What a year so far! Unbelievable to think we’re fast approaching the final quarter of this year!
So! The year started off with packing my trusty Sound Devices and DPA set up back in the backpack and headed off this time to South East Asia for 3 months of adventures and sound recordings. I’ve managed to whittle down to 272 excellent recordings. Now to whittle more and organise for libraries – more on this and Brazil library soon!
Upon returning Richard Jacques Studios has kept me busy with providing sound design on various fun casual games projects.
I’ve also done my first iphone game! Secret Sauce’s QuBIT is a colourful and highly addictive puzzle racer. A different style of sound design was required as most were electronic and gave me the opportunity to indulge in my soft synths – great fun!
www.secretsauce.co
Qubit on Apple Store
I’ve also been back in Guildford working with the Hello Games guys – they’ve expanded the team and are working on the exciting next instalment of Joe Danger.
www.hellogames.org/2011/08/joe-danger-the-movie
www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-31-joe-danger-the-movie-preview
And finally Babak Anvari is circulating Two & Two around the film festivals. You can view the film for a short period on Mubi:
http://mubi.com/films/two-two
Well what a year for Magicbrew! We’ve had the pleasure to work on a lovely variety of projects, to sum up:
Joe Danger: Joe Danger has been short listed for Gamespot’s Best UK-Developed Award – woop! http://uk.gamespot.com/best-of-2010/special-achievement/index.html?page=23 .. and rated no.6 in Gamasutra’s Top 10 Indie Games 2010!! http://inside.gamasutra.com/cgi-bin4/DM/t/eBdX10L5RdX0K4n0BJPs0Ej
Family Game Night 3: Working for the marvelous Richard Jacques Studios, I provided sound design for EA’s Family Game Night 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxiKoMrgJhg
Preproduction on Project Kane: I spent 6 months working with the excellent Ignition London Team. Despite a period of uncertainly in early autumn, the team are going full steam ahead with Project Kane and it’s shaping up very nicely indeed. http://www.utvignition.com
AvaGlide: This excellent little Xbox Live Arcade game reminds me of Monkey Ball’s Monkey Glide! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpQjlz5vt3U
Made by friends in Scotland – we did a work swap where I provided sound effects, Sarah provided the announcer voice over and Haiku reworked our website!
Bloody Good Time: Although I finished work on this yonks ago, Outerlight’s sequel to The Ship finally came out! http://store.steampowered.com/app/2450/
With little marketing from Ubisoft sadly this brilliantly funny game has got lost in indie game ether. However the feedback from the fans on the Steam Forums has been really fantastic http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1552577
I’ve also made my debut this year in the world of film sound design!
The first is ‘Two & Two’ written and directed by Babak Anvari, a thought provoking story is ‘an allegory for the absurdness of dictatorship and tyranny’.
The other is Richard Rude’s ‘El Artista’, a colourful art house parody. You can see more of Richard Rude/Papadopoulos Productions here: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/tontopapadopoulos/1
James Ridgway at Technicolor/Anvil Post Production did an excellent job of mixing Two & Two and I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon to mix El Artista! http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/cinema/filmmaking/sound
We wish both Babak and Richard all the very best with the film festivals over the next coming year!
Joe Danger was released on PSN on the 7th June and has a metascore of 87! IGN gave Joe 9.5 and ZTGameDomain 99!! Sound is not often mentioned in game reviews, you’re lucky if there is any mention beyond music, so imagine our delight when we read this gem from PSX extreme!
‘…as its sharp, clear and plenty robust. The lone setback is that the soundtrack can indeed get a little repetitive, especially when you find yourself playing for extended periods of time. But beyond that, you’ve got a hilarious announcer, diverse and fitting effects that accompany your high-flying insanity, and in general, everything sounds professional. It’s well balanced, in that the effects don’t override the music and vice versa; it all gels extremely well with the super-fluid and appealing visuals. The first time you tumble into the shark tank, you’ll find yourself laughing at the combination of the genuinely hysterical panic exhibited by Joe and the corresponding effects that hint at a cartoony shark attack. Then there’s the myriad of sound effects that go along with your motorbike tricks; snagging stars and pulling off awesome stunts is always satisfying, and that’s due in large part to the sound.’
www.psxextreme.com/ps3-reviews/380.html
Bex and Sarah are super excited about this well deserved win for our friends in Guildford http://www.ugo.com/games/gdc-awards-2010?page=4
Join Hello Games Facebook group www.facebook.com/HelloGames to see the trailer, Edge articles and other joyous delights! Bex is working hard on the sound for this game, whilst Sarah supports with feeding her numerous cups of tea and delicious date and cranberry hot cross buns, yum.
Bex has finally found her way out of the jungle and has returned with mega-gigs of sound recordings of natural and urban environments, and a bloody good rattly cart! More details on how you can get your hands on these tasty quad recordings to come soon.
Magicbrew website now has more than a splash page! Lots of ideas are kicking around Magicbrew HQ to make it fandabulous, if you have any ideas yourself – we’re ALL EARS!