Rock, Paper, Gun!

Overview: “Rock, Paper, Gun!” is an Unity 3D game that I contributed to during the Nordic Game Jam, a 48-hour game development challenge. This PvP game combines the classic mechanics of Rock, Paper, Scissors with the strategic depth of deck-building. Players start with two cards and ten lives, engaging in a high-stakes battle where they must outwit their opponents while hiding their moves. The game features a variety of cards with special effects, such as “Arson” that destroys opponent’s cards and redraws for both players, and “The Devil” that reduces their health unless countered.

My Role: Sound Design and Composition I was responsible for the sound design and composition, creating an immersive auditory experience that enhances the game’s horror/gambling theme.

Sound Design:

• Card Effects: I designed sound effects for all 15 cards, ensuring each card had unique sounds when drawn and activated. I created three variations for each card and effect, utilizing a randomizer to prevent repetitive audio and enhance the gameplay experience.
• Foley Work: For the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” hand-clasping sounds, I did foley work, timing the audio with the animation to ensure synchronization. To keep with the stylistic choice of the game, I also added multiple roulette and wheel of fortune sound effects with varying amounts of distortion and flanger to keep the audio fun and refreshing.
• Voicelines: We were fortunate to have the YouTuber “Game Makers Toolkit” record voice lines for our dealer character, “Mr. Hogwylde,” a pigman hybrid. I edited these recordings with a pitch shifter, flanger, distortion and reverb to bring the character to life, adding an eerie atmosphere to the game.
• Crowd Reactions: I created a haunting laughing track that plays when a player loses a life, blending slowed-down crowd cheering and children laughing with reverb to create an unsettling effect. For draw events, I designed a booing sound to reflect the game’s bloodthirsty audience.

Music Composition:

• Loop-able Tracks: I composed three loop-able tracks tailored to the game’s dynamic pacing:
  • A funk track that starts the game, featuring a stinger that transitions into an ambient track when a player’s health drops to seven. The funk track also has subtle distorted pig squels in it and small horror elements, to make it slightly uncanny.
  • Two dark electronica tracks that play randomly when a player’s health falls to three, intensifying the tension.
  • Four different ambient tracks that always loop in and out of each other, with added silences to ensure the ambience is never quite the same and to give the player a little breather from time to time, resulting in a somewhat generative soundscape.

• Atmospheric Integration: The music dynamically changes based on in-game events, contributing to the player’s stress and immersion. The transitions were manually implemented due to time constraints, which led to a few minor auditory bugs.

Challenges and Solutions: Originally, I intended to use FMOD middleware for advanced audio management. However, due to the time constraints of the game jam, we implemented the audio directly in Unity. Due to the audio being implemented directly into Unity, I unfortunately did not have much control over the mix. It was up to the programmers to make small changes, which took too long under the time pressure. Despite this limitation, I integrated the soundscape to complement the game’s intense atmosphere, though some auditory bugs and mix may occasionally misalign.

If you and a friend would like to try the game, here is the Itch.io link: https://probablyily.itch.io/rock-paper-gun