, and so if the sound isn’t working, we’ll simply take it out. However, from what we’re seeing and hearing already, we’re pretty certain you’ll like it.