Giving CORPO its sound effects with ElevenLabs

What an action should feel like

A game asks you to listen to the same actions repeatedly. I’m using ElevenLabs to find sounds that make those actions feel right in CORPO.

That includes small interactions like selecting a card or turning a page in the Book. I'm also working on the moments that need more attention, especially learning a skill and winning a match.

The difficult part is describing that well enough to get something useful, then being honest when the result doesn't work. A sound can be nicely produced and still communicate the wrong thing. I've had equipment sounds that felt like somebody rummaging through a backpack. I wanted the item to sound like it had been decisively slotted into place. Those are very different actions.

The skill sound took some explaining

The sound for learning a skill took several attempts. When you successfully contract a synth for the first time, for example, I want that learning recorded in your profile. You've figured something out, and the game should acknowledge it.

Some early options sounded like cheap instruments. Another direction sounded like a strange entity flying overhead. Neither gave me the feeling I was trying to describe. I eventually put it as simply as I could: ah, ding. That moment when an idea clicks, followed by a definite finish.

There was also a question about the animation. I described a skill appearing and moving into the profile, but a sound built around several stages only makes sense if the screen actually has those stages. I don't want a mysterious clunk arriving after an animation has already finished. The sound needs to agree with what the player sees.

After further comparisons, I selected the version labeled More body for in-game finishing. I still need to hear it in the actual game, alongside the animation and music.

Some sounds need to get out of the way

For the physical interactions, I've selected a one-card cut, a slightly weightier Book turn, a contract sound and a heavy contact sound. I'm keeping those selected files while I work on the sounds that still need attention.

But the frequency of an action changes what I want from it. A selection sound is going to repeat. A page turn has to leave room to read. If the little interactions are all demanding attention, there's nowhere for the important moments to go.

That doesn't mean everything should be timid. I rejected the first victory options because they didn't have the payoff I wanted. I also asked for a turn notification with some urgency. I corrected myself while describing it: friendly and happy wasn't really the point. I wanted a purposeful ping that gets your attention without sounding like an alarm.

Bringing the soundtrack into a victory

For victory, I asked to use the vocal phrase ‘I'm a Corpo Baby’ from my existing Suno song, with a victory sound behind it. That connects the result to something already in CORPO instead of giving it an anonymous success jingle.

The original vocal performance has been extracted, and there are comparison mixes prepared with new backing ingredients. Those are still candidates. I haven't approved the finished victory sound yet.

Defeat has its own direction: downward electronic tension, something powering down. Earned progress needs to feel like moving upward. With the draw sound, I liked one candidate but disliked the scratch at the beginning. I asked to remove the scratch and keep the rest.

The audition is part of making it

Working with ElevenLabs has involved comparing options, choosing sources, editing them and comparing again. I keep the original files separate from the edits so the choice stays clear. If I say I like option B, that needs to mean the actual B I heard.

Some of the revisions have failed. On one item-sound comparison, all three playbacks sounded the same to me. Different files on disk didn't make it a useful comparison. The next attempt needed a difference I could actually hear.

The next check is hearing the selected sounds with the game. A sound I like on its own still needs to fit the action, and I need to be happy hearing it again on the next turn.