As a massively multiplayer online game that allows players to create and program their own games, Roblox has experienced a surge of popularity in recent months and is now being played by over half the kids in the United States, due in part to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
One of the more popular elements of the game, the “oof” death sound that has even made its way into memes, will be temporarily removed from Roblox at the end of November. According to a settlement between the sound’s creator, Tommy Tallarico, and Roblox Corporation, when the sound returns it will cost Roblox creators (those who make games within Roblox) 100 Robux or 1 dollar to use in their games. Players will not be charged for regaining access to the sound.
Additionally, over the past six months Tallarico has been hard at work creating a Roblox Sound Design Kit for creators to use when building their games, and this is already available on the Roblox Developer Marketplace. The price begins at 10 dollars and increases according to the number of sound effects creators want access to. The “oof” sound is included for purchase from the Kit, as well as 14 alternative “oofs” or similar-sounding takes from the original recording session.
It’s important to point out that only creators, and not Roblox’s more than 150 million players, will need to pay for the “oof” sound. For creators who don’t purchase the sound when it returns to the game, either as an individual purchase or as part of the Sound Design Kit, the game will automatically replace the sound with a new “game over” audio track.
Tallarico, a long-time industry veteran and CEO of Intellivision Entertainment, is an established video game composer and sound designer and was not even aware until 2019 that the “oof” noise was being used in Roblox. He’d created the noise 20 years ago for Shiny Entertainment’s action-adventure game Messiah and only last year noticed that the two sound effects seemed similar.
The composer has been involved in a number of video games and industry-related events over his 30-year career and has won seven Guinness World Records, one of which is for working on the most video games in a lifetime. Despite his many accomplishments, Tallarico jokes that he was surprised to discover that one of the things he’s currently most known for is the “oof” sound in Roblox.
In an interview with the BBC, he stated, “It’s amazing to think that such a small sound I did over 20 years ago for a different video game ended up being one of the most iconic pop culture audio clips of the 21st century… I would hear kids saying it on playgrounds and didn’t even realize that they were repeating something I had created over two decades ago.”
For Roblox fans who are particularly attached to the “oof” sound, Tallarico and Roblox Corporation have gotten together to create an officially licensed t-shirt, which will be available on Amazon in time for the 2020 holiday season. This will coincide well with the exclusive Roblox content that is currently available for players with an Amazon Prime Gaming subscription.
Roblox is available on mobile, Fire OS, Mac, PC, and Xbox One.
Source: Kotaku