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Videos

My favorite way of expressing myself, hosted on YouTube.

The "What I Love" Series

Educational videos that analyze video games to teach viewers of any experience level about game audio design, music theory, and video game design in general.

2023

Delving into Pikmin 2's Procedural Cave Music

With lots of help from my friend and collaborator Waffles, this video explores the remarkable system that not only plays back adaptive MIDI music in Pikmin 2, but constructs pieces of it randomly into coherent music for the game's cave levels.

Behind the Scenes of Gary the Duck

A retrospective and tutorial from each of the artists who created the "Gary the Duck" music video, wrapped into a What I Love format.

"Musical Main Characters" in Tears of the Kingdom

Exploring the orchestration of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, specifically how a certain few instruments act as throughlines for the narrative of the entire soundtrack. Without any spoilers for the game!

2022

The Legacy of Now or Never in Splatoon 3

In a follow-up to my previous video about the Splatoon series, this video explores several renditions of the song "Now or Never" in Splatoon 3, and what tricks they pull to stay true to the original and stay fresh simultaneously!

Proximity Voice Chat in Horror Games

This video explores the unique twists that Phasmophobia and In Silence put on their multiplayer voice chat features, to ensure they promote both cooperation and looming, horrific tension!

A New Step for Pokémon Sound Design - Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Pokémon Legends: Arceus had the task of refreshing the Pokémon series's gameplay for a 3D open world, and so naturally the sound and music systems have undergone updates as well, while still keeping things familiar for veteran players! This video demonstrates a couple details that help make that possible.

Creating the Chill World of Here Comes Niko! (feat. Stijn van Wakeren & Melissa Kragten)

I got the chance to interview Stijn van Wakeren and Melissa Kragten, my friends and two game designers of the indie game Here Comes Niko! We talk about the process of creating a wholesome, chill game world, gameplay tailored for an audience, and creating a rich soundscape. You end up wearing a lot of hats as indie game developers!

The Surprisingly Complex Music of Wii Play's Tanks!

The Wii game Wii Play featured some cute little minigames that showed off the Wii Remote's functionalities, but the last minigame in the series, Tanks!, goes way further than that. Join me in breaking down just how intricate a soundtrack can get starting from a tiny packet of gameplay and music.

Here is a supplemental chart explaining the musical layers employed in the game.

2021

Subnautica and Snell's Window

In the underwater exploration/survival game Subnautica, the surface of the water always shimmers with a circular refraction of the sky above it. In this video, I describe this peculiar optical phenomenon, called Snell's window, and how it suspends one's disbelief of virtual water.

Mario Kart and the Doppler Effect

The sound of karts passing each other in Mario Kart may seem innocuous, but it's a realtime Doppler Effect. In this video, I explore how one might program such an effect, for a single-player or local multiplayer racing game!

Sound Intensity and the FNaF Series

A stylistic exploration of Five Nights at Freddy's sequels to show the many applications of sound intensity, an abstract pillar of sound design.

Musical Maps in A Short Hike (feat. Mark Sparling)

Delighted to speak with the composer for A Short Hike, the cozy exploration indie game, about how he used adaptive musical layers to give the in-game island an auditory map.

2020

Some Thoughts from Scruffy at the end of 2020

Not educational, but a personal reflection on the year 2020, and looking ahead.

The Elegant Audio Solutions of Pan-Pan (with help from Simon Viklund)

Pan-Pan is a charming little puzzle game with a minimalist atmosphere and an ethereal, synthesized soundtrack. With help from the game's composer/sound designer, Simon Viklund, I discuss how that soundtrack adaptively changes across the environment you explore.

How Boss Music Works in Pikmin 3 Deluxe

Pikmin 3 Deluxe offers some unique realtime compositions while you battle its largest creatures. In this video, I create some flowcharts to break down their musical structure!

How Audio Enhances the Horror of Five Nights at Freddy's

For Halloween, a spooky analytical video on the many roles of audio in horror games, and how they led the breakout horror game Five Nights at Freddy's to major success.

Behind the Scenes of Scruffy Videos

I adapted questions from my audience into a video that explains my video-making process, my background in music, and more!

An Interview with Brian Schmidt

I talk with Brian Schmidt, a pillar of the game sound community, about his fascinating career, and about GameSoundCon. And he has some questions for me too!

Crafting the Ocean in the Music of ABZÛ

A collaboration with Austin Wintory, featuring an analysis and his own reflections on creating the soundtrack to a surreal, sublime oceanic adventure game. Special thanks to Austin Wintory and Dallas Crane for help with production.

Wholesome Sound Design in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Tips and secrets from casual animal villagers for creating a welcoming, accessible soundscape and UI.

Minute Murder: A Mystery by Scruffy

A video for fun, a fictitious murder mystery in exactly 60 seconds.

Celebrating 3 Years of What I Love

And here's to many more!

2019

What Is Adaptive Audio?

Commissioned by FMOD, a look at the concept of adaptive audio, and why it's so useful in video games.

Harmonic Rhythm in Sonic the Hedgehog's Music

A clever facet of the iconic franchise's music that feels fast, but not too fast.

"Invisible" Sound Design in Breath of the Wild

The smallest, least noticed details of sound design in the Legend of Zelda tie the experience together.

Behind Splatoon's Final Minute of Music

How does a punk band of sea creatures set the mood for the last minute of action?

Pikmin 3 Sound Design Trivia

The game Pikmin 3 provides a great overview of not just how sound effects get refined and detailed, but why.

2017-18

One Year of What I Love

Each "What I Love" video ends with an arrangement of the channel's main theme. This video celebrates a year of video-making by compiling them.

What Do Microwaves Hum?

A scientific and musical look at a peculiar sound phenomenon in microwaves and other appliances.

The Culture Behind ARMS's Soundtrack

ARMS is a game with very specific choices to its soundtrack. I examine the culture that inspired it.

What Makes Mario Music So Catchy?

I put Super Mario's abundant leitmotifs in a music-theory context.

Pikmin 3 Model Trivia

Exploring details of creature and character design in the 3D models of Pikmin 3.

Short Films

Original films with handmade animation, original music, and love.

KopPad Deluxe - 2021

A fan Pikmin animation, with a lot of references.

Square Breathing - 2020

Guided meditation about rhythmic breathing.

Pint of View - 2019

A matter of perspectives.

Abstract Loop 1 - 2019

Instructed by Jungmin Cha.

Clouds - 2018

On the nature of texting.

Zipperhero: Up A Tree - 2018

A zipper-clasp hero to the rescue!

Video Collaborations

My appearances in and help with other video works.

Gary the Duck [Official Animated Music Video]

An animated music video directed by Ben Knight for music by Greg Blum, featuring backgrounds by Mahra Peterkin, character design by EV Knight, and 3D animation by me!

Pikmin's Gameplay | Mix and Jam

Recreating the core elements of play in the Pikmin games. By André Cardoso. I created music, sound effects, and 3D assets for this video.

Hit Box Radio

A radio broadcast with Marley Townsend. I was a substitute co-host during the latter half of 2019, during which we had some chill, insightful conversations about our favorite games.

A Deeper Dive into Wind Waker's Lighting

A conversation with Jasper, creator of https://noclip.website/, about their work on Nintendo environment design appreciation, and deeper insights into how The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker lights its scenes.

One Minute Remaining (MicroEssay Mixtape Vol. 2)

A compilation of poupourri videos that had to be exactly 60 seconds long. Over 20 video essayists were involved. For my entry, I wrote a small murder mystery.