Nismio Studios
Composer & Sound Designer - Apr 2024 - Apr 2025
Overview
At Nismio Studios, I was brought on to create the original soundtrack for FrogBlock, a relaxing indie puzzle game. I composed 40 songs that were strategically designed to enhance the gameplay by aligning with the visual and thematic ideas within the game. Together, the art and the music created a powerful, emotion rich experience that player could fall into.
To do this successfully I decided to create musical themes for each season of the game (fall, winter, summer, spring), and alter and develop the themes as the game progresses. As I worked to achieve this goal, I continued to check in with the team at Nismio to ensure that the music was serving the game, and responded to the team members feedback to create the most powerful product possible. Listed below are some samples of the soundtrack, with visual components of the seasons the music was for and explanations of what themes were chosen and why.
For Spring, our goal was to create music that sounded serene, with a slight tension of mysteriousness. I used long soft pad sounds tied with soft, positive sounding melodies to achieve the serene feeling, and added various key changes and dissonant borrowed chords to create the sense of mystery.
For the night variations, I chose to create a more spacious sound, using less instruments, and a slower tempo
To incorporate the feeling of Fall, we wanted a relaxed, positive emotion, with a hint of nostalgia tied in. To do this, I chose some bright sounds, balanced with themes from lofi music to add a nostalgic flare, and tied it all together together with some playful rhythmic patterns to create a playful, laidback feeling.
We also wanted Fall to sound natural, and by using some natural instruments such as guitar, cellos, and congas, we were able to create this/
For Swamp, we really wanted to capture the feeling of being sticky and hot on a warm summer day. To do this, I incorporated an off beat, funky rhythmic pattern. To emphasize this further, I incorporated some instrument sounds used in New Orleans style jazz bands to create a humid, natural feeling.
In addition, I took some inspiration from lofi to still keep the music calming and relaxing, to still match with overall themes from the music from the game.
Lastly, for winter, we pushed the boundary further to create an imminent, cold sound. We wanted winter to sound like what it feels like to be slightly cold, while still capturing the relaxing, mysterious emotion from the rest of the game. I was able to achieve this by using fast percussion elements and subtle distortion on the sounds to make it sound more intense.
This ended up being my favorite season due to the contrast between this season and the rest, while still having the core center of mysterious and serene.