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[FOR SURE:]

[EDIT: way too many edits to mention - just reread the post.  But basically, i just reorganized the list and added additional comments at the bottom]

I have decided to arrange a very kick ass piano arrangement full of 80s power rock songs! I'd like to get anywhere from about 7-10 10 songs in the arrangement.  I have a list of some really good songs - some i know are going to go into the arrangement, some possibly, and others i'm still unsure.  Let me show you my list and you can tell me what should stay and what should go - help me get a final list of songs to use.  I'm going to post the arrangement on youtube when i'm done - and post a copy of the sheet music for those who want it.

[NOTE: after all of the wonderful suggestions you guys have made i have narrowed it down to what's on this list (sorry that lots of the suggestions didn't make it on here but everything that's here - or not here - has a reason).  So, from here out let's vote on songs that should go from 'Probably' or 'Maybe' to 'For Sure' to end up with 10 songs.]



FOR SURE:
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def leppard
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
(Janie's Got a Gun - Aerosmith) or (What it Takes - Aerosmith)

PROBABLY:
(Don't Let Him Go - REO Speedwagon) or (is there a better REO 80s song?)
The Final Countdown - Europe
Cum On Feel The Noize - Quiet Riot
We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister

MAYBE:
Jump - Van Halen
Gimme All Your Lovin - ZZ Top
I Love Rock N' Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon



NOTE TO ALL:
Thanks for all of your suggestions! Believe me i've thought of many of the songs and artists you guys have mentioned but i wanted to stick with a reasonable number of songs as well as a few other guidelines as i mentioned earlier.  As you know, the 80s were a great musical period and many great artists contributed to them not on this list such as STYX, Michael Jackson, Poison and many others that some of you mentioned.  I wanted to make sure all the songs had the same sort of feel to them so i had to get right down to the heart and soul of what i like to call power rock from the 80s.  However, after reviewing your posts i have some additional comments to make:

Nikolas:
You mentioned Queen.  Like i said, they entered my brain initially but the only songs i could think of that would really fit in this compilation were "We are the Champions" and possibly "Bohemian Rhapsody" (even though i don't quite consider it a power ballad). But both of those were recorded in the 70s - so they were out.  And Queen in the 80s was more of a synthesizer band anyway so ... no Queen unfort. :-( 

Darth Mandarb:
Thanks for your comments.  You said chose Janie's Got A Gun and that was my original choice but then i remembered one of my favorite songs by Aerosmith was also recorded in the 80s (What it Takes).  So why Janie's Got a Gun is probably a little more popular, i think What it Takes is such a much better song! I STILL NEED MORE OPINIONS ON WHICH AEROSMITH SONG TO GO WITH!

Also, I like REO as well and i agree with you Can't Fight This Feeling is a bit slow and probably isn't the best song for this compilation - so i will scratch it ... but you mentioned Time for me To Fly and it was one of the first songs that came to mind however after review, it was recorded in the late 70s.  However, Don't Let Him Go will work - it is a really good song ... but i don't know if it's the BEST 80s REO song to go with.  IS THERE A BETTER REO SPEEDWAGAON 80S TUNE?

One more thing - the chronological order thing is a good idea but I don't think i'll do it.  A couple reasons - 1) i have my heart set on ending the piece with Livin' On A Prayer cus i think it's one of the most popular and best songs of the 80s and plus it's on top of every "Top 80s Songs" list I've encountered. and 2) arranging in chronological order (while it can most certainly be done) i think it'd flow smoother if i figured out which song i could transition to the easiest after another ... if that makes sense.  rather than if i did chronological order i would have to get creative (which i love doing .. but with this many songs, i think i'd rather take the easy route).

Renal Shutdown
I like some of your choices - especially Gimme All Your Lovin' - can't believe i didn't think of that one - i'm going to add it to the maybe section.

I'll tell you what - since we have people still working I'm going to extend the deadline until the 23rd. Hopefully you can wrap it up by then.

