Papo & Yo's howls, grunts, steps and chirps are straight out of Panama
"I can watch any five-second clip and think about the amount of hours that were put into it to make it sound just that way."
Papo & Yo Sound Designer Brian D'Oliveira isn't exaggerating – he traveled to Panama to capture unique, authentic sounds for the game, with a pledge to not use any pre-existing or canned noises. If Quico, the main character in Papo & Yo, ran across a tile roof in the game, D'Oliveira and his team actually walked across a tile roof. The same went for mud, water, dirt, foliage, the ambient jungle noises, animal sounds and ticking cogs throughout the game.
D'Oliveira trudged through the tropics for some of the noises, and for others he brought the tropics to the studio, to record in a controlled, aurally clean environment. The result is a complex blend of nature noises, befitting an emotionally complex game. Papo & Yo is out now for PC, currently on sale on Steam for $13.50 through April 28.
