!Discussion! Sounds and Music, Solved.

Yes, I'm getting lazy and did not post the rules AGAIN. If you're new and didn't read the rules on discussing yet, please do so before posting, everyone else should know them already as we've had some of those already.


Today's topic:
Sounds and Music!

Questions that need to be solved:
- What filetype for music? (midi, mp3, ??) << Please add a good reason why!
- What kind of sound effects? (average Mario sound effects, voices, 8-bit even?, ???)
- What style of background music? (Calm music? Hard Rock? Techno? Classic Mario Music? Music in the same style as [enter game name here], ???)
Note about last question: Please don't say "it should depend on the level". I just want to know the general direction of music we want to go to. Of course, music will be made to fit the environements.)


Discuss this. Once we're over with that, we can open the SOUNDS AND MUSIC topic and I hope that this is done soon, because we only have 2 months until NCFC and by then we need to have done a certain amount of music!

Discuss!

The filetype should be made up rather soon. There are cons and pros to certain filetypes.

MIDI: Low filesize, and general ease of use. Unfortunately, there are a few composers (myself included) that would then have to forfeit our abilities, as we do not create or like to work with MIDI files.

MP3: Everyone can work with these - those who create MIDI's can have their exact same MIDI upgraded to MP3 (I'll even look after this if you want), while those who work primarily with mp3's can still create music. Unfortunately, these do get big sizes. You can compress, but obviously they won't compress to the 13-60 KB that MIDI's are, you're looking more at 200-300 KB for 2 minute songs.

MODULES: This is a perfect balance between MIDI and MP3 - low filesize, and better sound than MIDI. The primary problem with this, is that hardly anyone uses module trackers on this forum.


Now, we COULD mix these files, have some MIDI, some MP3, some MODULE, but if you were to ask my opinion, I'd say that would be a damaging to the ears, as they all have severe differences in sound and quality, that would present no common pattern that the player is supposed to get used to.



Sound effects should really be dependent on the overall style of the game. I think we should get some music for the game, apply it to gameplay of a finished level, and see how it plays out, and figure out what would match good with that.



As for the styles, sorry to say what you said not to say, but it actually should be dependent on the level. We have a variety of styles that the musicians of this forum like to use, and we should show that in a community project. As long as the song matches the visuals of the level and the speed of the gameplay, and we can agree on what style certain screens/levels will have, we should be good for individually choosing how these go.

Good post, sir!
And when I said "don't say "it should depend on the level"" I was talking about people who would ONLY say that. You however brought a broad argument with it, so this was just what I expected/wanted to hear.

I'm also against a mix of those.

How about we go for the following solution:
We create the primary music for the game in mp3 form and add that mp3 pack as an extra zip to download. The game itself will come with a variation of midis which will be overwritten by the mp3 pack. So players can choose between low quality midi music (which is probably from VG music) or our custom mp3s.

I should say now that I can only work with MIDIs, unless someone else can convert them into MP3s. Also, MIDIs aren't exactly bad. Not only are they small in filesize, but they're also of pretty good quality if they've been composed well.

The thing is that midis depend on the computer they are played at, since different computers have different music instruments.

I made that experience when changing from Windows 2000 to XP back then: All my midis sounded different.

This and what Yoshiman said about volume of midis (which is also different from PC to PC).

The only way to guarantee that the midi plays just like on your own computer would be to record it as an mp3.

Does this therefore mean that I am unable to do anything in the music department?

As DJ Yoshiman said above, he can convert midis to mp3s.

I agree with Yoshiman and you guinea. Both are good solutions.

As for type, I'd say throw in some remixes of old Mario music, while have some new compositions in there as well.

That sounds good. I also have a system I created earlier when I was working on Mario Spy, that streamed mp3 songs from my server while simultaneously downloading them to the user's PC. It would create an mp3 database for them on their hard drive, that essentially took the step of downloading a music pack - except that they're already playing the game and having the music work.


The only issue with that is everyone's internet speed is different, so 56k users would likely have lagging/skipping issues with the song playing in the game for the first time until the song is downloaded.

And not to mention that I recall this game being made with Game Maker, in which I have no idea of it's online abilities, nor how to apply my MMF2 programming to it in the same sense.

I'm glad DJ Yoshiman is here to help with the music

He's awesome at it

I <3 this idea.

Style of music? I think it should be what in official Mario games (happy and catchy). The style may also alter slightly depending on the level (creepy in ghost houses/castles and relaxing in swimming levels).

That's a good idea.

I <3 this idea too.

So it looks like we've almost decided on this?

Well, have we decided to go with mp3's?


Other than that, us musicians can't do much until we get some content on our hands upon which to base some music on.

can't MIDIs be upgraded to modules

OGGs please.

They're smaller in size and have a better quality.

That is true, but then it won't work so well, as Modules are dependent on samples, which sound really crappy when they get too low or too high.


Also, MechaBowser is correct, OGG's over MP3's - you can get an even better quality for a smaller filesize. I should have mentioned this first, actually.

So we use OGGs?

And also, DJ Yoshiman:
When you say you need content to base your music on, does that mean a complete (as in: enough so you get an idea how the level works and plays) level of the game?

Yep.


Ever read Koji Kondo's comment on the interview about Mario Galaxy's music, about the fact that his music for Mario 64's Snow level didn't fit because he didn't have the whole level?


Also, yeah, can GM play OGG's?

If it can't do so by default (it doesn't mention compatible file types, so I think it can play anything), I'm sure there's a dll extension that does.