G r e e t i n g s !

I recently had the opportunity to team up with Rucach games for an Ardan funded Incubator project, where game development teams were set up to create prototype demos. With being a player and fan of the foraging game Don’t Starve, I was delighted to be asked to join in on the fun! I’m currently living in the countryside of Laois so this was a perfect opportunity to incorporate elements of local landscape and sonic aspects of nature in general into the sound design aesthetics..

Here are some thoughts on the process and the ins and outs of the project:

For Valley of the Lost Abbey I aimed to create a sonic environment and musical soundtrack that

maintained an authentically natural, lofi and rugged feel resonating aspects of the games visual aesthetic.

For the soundtrack, musical instruments and percussion sounds emphasize the sense of playfulness and

child-like wonder embodied in the gameplay and narrative, almost sounding as though they may have

been played by Meala and the other creatures of the valley itself. This sense of playfulness in the music's

rhythmical feel is offset by modal whistle playing drawing on the mystical feel of much of Ireland’s

traditional music.

Musical instruments were performed with a loose and organic feel, imbuing the imagined personality of

such characters swaying by the fireside or marching through the glade.

The musical score was mostly composed first with ‘wonky’ tin whistle and flute as lead instrument,

accompanied by intentionally low-grade toy guitars, shakers, and percussion sounds that sound as

though they were born out of the environment in which they are depicting.

The ambient soundscape was created by combining found footage from a number of scenic locations in

Co. Laois after visits to two nearby forests, and a hike in the Sliadbh Bloom mountains in a location called

the Ridge of Capard. Due to the lack of birdlife in some of these locations additional bird

sounds were sourced online, though i did locally source some bird sounds such as our neighbourly wood-

pidgeons, starlings and some unidentified distant birdsong.

Overall, I aimed to create as much of the audio and music from real-life sources to offer as much

authentic character to the gameplay as possible, forgoing expensive sounds for personality.

Elements such as footsteps, character sounds, real-life whittling sounds, nut and seed sizzles were

created at home, with percussion sounds for the most part produced from toys, inherited family

instruments such as rusted triangles, chimes and shakers.

All menu clicks were produced by acquiring twigs from the local forest.

The project was a treat to work on and I’m very excited to see the amazing crew at RÚCAĊ games bring

this valley to life in all its meditative beauty and splendor.

Valley of the lost abbey