Poly-Vinyl Pests!

My role on Poly-Vinyl Pests! (PvP!) during the fall semester was as the team's acting sound designer, working on the background music for boss fights, sound effects for all the attacks and bosses, and mixing that together to add a layer of depth to the overall experience. Now that PvP! was greenlit for a second semester, I've evolved to not only refine the game's current sound profile, but also aid in designing the upgrade system, a pivotal feature in enhancing the replayability of the arcade nature of PvP!

As the team's lead sound designer, most of my philosophy focused on creating engaging metal tracks that boosted the excitement of players in boss battles. In addition to mixing those tracks and mastering them together, using a custom C# sound program, I was able to effectively create music in phases for different sections of the boss fight without use of middleware programs. The Laundry Snail, our first boss, has two themes that play: one for the stationary phase and the other for when the shell breaks and phase 2 begins. This program also helped in setting up the theme for the second boss which followed the same philosophy; adding in more layered tracks each time a new part of the boss appeared.

Most of the musical patterns were based off of the design philosophy of games like Hades or the Binding of Isaac: taking a melodic pattern and throwing multiple layers on top of it to create music that has familiar tunes in it that can be hummed by players, but also that feels like it moves around without getting stale, creating dynamic and moving fight music.