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Blah, iPhone. How many really have it?

40 million people (iPhone and iPod Touch).

Hey guys. Haven't been active much around here over the last few years, but would like to share with you a game that I actually finished! It's not an AGS game but all of you old school gamers should like it. It's for the iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7guSDLQSLU

http://ultrablast.net

Nice! But the characters look like the Bee Gees. Disco Of The Dead!

Thanks. I'll toy around some more!

Here is a problem I've run into that I didn't expect!

When trying to run a 320x240 game on my Samsung SyncMaster 940BF (19", max resolution 1280x1024) the game's graphics are scaled up to the current windows resolution. This of course results in blurring and doesn't look good at all.  I've tried toying with the various screen mode options in the advanced settings of the Nvidia control panel, but none of the available screen settings gives me full screen display @ 320x240.

Any workarounds? Would it be possible to zoom the graphics like when you select "full screen preview" in the room editor?

Love it Greg! Reminds me of London-based Funk/Acid Jazz quartet Corduroy.

Hmmm. But the skewed perspective won't work with moving game characters.

I love this. Of course it's rough, but that's what I like about it. Great emotion and feel.

What might work is throwing a break, or a bridge or something in there. There is no real chorus, and queuing up the verses like that works, but just a few measures of something different (a slightly different chord pattern, etc.) would further strengthen the verses and enrich the whole tune.

For the vocals, I think you need to work on your intonation a little, but overall this is a nice achievement.

Good job!

[Hammerite]

Nice work guys! Many of the tracks here remind me very much of an ambient/synth pop group called The Art Of Noise. They have a caribbean style track called "Crusoe", and another similar one called "Island", which are both very nice. Check them out!

Hammerite

Cool ambient track. A little chaotic and random, but it adds to the weirdness it conveys. In my opinion it's a little too taxing to work well with such a calm scene, but it's a nice, subtle track that I think would work well in a darker and more mysterious scene.

Haddas

Nice feel to this one. I like the pads and the general surrealness of the composition. Dreamy. Distant.
I think it gets a little out of hand with the drumming, which pulls the song away from the placid feel, but overall it's a great track, and I think think it works well (in a refreshing kind of way) with loominus' image. Good job!

InCreator

Aaah. Very soothing. Adds a little (just enough) mystery to the location. Very subtle. Makes you slowly drift away. I like this. Nice pads. Cool arrangement.

Meat

Old-school pirate style song. How can you not dig it? Immediately sets the scene. We're in the Caribbean! I like the first part of the song. Strong and simple melody. Works well with the image.

radiowaves

Very simple, yet effective. Works well with the scene and doesn't take too much attention away from the visuals. I would love to hear it develop a little. It's a nice and functional track, but it needs a little variation. Good effort!

Le Woltaire

Nice piano work. I think it's a little too irregular to work well with the scene. It's somewhat scattered (does anyone get what I mean?) and feels more like a standalone tune than background music. Nice technique though!

Nick Dangerous

Another cool synthpop track. It's nice as a standalone tune, but I wouldn't really expect it to play as background music for this scene. It works great on its own, but not really that well with loominus' image.

kaputtnik

This is pretty good, but a little too busy for the scene I think. It doesn't quite match the calmness and the picturesque visuals of the image.

bartillier

Cool and varied. Nice composition. This tune has excellent character and depth. I was sort of waiting for something else to happen. A change of dynamics perhaps? I think the opening is a little too dramatic for the scene, but overall it's a solid piece that gives the scene a touch of mystery and magic.

And the winner is...

...InCreator!

You managed to perfectly capture the calmness of the image and add a slight dose of mystery and suspense to it. Dreamy, and almost a little hypnotizing!

And to the rest of you - good job. As a matter of fact, I think all entries could work with this background. It's a matter of how you interpret the image. Perhaps voting would have been a better way to pick a winner. Oh well.

Congratulations InCreator!

I don't think so neither: I tend to have loads of saved music projects, which are usually a quick idea or simple melody, which I forge into full songs later when I have more ideas or willpower.
This is also the case, am I disqualified?