MoodyBlues - I hate for you to not be able to enter what you've been working hard on - so if you are pretty close to completion - i will extend the contest a couple of days so you have time to enter - plus - I'm sure bartillier wants a little competition.

if anyone is in the process of composing a piece for this competition then go ahead and post to let me know we have more entries coming ... if you really want to enter but are not sure if you will have enough time to complete it - post anyway - i'd like to see more entries.

he probably used garritan sounds (am i correct bartillier?)

i have the garritan sounds for finale 08 - but i think you can use them on other programs too - such as sibelius. 

Unless he wrote the piece and had it recorded by an orchestra  (which i doubt he did) then garritan is the only way i know of to get realistic sounds like that. 

Tell us bartillier - is this what you used?

if july 11 or 12 rolls around and there are still no entries or only like one you may want to extend the deadline.  Keep in mind that this is a rather large coloring ball - a lot of time and detail goes into a theme such as this - but i think its an interesting and esciting th eme and i'm anxious to see some entries - i'd enter myself but this one is a little too large for me as i'm very busy right now and besides - i'm not the greatest pixel artist in the world - i'd probably embarrass myself.  Anyway - just letting you know i think an extension may be in order.

i'm not actually competing but i wanted to make a quick suggestion.  If you are going to extend the deadline then you may want to edit the date on the topic subject.

[HERO VS VILLAIN]

As winner of the last tune contest it is my responsibility to administer the next one. So here it is ... and the theme for this contest is:

HERO VS VILLAIN

Compose a piece that fits this criteria:

- There is a good guy and a bad guy.  They meet and engage in battle.  One wins, one loses.  Tell this story through music.
- Use any kind of orchestration you like.
- Length.  It doesn't have to be short and it doesn't have to be real long.  As long as you portray the scene well the length doesn't matter. 
- There are two characters in this "story" - a hero and a villain.  The music should portray this.  The listener should know what part of the piece is the hero's and which is the villain's.  There should also be evidence of some sort of battle and a conclusion (the end of the battle). 

So let me try to recap it for you: A tune about a battle between a good guy and a bad guy.  The tune should have evidence of a hero entrance and villain entrance (doesn't matter who enters first) and a battle scene.  There can be one winner - who will it be?

Made this for a game quite some time ago - i dont think it ever got used - but oh well - take a listen and tell me if you like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2mt3uimxmmd

[Title:]

I'd like to reserve my spot.  I'm going to try to get it posted sometime on the 6th.

HERE IT IS!:
Title:
"Rocket '08"
Composer:
Andrew K. Smith (DrewCCU)
Length:
2:52
Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bqdmihp2rhm

Note- The quality isn't as good as i'd like - there are a couple of reasons for that - but it's late, i'm tired, and don't really have time to go in and fix it - besides it's not THAT bad ... just not perfect.  This is not (by far) my best piece but it's something i threw together for this contest.  I hope you guys enjoy this as much as i enjoyed writing it ... i'm going to take you through it real quick here:

0:00 - 0:39
The pre-lighting (of the rocket) ceremony

0:40 - 0:58
The fuse is lit and burning!

0:59 - 1:29
Rocket '08 is in flight!!

1:30 - 2:06
Here, the rocket reaches the edge of the earth's atmosphere and drifts into space - it slows almost to a halt as it begins to orbit earth.

2:07 - 2:52
BOOM! The rocket explodes and fireworks fly so that everyone around the world can look up into the sky and see this wonderful show!

Ok - i know it's after Christmas and all - i should have posted this sooner i guess ... but what the hey ... just some knowledge i thought i'd share with you guys ...

for those of you who believe the abbreviation "xmas" is "wrong" because it takes the "christ" out of "christmas" - please review this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

whenever i try to run a AGS game i get a pop up that says:

Unable to initialize your audio hardware.
[Problem: Failed to init MIDI music driver]

the game runs but theres no sound/music.

i'm running windows vista but i don't usually have problems with the midi driver.  And no, there's not any other programs that would be using the midi driver running while i run the game - so i know the driver is not in use when i run the game.  I don't know - I'm kind of stumped.  Any ideas?

