Meet Kartika Luky | Video Game Sound Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kartika Luky and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kartika, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The biggest factors for me are honesty and willingness to learn. I think they both go hand in hand. When I’m honest to myself, I can always see an opportunity to learn and a room for improvement. The more I learn, the better I get at doing my work, which is sound design. And over the past year, it has led me to several opportunities I’m thankful for, such as awards, scholarships, and getting my dream job. It all started when I was looking for jobs during my final year of college. I knew I wanted to do sound for games. I began reaching out to people in the industry to connect with, then I was very fortunate to have met people who are kind enough to help me improve my skills by sharing feedback and their knowledge. With a few emails back and forth, it suddenly became a mentorship. Just within a few months of being mentored, I learned so much and I felt significant improvements in my sound design skills. It feels great to hear my work constantly sound better. That prepared me well enough to create the materials I needed to get my foot at the door and land on my current job. Having people who care to help me to succeed, getting feedback from them, and applying that feedback to my work have played big roles in leading me to where I am today career wise and skill wise.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am currently working at Respawn Entertainment as their associate sound designer, working on the Star Wars game that’s on development. I am definitely super excited about that. This has been an absolute dream for me to be in the team and work on Star Wars as my first job after graduating from college. It wasn’t an easy journey, given that my field is already very competitive to begin with. For the past few years, it’s always hundreds of applicants applying for a single open sound design position in major game studios. I was scared of not being able to land on any job prior to working here; let alone as an international student I don’t really have that freedom and time to stay in the States without having a job. I’ve been through a lot of rejections. I had people telling me to give up, but I did not. That turned out to be one of the biggest things I’ve learned. Pursuing dreams is a steady grind. It takes passion, failures, perseverance, and hard work. I strongly believe that hard work always pays off. Had I given up when people told me to, I’d never be where I am today, working on my dream job. I’m also glad that I had a great support system, such as family, friends, and mentors to help me go through difficult times.

Stay tuned and be on the lookout for the upcoming Star Wars game, I can’t wait to share my work to all of you!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of the things I love living in Los Angeles is that it has so many great food. I’ll take them to get tacos from food trucks, I feel that’s very LA. I really like all the Japanese food I’ve tried here, most of them are my current favorite places. They are Sola Izakaya, Sugarfish, and Rayu Ramen. For places to visit, I’ll take them to Redondo Beach, Rocky Peak Park, and Griffith Observatory. Rocky Peak Park is actually the place where they filmed one of The Mandalorian episodes, and it’s not too far from where I live, so that would be an interesting place to check out if my friends are visiting here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank my family first for their constant love and support. They have believed in me before I could do the things I’m doing today. I also want to thank my teachers and friends in college, I really enjoyed the times I learned with them while figuring out my passion. I truly appreciate all my mentors for sharing their knowledge with me, spending the time checking out my work and giving me constructive feedback, helping me to become a better sound designer, and keeping me inspired by their amazing work in the industry. I feel endlessly lucky to know them as mentors and friends. Just as importantly, I dedicate this shoutout to the Star Wars audio team at Respawn Entertainment, who has trusted me with the position and the work. I’m forever very grateful to have the opportunity to work with them and learn from them.

Website: https://www.kartikaluky.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kartikaluky/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kartika-luky

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/kartikaluky_