We had the pleasure of sitting down with Sam to dive into the world of sound design in the video game industry, where creativity meets care, values, and a passion for crafting cosy, immersive experiences. Ready to learn more? Let's start!
Introduce yourself! Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up working on Squarelets?
Hi, I’m Sam, I’ve been working with audio for a long time and knew Beatka through her partner… who I have also known for a long time. When Chaos Cookie needed sound - and needed it now - Beatka thought it would be good to get me into the mix. Get it? Into the mix? It’s a sound joke. This is going to be a long interview.
What part of working in the games industry is your favourite?
“I love it when a plan comes together.” said John ‘Hannibal’ Smith of the A-Team when congratulating his fellow soldiers of fortune. What I mean is, it’s only when the music and foley are in the game and working harmoniously with the core gameplay that I can stop to ‘admire’ my work or anyone else's for that matter.
What are your tips for someone who would like to do your job one day?
Composition is self-motivated problem solving, and I’ve found that motivation to compose often comes from having confidence in tackling a problem. That’s not to say that I’m supremely confident in the music that I make, but instead that repetition has allowed me to be more free in approaching composition.
Some practical things to do:
Learn how to produce and mix music on a computer then send that music to friends for their opinion
Fill your lunchtimes with podcasts, interviews, track breakdowns etc.
Work with small teams on non-commercial projects
Sound Design Insights
Can you share how your personal taste in music or sounds influenced the audio landscape of Squarelets?
This is an incredibly tough question to answer without appearing to write a manifesto. Things like Joe Hisaishi’s obviously beautiful film scores for Studio Ghibli. Will Wiesenfeld’s weirdo plinky plonky music for the TV show ‘Bee and Puppycat’. Lena Raine’s ‘Celeste’ score, mostly because my partner is playing it for the third time and it’s hard not to admire how a score doesn’t grate on you, even after hearing the opening motif 100s of times due to player error.
Peter McConnell’s work on the video games ‘Hearthstone’ and ‘Monkey Island’ where he’s able to keep repetitive music from feeling repetitive whilst weaponising percussion to induce nostalgia. I could go on, maybe for the uncut and uncensored interview that’s to come…
What personal experiences or memories did you draw from to create the soothing sound effects and music in Squarelets?
This is also incredibly tough to answer, mostly because I’m in a Walter White fugue state when composing, or at the very least “in the moment”. By letting my subconscious dictate the decisions that go into the overall soundscape of Squarelets, it becomes a less comparative experience and allows for more freedom in the way that sound design choices are made.
How does working on a cozy game like Squarelets differ from your past projects, and what did you enjoy most about the process?
A lot of past projects were working with an individual artist (engineering, production, mixing), or teaching music production to others, which meant that although a lot of the work was varied and interesting, I never wanted to attach my own identity to much of what I was doing. It’s been nice to try and find that feeling of creating something that’s “me” whilst hopefully providing a backdrop that helps people relax, whilst they’re on their phones.
Have you ever had a "eureka" moment while creating a particular sound for Squarelets? What was it, and how did it impact the game?
There have been lots of little eureka moments, mostly out of ignorance to the task ahead and the aforementioned “subconscious dictates” mindset. Sometimes I felt like a caveman leaving his cave to let everyone know I had just discovered fire, only to find out that the cave-people who had left earlier were fooling around with BIC lighters. Does that make sense? You know, I should have just said when I took away the drums from all of the songs. Next time I’ll say my eureka moment came from when I took the drums off the songs.
What’s your favourite sound or piece of music in Squarelets, and why does it resonate with you personally?
As a fan of arcade games, it’s gotta be the secret premium theme which can only be unlocked after doing the Konami code on a hidden gamepad during the weekly challenge mode.
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