3rd PLACE
(Of 42)
Birdened is a casual, collect-em'-up game, created during the Buddy Up Jam: Spring 2022. The game was created using Unity 3D and the sound was implemented via FMOD by Firelight Studios and took 2 weeks to complete. The theme on this game jam was '1000'.
The premise of the game follows Dewey, an elderly man who's main goal is to protect the environment. After finding out a ship has overturned in the sea spilling into it 1000 rubber ducks, he takes it upon himself to try and clear up as much as he can. The players aim is to collect as many rubber ducks as they can as they traverse the rubber duck infested ocean in a small ocean trawler.
Most of the audio editing work was done inside Reaper by Cockos, every sound had to be in some way sourced, mainly through field recording, one such example is the ocean waves sound crashing against the boat which was recorded on a trip to Cornwall in 2021.
Music is original and created by Ferkeshu.
Early into the project, once a theme and idea had been established I gathered some pictures online to help imagine and conceptualise the environment and what sounds I might hear. Through this I went on to create an asset list to organise what sounds needed recording, editing and adding. The picture to the left is an early example of the asset list in an earlier stage of development.
For each sound I made, I created a C# script that integrated with FMOD's API. The hardest one was the boat motor sound which in and of itself wasn't the most difficult script I've ever made. But it wasn't without it's problem solving. I'm not a coder by trade, but I do enjoy the problem solving.
(Click on the picture to expand)
Fun facts:​​
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The newspaper heard in the cutscene was recorded using a copy of the Liverpool Echo.
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The broadcaster heard in the cutscene was recorded by myself.
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The old mans grunt in the cutscene was recorded by myself while I had a sore throat.
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Early development ideas could've meant the game went vastly differently, the team pondered the idea of setting the game in Ancient Egypt and would've seen the player collecting bricks for the pyramids.
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We had to come up with a team name for the game jam, so we called ourselves 'Fresh Bread' which came from 'Fresh Spread', which also came from 'Fresh Jam' and everyone likes fresh bread.
Development Credits
Ferkeshu - Composer, Soundcloud: Ferk, Itch.Io: Ferk
Vivian Gwaspari - Writer & Narrative Designer, @viviangwaspari
Beck Hemsley - Artist (Environment, Texturing, 3D), @beckh_art
George Oakey - Artist (3D Modelling), Artstation: georgeoakey5, Sketchfab: GeorgeOak
Leo - Programmer, Itch.io: 037
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Voice acting Credits
Ross Bayliss - Dan
Louise James - Pamela
Vivian Gwaspari - Jess