Kwakstur
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File: Title.mp3 (2.1 MB)
Downloaded 84 times.
License: All Rights Reserved

Since August, I've been working on a game called Fourth Revolution, a game with a cyclic time system inspired by Majora's Mask.

For the past several months, I've spent a great deal of my free time programming, building story, drawing graphics, and writing music for this game.


I'd like to get your thoughts on some of the music. Tell me what you like about it. And more importantly, tell me what you don't like.
Feel free to share any other thoughts you have, too. For instance, does it make you think of anything in particular?

Things about all the music:
1. Songs are generally between 30 and 80 seconds long. File size is usually 700KB-900KB.
2. For looping songs, the mp3 I provide is a single loop.
3. Most songs have 2-3 distinct sections. Instruments frequently join and leave. Key signature and tempo changes do sometimes happen.
4. A lot of songs are monaural (to save space).
5. I know it's easy to get bored halfway through a song, but please listen to the whole thing before commenting on it.

Key



The first song I'll share is my most recent work; I just made it two days ago. But game-wise, it's the first one players will hear.
Old Title music (this song has been superseded by The Last Four Turns)



I think I will release the game under the GNU Public License if it is ever finished (which may be years from now). But as of right now, you can't use this music anywhere without my permission. I don't want the music to have too much exposure before the game is released. The community here is just the right size.


Song List
Old Title Screen music
Desert BG - Pinch
Hometown BG - Peace
The Last Four Turns (new title music)

____________________________
Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-06-2010 10:03 PM]

zwetschenwasser
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It definitely conveys the right mood I think you're aiming for, depending on what the first impression you want to give of the feel of the game. You have interesting, catchy rhythms going on, and I like the flow of the music. The percussion at the beginning with the sleigh bells is a little strange, even with the dissonance (which works quite nicely, btw). Perhaps you could consider a more synthetic sounding percussion element, as by mixing the keyboard-generating tones with acoustic sleigh bells I get a "kitchen recording studio"-ish vibe. Other than that, I think your melody could be a little louder, and perhaps more musically interesting if this piece is intended to be the first thing you hear in the game, but I think it would work nicely as it is during gameplay, to keep players engaged with forward-moving mildly-epic style synth music. Nice work!

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Currently working on GaTEB and KDD (never finished the silly thing).

Kwakstur
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File: DesertPinch.mp3 (952.6 KB)
Downloaded 71 times.
License: Public Domain

I'm terrible with percussion in MIDI. A lot of my songs have no drums. In those that do, I often end up making the drum track really quiet because I feel embarrassed listening to it.

I'm glad you mentioned the bells, zed-man. Next time I revise the song, they're gone. I felt unsure about adding them in the first place, anyways.



Here's another song. This one is my favorite BGM so far. It's also longer than most of the other BGs.

Desert BG - Pinch


Edit: The "Public Domain" listing was an accident.
This work is copyright (C) 2009 Michael Lamparski, All Rights Reserved.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-06-2010 09:54 PM : Not public domain]

Nuntar
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Both excellent pieces.

First piece: the opening makes me think of the first part of FF7, the Mako Reactor. By which I mean that it suggests a high-tech world in which the technology is a large part of what makes the world exciting, dangerous and mysterious. (The bells are very good and really add to the atmosphere.)

Interesting that zwetsch thought the melody should be louder; I thought that in the B section it should be softer, to make the A and B sections more distinct.

The C section sounds rather bland with the lack of percussion. This is my strongest recommendation for change.

Second piece: immediately reminded me of Lemmings 3D's music (this is a compliment) and in particular the "Egypt" music -- not in particulars but in the general feel and atmosphere -- so if you wanted to suggest a sandy desert you've done a good job I have no suggestions for this piece; it's excellent as it is.

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

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[Last edited by Nuntar at 10-11-2009 05:50 PM]

Dex Stewart
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I'm not really a good critic, so I can't comment on fine details, but a dispute has risen, so I thought maybe I should give you one more opinion: I personally like the bells. The two first times when they're heard, they do indeed sound a little like they were recorded crappily, but later, when they're heard together with percussion, I feel that they really add to the piece rather then detract from it.

Kwakstur
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I got the jingle bell idea from the Shin Megami Tensei II (Super Famicom) title screen. The game has a, um, really unique style of music. Some of it works, some of it sounds cool but doesn't fit, and some of it just stinks. I thought I'd try the bells here to fill in one particular measure that was a bit empty, but then I had to put them all throughout that part of the song.

