No game would be complete without sound and music. Therefore today’s spotlight is on Jonas, the creator of everything your ears will pick up in Budget Cuts.
Hello Jonas! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Jonas Kjellberg, father of one or two depending on when you are reading this, and I love things that make noise. I am an audio designer and composer.
What do you do at Neat Corp.?
I am working as an independent contractor, but have been with the team since the early demo. I record, compose, edit, design, implement and script the sounds and music for the game.
What’s your background in the games industry?
While finishing up my Masters I started composing and sound designing for indie games, and have been doing so ever since, for about 4-5 years now. I am partner of Teotl Studios and we made The Solus Project, of which I did all the audio design, implementation and music, as well as working on the VR conversion of the game. I am also CTO of a startup that creates music middleware for games, with hopes of making music in games become fully adaptive to whatever is happening on the scene.
What’s your all time favourite video game?
Transport Tycoon. My dad was head of a logistics company and he bought the game for me and my sister to better appreciate his line of work or something? Who knows, it was a weird game to gift a 7 year old who didn't speak english. But some year later I came to love it and now I play it every other year.
What does a normal day in the life of an audio designer/composer look like?
I've recently moved my studio space into my home office, to be able to work while the kiddo is having a cold for the eleventh time. After dropping off at kindergarten, I sit at my workstation and either boot up macOS for composing or advanced audio design, or boot into Windows to work directly on the implementation in Unity or doing simpler audio design. I normally sit very focused for hours on end, only stopping for lunch and coffee. Since I am offsite I follow along the latest updates on Slack on the state of the game.
What strikes you as the most challenging and the most rewarding parts of your work?
Forcing creativity, especially when it comes to composing music. When you are a hobbyist you have the luxury to sit down and make music whenever you feel inspired. But as a professional you have to make sure to be inspired at 9AM every morning. And of course the music of Budget Cuts is influenced by Noir jazz. I know nothing of jazz, I am schooled in electronic avant garde stuff, so I have to fake a jazz sound on top of everything! When it comes to audio design the most frustrating part is having to put on a VR headset, and then fancy headphones, just to pick up at virtual soda can and throwing it a bunch of times to make sure it sounds realistic. Then take everything off, change a few setting and strap in to test it again. Repeat for every sound in the game.
The most rewarding part is when inspiration strikes and you get into a groove, composing music fully envelops you and it's like everything else cease to exist. I enter a zen like state and the only thing that matters is organising these fleeting ideas into a pleasant sounding stream of sounds. Next best (which is also the ugliest) is whenever someone compliments your work and your ego licks that praise up like your life depended on it. Working with small studios gives me much more creative freedom, and I feel that I can go more with my gut at times. I enjoy working with Neat in particular because several of the team members were friends of mine even before we started working on budget cuts. And even though I don't see them in person very often, it's great to have some friendly folks to share everyday banter with since being a composer is a pretty lonely job.
Where can we spot your work in-game?
If I've done my job correctly you should not notice it, but every single thing that makes a sound have been graced by my hands, or rather software. Also the music that plays in your ears.
Where can we follow your work?
I have a Twitter of course @wrenchse. Also, follow me on SoundCloud! soundcloud.com/wrench-se. But if you wanna buy my soundtracks check out wrench.bandcamp.com instead.
We hope this gave you a little more insight into the audio production of Budget Cuts. Thank you for the continuous support!