Mantle

A game that focuses on narrative, seeking ways to guide players into believing different design ideas.

Mantle

Mantle is a USC MFA Thesis game project that has a development duration of over a year.

As the lead sound designer of the team, I am in charge of designing all the sound effects appearing in the game. Over one year of development, I designed over 100 sound effects and ambience for the game.

Special shoutout to Bryan, the leader of our Mantle team, Short Circuit.

Working

We established an audio asset list before we ever started working on the sounds. The list specifies all the sounds that we need, as well as the descriptions of the sounds, where they should appear in the game, and other audio-related notes.

The asset list is constantly updated so that the information we receive is the latest and fits what the game is currently like.

We have also created our own audio file sharing system and naming conventions to facilitate the game development process.

Audio Creation

The whole production of Mantle is done by using Logic Pro. I incorporated audio files from either copyright-free sources or my recordings, and also my self-created synthesized sounds using plugins, such as Vital. I modified, edited, and arranged all audio so that it fit the game's feel.

Expo

We showcased this game at the annual USC Games Expo, where hundreds of people stopped by our booth, tasting our expo-specialized demo.

The audio aspect of this game, specifically, has received many positive comments, and people commonly believe that the sound effects helped them with understanding the gameplay as well as the narrative better.

As mentioned above, we had an expo-exclusive demo at the time the expo was held. We are looking to release the game in the summer of 2025.

The game is now on Steam. Add Mantle to your wishlist and stay tuned for any future updates!