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[supershigi]

Wow, an rpg engine in Flash sounds like it would have been a lot of work... you must be very dedicated.  I tried out the demo and the story seems pretty interesting.  I think had I known I was going to be a boy (I probably should have realized this given your game's description) I wouldn't have given the character my name (Laura), haha.

Oh, one thing I noticed... for some reason I couldn't get the music to play.  I made sure it was unmuted, but for some reason I could only hear SFX.

[Craig Stern]

Most of the audio isn't in the demo yet--Flash builds the game really slowly when it has to encode audio, and when it's this early in development, it just isn't practical to have such long build times. It makes it way easier to squash bugs when you don't have to wait 5 minutes every time you try something to see if it works.

[supershigi]

Ah, that makes sense   I was thinking that I had missed some totally obvious button to turn the music on or something (I have a habit of overlooking things that are placed right in front of my face sometimes, hehe).

[Craig Stern]

New track added: God's Justice. This track is going to play during certain high-tension missions, such as the one I'm working on right now. It uses an orchestral bass drum, riq, oud, persian ney, violin ensemble, cello ensemble, and concert grand piano.

[Craig Stern]

New track added! "Heroic Struggle" is new battle music inspired by Robin's Theme and Amon's Theme from the incredibly awesome soundtrack to Dark Wizard. "Heroic Struggle" uses violin ensemble, cello ensemble, oboe, flute, french horn ensemble, timpani, snare drums, and cymbals.

This song is going to be one of several alternating battle tracks for the finished game. (I've learned that having multiple battle tracks is really important for a strategy RPG--without them, you gradually go insane listening to the same music for hours on end.)

EDIT: Ha ha ha--I almost saved the file as "Heroic Snuggle" by accident.

[supershigi]

Hahaha, "Heroic Snuggle"... nice

I think you're right about changing up the battle themes.  I've noticed that some games will have separate battle themes for regular battles, boss battles, the final boss, and then "special" battles where the music stays the same as the map music.  When you think about it, you really have to listen to battle music a lot!  I'll check out your new track and let you know what I think about it!

EDIT: I like how this track isn't as traditionally fast-paced and percussion oriented as some other battle music; I can see it fitting the style of your game quite well because it's mild yet effectively tense.   

[Craig Stern]

Thanks! Yeah, I figure I don't need much fast, percussion heavy music for astrategy RPG. Past the tutorial level, the battles in TSoG tend to last at least 5 minutes, up to about 30 minutes for the trickier ones. I'm reserving the fast-paced music ("Fight For Your Life") exclusively for bosses.

[Craig Stern]

I've updated Heroic Struggle with fuller orchestration. The track now contains trombone ensemble, trumpet ensemble, tubular bells, and harp. I think it sounds much, much cooler now (to say nothing of way more dramatic).

[Craig Stern]

New track: "The Great Forest." This track is meant to evoke the feeling of being in a mysterious jungle. The Great Forest uses a lot of ethnic instruments; the full list of instruments used is kalimba, kaval, djembe, tonbak, tar, duval, upright bass, celesta, and nylon guitar.

[Craig Stern]

New track added! "Place of Learning" is going to be the theme music for the Ravinale Library, as well as certain portions of the Psy Academy. It is essentially a remix of Anya's Theme from Telepath RPG Chapter 1, with motifs from the Ravinale and the Psy Academy themes woven in for good measure. This track uses nylon guitar, violin ensemble, cello ensemble, and flute.

[Craig Stern]

New track added! "Dead and Forgotten" is dungeon music for the various abandoned crypts you explore during certain portions of the game. I'm really proud of how this track sounds--I think this just might be the best piece of game music I've ever produced.

Instruments used: concert grand piano, shakuhachi, orchestral bass drum, funk drum kit, tonbak, tar, and davul. Oh, and the biggie: me singing! No, really. I'm kind of surprised that it didn't completely ruin the track, frankly, but I guess I learned something from this: anything can sound cool if you slap enough reverb on it.

[Craig Stern]

New track added! "Lying in Wait" is creepy, suspenseful music. It uses bass violin ensemble, pizzicato cello and violin, contrabassoon, glockenspiel, bass drum, wood blocks, and viola ensemble.

Also, there is a new version of the Telepath Theme that is shortened for the title screen, as well as sweetened with a new trombone ensemble part that I think really gives it a lot of extra "oomph."

[Craig Stern]

New track added! "Taste My Power" is music for the game's major boss battles. During the track's climax around when the gong hits, I was going for a Shadow of the Colossus-type feeling. Personally, I think it sounds pretty awesome.

"Taste My Power" uses viola ensemble, trombone ensemble, trumpet ensemble, french horn ensemble, violin ensemble, xylophone, timpani, snare drum, gong, asian cymbal, and concert grand piano.

[Craig Stern]

Bit of a cool update here--I've met the acquaintance of a lovely young lady who sings opera, who has agreed to help me embellish one or more of these tracks. We should be recording tomorrow.

[VedoM]

I listened to few tracks and I love what you do. Really good atmospheric and visual music. Thumbs way up!!!