iPhone Game - Aztec Odyssey™ Level 1 Soundtrack

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Submissions

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Discussion

tomh 48 months ago Hi, Really interesting project, and i'd like to take part in this. Could you provide more information about the length of the music you want, and preferably a simple storyboard description with timings as to when certain events occur in this opening scene. Music is always best if you can match the score to the plot as it develops. Presumably you'll want several tracks, one for the intro, one for gameplay etc. ?

tom_cusack 48 months ago I have to agree with Tom. The brief is quite - well, excuse the word, but brief. Gives quite a lot of artist movement, which I'm all right with, but you might not get what you want! Nice track by the way Tom! Didn't think about taking it down that path. I tried to keep my angle more on the religious aspect, keep it ghostly. But now hearing yours, it seems more "gamey". Anyway, good work brother.

Luke Bredin 48 months ago This is a great project! and there has been some great stuff put up as well.

tomh 48 months ago I like the breathy pan samples speach5 and tom_cusack - a great rough timbre. What vst libraries do you use?

Luke Bredin 48 months ago Cheers tom. Glad someone likes it!!! what do you think of the rest? i really like your part when the drums kick in, think its got the building suspence bit right!! you going to make it longer or leave it at that?

Luke Bredin 48 months ago As in im not really sure how long they want it!!!

tomh 48 months ago Wow this project is popular (can't think why :D)! I'm just leaving it at that length for the moment - best to just show the developers what you're capable of, and hopefully they'll post feedback on which bits they like/don't like of each person's work. You can always shorten or lengthen sections as their brief develops.

Luke Bredin 48 months ago this is true

andivax 48 months ago Swordxl: you are very creative man! So many tracks :) tomh: sounds like a Virus synth :) Cool stuff, but too much electronic IMHO.

ouistiti 48 months ago andivax, I always thought didgeridoos were Aboriginal Australian? anyway good to hear someone else using acoustic instruments. (At least I think that's what you meant?)

sammy 48 months ago Wow i'm really impressed to see so many contributions to this project allready. Keep up the good work guys.

tom_cusack 48 months ago @ LeoPissak: Really cool track in it's own right, I really like it! Maybe too electronic IMHO, I read into the fact that the Aztec's were an incredibibly old civilisation - but I think we're all shooting in the dark here, so who am I to tell you what to write? @ Andivax: Really top notch stuff, like your percussion working. So many layers. Where on earth did you find all those samples? My library is quite skimpy in the 'Aztec' aisle. Sounds like some African sample bank off somewhere? I'm really intrigued as to how you did it, if you could spill the beans on some of your trade secrets?

andivax 48 months ago sammy: two words - 250 bucks! :) :) :) tom_cusack: i gather a collection of various instruments. i am sometimes made OST for games. also, mix/master - www.andivaxmastering.com and some house/psy trance stuff - www.andivax.com / www.synsun.info i use Redline Reverb in this tune. Very good sounding stuff. 99$ till 15 may :) ouistiti: i know about didgeridoos a little. it is australian and american also. but aztecs dont use didgerido, actually. in press release i see "american" music, so i use didgerido. good in mix and good mood also :) sorry for my bad english, dudes! :)

tomh 48 months ago Is it just me, or is creating "suspense and urgency" with aztec instruments difficult? I like andivax's take though.

andivax 48 months ago tomh: thanks, dude!

kesyer 48 months ago Hey guys, thanks for your submissions, we’re all very impressed by the quality and number we’ve received already and are very curious to see what else you come up with. We’ve taken heed of your jibes about the brief being somewhat ‘brief’ though are deliberately leaving it fairly open-ended to see what you come up with, I think we’ll only really know what we want when we hear it. The main feedback I can give at present is that some pieces would ideally suit an epic film revolving around Aztecs, as it’s an iPhone game level soundtrack that we need, a piece that complements the visual experience and lends itself to being overlaid with sound effects is what we’re looking for. The competition deadline is set for 1st June so keep ‘em coming.

andivax 48 months ago kesyer: thanks for advice! actually, there is a very good addition for contests like that - GAME SCREENSHOTs! :)

alfa_humanoid 48 months ago wow, first of all, all projects are interesting and well made, but I think they don't fit so well to the images I saw. From what i've heard, I didn't find here so much aztec moods =/, just indigenous american. My suggestion is somthing like Black & White game soundtrack. They're very cool =).

