Sauerbraten - Music

by _Fanatic on 09/05/2005 03:55, 62 messages, last message: 12/15/2005 06:02, 12767 views, last view: 05/25/2024 14:33

I'm working on a soundtrack for Sauerbraten, and I have a question about the music capabilities.

Can you add the ability to string different songs together?

For example, let's say we have 20 tracks at our disposal. Instead of having one track that loops forever, how about make it so you can specify that when a song is finished, it instantly loads up another track.

That way we could make one game feel like it has a 10 minute track, when it's really a bunch of different tracks mixed together dynamically.

Thoughts?

I'm planning on doing 20 tracks for Sauerbraten, all exactly 2 minutes each, and all the same tempo (so they can be mixed up and won't sound terribly different).

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#23: Re: ..

by tentus on 09/06/2005 05:21, refers to #22

i dunno, i could see all that being used at some point, just it would be dominated by fight music. so adjust it so that the others are more likely to get selected.

really, for a quick-action game like cube, 2 minute soundtracks are easily enough. and you could always swap from one fight song to another, alternating with each fight. or you could have several fight songs that depend on what you're up against.

there are a lot of possibilities here, and given enough flexibility on the mapper's side i bet it'll go in lots of directions.

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#24: Re: ..

by spentron on 09/06/2005 05:55, refers to #21

That's a good point with automatic music such as SSam's enemy proximity system. What I did in my one serious Unreal level is different battle parts had their own music, plus there was a switch to more relaxed music tied to the action slowing down, not stopping completely. A point here is the same types of control devices -- kill counters, timers, more counters, state machines -- used for music control also can control gameplay functions, which emphasizes how useful such widgets can be.

The idea for 20 songs that can go together almost any way doesn't sound aimed at dynamic music changes every 30 seconds anyway. It would avoid repetition compared to one track looping for an extended time, but just as interesting it would provide an improved middle ground between random music selection and using predetermined songs for each level.

I wouldn't want to see a full reliance on predefined styles, I can pick out songs (or in this case *sets* of tracks) for various situations/environments on multiple criteria. However that can be a lot of work so having an easy method avail. would also be good.

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#25: DM/SP

by spentron on 09/06/2005 06:07

I can't see music in DM changing based on the action but I can see sets of tracks appropriate to the environment.

I hope to see more classic SP FPS in Sauer. But Sauer is also supposed to eventually include other kinds of gaming. But that could also end up causing a need for highly different music ... if this "20 tracks" idea actually ended up working in games barely yet contemplated that would be truly impressive ;) .

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#26: ..

by pushplay on 09/06/2005 09:31

A proximity system may work for sp, but for mp that effectively gives everyone a radar, which isn't a good gameplay decision. I think dynamic music is something we should leave for the rpg in the future.

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#27: Re: ..

by pushplay on 09/07/2005 06:56, refers to #27

It's hard enough to learn a new map without learning a whole new gameplay mechanic. And it's also hard enough to design a new map for one well defined gameplay mechanic you've already played.

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#28: Re: ..

by pushplay on 09/08/2005 02:45, refers to #28

Most players can't put it in those terms and you're not a particularly good listener.

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#29: ..

by jihnsius on 09/12/2005 05:21

I'd love to help with the soundtrack, if you're wanting any. You can reach me on AIM under the screenname Jihnsius, or e-mail me at Jihnsius@GMail.com if you're interested.

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#30: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/12/2005 05:44

I work alone. :)

You're more than welcome to do your own tracks too, the more, the merrier!

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#31: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/20/2005 03:59

I just finished the raw recording of track's 12 and 13 tonight. Making good progress.

I broke my 5th A string a few nights ago, and I found that I got some cool 80's metal hair band sound going with it, sounds pretty cool and gives a good mix up with the rest of the stuff I have so far. :)

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#32: Re: ..

by enigma_0Z on 09/22/2005 05:02, refers to #31

Do you mean 5th as in you've broken 5 strings, or as in the A string is the 5th string on the guitar (I play guitar too)... Just curious.

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#33: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/23/2005 04:53

Yeah, just the 5th/A string.

When I used to play live shows a lot, I would break multiple strings about every other day. I used to pick VERY hard and always downstroke (back when you had to play downstroke to be a man!). I don't really play thrash anymore (like Exodus, Overkill, Violence, etc.), so I can make a set of strings last till the nickel wears off now. :)

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#34: ..

by absinth on 09/23/2005 22:22

i think your (fanatic) soundtrack for cube totally rocked! especially because the music is quite hard...please don\'t soften it up! the music is the best i\'ve ever heard in a game ;) i even added it to my playlist ;->

in particular \"My Destiny\" is really great...makes fragging fun ;)

to the people that said rock/metal isn\'t suited for 1. person shooters, well i couldn\'t disagree more ;->

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#35: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/24/2005 04:31

I'm doing a weird mix on this one. To those that don't like metal or my other music, you will hate this one even more. :)

I did some more gentle stuff in the tracks I have so far, some nice melodies on top of the usual thumping power chords. There's still lot of good pounding rhythms, but I wanted to incorporate a lot of acoustical type melodies as well. Makes it sound kind of creepy and mellow.

Anyway, sounds good to me at least. :)

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#36: Greets

by fdsfds on 09/24/2005 18:11

Greetings, I am co-author of the first soundtrack for Cube :-)

How is it going? Any previews ready? Looking forward!

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#37: ..

by makkE on 09/24/2005 19:02

fdsfds, cool I really liked pingpong :)

fanatic: sounds good to me.. a little more melody to it will be nice :D

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#38: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/25/2005 04:56

I was looking through the 15 tracks done so far to give one out as a preview, but they just aren't polished enough to release yet.

I want to get all 20 tracks done in a rough format, then go back and re-record them as polished songs.

Hopefully the pressure from my day job will ease up in the next week or two and I can get the raw tracks wrapped up and start polishing them for release soon after.

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#39: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/25/2005 17:09

Actually, here's a snip of the first track that is somewhat completed.

http://fanaticalproductions.net/temp/tmw_01_untitled_test.mp3 (1.3 megs)

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#40: ..

by makkE on 09/25/2005 17:29

Hey I really like the direction you´re going.. sounds a little warmer and not so much "standard metal" anymore.
Did you program the drums again? They sound much more real this time :)
I like those rather spacy effects on the guitars you have there sometimes :)

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#41: ..

by _Fanatic on 09/25/2005 19:58

I did the drums, yes, but they are MIDI based with a really good SoundFont bank I bought a while back from emu. It's what they call "the real drums", but on a low setting (everything is dropped about an octave), so it sounds really thick and heavy. The toms are nuts on it, makes my room shake when they are pounding. :)

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#42: Re: ..

by RealNitro on 09/26/2005 09:44, refers to #39

Great! I can't wait to I add the full version to my playlist. :)

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