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Aleksi

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Posts posted by Aleksi

    19 Feb Development Update

    in Monthly Development Updates

    Posted

    A question to Aleksi - are you working on some additional music tracks for beta/final game?

    Any fancy "alert" sound effects upon UFO detection or Base Alert/Interceptor Launch?

    Yes! I'm working on a new Geoscape music (maybe a second one coming as well). Ground combat music will also benefit from a new music. We decided to keep the air combat missions to one music though, so nothing new there.

    I will also rework the older music tunes as well, to bring everything up to date, with a homogeneous sound.

    No sound FX is planned, at least for me. I'm music only here. ;-)

    The music in this game

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Yesterday I was just thinking the same "This music is excellent". There's geomusic2.ogg, which is brilliant, as an IDM veteran I think all those Autechre etc. lovers would like it.

    It's the darkness of the music, that fits with the game very well.

    Will there be more ingame music, e.g. for Geoscape?

    I was thinking also about a concept like the Software Soundsense, which is designed for Dwarf Fortress, but in theory would work with other software as well. That way you can have it play whatever music files you wish. DF writes game events permanently to a logfile. You tell Soundsense where the logfile resides and it monitors it. At every new event it reacts and plays sound. Parsing is per Regex templates, and it plays music with a probablity system.

    I hate this "rich patron gets his toes licked" side of Kickstarter. Yeah I know, that's the way it works.

    Thanks. There is going to be more music. Geoscape will have 3. I'll fight for a 4th one. We'll see how that goes.

    Music won't be used as "events". Perhaps in a future game, i agree it can be nice. But somehow complicated to put in use, and doesn't always give the desired effect.

    I agree with the kickstarter. But i must say i'm impressed with this new way how getting a boost to your projects.

    And don't worry, i won't play half naked in your living room. ;-)

    The music in this game

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    CD's, or anything that would have to be shipped is too much of a hassle, but I'd definitley pay to have the full OST in a digital format.

    Yes indeed. It gets complicated. But time will tell. Digital OST via Bandcamp will be the start. BUt honetsly, i'd rather compose the music for another cool game, than dealing will selling

    just noticed it was on the kickstarter rewards for those people who went for that.

    Perhaps if the $5000 reward tier has been "Aleksi plays the soundtrack to you in the venue of your choice" it would have got more hits than having lunch with Chris? :)

    He he; yeah. That would be fun. ;-)

    But it would be nice to have a kickstarter with like: get to this amount of money, and have a real ensemble play the music. Something like that. I would love extra budget to record real instruments. I actually did it for Xenonauts, on a test base (with strings). Didn't turn out like i wanted, but on the long term, i really want to get rid of samples more and more.

    Xenonauts is really a problem though, not too many acoustic instruments are involved.

    The music in this game

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    It is a shame that we won't be able to have a Xenonauts OST, but what can you do?

    You will be able to have the OST once the game is released. I will probably do a free OST (the music currently in-game) and a full version with the older music, unused music, etc. At a low cost. Not sure what i will do yet. I would love to make a hard cover CD and all. But it costs money, and i'm not sure how many people would be interested in that. ;-)

    Thanks for your support. I've been working with Chris for almost three years now. This project is very close to my heart. I'm glad the work pleases you.

    The music in this game

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Thank you for you nice feedback. I'm glad you like the music.

    However the person behind the sound effects is Tapio Liukkonen, that also worked on Amnesia (and did a terrific job). I did the music for Xenonauts, but didn't have anything to do with Amnesia. ;-)

    I hope you will like the upcoming music for Xenonauts.

    I am an XCOM veteran and have now played XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    But (and this is a BIG BUT): the game lacks the general atmosphere of the old games. Take the music* for instance, it's got nowhere near the suspenceful air of the music you had playing on the Geomap as well as on the menues and in building the base/ministering the XCOM soldiers. And the classic "burp" when you change the screens is important!

    The problem with these big AAA games, is that most compositions always sound the same. I listened to the OST of UE and i see no difference with the movie Batman: The Dark Night. Apart from a couple synths added to make it more "X-COM". Don't get me wrong, the composer is very talented and the production is flawless, but it lacks personality. I would much prefer games that take more of a risk regarding music (hum, and the rest as well). That's why Indies are just great, total freedom.

    A question for Aleksi

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    There's an episode of South Park that focusses on that. Damned if I can remember the name of the episode.And Aleksi, I do apologise for getting my composers mixed up.

    Not a problem! ;)

    Because they don't want to play a real instrument. They don't want to write/compose their own music etc. They want to play a game. They want instant feedback. They want the psychological rewards that exists in the game levels but doesn't exist in the real world.

    It's not the same thing. It's not equivalent in any way really. Guitar hero is a hobby or a (n expensive) way to relax. A real instrument is an investment they might never get anything out of.

    I do not play any of these music "simulators" because they don't interest me. I am not defending the genre or whatever. I'm just stating what I see.

