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Steam News18 September 20259mo ago

Making the Echolocation - Our journey into sound and darkness!

Story time - From matchsticks to sound waves! When we started making Echo: Defy Death (we were still calling it Echo Ninja then btw, just so you know my naming sense is complete garbage xD) or first step was to get that

Full notes

Full Echo: Defy Death update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes2 additions4 changes0 removals
  • UI and audio
  • Performance
changedStory time - From matchsticks to sound waves!
changedWhen we started making Echo: Defy Death (we were still calling it Echo Ninja then btw, just so you know my naming sense is complete garbage xD) or first step was to get that echo shader looking like sound is revealing the area and not light.
changedThe first draft was like a cookie cutter effect type of shader. Black screen with circles spawning and revealing everything behind them. It was enough to start working on the combat and other game mechanics but we had a whole lot of issues with it. Liiiiikeeee:
changedThere was literally no difference between light and this. It didn’t look like sound.
addedThis was the upgraded version. We smoothed out the edges, then added a 3D background to add depth and the all important ‘’pulse’’ effect to really make it feel like a sound wave rather than someone lighting a match. With this we were like ‘’Yup, we’re awesome.’’ but then came the game design part.
addedFor the latest version we made the echolocation travel in a straight line to ‘’mimic’’ the sense of echolocation, and we also made the sound wave bounce off surfaces. This made the echolocation feel more intentional and better for navigation while keeping the combat exciting. We added in distortion if you spam it too often and only sounds made from combat were circular since they we’re not controlled sounds. This is where we stand currently and we’re liking it very much. Next step is to smooth this distortion out, make the fading smoother as well and try and get that ‘’pulse’’ effect to be even better and look a lot more like sound.

Echo: Defy Death changes

changedStory time - From matchsticks to sound waves!
changedWhen we started making Echo: Defy Death (we were still calling it Echo Ninja then btw, just so you know my naming sense is complete garbage xD) or first step was to get that echo shader looking like sound is revealing the area and not light.
changedThe first draft was like a cookie cutter effect type of shader. Black screen with circles spawning and revealing everything behind them. It was enough to start working on the combat and other game mechanics but we had a whole lot of issues with it. Liiiiikeeee:
changedThere was literally no difference between light and this. It didn’t look like sound.
addedThis was the upgraded version. We smoothed out the edges, then added a 3D background to add depth and the all important ‘’pulse’’ effect to really make it feel like a sound wave rather than someone lighting a match. With this we were like ‘’Yup, we’re awesome.’’ but then came the game design part.

Story time - From matchsticks to sound waves!

When we started making Echo: Defy Death (we were still calling it Echo Ninja then btw, just so you know my naming sense is complete garbage xD) or first step was to get that echo shader looking like sound is revealing the area and not light.

The First Draft

The first draft was like a cookie cutter effect type of shader. Black screen with circles spawning and revealing everything behind them. It was enough to start working on the combat and other game mechanics but we had a whole lot of issues with it. Liiiiikeeee:

  1. It was too flat.. Like the background felt like a poster rather than space…

  2. The outline was too sharp and confusing

  3. There was literally no difference between light and this. It didn’t look like sound.

So naturally, we went into a cave and learned echolocation from the bat gods (jk, we don’t have bat caves where we come from so we weren't lucky enough to try this out). Jokes aside we had some ideas on what to do to make it come to life.

The Second Draft Steam post image

This was the upgraded version. We smoothed out the edges, then added a 3D background to add depth and the all important ‘’pulse’’ effect to really make it feel like a sound wave rather than someone lighting a match. With this we were like ‘’Yup, we’re awesome.’’ but then came the game design part.

The Final Draft

For the latest version we made the echolocation travel in a straight line to ‘’mimic’’ the sense of echolocation, and we also made the sound wave bounce off surfaces. This made the echolocation feel more intentional and better for navigation while keeping the combat exciting. We added in distortion if you spam it too often and only sounds made from combat were circular since they we’re not controlled sounds. This is where we stand currently and we’re liking it very much. Next step is to smooth this distortion out, make the fading smoother as well and try and get that ‘’pulse’’ effect to be even better and look a lot more like sound.

That was our journey from matchsticks to echolocation. We’re going to be sharing some more stories of our development like this so you know we’re working hard on delivering an awesome game and thank you all so much for the support!

If you're up for testing the game out then join in on our Discord!

Hope you have an awesome week, peace!

Source

Steam News / 18 September 2025

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