Back in 2014, I did a talk at Full Indie about the sound for Don't Starve. That's online now so you can go watch what I had to say. It's amazing that game is still going and how much further the sound people that have come after me on the project have taken it. Still proud of the ground work I laid on that. And constantly blown away with where Dany and Amanda have taken things after me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3Vvnw4ILk
Old talk I did about sound of Don't Starve
Old talk I did about sound of Don't Starve
Matthew Marteinsson
Sound Designer
Forum Owner/Operator
Sound Designer
Forum Owner/Operator
Re: Old talk I did about sound of Don't Starve
This rips. Thank you for sharing!
Small aside but I had a ton of fun with Don't Starve years ago and DS: Together helped maintain a relationship with a partner for a few months while we were long distance for 6~ish months - Don't Starve became a near-nightly ritual. Best to everyone at Klei who made that possible.
A few stream of thought bits and bobs as I watch this:
Did you have any expectation that the voices would become as iconic as they have? Did you feel something that made you go "that's special", or did you realize the voices were proving popular after release? Maybe it says something about those hours I spent, but just seeing the word "Wilson" triggers off that trumpet sound in my head even years later.
The ambient zones "polling" system is ingenious - taking notes on that! It definitely feels more elegant to use the terrain than it is to draw a bunch of hard boundaries that have to be maintained.
Gobbler rules. I hope you can still do that sound lol
The mine trip cost a lot less that I would have expected, and it's weirdly empowering to know that such a cool place didn't cost a fortune. Where did you do the bulk of your other recording? Did you have a setup at the office?
You mentioned you did a bit of technical audio stuff in the intro, but it seems like most of the tech stuff was filtered out for the sake of audience - was there any particularly cool technical audio accomplishments you're proud of on DS?
Thanks again for posting!
Small aside but I had a ton of fun with Don't Starve years ago and DS: Together helped maintain a relationship with a partner for a few months while we were long distance for 6~ish months - Don't Starve became a near-nightly ritual. Best to everyone at Klei who made that possible.
A few stream of thought bits and bobs as I watch this:
Did you have any expectation that the voices would become as iconic as they have? Did you feel something that made you go "that's special", or did you realize the voices were proving popular after release? Maybe it says something about those hours I spent, but just seeing the word "Wilson" triggers off that trumpet sound in my head even years later.
The ambient zones "polling" system is ingenious - taking notes on that! It definitely feels more elegant to use the terrain than it is to draw a bunch of hard boundaries that have to be maintained.
Gobbler rules. I hope you can still do that sound lol
The mine trip cost a lot less that I would have expected, and it's weirdly empowering to know that such a cool place didn't cost a fortune. Where did you do the bulk of your other recording? Did you have a setup at the office?
You mentioned you did a bit of technical audio stuff in the intro, but it seems like most of the tech stuff was filtered out for the sake of audience - was there any particularly cool technical audio accomplishments you're proud of on DS?
Thanks again for posting!
Chris P
Sound Designer
Sound Designer
Re: Old talk I did about sound of Don't Starve
Thanks so much for playing the games! It's always amazing to hear you've helped people by making a silly little game 
No idea the voices would become as iconic as they have. I put a lot of thought into it and how it fit each character but it was a creative time saving solution. Now, I wished we'd made a system that was a little deeper than it is but there were lots of technical reasons it was done that way. And it did work really well in its simple form.
Part of the reason the ambient system came about was it was impossible to draw anything with procedurally generating the world. It's an idea we've kept building on in newer games.
Most of the other recordings were done at home, the office, parks in town. Nothing else really special. Just the regular indie sound person stuff. Lots of voice stuff for creatures.
The ambient system was probably the biggest/coolest technical stuff I'm proud of. It's at least that's the one I still remember
No idea the voices would become as iconic as they have. I put a lot of thought into it and how it fit each character but it was a creative time saving solution. Now, I wished we'd made a system that was a little deeper than it is but there were lots of technical reasons it was done that way. And it did work really well in its simple form.
Part of the reason the ambient system came about was it was impossible to draw anything with procedurally generating the world. It's an idea we've kept building on in newer games.
Most of the other recordings were done at home, the office, parks in town. Nothing else really special. Just the regular indie sound person stuff. Lots of voice stuff for creatures.
The ambient system was probably the biggest/coolest technical stuff I'm proud of. It's at least that's the one I still remember
Matthew Marteinsson
Sound Designer
Forum Owner/Operator
Sound Designer
Forum Owner/Operator