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[michael]

like a silent movie, with an accompanying orchestra that would play to what was happening in the video game. not a very lucrative idea, but it would be fun to watch as a medium for mixed media art and music improvisation. just an idea that waddled through my head.

[increpare]

I'm totally going to have to do that with friends some time.  The main problem would be the lag though, because of the unpredictability of the situation...this would call for some interesting approaches by the improvisor...

[jonny]

Lag? Well, maybe. Depends on how you do it. But I believe that computers are powerful enough to accomplish this with no lag. It couldn't be more complex than say, some good AI. If they can make Spore run on a shitty laptop, then this shouldn't be a problem.

[increpare]

Lag? Well, maybe. Depends on how you do it. But I believe that computers are powerful enough to accomplish this with no lag. It couldn't be more complex than say, some good AI.

Oh wait, you mean computer-improvised computer-music as opposed to IRL improvised music by IRL musicians on IRL instruments?

Context-sensitive music has been around for a while...but as for purely incidental music, I'm not sure...

[michael]

ya, i was talking about live musicians playing to someone playing a video game on a large screen. not generated music. it would be interesting because the music would encompass not only what was going on with the videogame but the player and the audience as well. a greater context.

[battlerager]

?

[Xion]

That would be epic
If the musicians and the gamer rehearsed beforehand, it could be nicely choreographed, and with much awesome.
If you got like a jazz band or something to play behind unrehearsed gaming...
that would be awesome.

i think it would work best if the music didn't sound like game music, but instead only matched the pace and goings-on of the in-game action.

[michael]

exactly xion! the goal wouldnt be to remake the in game music, but to resonate with the over all experience.

?

yes! but different. but still awesome! the music made the game funner to watch, and the game made the music funner to listen to.






  its a word.

[handCraftedRadio]

I'd like someone to skat to me gaming. Maybe

?

[shinygerbil]

Man, I've been brewing an awesome game idea based around silent movies. Well, not that awesome, but pretty fun. Now it seems like someone beat me to it.

Still, it's definitely a kickass idea, one worth exploring

[michael]

there there, cheer up now. i hadnt actually thought of a specific game for it. what was your idea?

[shinygerbil]

Well, not so much of an idea, just the whole style; no sound effects, just some nice music, probably some old film scratching effects (and a nice vignette) and so on. Just the aesthetics of a silent movie, really.

I do enjoy some good old visual humour in the style of, say,

; that'll be hard to work into a game, I guess, but I want to try.

One day....when I've learnt to program.

[michael]

sound effects would be fun too!


no video game will ever compare to buster keaton, but watching mario fumble around is entertaining in its own way. i think a vintage speed run contest through mario with someone playing keaton music on an old piano would be a lot of fun to watch. each person in the contest gets one life and who ever makes it the farthest through the game wins the contest. everyone would have to dress gentlemenly of course to match the theme.

[jonny]

ya, i was talking about live musicians playing to someone playing a video game on a large screen. not generated music. it would be interesting because the music would encompass not only what was going on with the videogame but the player and the audience as well. a greater context.

Oohhh my bad. Huh... well, it might be a little expensive to sell an entire orchestra with every copy of your game. 

[Bree]

I discussed creating a game in a silent movie style here. Your idea sounds like a lot of fun, though. I wonder what kind of games would work best, though?

[michael]

right! now we have our game! like keaton and chaplin, i think the best kind of game would be a comical and awkward platformer, a lot like the original mario. but different in that such instant death would be kinda detrimental to the flow, so enemies would probably just daze you rather than kill you. like getting squashed or charred or bitten and shook around. a game like earthworm jim comes to mind, but more cute and waddlesome.

[Hideous]

Silent movie style game? See winterbottomgame.com.

[battlerager]

death would be kinda detrimental to the flow, so enemies would probably just daze you rather than kill you. like getting squashed or charred or bitten and shook around.

Wario Land 2 / 3?

[shinygerbil]

Yeah, I was thinking some kind of platformer - for some reason Spy vs Spy came to mind.

I also had this idea where the player basically just chases some guy for ages with lots of comical stuff going on, it sounded a lot better in my head though :D

[Michaël Samyn]

1. We're planning to do an Abiogenesis performance in a theater with live musicians on stage and a projection of The Endless Forest behind them (showing the online activity). We would still amplify the sounds that the game makes too, though.

2. The sound design for The Path is inspired by silent movies in the sense that there are no sound effects in the game, only music. We're trying to replicate some of the eeriness you get in silent films when the things that the actors do don't produce to the sounds that you expect.