In December 2021 I was contracted as a freelancer to join the team behind Tanjea as their music producer and sound designer. Tanjea is a play to earn mobile game where players compete to earn currency and collect creatures.
This was a huge step for me in my career as it marked the first large scale project that I professionally worked on as a freelancer.
Short Demo
Detailed Journey
The game was very early in production when I joined the team, attending meetings where we discussed the theme and functions of the product we were aiming to create. The game would need a vast amount of sound and music for all the different aspects, from menu UI sounds to minigame music.
My first step in this project was to create a mindmap of my thoughts mixed with the requirements from the developers. This allowed us to have conversations about how the sounds should function in game and allowed me to develop a theme for the audio. This initial period was very important to ensure we were all on the same page and that everyone was satisfied with the desired product before work was started.
The game is set in the first kingdom of Tanjea, named Anona. This natural, grassland environment hugely influenced the theme I developed for the sound, being very acoustic and organic. This not only impacted the music, using African drums and natural orchestras, but also the sound effects, with the menu sounds using percussive hits such as wood blocks and xylophones. This allows the player to surround themselves in the theme of the game through visuals and audio to immerse themselves in the games universe. The game being set in a region of a larger universe also allowed me to fully embrace the style of the region. With plans for follow up games set in other regions, this would allow distinct themes in music and sound effects in each different game.
Through my first year with the team, I worked with a variety of game programmers working on different parts of the project, tailoring the audio to their needs and making it sound as fluid as possible to the player. All the music was cut into sections, allowing them to loop endlessly and making it easy to implement, and the sounds were precisely timed to match the in game events.
I created a catalogue of music over the year, with main themes, ambient tracks and addictive minigame music all tying together to create a consistent and natural flow for the player. The amount of sound needed for a project like this is always underestimated, even by the person making it. I created an endless amount of sounds for every action and every move the player can make in a game of this scale, making sure that every sound effect tied to the last in theme.
My first main task I set myself was to create a consistent theme through sounds and music. This would help set a solid base for the rest of the audio to follow and also helped show the importance of having a strong theme to the developers and earn their trust and creative freedom with the project. The 'Anona Menu' song plays while the user is browsing the games menu's and serves as the games backbone, with strong african drums and gentle, catchy melodies. This immediately sets the tone for the player, as its the first main track they hear. It has the presence and strength to immerse the listener mixed with very relaxed melodies that creates a repeatable and nostalgic soundtrack.
The next piece of music i worked on was the theme for the region of Anona. Through talks with the developers and taking inspiration from the marketing material, I envisioned a track that combined the natural and percussive nature of Anona, with the royale and orchestral themes of the Tanjea universe.
I was not given a specific use for this track when it was made, therefore I aimed to make it as universal as possible. The intro would suit a promotional piece introducing the region and the mid section could be looped for use in game. I ensured that this sort of approach wouldn't negatively impact the music itself but instead give the game developers some freedom to use the track where they saw fit. I found this very important especially when working on a project so early in development, naturally ideas change and remaking assets is never preferable.
Following the Anona theme, I wanted to keep the momentum I had and work on a theme for the world of Tanjea. For this piece, I swapped out the african drums for a more cinematic style, and heavily embraced the royal sounding strings and brass with backing vocals to create an epic movie style score. This was designed as a piece to be used for promotional material.
From the Tanjea theme, the developers asked for another main theme, but with a more electronic and darker style. I used some strong synthesisers and huge electronic hits to create a more intense track but maintained the same core theme in an attempt to bring this piece in line with the others.
After making these large scale soundtracks I communicated to the developers that I wanted to put together an ambient track, something that would go somewhat unnoticed but could fill any space required. With their trust, I put together this piece using some of the same instruments from other tracks, aiding the tight knit theme I was attempting to create.
The main game contains multiple minigames in which players can compete for high scores. While these games take place in the same universe, they all required unique music.
See Also: Tanjea SFX