No, let's allow it! I think it's perfectly okay. So you may not have written the piece specifically for the contest, but it's your composition and if you see it fit to use it as an entry there is no reason why you should start from scratch, writing the same piece over again. What do you think?

http://uppit.com/d/Y40L7

To be honest, I've already been working on this track before the contest started, so this is not an entry. I worked it over and now I think it creates a nice atmosphere along with the picture.

I don't think that disqualifies it as an entry? Does it? Anyone?

[adventure game background]

Sorry guys! I completely forgot about this.

For this contest, your objective is to score this background (by loominus):



I was browsing through old Background Blitz threads and this immediately caught my attention. Very expressionate, and very open to interpretation. How would you go about scoring this if it was an adventure game background?

Peaceful? Mysterious? Ambient? Sad? Cheerful? Will you allow the music to be intrusive or keep it down low and subtle?

Good luck!

Thanks all!

And yes, this has to be (by far) the most successful tune contest ever (or at least in a very long time), and it made me think... Is this type of contest better than the ones we usually have with fairly strict rules? There must be a reason why usually so few people enter these contests and why so many entered this particular one. I feel like doing a re-run on this theme!

What do you think? Is it worth considering reforming the music contest to make it more attractive?

This is cool. I like it! Though, really... it's too long. The first part (up until 2:26) is very solid, melody wise. I would focus more on working around that portion of the track. Write some cool variations on the main theme. Right now the track strays a little too far from the main concept (in my opinion!). Still, I like this and would love to hear a more worked-over version with proper orchestration.

I know this is a draft, but anyway - some pointers! Right now, there is too much guitaring going on. It clogs up the sound. A would love to hear a dusty rhodes piano laying down some muffled chords way back in the mix. How about a weeping reverb-heavy steel guitar? A creaky organ of some sort would work nicely too I think! What kind of drumming (if any) are you planning for this one? I can see it working well without drums. Perhaps a lone snare supporting the marching rhythm and something deep like a darbuka drum hitting the 1 and 4 beats.

Nice work!

Not entirely bad, but it seems a little random (both rhythm and melody wise). How did you go about composing this? What do you mean by "a system for making music"? Unless you are completely unmusical, finding a mathematical/logical "system" for composing music is generally not a good idea, in my humble opinion. Might as well let a computer generate the tune for you!

Now for the good crits! It has a nice semi-asian feel to it. The instruments work well together, and the structure of the song is pretty good. If you are new to music, this is a good start!

I really like this tune, Oz.  The only things I would say is that it starts off too suddenly for a standalone tune and the violin seems to ruin the 'road to idaho' mood set up initially.  This is just in my view, but the violin turns the tune from a kind of interesting travel tune into a Silent Hill-type song.  Maybe a banjo/fiddle or something more country in place of the violin would accomplish what you're after while keeping the mood?  Great stuff as usual!

That's funny ProgZmax, one of my friends also mentioned that the violin sounded like something out of Silent Hill! I personally don't make the connection, but obviously it's there.

Wow. Talk about success. When was the last time a tune contest had this many entries?

Is it okay to contribute more than one entry?

http://www.lumaf.se/11048/bynight.ogg

Thanks! Valuable feedback. You are right about the violin and the mix in general is a little messy. There is a lot going on at center point and too little in the higher frequencies. I'll see if I can de-clog the mix a little. The guitar can definitely be toned down after the intro - good idea!

And no, this is not meant to be game music. It's just a stand-alone tune.

Everything is manually sequenced in Reason 2.5 using various sample banks. Most samples are from a Reason Refill package called American Heartland. The melody and the guitar backing riff originated from an acoustic guitar jam session.

Thanks again!

Hey all!

Here's a piece I've been working on. Any feedback (mixing advice, general pointers, opinions) is appreciated as I've "gone deaf" on this one.

Thanks!

http://www.lumaf.se/11048/road_to_idaho.ogg