INUA

Inua is a first-person 3D action puzzler where players control ice and fire to navigate a mysterious, ancient temple.

As Kaya, a young woman on a spiritual journey, players must harness these elemental powers to solve puzzles and overcome challenges on their path to the top of the Elemental Temple.

Our team handled the music production and composition, creating a score that reflected the mystical and epic nature of Kaya's quest, enhancing the atmosphere and emotional depth of the game.

A vital piece of player communication in Inua was making sure the player knew when they solved an important stage of the puzzle, even if they hadn’t solved the entire thing. Inua’s audio design played an important part in communicating the accomplishment of these milestones. We paired the sound of machinery with the activation of new temple pieces to draw the player’s attention, and created a musical score that reflected the player’s progression through each area. Each puzzle began with a base ambient soundtrack. Then as players solved each stage of the puzzle, we punctuated the victory with a rewarding stinger and added a layer of music to the soundtrack. This interactive score meant that as the player progressed through the puzzle, the music itself became richer and more complex. As players were completing the puzzle, they were also completing our beautiful soundtrack, signaling to them that they were on the right track for discovering the solution to the puzzle. Not only was this a wonderfully effective, yet subtle form of player communication, it also added further reward and greatly increased the player’s sense of accomplishment.