Enjoying the warm weather at Hotel San Jose!
#21
Enjoying the warm weather at Hotel San Jose!
There are so many things I'm excited about with the Banner Saga- Austin's music definitely ranks right up there with art style and story (the most important stuff :d). Thank you for the updates! :)
Yeah Bastion did a lot of cool things in that matter like literally telling story though music. Loved that moment, linked the song in "what do you listening to right now" kind of thread here. By no means it's a sin to "steal" viewer attention with a good, relevant song.Originally Posted by balnoisi
nice to read from arnie and austin wintory themselves, it sure is great to read comments and opinions by the developers and to know a bit of their work.
about the soundtrack, it is a common opinion that a good soundtrack has to blend in the audiovisual experience so it's not noticed, and that it is wrong for it to steal too much attention from the viewer/gamer. but sometimes the opposite happens and it's not a fail but a win.
i was thinking about last year's game Bastion, and the fact that despite it being an average (yet very very pretty) hack-and-slash it's music stands out so much, it definitely does for good reasons (right now i can't think of any other game where it does so much, other than musical games). i don't remember the gameplay or the story, i remember the furious battle between its art and music for my attention. the music chenneled most of the emotions in the game and it even delivered some of the plot through the lyrics of a couple of key songs and it's recurrent melody.
i wonder if in the banner saga the composer will include a recurring musical theme or even will he dare a 3-chord song ?
and just in case for those of you who don't know that other little game's song i was talking about :
https://youtu.be/xiQoMzOpowAI think that the unusual thing about the Bastion is that there were a lot of moments, where music is there to express the mood of story rather then the mood of gameplay even during gameplay. Plus the interaction of music with other game elements, like the narrator saying "And then... the kid heard something he hadn't heard in a long time..." and the song starts playing. The music blends into experience rather nicely. I guess it's kind of how things work in films where there is just story, whereas games are used to be centered around gameplay, but i am liking the change.
I do hope to see those kind of moments in TBS, as it's promising to have more than the average story focus.
Overall i think that themes of Bastion were generally more active due to it's hack'n'slash...ish nature. I mean things like ruining around, shooting and blowing stuff wont probably be main activity in TBS. Also probably more voice acting. So calmer, subtle music is also needed.
Phew, too much speculation for one post.
Last edited by belamoor; 05-07-2012 at 11:42 PM.
I'll admit that when I got the update that Austin Wintory was doing the soundtrack it did nothing for me. I thought to myself, "Who's Austin Wintory and why should I care?" And since I kept hearing about Journey, and not having a PS3, I jumped onto YouTube to check out the game.
WOW. It kills me now that I can't play the game because I don't have the system, but I immediately bought the soundtrack because it's the next best thing. I had the album looping at home, in the car, and at work for a few days straight.
Yes. I'm excited.
No pressure.
@Austin :
Your music is really beautiful and hits just the right spot. I don't really know how to tell you how to express how I feel so I'll just tell you that once I listened to Journey's OST, I kept in running for a week everyday and it never got old, especially the last 2 tracks. Simply marvelous.
I too loved Bastion, be it the game or music, and Logan Cunningham has such a deep and perfect voidce it gave me shivers at first.
We need more games with music thought out and integrated in the game to increase immersion. Some games like The Elder Scrolls series have good music, but you don't get an immersive feeling that regularly in those games for example.
Can't wait to hear this soundtrack. I'm a big fan of soundtracks for when I'm writing or running tabletop RPGs, and this one promises to be great for both!
I have no doubt this music will be awesome
Last edited by rubyhope; 05-09-2012 at 09:22 PM.
Awesome stashe.....Enjoying the warm weather at Hotel San Jose!
Interacting with the community is a huge part of the joy of this job for me, so believe me that it's my pleasure to chat with you all and get to know you. Please always feel free to ask anything and I'll try to keep everyone updated on progress to the extent that I can!!Do addresses them as much as you feel like doing so.), but from little i heard, i am actually pretty certain it will be great. Can't wait to hear what will you come up with for TBS.
Hope you'll have as much enjoyment composing as we listening to it. Cheers.
Edit By the way i do agree on the atmospheric vs active role of music. It believe it's a matter of good taste and creativeness in game experience composition.
None at all!No pressure.
Very sneaky John! I didn't see you do this ... also was a fair number of drinks in by that point so I could probably have been looking at the camera and still not seen it ...
And if you come to Iceland, it's "Skál". Not quite sure how you guys pronounce it but in Icelandic the "á" part is pronounced like "ow" in English.oh, and it's Skål!
I know this a quite a lot to ask, but could we get like a short video documentary about the work you do? Maybe showing the process with a commentary from you and the people involved? I have almost no idea how the music and sounds are incorporated in to the game, but I would love to find out.
Also, the Journey's soundtrack is great!
Last edited by lamaz; 05-10-2012 at 06:15 PM.
We pronounce the "å" about the same as the "au"-part in "gaul", so if you say Skål in Swedish pronounciation it would rhyme with the english word "call". Sorry for the messy explanation, hope you understood something from it...
#35
Yes, my family is Danish and we grew up saying skal instead of cheers. Unfortunately I don't have fancy letters on my keyboard to pimp out the 'a' and I've gotten lazy copy/pasting it.
-Arnie
Specifically for Journey I don't have a doc like that prepared, though I imagine we'll be recording enough of the process on TBS in order to make one. In the past they've been made though. Check out this behind the scenes to my film Grace, which premiered at Sundance 3 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KWUhK5zhZo
It's encouraging to hear you reiterate your desire to be part of the project as a whole- and not just the musician on the outskirts. I'll look forward to any and all future music updates (I'd just about got used to the idea of the final kickstarter music being the Banner Saga theme and then I found I've all the anticipation to look forward to again!) - after all, I made to sure to back at a level that gets me the soundtrack for a reason!
Thank you, I will check this out.
Ha, great to hear! So, do you actually know any danish? Unfortunately, spoken danish is too hard for most of us swedes to understand. We can however understand it pretty well when it's in written form.Yes, my family is Danish and we grew up saying skal instead of cheers. Unfortunately I don't have fancy letters on my keyboard to pimp out the 'a' and I've gotten lazy copy/pasting it.
-Arnie
I'm looking forward to The Banner Saga's music so much after hearing Austin's wonderful work on Journey (an insta iTunes purchase).
Perhaps a middle ground between some more ambient atmospheric tracks and recognisable themes could be found.
While I really enjoyed Jeremy Soule's Skyrim soundtrack I can't recall the melodies without hearing the songs. If that makes sense! Even though I've played that game with the soundtrack on for over 150 hours I can't summon up how any of them go other than the main theme while I'm typing this.
Whereas 'hummable' themes (I recall Peter Jackson banging on about how he demanded that the LOTR soundtrack was hummable) can really add something to a game. Even after so many years since I first played the Ultima games I can recall every note of Stones like it was yesterday.
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