About

A composer and sound designer from Portugal, my given name is João Araújo. While studying music for 9 years, music composition for 6 years, interactive music and sound design for 2 years, and musicology for 5 years, I have focused on creating music for videogames while maintaining a deep interest in creating art in various forms. I've worked in several games - small and short productions, with limited groups and resources, which taught me how to operate with diverse teams and make the best work with what I was provided. This preparation allowed me to join Whales and Games to work on Townseek, and I'm excited to share this game with the world. During my Master's I researched how to fake interactivity, while during my PhD I wrote about videogame composers' expansion of knowledge into areas of sound design, implementation, programming, and soft skills. Continuing research into and around videogame music, I am part of the Multimedia Department of the Center for Research and Studies of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon and the Research Cluster in Sound and Music in Digital and Audiovisual Media at NOVA FCSH, Lisbon.

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Work beyond videogames

(2022 - ) Teacher - Sound for Media Products - ETIC:
Teaching Sound Design for Interactive Media students FMOD and Unity implementation.

(2018) OPUS - Theater play - Music and acting:
Theater play by the Lisbon's University of Theater and Cinema's Theater department.

(2018) Breathe - Performance piece:
Performance piece for the Art and Technology course of the PhD in Arts.
Based on Maddy Makes Games' Celeste

(2017) Behavioral Economics - Installation - Music and game design:
Installation as part of the Master's in Multimedia thesis.

(2016) nG - Sound installation - Sound design and music:
Sound installation for the Multimedia in Performing Arts course of the Master's in Multimedia.

(2016) nG - Performance piece - Music:
Performance piece for the Multimedia in Performing Arts course of the Master's in Multimedia.

(2009 - ) Concert music:
Over 35 pieces, ranging from electronic to symphonic orchestra music, nine of them played in concerts.

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Favorite videogames

Kentucky Route Zero
The Beginner's Guide
Disco Elysium
Frostpunk
Against the Storm

Favorite soundtracks

The Red Strings Club
Hyper Light Drifter
TES 5: Skyrim
SM's Civilization IV
Celeste

Favorite composers

John Cage
Terry Riley
Lena Raine
Jan Garbarek
Cosmo Sheldrake