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I just got a pen tablet for my computer (bamboo fun). I fooled around on Corel Painter for a few hours and came up with this painting of a rose for my wife:

wow - this is a very open ended topic. it should generate a lot of entries. i'll probably enter a submission.

do you need any help with the music on this game?

I would be willing to help with the music portion of this game for you.

Hello everyone - i've been absent from the forums for quite some time (probably at least 7 or 8 months). I'm in the US Army and right now I am in Iraq, hence my absence.  But anyway - i've found myself wanting to write some more music for people lately to help pass the time (and because i love writing).  AND i miss being a part of this community.

Before I joined the army I was on my way to completing a BA in music (specifically: music composition). I've been writing for about 8 or 9 years.  I've written more than a few pieces for other members here on these forums (unfortunately the vast majority of those games never reached the finishing stages - at least not that i'm aware of)

I'd love to post some tunes for you to here but like i said I am in Iraq and i had a mishap a few months ago that made me lose most of my works.  (and the backups are on a hard drive back in the states). But here is what i'm willing to do for those of you who may be interested in a composer for their project:

I'll work for free. 
I've got plenty of experience as a composer (video games or not) and i'd like to consider myself pretty good at it - and still improving.  SOOO, if you want me to work with you just give me a job to do and i'll write the music ... i'll let you hear what i've come up with for you and if you like it then that's great - i'll keep working with you on your project. If not - then you don't have to use the piece and you can find someone else - no harsh feelings whatsoever.
It doesn't matter what kind of game or music you need - as a professional composer/arranger I can make it happen.
I'll do my best to work with you as quickly and efficiently as possible.


Anyway - i hope someone out there can use me again - i miss this job - it's my life.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone again and let you guys know i'm still available.

I've been away from the forums for a while but now i'm back - at least for the meantime  .   I am a little late on this one but i am def. going to work on an entry and get it submitted by the deadline! This is an excellent idea Viking - I think we should do more like this. Kudos to you!

Well ... i guess the winner by default is:

djres


congrats.  Take it away with another contest!

THE FOUR SEASONS

As some of you may know, Vivaldi did 4 violin concertos - each one of them representing one of the 4 seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). 

Well, it's your turn to create your own version of the 4 seasons!  Now, of course you don't have to write a concerto with 4 separate movements and all that.  Just write a single piece that TRANSITIONS through the 4 seasons.  To help give you an idea think of it as you're playing a game and the main character is walking across the map and as he walks the seasons begin to change ... the scenery around him changes to suit each season. 

RULES:

- Write a single composition that reflects the change of seasons in this order: SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER

- Each season can last as long as you want it to - no time limit.

- Obviously, attempt to capture each season musically as best you can.

- TRANSITIONS are an important factor as far as judging goes (second to capturing each season musically).  I am a big fan of modulation, transitions, and things like that - so make sure the listener understands "okay, now it sounds like we're going from Spring to Summer ..." and so on.

- Use any instrumentation that you would like to use.

- No time constraints.

- Due March 14th.

- HAVE FUN!

- If you have any questions - feel free to ask.

NEXT:    Hell's Angels

Ah, thank you.  I wish that I had a little competition though.  Oh well ... I'll try to think of something for another contest that might spark imaginations and allow lots of people to participate.  I'll try to start the next contest within the next day or so.

Is You Tube f'd up for anyone else?  The site doesn't seem to be loading for me.

Next: The end of the world.

Ok - so here is my entry.  I uploaded the video with  my score to You Tube.  You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dS1hqPKkk



Also, here is just the plain audio file:

http://www.mediafire.com/?9dmnzkjsy5j


I thought the most important piece of audio in the original video was when the phone rang ... so i decided to add my only phone ringing in my composition.  Hope you enjoy this entry.  i had lots of fun writing it!

[This is a great concept.]

This is a great concept. There should be an independent regular contest with just this! I'll try to participate if I have time, but I look forward more than ever to hearing the entries.

By the way, people, this doesn't really require any specialist tools, does it? Just write down some key times. On paper, with a pen, if you have that. Come on.

Yeah - this doesn't really have to be 100% in sync.  Key times are the biggest thing. 

But if you want to do something like i said earlier about making a whole new video and replacing its audio with your own then here is how to do it:

If you are using firefox there is a plugin called UnPlug (link here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Browser-Tweak/UnPlug.shtml) it let's you download embedded flash video from sites such as YouTube.  (there are other plugins for firefox and even explorer - but this is the one i use).  The only problem with these is they download the file as a .FLV.  I use Windows Movie Maker to make the new movie - you just import the video clip, mute it's audio and the import  your mp3 and boom! save as a new video!  But you can't import .FLV's so you're going to have to convert it from a .FLV.  I use Batch FLV Converter (link here: http://www.ripzor.com/flvconverter.html).  It's not a big file at all (only 1.58 MB) but it does the job really well.  It gives you 3 different conversion options: AVI, MPEG 1, and MPEG 2.  I find that MPEG 1 works the best. 

This may seem like a lot of work but remember it isn't required.  I'm just going to do it because I'm crazy and love doing shit like this.  Plus i want to actually see my music up against the video clip as smoothly as possible.  Anyway, got to get back to writing my score!  Have fun everyone this is an excellent concept and I wish you all luck! 

I think we should do more concepts like these.

I'm def going to enter this one! The next competition i won i wanted to make a contest like this one where you have to score against a video clip - this will be super fun! this is what i was born to do! i hope its okay but i plan on saving the vid clip and writing my score and then posting a new video for you to watch with my score - i will also post just a plain mp3 ... i can't wait to get started!

i had what would've been a good entry in the works before this competition evenstarted (as i mentioned in a previous post) but there were just too many things i wanted to fix/do to it and i just didn't have enough time this time - I got lots going on plus i'm working on music for 2 other games at the moment.  So i won't be entering this competition.  But i'm going to try to get the next one!

i'll help with the music.

wow- i actually started doing this a few months ago for a trilogy by one of my favorite authors (R.A. Salvatore) This will be a great chance for me to finish the piece!

Wow! I was really impressed with everyones piece in this competition.  But there must be a winner and based on the contest guidelines i think that MoodyBlues's piece fit the criteria for the competition the best.  That's not to take anything away from bartillier or PixelPerfect's works at all - like i said they were all really great but i really like the way MoodyBlues portrayed the scene the best. 

MoodyBlues you are the winner.  Feel free to start the next competition whenever you'd like.

Made a rather large edit to the original post.