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[Craig Stern]

New Track: None Can Stand Against Him. This is the theme music for General D'Kah, one of the Big Bads of TRPG3. Uses violin ensemble, cello ensemble, trombone ensemble, french horns, piccolo, electric guitar, timpani, cymbal, snare drum, tubular bells, and wood blocks.

(Feedback on the electric guitar would be appreciated, as this is my first time trying to simulate it in Kontakt 3, and I'm a little unsure about whether it sounds quite right.)

[Craig Stern]

New track: Telepath RPG Chapter 3 Fanfare. It's a short little celebratory number that plays when you win a battle, gain a level, or learn a new ability. (As you can probably tell, it's a reworking of the old fanfare from Chapter 2). Instruments used: Trumpet Ensemble, French Horn Ensemble, Cello Ensemble, Violin Ensemble, Flute, Timpani, Cymbals, and Chimes.

[Craig Stern]

New Track: Humorous Interlude. A light-hearted, klezmer-style track to be played during comic scenes, such as the player's first meeting with Malis. Instruments used: pizzicato violin ensemble, tuba, clarinet, oboe, music box, miscellaneous orchestral percussion.

[supershigi]

Thank-you for sharing these ^_^ I think that your compositions have a lot of character and charm.  I liked the feel of "Against the Cult"... it feels like you're performing some sort of noble covert operation!  I'm also designing an rpg and creating the music for it, so I know how hectic it can be to develop themes for all the various characters and locations.  I think you did a great job. 

Oh, one more thing... that's cool that you use Cakewalk Sonar.  I don't meet too many musicians who use that program over Pro-Tools, but I've been using Cakewalk products for many years now and they are definitely my favorite.     

[Craig Stern]

Thanks! I'm glad you like them.

I started off writing music with mod trackers back in 8th grade. In high school, I found a copy of Cakewalk Express 8 used for $40 at a GameStop in my local mall. I bought it and spent that summer writing a musical. :D

So, I guess you could say that I'm just used to the Cakewalk interface/functionality by now. (I actually switched to Acid Pro back in college, but switched back to Sonar once I got Kontakt 2.)

[supershigi]

In high school, I found a copy of Cakewalk Express 8 used for $40 at a GameStop in my local mall. I bought it and spent that summer writing a musical.  So, I guess you could say that I'm just used to the Cakewalk interface/functionality by now.

You wrote a midi musicial in high school?  That is just too cool ^_^  I got my first copy of Cakewalk (I believe it was either 7.0 or 8.0... it was quite a while ago) in college from a friend and I had so much fun with it... I'd procrastinate writing my papers by just making all these random songs.  I think I might like Cakewalk for the same reason; I'm really used to the interface so it just feels like 2nd nature to me which helps me get the music out of my head and onto the digital sheet music as quickly as possible.   

What is your rpg about?

[Craig Stern]

Telepath RPG: Servants of God is about the desert city-state of Ravinale. The basic gist is that the city's top-ranking military officials were converted by a new conservative religious group, the Cult. At the Cult's direction, they purged the military's ranks of nonbelievers and staged a coup that successfully overthrew the democratically-elected government of Ravinale.

You are the son of two senators who chose to run for reelection without the Cult's approval. You are thrown in prison soon after the start of the game, but are broken out by a ragtag resistance group. Your goal is to build the resistance, win victories on the resistance's behalf, recruit new allies to their cause, take back your city from the Cult, and restore democracy. Oh, and you also have to save your parents from being executed for crimes against God.

I'd post a link to the online demo, but it's a bit of a mess right now. (I just re-coded a big part of the engine, and there are bugs galore at the moment.) I'll post a link once it's in better shape.

[supershigi]

That sounds like a really interesting premise.  I've always enjoyed stories where you become affiliated with part of a resistance.  Perhaps that's why I liked the first Suikoden so much.  Are you using rpg maker to build your game, or did you put the engine together yourself? 

[Craig Stern]

I created the engine myself in Flash. The online demo is in much better shape today than it was a couple of days ago, though there are still a number of rough spots and a few remaining bugs to squash. You can check it out here if you're curious.

[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.