Well guys,

I wasn't around for very long and most of you probably don't know me.  But I figured I'd let you guys know that I'm joining the Army.  I'm leaving for MEPS today and tomorrow (I want to be an MP - I think I'll get the MOS but keep your fingers crossed for me cus there's really no definite on that till i get there and they tell me) .  When I get back I hope that it won't be any longer than a week before they send me to basic training.  After that 5 months or so in baisc and AIT I hope that they'll grant my wishes to be stationed in Germany.

Once I get in Germany I'll have a little bit more freedom to write a little bit of music (cus that's what I do).  But I'll keep in touch with you guys a long they way and keep you posted with what's going on.  I can't wait! I'm so excited!

since music is my specialty, I'll comment on that - and let the sprite/animating pros comment on those ... however, i'll just say that as this thread progresses, your animation is looking much better ... anywho ...

i like the overall melody of the piece.   However, that is really all it is - a melody with a drum set and like timpani drums.  I think you should dive into it more.  Add some counterpoint and more background "stuff".  Think about maybe adding more instruments so you can pass the melody around.  Also, I don't think it's finished.  I understand it's video game music and it doesn't have to be really long and elaborate becus it's ambient music that will more than likely loop.  However, I still believe it should be longer and more elaborate than what it is now.  You've got about 8 or so measures that just repeat over and over.  Add another idea/melody in there and/or maybe even do variations on the current melody.  The biggest thing is: it just sounds empty and needs more support with other instruments/parts.

Like i said, I like the idea here but it just needs more ... these are just suggestions that I think if you execute them you will be much happier with the piece.

good luck and keep us posted! 

i like the bottom one the best.

well i wouldnt say art is all my problem - i like to consider myself a pretty good artist - but by no means am i as talented as many people i've met here on these forums.  And I'm much better at drawing something from a reference than straight out of my head.

However, I also think I'm eh, okay, in the pixel art area.  However, it's probably the area i need the most help in.  I'll take a look at those sites and thank you very much!

Also, it is a Indiana Jones paintover - sorry i didn't mention that - i did that to give you guys and idea of how I wanted this character (and other characters) to look.   

First of all - i can do a little bit of pixel artwork - i'm working at becoming better.  But, I have this pretty good idea for a Superman game that I'm wanting to see come to life.  I'm willing to do all i can to help but I'm looking for people that can work with me on this project and maybe teach me a thing or to.

However, I'm kind of at a crossroads right now because I'm not sure the art style I'd like to have for this game.  I origianlly was thinking of a LucasArts Indian Jones style (i did my best to try and duplicate this style below: my version of Clark Kent)



This art style shows its a serious game and not all comical (even though there will of course be some humor in the game)

However, I know there are many talented/imaginative guys out there who may be able to offer a suggestion to a different style.  Anyone have any ideas? Once I come up with a definite style I need to find some artist who can accomplish this style as well as I would like to do my best to learn the style myself.

i love adventrue games and i have no problem buying them - but my situation is i bought the game once already and since i'm slack lazy and keep up with it over the course of 11-12 years I need to find someone who will allow me to download MY game again ... for free. 

first of all - i'm looking for an artist who can do a specific style.  I didn't know if this would be the best place to post this and if it's not then you can move it.

I want my Superman game to be in the style of Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis as far as graphics and basic gameplay goes.  (btw - those of you that workd on Indian Jones FoY - I commend you highly! If i didn't know it was a fan project i'd thought it was done by Lucas Arts. Just finished the demo today.)

I have a sample character i want to show you - and if you can do this style i'd love to have you! (again, it's basically Lucas Arts/Indian Jones style - i just tried to do my interpretation of clark kent to give you a better idea of what i'm looking for).

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t148/drewccu/clark.jpg

yeah - i don't know how much truth there is to that but i have heard it before - of course it doesn't really matter if you owned the game or not really - the Illegal Downloading Police arent' gonna come bust through your door when you "illegally" download a game or something.

But the problem i'm having is i can't find anywhere to download an english version of the game (Day of the Tentacle) for free.