The world of gaming is strange sometimes. Remember when people got upset about killing tigers in one of the games in the Far Cry series, while it was completely fine to murder hundreds of people in the same game? This customer project touches that topic, as it deals with killing animals, not just for fun, but for living in real life, and that too creates mixed emotions and opinions. But, you have to work to live, both in game audio and reindeer husbandry, right?

Reindeer husbandy and the many products and services it creates are a big thing in Finnish Lapland. Luckily, unlike tigers, reindeer are not about to go extinct anytime soon. Reindeer husbandry is an important part of Lapland’s appeal for tourists, and carries on the cultural heritage of our indigenous people, Sami. As traditional and natural this branch of industry may be, it is also touched by digital means of development.

This time a project called Poropeda was carried out to enhance the possibilities for learning the craft of reindeer meat production, by creating a virtual version of a slaughterhouse for reindeer. Yes, reindeer husbandry and reindeer based food production is an industry that you can study here. The benefits of having a virtual training environment include a decrease in risks from the perspectives of animal protection, working safety and hygiene.

The application was developed with Unreal Engine. My job was to create a realistic audio atmosphere for the facility and some sounds for handling “the goods and tools”. You can have a look at the visuals of the application in progress below. The actual sounds you can hear only in the finished application, as this video is narrated.

FrostBit / Lapin AMK owns the copyright of the video and article image.