The wonderful Tim Bowers over at SoSoGay.co.uk has written a review of Kitty Powers' Matchmaker and given us 5 out of 5 stars!
It means an awful lot to us after all of our hard work to get recognition from people we don't know. It makes it all worth it!
The review can be found here or by clicking the image above!
http://sosogay.co.uk/2014/ms-kitty-powers-matchmaker-review/
Today we've got a treat for you! Another one of our 'team spotlights', this time with the sound designer on Kitty Powers' Matchmaker, Todd Baker. We asked him some questions about how he got where he is, his work on the game, and what other fabulous strings he has to his bow!
Todd is also a great musician!
How did you get into the games industry, was it through education, or another way?
I did a degree in Creative Music Technology, which was relevant - but it was really a case of taking an active interest in the game audio side of things. E.g. for my final project I chose to build a level with UnrealEd and create custom sound design and music for it. I also worked on some great independent projects, which gave me great showreel material for getting my first in-house job.
Do you have any advice for budding games audio designers/musicians?
I would say that my main advice would be to remember that great content creation and mixing is at the heart of a good sounding game. This may sound obvious, but there are so many creative and amazing ways that you can implement audio / music and create clever procedural systems - it can almost distract from the 'core' skills of creating the right sounds and composing great music. Of course it depends on the needs of a project, but most of my favourite sounding games have quite simple implementation.
What is your favourite style and why? Do you have a favourite piece that you've created?
I just love any audio that succeeds in emotionally connecting the player to the experience. In terms of my own creations, one of my favourites is this piece of music that I wrote for LittleBigPlanet Vita. I was just so excited to be working on that franchise, and the spec they gave me for this particular track was like a 'dream brief'. The emotion that came out in the music was just a refection of my enthusiasm and excitement, which in turn was just what the music needed for those specific LBP levels. That's a nice feeling of positive creative energy :)
What inspired you when you were designing Kitty Powers' Matchmaker's sound?
To be honest, mainly Richard, the creative director! Just watching him play and test the game - his enthusiasm and cheeky sense of fun is very much the spirit of Matchmaker, and you cant help but get caught up in this. The game also has a very polished and well-defined art style, which makes it so much easier to see where the audio is going to 'slot in'.
What challenges did you overcome when creating the audio for Kitty Powers' Matchmaker, and how did you do it?
It was hard to try and capture the 'fabulous' game show vibe. You can look at classic shows such as Family Fortunes and Catchphrase - but it's a very specific association that makes those sounds 'iconic'. Not least because we've just heard them so many times! I think the licensed music does the best job of creating the gameshow vibe in the final game. There was also lots of very similar positive / negative feedback type sounds that were needed, but they all had to be distinct - so it was just a case of digging deep to think up different ways and levels to communicate 'good' and 'bad' clearly, and with different levels of importance.
Are you working on anything exciting you'd like to tell us about?
Well I'm doing lots of different things at the moment! I've been playing some great gigs in London with my instrumental band: the Lydian Collective, as well as working on various freelance music projects - most recently helping a friend with music for an ITV nature documentary. I'm also very happy to be continuing my great relationship with the lovely people at Media Molecule, helping with audio support for Tearaway Unfolded as the project takes shape.
Thanks to Todd for taking the time to talk to us! We hope you enjoyed this feature, we'll bring you another one soon!
And so we're back... from outer space! No not really, but we are back from EGX 2014 in London!
And what an adventure we had! We met hundreds of fans, and gained hundreds more! Met some celebrities, did some interviews, and generally had a busy, exhausting but fun and exhilarating time!
Special thanks to all the people who helped on our booth! We couldn't have done it without your help! People were saying ours was the most fabulous booth in the show!
Kitty was on top form, she played some games around the show (she had to change her knickers after Alien Isolation!), took part in, and then judged the Cosplay the following day!
She also gatecrashed the EGX Developer Sessions and introduced the Tearaway Unfolded demo! What a cheeky mare!
We also played a lot of quizzes with some lucky fans so that they could win exclusive Kitty Powers T-shirts, and gave away 4000 badges! Have you got one?
And of course we took a lot of pictures. Kitty loves a selfie! Are you in there somewhere?
The excitement is building! The people are asking! Will I be able to see Kitty Powers? Can I fight through her hordes of fans? Will they fit her hair through the door?
Well all these questions and more will be answered (and probably a lot more asked) in just TWO DAYS when EGX 2014 opens its doors!
We can make things a little easier for you, Kitty's Kittens, because EGX has just published the floor map of the show!
You can find us on the upper floor, in the purple Rezzed area:
EGX 2014! How will they fit Kitty's hair into that tiny purple bit!?
We suspect it will take at least three burly men to get Kitty and her hair up the escalators, but we're sure she'll cope.
Come along and see us to try and win an exclusive Kitty Powers' Matchmaker t-shirt, or take away one of Kitty's 'booby' prizes, a Kitty Powers' Matchmaker badge!
http://www.egxlondon.net/blog#egx-show-floor-map-available-now
Calling all Matchmakers! 148Apps.com have done a special hints and tips guide for Kitty Powers' Matchmaker!
If you're feeling the need for some guidance, take a good look! There are some gems there!
If you'd like to delve even deeper into Kitty's deepest secrets, buy the game and use the 'Kitty's Tips' option in the Kitty Phone menu!
Click on the image below or here for the link!
Kitty is full of 'helpful' advice.
http://www.148apps.com/news/kitty-powers-matchmaker-tips-tricks-strategies-lonely-heart/