    Exactly. I've been playing guitar for 18 years now, and it does take lots of practice. These type of games are plug and play and instant gratifying, even though the top players end up playing thousands of hours mashing 3 plastic buttons.... I've seen some crazy skills in Japan...

    A question for Aleksi

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    I had nothing to do with Amnesia TDD, unfortunately. The sound engineering was made by Tapio Liukkonen. I don't recall any music, i barely played the game. Perhaps some distant pads. But Tapio also did the sound effects on Xenonauts, that's why you thought i could have been me.

    A question for Aleksi

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    I have never been part of a musical videogame. Already being lucky enough to work for a "good" game is a hard task (loads of composers out there), and musical games are rare and usually not that interesting musically speaking (techno, etc). But that's my point of view. I'm sure some people love 'em. If i had the chance to work on a project like that, it would be very interesting, but i would want to be free to do as i please and i would request to be part of the dev team in terms of gameplay choices. Make it a very experimental game with crazy harmonies.

    To be honest, i'd probably make the game myself. I had the idea once... Ahhh, so many things to do...

    Feedback on "Goldhawk Interactive & Piracy"

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    I think that the troll is still talking about music artists, and completely failing to realize that music artists make their money on the concerts rather than the royalties. Which is why Nine Inch Nails doesn't care that their CDs are pirated... its free publicity for the thing you can't pirate: being at their concerts.

    Game developers would have a hard time performing live. I can't imagine that being very fun to watch.

    The troll is actually saying that artists DO make music performing live. :D

    As this is my field, and i have quite a good experience of live performing, i can say that this is wrong.

    Most people take examples of bands that are at the "top". Millions of dollars of backing to perform. (And a 100% certainty of filling the concert hall).

    For the other 99% of musicians; they basically get paid very little or not. I played in different countries and festivals and i can tell you the scene is pretty grim. The price of paying, lets say a band of 5 people, i huge. Transportation, hotels, food and check. Most festivals can't afford it. Bands playing in bars rarely get paid. I can go on for hours about the different situations...

    Live does NOT pay. And, most artists don't sell albums as well. This is why most of them either teach, or have a side job.

    I'm working on my first album today, and i've been on it for years. Most of my money goes in it. The Majors i'm in contact with keep telling me: "finish it, and then come see us". So, basically, i have to do all the work and fund it myself (hello Kickstarter!). Also, creating a Record Label is a real pain. Takes half your time in paperwork... (especially in France...).

    The world is changing, and new systems arise. We are in the middle of a transition. Its hard to tell which way is good. Some are lucky, some less. Nonetheless, everybody is having a hard time.

    The 1%, are the lucky ones, and most have worked good for it. I was in Air Studio last October for a recording session and Muse was in the studio next door. I peeked when they where away ( :rolleyes: ), and was amazed of the equipment and funds they had. The sound engineer that was with me (and in the industry for 30 years now) was very impressed that a band, today, could pay a class A studio for a period of maybe 6 months, to compose and record. Like the old days. Good to see, but we're going to see less and less of that.

    Piracy is a pain, but can also turn into free publicity. It seems like donation works better. Or in the case of Xenonauts, the pre-order/community involvement works great. I would love to do something similar in my field some day.

    Sound design

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Maybe tie in the type of sounds with region relations / game progress. So in a region with good relations, you hear the ambient "human" sounds: sirens, train, cow, jets, shouting, machinegun, plenty shouting in semi distress). In a low relation area, you'd hear more deathrays, alien chatter, human screams in high distress, ufo flying over...

    Depending on how far you want to take this, you can add in human computer sounds when a Xenonaut enters a building tile, and Alien bleeps when a Xenonaut enters an UFO. Or, when the fog of war over the UFO is revealed. Adds some tension when approaching the UFO, but it fades whenever the fog of war goes back over the UFO.

    These should be background soundbits that blend in with the overall music score, so they can be "laid over" that score. You can add a percentage, eg 5 Xeno with sight on the UFO = 35% UFO related sounds, 3 Xeno inside a building = 15% building sounds, remaining 50% is generic sounds.

    Sound is often overlooked (overheard?), but it is a mighty tool to add tension.

    I agree a 100%. But i believe the game engine doesn't really offer the possibility as is. And this would require lots of extra work on coding and sound design here. I think right now the focus of the team is to make a great gameplay and a working game. Perhaps in a future game you'll have all of these features. Remember, this is Goldhawk Interactive's first game.

    Music is great

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Lovely atmospheric music Aleksi. Just a thought, but I always liked the idea of when you begin a mission, the music starts off neutral. If you are winning it becomes more jingoistic and tuneful, whist if you are loosing it becomes more frantic and alien-ey. Kind of gives a rough idea whether you are winning or not. Any chance of something like this being implemented?

    Sure, i agree. But we talked about stuff like that with Chris a while back. For the moment, the engine doesn't really support this kind of luxury if i'm not mistaken, and it would also create a lot of extra work in the process. Perhaps in future Goldhawk Interactive games this will be possible. We'll see.

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