This article originally ran in Back Alley Games Issue 20, November 2025

Ghoul Kazool is an alt-control experiment where players use either their keyboard or the custom “kazool” controller to make sounds and rack up “Ghoul Power” in an endless rave throughout looping days and nights. Something in the experience may be lost when it’s played in-browser, but we think it’s still worth a look for the charming art and sounds. – Back Alley Editorial Team

The concept for Ghoul Kazool is a collaborative instrument that is made of both Ghouls and Kazools. “Kazool” is “Kazoo” with an “L” on the end, representing a whimsical instrument that is fit for a creature.

This project was solo-developed using Unity, Arduino, Fusion 360 and Blender for Chicaghoul 2025. The focus of the project was building an alt-controller that activated the sounds, hand-drawn visuals and basic animations of the interactive toy. 

I wanted to build a project that I could use to hone my skills for building a custom game controller. I have done a few other projects that utilized Arduino micro-controllers, but still had a lot of questions and research to do in order to execute Ghoul Kazool. 

Soldering the physical controller was a challenge. I made two different designs of the board. The first one worked then broke after playtesting it. For the second one, I made sure to solder everything super carefully and used the hot glue method to secure the wires at angles that didn’t encourage wear and tear. 

Originally, I experimented with trying to mimic a keyboard press with the buttons on my Arduino. However, I found that only certain Arduinos have this functionality and my mentor was not familiar with this method, so instead I used the Arduino’s serial connection to send over data with each button press.

My knowledge of how data can be sent between hardware and software increased through this project. 

Through coding, the Arduino uses a serial connection to send over data — in my case the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 — between the Arduino and Unity. I also had the Arduino code send 10, 20, 30, and 40 respectively to indicate when a button was not pressed. 

Inside the Unity game, I checked for the 1s and 10s and activated sound and animation based on the interaction.

I had to work through the challenge of why the audio was not playing despite the signals being properly sent. Many thanks to the Indie City Games Discord Server and Renny for helping work through this challenge. 

The solution was adding a conditional to check if the audio was already playing because the Arduino system would constantly restart the audio as the data continued to come through. 

Sculpting the controller case design using Blender was fun, but I also ran into issues with printing my design. Because of needing the exact measurement for the holes of my micro-controller design, I used Fusion 360 to create the original design. 

I then went into Blender and sculpted directly onto the box, which led to walls that were too thin for printing. I had to manually go into Blender and create a thicker wall and holes for the game buttons. This was a challenge for me since I am still developing my Blender skills.

I then primed my 3-D print for hand painting and covered it in resin to create a more interesting finish. But the resin coating stiffened the button covers and made it easier for them to fall off when playing the instrument. 

The keycaps need to be workshopped in order to make them stronger for use by the general public. 

Originally I had contacted a friend to create custom sounds for the project, but they were not able to make the deadline. But the future of the project as an avenue for musical creatives to create their own sound boards sounds promising. 

I am interested in developing Ghoul Kazool further as a multiplayer experience and perhaps expanding the animations that are attached to the interactions. I am also interested in working with a compatible team for a future jam where I work primarily as the creator of the alt-controller in order to get more experience with the medium.

Play Ghoul Kazool at https://grocerybiome.itch.io/ghoul-kazool