Where is Nama’s? November 5, 2009
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It’s a shame he stopped there, ’cause I already had my next move ready.
⠺⠓⠑⠗⠑ ⠊⠎ Nama’s?
Procedural Music November 2, 2009
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Something I’d like to see done:
For the Banjo-Kazooie series, Grant Kirkhope arranged each song several times over. During play, the song would fade to a different arrangement based on where you were in the level. For example, when underwater, the instrumentation would change to harp and other stings. If you want to see what I mean, compare this and this.
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the music faded between two different songs (not just two arrangements) depending on if the player was actively involved in combat. Couldn’t find a good video for this one.
What I’d like to see is similar to that, but on a more detailed scale. Instead of switching between a few pre-written songs, what if songs could branch into many more branches, perhaps as quickly as every four bars? Movie scores always match the on-screen action well, picking the right instrumentation to meet the mood. What’s to stop us from using some simple code to figure out what kind of music should be playing?
Here’s how it might be seen in action: the character walks slowly through a forest at night. Our code checks the player’s speed (1.5). It’s a slow pace, so it chooses a relaxed cadence for the beat. Based on the time of day and the environment variables (night, woods), it adds a tambourine on the downbeat and makes the bass line a slow cello tune. Since the player is alone and in a constricting environment, the melody is sparse. Instrumentation is based on a predefined list for the night-woods set.
Where I see this kind of system working best is when things change in-game. When the player encounters a band of monsters, the tempo picks up, the instrumentation table is consulted again, and instruments are changed accordingly. When the player rounds a corner to see a wide expanse ahead, the melody is less sparse and more variety is added to the instrumentation. A big swell of brass, for example.
What I’ve got in mind is that each phrase of music would follow a pre-set chord progression which would be chosen from a list (based on in-game parameters). The melody could follow patterns within each chord, perhaps choosing from some predefined ones (again, based on the game).
It’s more of an idea than anything right now… I really have no idea how I’d even be able to create a mock-up. It would sort of require me to have a fully-functioning video game, and I don’t think I really have time to make one of those. I managed to find a video that gets across the idea pretty well:
Twilight Woods October 30, 2009
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Woo! Hot off the Wacom, here’s a new desktop background.
Funny thing about drawing forests: three trees selectively copied and pasted is indistinguishable from one hundred unique ones.
Boost Day (part 9 of 9) October 25, 2009
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Well, we’ve reached the final installment of our Boost Day write-up. It’s taken about six and a half weeks to tell the full story. However, there were several pictures I left out. So here they are.
I didn't even notice Loraine in this picture. It's like Where's Waldo.
"Oh man, guys, everything's glowing in here!"
We weren't sure what to make of this one.
Brad, watch out behind you! It's Curious George Live!
The crab kit and crab accessories is where they get you.
Such a frightening figure! Also there is a shark.
Digital jump rope? What an age we live in...
Everything is better in sepia tone.
There you have it. I’d like to thank everyone who made Boost Day possible: Brad, Loraine, Meredith, Nelini and the Wangsa Maju church, Craig, Justin, Pua, minigolf attendent, oxygen bar lady, Sitar waiters, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Professor McGraw-Hill and his time machine, prize booth worker at Dave & Busters, Ben Gillbanks, Curious George, a hermit crab, Dexter, guy with the long moustache at the Kuala Lumpur tram station, and viewers like you.
Boost Day (part 8 of 9) – Opryland October 21, 2009
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If you’re just coming in on the series, you might want to start with part 1.
After a fantastic excursion to the arcade at Opry Mills, it was getting kind of late. We decided we still had time for some more fun, though, and hit up the Opryland Hotel, just for a little sight-seeing. Thanks to the late hour (and the fact that it was Wednesday), the crowds were thin, and many places were deserted. We enjoyed such pleasures as jumping in unison on the elevator, running the wrong way up an elevator, and sliding down banisters. The simple pleasures in life.
It seems the hotel has sprung a leak
Spiral staircases are among the most awesome things ever
One for the scrapbooks
We had to reenact a mirror photo from Malaysia, but mirrors are hard to come by outside of the hotel rooms. Luckily, we found that some doors in the convention center area were especially reflective.
Tune in next time for part 9, where I’ll deposit the rest of the photos, and maybe have some final thoughts or something. I don’t know.