I'll consider keeping them, but as my vision of the title screen becomes more clear, I feel more and more like they don't belong.


By the way, none of this is recorded (not by me, at least). It's all MIDI using the VST instruments from Edirol Hyper Canvas.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 10-12-2009 07:17 PM]

Blondbeard
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The piano when it comes in really clashes with the constantly repeated notes. At least in my head. I'm sorry, other than that it sounds nice, and I can apreciate the effect you are going for.

I don't know a lot of music terms, but the notes just doesn't seem to match. Perhaps you can adjust something to make it match better, or perhaps I'm alone in this opinion

Kwakstur
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Blondbeard wrote:
I don't know a lot of music terms, but the notes just doesn't seem to match.

When notes don't match each other very well, that's called dissonance.
When notes match and they do sound well together, that's called consonance.

I'm going to try taking your advice and fix some of the dissonance in the parts with the piano + melody. It's there for building tension, but some of it sounds... messy. I will still leave some mismatched notes, but I think it will sound better if the piano doesn't sound like it's just hitting random keys.

I've decided on the next song I want to share, and I'll post it soon. But because I only want to show a small percentage of the game's music, it will probably be the last one I share until I write more.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 10-12-2009 08:08 PM]

Kwakstur
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File: Hometown.mp3 (729.7 KB)
Downloaded 66 times.
License: Public Domain

I experimented more than I should have with this song. I would like to get some comments on specific things that happen in it. Tell me what adds to the piece and what detracts from it.

Hometown BG - Peace


Edit: The "Public Domain" listing was an accident.
This work is copyright (C) 2009 Michael Lamparski, All Rights Reserved.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-06-2010 09:56 PM : Copyright]

Nuntar
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Hmm... I like the piece, but the ABAB structure isn't so good for a place where you'll be for some time. You may as well say it's 23 seconds of music looping, and that would get irritating quite soon, especially a piece in this jaunty mood. I'd advise that the piece have a quieter contrasting section (in other words, keep what you have, it's all good, but make the structure ABC with C as long as AB together).

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zwetschenwasser
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I agree with Nuntar on the structure issue, although standalone it works out nicely. As you did the same percussion-mixing in this track as the first one, I'm assuming you want this kind of double-mood music to run throughout your game, but again, I don't particularly like the shift from synth to world drums. The melody is nice, and the piece flows and is engaging, and the consistency of your harmonization (with a couple touches of dissonance here and there) definitely add to the piece and your sequence of pieces in general.

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Currently working on GaTEB and KDD (never finished the silly thing).

Kwakstur
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File: NewTitle render2.mp3 (926 KB)
Downloaded 49 times.
License: All Rights Reserved

Michael casts pretentious thread necromancy.
...
It worked!
Be a critic! Music for my game started moving again!


Alright, so...
I came up with a title logo last week. And when I drew the logo, I had some specific plans for its animation that abstractly represent aspects of the game's storyline.



I drew it while listening to the title theme (the one up in the first post), so I think it matches that song well, but the sequence of moods in the animation didn't match the song.
So I was going to rearrange the original title theme to have a structure that matches the progression of the title screen, but before I knew it I was building an entirely new song from scratch. The only part that remains from the first title theme in even a semi-plasmoid state is the last bit (which you probably still will find difficult to appreciate until you play the game).

So after ~4 hours of work (not as long as usual), I bring you:

(updated 3/6/2010 at 22:45 EST)
The Last Four Turns


I'm not making the old title music public domain yet, because some parts of it may by recycled for another song.

Tell me what you think.

____________________________
Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-07-2010 03:50 AM : Update]

Jatopian
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last 23 seconds or so are rather boring

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DROD has some really great music.
Make your pressure plates 3.0 style!
DROD architecture idea generator

Kwakstur
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Indeed. I was tinkering around with the demented part for quite a while, adding and removing instruments until at some point I finally decided that the focal point by then would be the changes and corruption of the image on the screen.


However, I never did mess with the trumpet part like I originally planned to. I was supposed to reverberate the living tar out of it. Hang on.

Aaaaaaand fixed.
I also made that part quieter, because I think one part of the animation around that point in time will have a sound effect accompany it.

(I also removed the dead space at the end, so I think it's now the last 18 seconds that Jatopian is talking about, more or less. From 0:41 on.)

____________________________
Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-08-2010 02:23 PM]