Dev Blog: Building the Sounds of a Musical World
26/02/2025
Sound design in MAJJAM is built around a constant exploration of the line between music and sound. We carefully craft every sound to make the world feel organic, alive, and beautiful, even with a few imperfections. In MAJJAM, music is magic, and sound is at the heart of the experience, bringing the world to life and grounding it in emotion.
At its core, the goal is twofold:
- finding ways to make musical sounds feel natural when attached to physical objects, and
- turning any input into something musical.
In this Dev Blog, we share concrete examples of how we build music for the game, from artistic direction to sound design.
A Cozy, Musical Direction
From a direction standpoint, the overall sound palette aims to feel cozy, pleasant, and warm, with soft, rounded tones that are easy on the ears.
There are, of course, deliberate exceptions: the Fog and certain hostile trials are designed to feel harsher and more unsettling, to clearly contrast with the rest of the world.
Making the World Musical
Most interactive elements in the world are designed to respond musically when you jam or interact with them.
For the stone bridge, we start from simple, real sounds like stone, texture, and impact. We then shape and combine them until it feels natural and musical at the same time. Once integrated into Unreal Engine, the sound feels like it belongs to a musical world.
This is just one example among many others, for instance:
- Trees and bushes blend natural leaf rustling with sounds from a shaker, creating a sound that feels both organic and rhythmic.
- Pressure buttons you walk on are based on rock and stone sounds, carefully modified to introduce pitch and tone so they feel musical rather than purely mechanical.
More broadly, almost every object that moves or reacts has been treated this way, grounded in real-world sound, but shaped to fit MAJJAM's musical language.
Flamenca
Deeply rooted in Spanish culture and flamenco, Flamenca's sound design incorporates signature elements such as palmas (hand claps), zapateado (flamenco footwork), and traditional instruments like castanets and the cajón.
Chug
Inspired by the armenian duduk, Chug's sound design relies on a subtle balance between discretion and cultural resonance, reflecting his stealthy, almost ninja-like temperament. His movements and actions produce soft, minimal sounds, while drawing on flute-like tonalities reminiscent of the duduk's timbre.
Owlé
Owlé is inspired by Brazilian culture and plays an instrument inspired by the bandolim, a small Brazilian mandolin. His musical identity blends natural bird sounds and human musical influences. His audio design starts from real-life sounds such as wing flaps that are transformed into expressive, lively, and unique tones.
Conga
Conga's sound design highlights his role as an expert percussionist and emphasizes his rhythmic personality. His instrument is inspired by a… Conga, which shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone, with his body acting as a resonance chamber with his instrument. His rolling has wood and rope sounds, which are a reminder that he comes from the jungle.
Why We Are Sharing This
We do not use shortcuts to create MAJJAM's soundscape. These examples show how much care goes into shaping a world where music feels natural, warm, and alive.
In our next Dev Blog, we will share the changes we are making to MAJJAM's Agora and, afterwards, we will share the new music mechanics that we have been preparing, based directly on your feedback from previous playtests.
Got any questions or comments? Ask us directly on our MAJJAM Discord.