Music the game needs!

Discussion in 'The Bards of Poets' Circle' started by redfish, Jan 23, 2017.

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  1. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    I was going to post in the Game Features section, but I figured I'd post here, since The Poets' Circle creates a lot of the music for the game.

    There are two or three things I'd like to see in the game right now:

    First,
    - NIGHT-TIME music, other music for specific times of day (dawn, twilight, etc).

    I'd like to see the game change music in a scene when you're in the scene at different times of day. So for instance, a specific town scene might have a festive tune which is inappropriate if you enter the town at night, when the mood of the town should be different.

    As an example, Darklands had two different themes for a grove when you were in it, depending on whether it was daytime or nighttime.

    Grove,

    (Jaunty, upbeat music)

    Grove At Night,

    (Slow, quiet music)

    Martian Dreams had time of day music for general adventuring.

    Daytime - Wandering

    (Jaunty, upbeat music)

    Nighttime

    (Slow, quiet music)

    There's also a Dawn theme, but I can't find a Youtube vid. Its what you would expect; a rising crescendo.

    MIDIs are here, where you can find the Dawn theme.
    http://www.surfing.net/ultima/bard/wou2.html

    Twilight or dusk might warrant another theme.

    Second,
    - WAITING music, for the loading screen

    A specific theme for the loading screen. I was thinking of something like this, from U7: The Black Gate,

    Magic Tricks


    Third...

    The Ultima games also had more specific themes, like combat music... but I don't know if that's important in SotA, since the scene you enter is either dangerous (with combat), or not. I guess it might be good if you entered PvP in an otherwise peaceful area?

    Anyway, the Combat music for U7 and Serpent Isle, and everything else, can be found here at the Bootstrike site,
    http://bootstrike.com/Ultima7bg/music.php
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2017
  2. Dinsoo

    Dinsoo Avatar

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    I think they would like this too!
     
  3. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    I like the idea of music varying by night and day very much. Also the sounds in different areas vary like hoot owls in some areas but not in others and owls don't hoot in the daytime. We need some atmospheric sounds and music as well. Overall we have a lot of sound requirements in the works I'm sure. Our sound guy is probably extremely busy and hopefully he can hear some sound feedback and ideas from us. :)
     
  4. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    Yea, that's something I suggested also... owls hooting at night, birds chirping everywhere at dawn, mourning doves in the evening, etc. Roosters in towns and villages crowing in the morning, and so on.
     
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  5. Spoon

    Spoon Avatar

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    Spot on, @redfish !!!
    These things really sets the mood and adds to the atmosphere.
     
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  6. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Is this Richard Garriott's current vision for Shroud of the Avatar? To rehash music from his other games and insert it for everything or does he have a different master plan?
     
  7. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    @Duke Gréagóir ,

    I don't know, but I've entered scenes at night in SotA where the music wasn't appropriate for the mood, since everything was dark and quiet, but it felt like daytime music. Its not really about what previous games have done... I'm just using them as examples.
     
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  8. Kailef

    Kailef Master Bard

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    Redfish,

    I like that idea quite a bit. Poets' Circle of course is a player-run organization so we can't make any decisions with regard to this sort of thing, but I'll definitely mention it should I interact with any of the developers in the near future. I'm sure that the team is pushing pretty hard to get the game ready for official release, so even if they like the idea it might be a bit of a low priority. Still, the day and night cycle affects a lot of other things in the game, I think it would be a really great idea for it to affect the music as well. Plus I'd love to write some more music for the game! :)
     
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  9. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    @Kailef,

    Thanks!

    Also another related idea might be music timed to weather. Since the mood during a thunderstorm is different. My basic idea is that music needs to affect the mood of the scene, and there are a lot of times at which the mood of the scene and mood of the music will be at odds with each other.
     
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  10. Hermann von Salza

    Hermann von Salza Avatar

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    Every time play I see things getting better, The Music isnt one of them.
     
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  11. Kailef

    Kailef Master Bard

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    Redfish,

    That's a great idea, too.

    Marcus Antonius,

    There's a lot of music that has been created by the various composers that contributed to the game that hasn't yet been placed in game, at least I don't think it has. So, there's definitely some new stuff coming, but I'm not sure when. That said, the reason you haven't seen the music "improving" is because nothing new is being produced at this point. I think that the last song that was created for the official soundtrack (not including custom Player Owned Town songs) was approved in March of 2015, which two months shy of two years ago as of today. There hasn't been any new music requested since then. That may change, but it's up to Portalarium to determine if and when that will happen. If you have suggestions for them, don't hesitate to let them know. (Politely, of course!)
     
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  12. Hermann von Salza

    Hermann von Salza Avatar

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    Im fairly bias, if it doesn't fall into one or two categories, odds are I wont approve. But am Subject to be wrong occasionally. :confused:
     
  13. craftymethod

    craftymethod Avatar

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    Music really sold Ultima Online and World of Warcraft. I really hope we can get some great atmospheric music in the game. Sure create some set pieces but I want music that pulls you into the world, if im standing on a mountian I want to hear music daring me to climb higher with howling wind and crumbling rocks.
     
  14. craftymethod

    craftymethod Avatar

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    And lets remember many of our favourite movies (starwars) had the kind of music we can all hum along too. If we want this project to really POW into peoples memories, we need sound to not just be an after thought and sooner the better! If we are all going to enjoy sitting around quiet scenes, it will be a hell of a lot better with gritty atmospherics.
     
  15. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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  16. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    Also this is so fantastic.


    Because it is important to note that it is music choices and sound effects that are great for a game
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2017
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  17. Kailef

    Kailef Master Bard

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    The various community composers that made the music for the game put together just over seventy (70) different songs for the game's soundtrack. Many of the songs were custom designed for specific areas, albeit without our ever having seen those zones before. It's probably fair to say that music is pretty low on the dev team's priority list right now, as they are focusing on level design and game balance and such. The good news is when they decide they need more music, the composers will do it.

    Because many zones right now are just clones of other zones, it's important to note that we are hearing only a small cross-section of the total discography over and over; There really are a lot of nice tracks waiting to be heard once they start being used in the game. Below are a few examples of songs that (I think) are not used in the game yet. Because I know my own music better than that of the other musicians, the examples are my own tracks, but there's a ton of other awesome music that isn't in the game yet.


     
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  18. Hermann von Salza

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  19. majoria70

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  20. Kailef

    Kailef Master Bard

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    Marcus Antoninus,

    I agree, I like those tracks. I think they are great, especially the last one. They are, just as you say, "real music".

    It's worth pointing out that the development team was adamant that the instrumentation and overall feel of SotA's music needed to avoid an epic-style "movie soundtrack" sort of feel. The composers were instructed to use period instruments as much as possible, and to try and make their songs sound like they were being played by a small group of medieval performers. It was quite challenging for some of our composers to reign in their normal tendencies and make their songs smaller and simpler, driven more by melody and less by orchestration. These songs you showed above, although wonderful, would almost certainly not have been accepted as tracks for the game. Although we did squeeze a handful of "epic score" (ish) sounding tracks past the gauntlet, almost all of the accepted compositions hold very true to the "small group of medieval street performers" style that was required by Portalarium.

    I do have a question for you. I'm curious if the context of your post was meant to imply that the music created for Shroud of the Avatar is not "real music". Just to clarify, is that your intent, sir? I mean no offense by the question, I am simply trying to ascertain the objective of your comments.
     
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