In late July, we decided to participate in the GMTK Game Jam with a team of students from the HSE Art and Design School to create an extracurricular game project.
GMTK Game Jam is an annual game creation hackathon held over four days around a specific theme.
The theme for the 2026 jam was «Count Down.»
For us, the outcome of the jam was the game «One Last Card»—a turn-based puzzle game where you guide a mouse through a maze-like courtyard using cards drawn from a deck.
The deck of movement cards is limited on each level, which aligns with the theme of counting down finite resources. You can rotate the cards themselves to find a more optimal route.
On the team, I served as a sound designer, and I was also responsible for the technical implementation of the audio in the game using FMOD.My responsibilities included creating all the sound effects for the game: ambiance, UI sounds, interaction effects with maps, the environment, and characters. In total, 158 sound effects—including variations—were created for the game.
Sound Design
In the first hours of the jam, our entire team brainstormed the topic and arrived at the idea for our game. The concept was built around colors, so Splatoon became our main reference. I wanted the sound to feel lively, «wet, ” and tangible, so I decided to record most of the sounds myself.
Sounds of Paint and Cards
At home, I recorded the sounds of wet rags and water onto a microphone. To this, I added a slime sound that plays when the player draws a path.
Separately, for the cards, I recorded: — selecting a card, — moving the mouse over the cards, — crumpling a card when discarding it, — dealing new cards, — rotating a card.
The Hero’s Steps
The game field is designed to appeal to classics, as the theme of our game is childhood. Therefore, I styled the hero’s steps as jumps in paint. To prevent the sound from becoming monotonous, I created several variations for the footsteps.
Character Voices
For each character, I recorded and processed the voices to give each one its own distinct personality: for the mouse, the dad, and the grandma. The voices correspond to their visual representations.
Mini-Game
For the mini-game, I created a separate sound pack. These sounds accompany the entire process, from color selection to the final result:
— color selection,
— paint mixing,
— correct answer,
— incorrect answer.
I also included: — attack sounds, — damage reception sounds, — cell-filling sounds when routing, — interface sounds, — ambient soundscape from forest, nature, and birds.
Implementation
I compiled all the audio in FMOD. There, I configured: — interactive sounds upon map interaction: these depend on the surface (grass, streetlight, tile), — step variations, — a multi-tool for character voices, so that different lines would play when a character was selected.
I also mixed the audio levels and added buses for effects, music, and mastering, allowing in-game volume adjustment for each group separately. Other parameters I adjusted can be viewed in the table below.
I only passed the sound effect table—with event names and their parameters—to the programmer.
Soundtrack and icon
Additionally, I participated in creating the soundtrack for a game, where my vocals can be heard. Our composer created the track itself. Furthermore, I designed the game’s icon and created a banner on itch using sprites from our visual artist.
Achieved Outcomes