tom_cusack 48 months ago i think that the brief given doesn't really help, in the sense it contradicts with what I had in my mind, or just some music for a title theme, or something. What it appears the in-game graphics are suggesting, is that you want snippets of Aztec sound compositing, as well as a theme. I.e, Title Theme, Victory Music, Divine Music, etc. You have lots of different bits of music needing writing and each section (in my mind will be completely different to one another). Best analogy I can think up at 2,30am is: an opera will have an overture (title music in this case) giving the listener a sense of the music, using motifs from everywhere in the rest of the composition, the victory music for example, or the divine music (2 different sections). My point being that you need one composer to do all these different bits and bobs, and ideally the composer/producer to help with integration of SFX. For what may seam a lot ($250), it is actually miniscule and unrealistic for what you are asking. And I think for what I have interupted the magnitude of this project to be, you should be looking more in the thousands. I know it's only an iPhone game, but realistically as a game in it's own right to invest in decent music could seriously boost it's desirability, but to make that profit from such, you must invest the money, and $250 is ultralow budget. Of course this huge essay I wrote is all own opinion, but I feel I have a valid point, but without re-reading what I wrote, I shall just have to hope I expressed myself clearly!

andivax 48 months ago tom_cusack: i think "250$" is ONE TRACK budget. Not a whole project. IMHO :)

Luke Bredin 48 months ago Well thast how iv taken it, they wanted the back round music for the 1st level, so i only wrote for that, but they have given us the whole backround of how it starts etc.... up to the end of the 1st level so we get the feel of the game.

Luke Bredin 48 months ago Keysyer i take it the victory music will be a FX laid over our music? and do you want the whole story board written to?

kesyer 48 months ago Hey guys, just to clarify, as the title of the project states, this competition is only for the level one background music. As Speach5 mentioned the storyboard is there to give you a feel of how the level will be introduced and the sort of atmosphere we're trying to convey. There will be other sound effects triggered by game actions layered on top so bear this in mind when considering how dense the sound will be. Thanks again for all your efforts, any more questions, fire away.

tom_cusack 48 months ago Yeah, but why really go through all this trouble to get just 1 track? Why use multiple composers for music here, there & everywhere? Obviously, I'm not the project creator, but my point was that the 'brief' had been uploaded to give us better understanding of what you want, but it was still as vague as ever, and it implied that more music needed to be written, which then begs the answer to why Kesyer only wanted one bit written. I suppose the document that was meant to make everyone's head stop spinning, was just making mine worse! Anyone else see my point? I mean you only asked for 'Level 1', what about the rest of the levels? It doesn't seem convincing to me.

ElliotSpencer 48 months ago Tom, stop whining…seems like everyone else is clear on what’s been asked of them (judging by the high standard of all the submissions so far). Will be an amazing and very challenging project to participate in!

tom_cusack 48 months ago If you want to do it, do it.. I'm just saying that the discrepancies makes it hard to believe what it's about.

andivax 48 months ago ramiro1984: brilliant!

D.O.R 48 months ago Ramiro1984, Andivax and Alchemist submissions are really great. I also want to congratulate the other producers, really nice job everyone.

syntactics 48 months ago Hi I'm not sure I understand what you're saying the whole PDF's are LEVEL 1 or just some of them, some are intro and the others named as scene 1. can you be specific ? I just want be sure what kind of work this project demands

alchemist 48 months ago Thanks, D.O.R! :)

ramiro1984 47 months ago Thanks!!!, andivax and D.O.R

kesyer 47 months ago Hey guys, excellent entries, we have been suprised at the range of styles that have come up and it's given us a lot of inspiration for how to structure the sound for the rest of the game. Just to clarify, this competition is for the level 1 background music, so after the introductory cut scences. The PDFs are there to give you a sense of how the first level of the game will be introduced. As it is background music try not to make anything that is extremely intrusive and would detract the gamers attention from the gameplay itself. As the standard has been so high and a lot of the music entered would suit a variety of purposes, we are considering other tracks for other areas of the game. All pieces are being scrutinised to see if we can use them while still maintaining a level of consistency. Terms for this will be negotiated once the competition is over, so we'll contact you if we're interested in using your work. Thanks again for all your efforts and just to reiterate the deadline is 1st June.

andivax 47 months ago kesyer: smart move, thanks! :)

syntactics 47 months ago HI I've few demos if can still check or it's still relevant send me a mail HQ stuff :) Syntactics

Rothermusic 47 months ago Kesyer, what about an update on your project? Best, Michael

alchemist 47 months ago Hey, dingle. That's a nice loop! And...congrats! :)

kesyer 46 months ago Hey guys, thanks for all your contributions, we've decided to mention everyone who contributed an entry in the credits of the game. For some insight into what we learnt from this experience please check out our blog: http://aztecodyssey.com/blog/ Thanks again!