Starting a voice over career has opened doors for me that otherwise might have remained firmly shut and double locked. I've found opportunities that have arisen because of disciplines linked to the chain of process and this is exactly how I got embedded within the team of indie games developer Polyspice Games.
My first piece for them was a character voice over at the end of 2018 and when that project was drawing to a close I had a video call with the boss man. He wanted to keep working with me and asked what else I could do. I cried and said "nothing, NOTTTTHING". But despite my tears splattering across the webcam he was still able to spot a dusty guitar in my room.
"You can write the game music and create sound effects for the next release".
Right. Ummm. Yes.
Cue learning as much as I could about computer music and SFX in as little time as possible.
Anyway, this post does have a purpose, so let's fast forward to the present day. Now, I also edit the Polyspice Game Recommendations podcast - something that came about because I edit audio files every single day for voiceover. It just makes sense.
STOP GETTING AWAY FROM THE TOPIC MARTIN.
UGH. Ok.
Fast forward again to the present day... after that game was released the leader of our gang set us a challenge. Make a new mobile game in two months. Two months?! The last one took nearly two years!
But we did it. And we're all really proud of it. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, Polyspice Games proudly presents to you....
Just look at those cute graphics. How could you not want to immediately download it?!
It's a casual game, based around (as the title makes quite obvious) a food fight. In a school canteen. In space. The point? Throw food at the bad guys while avoiding the bunnies.
It's stupidly addictive. Especially if you get sucked in to trying to beat your high score. Or mine (591).
You can download the game from the Play Store here.
Please note this is an early release so a few bits and pieces aren't quite finished (animations, shop etc) but the main gameplay is there, fun and exciting as intended.
On a personal note, anything you hear in the game was created by my hand (and mind).
The throwing and food impact sound effects were created using a whole host of different household items and bodily functions. No sound effect has any digitial sound other than a touch of reverb/EQ - I wanted there to be a slight sense of hyper-realism.
If old school game music is your thing, have a listen to the tracks below. I was heavily influenced by the graphics here but also wanted to tap into memories and emotions of playing games when I was young. That said, I wanted the sound to remain current, so despite using 8 bit instruments, I kept a real drum kit in there so it sounds like a cool fun-time band that I really want to be in.
