Wow. Thanks for the encouragement and, much-valued, advice.
I haven't abandoned this thread, I had taken a break without realising it, but I've been working on the second main track, which is another new composition. I'll post up a demo of it when there's more of it.
What I suggest, since this is a climbing game, and the player's speed is mainly determined by the spikes on the floor, is maybe add more and more layers to the arrangement? I think you have the right amount of instruments for the song, but maybe just make it more complicated as you get higher to your goal.
This is way I could go about it. Adding more layers is something I've been tending to overlook. I'll play around with the idea when I'm 'composing'.
As for using it as a sort of track which syncs with the gameplay as it builds, it would require a different sort of sytem than the one I've had in mind and am using. Because it wouldn't be able to loop without losing the effect, I think. I may be looking into it too much, but that's what it feels like to me.
Add more notes playing in the background, more percussion, etc.?
To be honest, I think the folks above me have a much more fair point though - if you keep the song simple, it'll turn out much better than you'd expect.
Yes, I've been trying to do this. It seems slightly counter-intuitive but I think it's the way to go.
Good luck with the project!
Felix
Thank you.
if you could manage what FelixArifin said with the whole adding more and more parts the higher up the ladder you get that would be cool. personally if you can't get the piano to sound more organic, i would just make it chiptuney like the rest of the song.
Tipp, you ragamuffin. I think each of the three tracks get more 'dramatic' as they go up but that's about it.
personally if you can't get the piano to sound more organic, i would just make it chiptuney like the rest of the song.
Yes, that's what I meant too... I wasn't talking about the volume of the piano, but about its sound.
I don't know what you're using to produce your music, but in a MIDI sequencer the velocity value triggers not only different volumes, but different samples as well. At least with a decently sampled piano.
Play a note softly on the piano and it will not only sound more quiet, but will also have different (typically less) overtones, as a result of the hammer hitting the string with less velocity and the resulting physical phenomenons that are actually quite fascinating.
Of course, this doesn't really apply to true "8-bit" chip sounds - which makes this genre so exciting and also fairly challenging. Creating a dynamic arrangement without having dynamic instruments at one's disposal is quite a task.
There are acoustic instruments that have the same barriers, by the way - like organs, harpsichords, or (to a certain degree) pizzicato strings.
As a consequence, these instruments mix pretty well with lo-fi synths and samples that don't have any filter or volume envelopes. But I digress...
Cheers,
Moritz
What I'm using to create the piano sound is the spectacularly sophisticated FruityLoops' default piano vst. It seems It doesn't do soft sounding notes.
Replacing it so the track is entirely of a 'chip' kind of sound I think is off-limits. This is because I've already written a lot of the other tracks, and none of them are in the chip style. They all use orchestral soundfonts and, even though piano isn't exactly in keeping, chiptune would be even more out of place.
It's late and I need to be up in the morning so I'll leave it at this. Later tomorrow I'll upload some of my other tracks for this game and maybe a WIP of the new one if I do enough too it.
Developer
