Sound Effects — short sounds like "boing!", "crash!", "ding!"
BGM
Background Music — music that plays throughout the game.
Sound Design
Planning what sounds a game needs.
Visual Effects / VFX
Things you SEE that make the game exciting — sparkles, explosions, dust clouds.
Particle
A tiny moving image — many particles together create effects like fire, smoke, or rain.
Imagine playing a game with NO sound. It would feel empty and boring! Sound tells the player what is happening:
A "ding" when you collect a coin tells you — "Great job, you got it!"
A "thud" when you land tells you — "You hit the ground."
A "boom" when an explosion happens tells you — "Something just blew up!"
Background music sets the mood — exciting music for action, calm music for menus, spooky music for dark levels.
Visual effects work the same way — sparkles when you pick up a gem, dust clouds when you land after a big jump, fire flickering from a torch. They make the game feel alive.
Close your eyes. Your partner will describe a game scene (e.g. "You're running through a forest, you jump over a log, land on the other side, and pick up a gold coin"). What sounds would you hear? Take turns describing and guessing.
I can explain why sound is important in games.
2 Create a Sound Design Table
A sound design table lists every event in your game and what sound it needs. Think about everything that happens in your game and what the player should hear.
Here are some examples to get you started:
Example Sound Design Table
Game Event
Sound Description
Type
Player jumps
Whoosh or boing
SFX
Collect a coin
Ding or sparkle
SFX
Hit by enemy
Ow or crash
SFX
Game Over
Sad trumpet or buzzer
SFX
Playing the game
Upbeat adventure music
BGM
Title screen
Calm, exciting intro music
BGM
Now create your own sound design table. Think about your specific game — what events happen? List at least 8 events.
My Sound Design Table
Fill in at least 8 rows for your game. Think about: movement, collecting, enemies, winning, losing, menus, and background music.
Game Event
Sound Description
Type (SFX/BGM)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I have listed at least 8 game events with what sound each needs.
3 Listen to Game Sounds
Now let's find real sounds that match your table! We'll use freesound.org — a free website with thousands of sounds.
Step 1: Open a new browser tab. Go to freesound.org.
The freesound.org homepage appears.
Step 2: In the search bar, type a game-related sound. Try these searches:
• "coin collect"
• "jump"
• "game over"
• "explosion"
• "8-bit music"
• "whoosh"
• "power up"
A list of matching sounds appears.
Step 3: Click the play button on the results to listen to each sound. DO NOT download anything — just listen!
You can hear what the sound sounds like.
Step 4: For each event in your sound design table, find a sound on freesound.org that matches. Write the name of the sound next to each event in your table.
Your table now has real sound names linked to each event.
Step 5: Listen to at least 5 different sounds before moving on. Try to find a good match for as many events as possible.
You have explored a variety of game sounds.
freesound.org is a free website with thousands of sounds. You do NOT need to download anything — just listen! If a search doesn't give good results, try different words (e.g. instead of "player hurt" try "ouch" or "pain sound effect").
I have listened to at least 5 game sounds on freesound.org.
4 Create a Sound Map in Canva
A sound map shows WHERE sounds play on your game level. We'll add sound labels to your level design from L12.
Step 1: Open your L12 level design in Canva. If you want to keep the original clean, go to File → "Make a copy" first.
Your level design is open and ready to annotate.
Step 2: Add text annotations showing where sounds play. Use Text → "Add a little bit of body text" and place labels at these locations:
• At the start: "BGM: Adventure music starts"
• At coin locations: "SFX: Ding!"
• At enemy locations: "SFX: Growl"
• At hazards: "SFX: Danger buzz"
• At the finish: "SFX: Victory fanfare!"
Sound labels appear on your level map.
Step 3: Use different coloured text so it's easy to tell sound types apart:
• Purple text for BGM (background music)
• Green text for SFX (sound effects)
BGM and SFX labels are colour-coded.
Step 4: Add small icons from Elements to represent sounds. Search for "speaker", "music note", "sound wave", or "megaphone". Place them near your sound labels.
Visual icons help identify sound locations at a glance.
Step 5: Make sure you have at least 5 sound locations marked on your level.
Your map clearly shows where different sounds play.
Step 6: Rename your design: "L14 - Sound Map - [Your Name]".
Saved with the correct name.
My sound map shows at least 5 sound locations on my level.
5 Visual Effects Planning
Visual effects (VFX) are the things you see that make a game feel exciting and alive. They use tiny images called particles that move and fade to create cool effects.
Here are some common visual effects in games:
Dust clouds when the player lands after a jump — little puffs of brown/grey that appear at the player's feet.
Sparkles when collecting a coin or gem — tiny bright dots that fly outward and fade away.
Smoke or fire from torches or lava — orange/red particles drifting upward.
Rain or snow in the background — many tiny particles falling from the top of the screen.
Explosions when an enemy is defeated — a burst of coloured particles expanding outward.
Trail effects behind a fast-moving character — fading copies or streaks following the player.
My Visual Effects List
List 3 visual effects you would want in your game. Describe what the player would see.
1.
2.
3.
Submit: Take screenshots of your sound design table and your sound map from Canva. Upload both to Google Classroom.