Messages

To farlander: Absolutely. I agree with just about everything you said. That whole 'master teaches follower' concept is very old, although I would maybe disagree that it is TOO repetitive. Did you read H.P and think "Bah! Humbug! Harry is just sooooooo completely Luke with a scar on his head!"? Probably not, because although the BROAD concept is old, the finer points make it less noticable.

I mean, there's a big difference between being taught by a true master of the force, and a wizard that breaks all the rules, and doesn't even KNOW all the rules to begin with, and has pet dragons and three-headed dogs. But some will insist that it's plagarism. And I suppose that's okay, as long as they don't try to downplay the ingenuity of the book (movie... blah blah) while doing so.

This question is just SOOO easy to answer.

If you want a holiday, come down and spend a week in Australia! We're in the middle of a heat-wave (well - it's just kinda ending now), a lot of places are still declared 'drought-stricken', and all our local politicians are harrassing innocent bystanders to vote for them in the coming election. What more could you want??

Seriously??

I really, really must agree with Fuzzpilz on this one, Boyd. I don't mean to question your composing skills (which I'm sure are great), but, as Fuzz says, this isn't musical masturbation. It's very very basic stuff. I think this was THE ABSOLUTE FIRST thing I ever learnt when I started playing piano in pre-school (kindergarten, or whatever you wanna call it)

I think what you want, Boyd, is a tune contest where the host doesn't give any boundaries, and just says 'write a song, and make your own rules along the way and then I'll decide who has the best rules, and pretend that they were the rules I forgot to stipulate in the beginning.'     Sorry. I'm not doing that.

But I'm not flaming you, either. I understand that everone is at different levels of musical understanding. It's just that if I take out that rule, then there will be NO rules at all, and I'd just be screwing people over if I tried to create new ones.

So good luck and god-speed

My mum pisses me off sometimes (I probably shouldn't say that... sorry mum), because of her 'nutrition' ideas.

I'm fairly fit and healthy, but I stick to a low-carb diet for various reasons. My mum has just recently decided that she'll go on a health kick too, but she's on a different diet (your average 'eat what you want as long as it's not crap' diet), and says that she's got more of a clue than me because she went to a dietician 9 years ago who told her to eat more oat-bran to lower her cholesterol!!

I mean, power to her, for sure, but she has done absolutely NO research on my side of the coin (I'm not doing a ridiculously low carb diet) and just assumes she's better because she saw a certified doctor 9 years ago. I've given up talking to her about it, because it always ends up with her getting upset because she thinks I want to lose weight to become anorexic... (I'm 72kg.... get real)

i would LOVE to take her to see a doctor and hear him tell her that she's full of crap. It's an awful thing to say about my mother, I know, but if she would just GET OVER IT!!! *sigh*

As interesting as this thread be, and as out of place as this post might seem, I feel compelled to type it anyway.

I think this whole 'Hey! This author stole That Idea' concept needs to be dropped. I mean, sure, it was funny reading that Luke/Harry thing, but it's getting so hard to come up with NEW plots these days.

Even authors who convince themselves that their latest book is original find out two months later that it's being compared to a similar book written 50 years beforehand. I mean, I'm writing a novel at the moment which I think is one of my best efforts yet (not perfect, of course :'(), but if I wanted to, I could list about 20 other stories which I could have ripped off.

And as 'shocking' as these similarities are, I don't recall ONE person walking out of the cinema (after watching H.P) saying "I should have just watched Starwars again!" Because really, the minor plot details are varied enough to keep you from dwelling on the larger similarities. Someone please give me a GENERAL storyline (as these examples have been) that is COMPLETELY original, and I will revoke every single word of this thread.

Oh, and Bill Gates munching on Michael Jackson's balls after losing a poker game to a field mouse does NOT count as plot. Sorry.

In regard to the 'repeating' questions, you can copy and paste those bars as many times as you like, as long as they are 98% identical (for example, the 2nd time you might want to use minor chords instead of major, but the top note must still be the same). No completely different bars allowed.

To Boyd, I think Eldkatt summed it up pretty well, but I'll add my dollar's worth too.

You know that 4/4 has four main beats per bar (pretty much every pop song ever written, really). Well 3/4 has (believe it or not) three beats per bar, much like a waltz, where there is one bass note, followed by two (typically) higher chordal beats. What I'm after is (for example) say, 20 bars of 4/4 followed by two bars of 3/4. Although the 4/4 of course doesn't have to be 'pop', and 3/4 doesn't have to be a waltz. Do what you like, just keep within the rules.  

Oh... and I fixed the deadline. So anyone who was planning to do this the night before (say, the 217th) now has to get their butt into gear.

Have fun  

EDIT: Beserker: You can certainly change time signatures in your song, however these changes must be lasting. You can't put in just 5 bars of 6/8 and then change back. Half/half is fine. With regard to CHANGING the two bars WITHIN this, a definite no-no. IF you have a piece (4/4), and you put in two irregular bars of 5/8, you can certainly then change to 6/8, however if you put in another two irregular bars they MUST be almost identical to the 5/8 bars you used earlier. Read the beginning of my post to clarify the 'almost identical' thing.

Hope this clears everything up...

Okay, apologies for taking so long  

Trails accidentally put Geoffkahn's name in the last comp instead of mine, and it took me a while to catch on. Silly me...

Anyway, On with the comp!!

I was originally going to post a picture, but decided against it, thinking that perhaps words can allow for more creative juices to flow.

Your task (which you absolutely MUST accept) is to write a song based from the title:    

"The Crystal Empire"

So basically any genre you want, as long as it reflects that kind of mentality. Only restrictions are that you must have two bars of an irregular meter in your song. (ie - if you're in 3/4, put in two bars of 4/4 or 6/8, or even 5/8) Just don't do anything sneaky like one bar of 4/4 and then another in 2/4 (thus equalling two bars of 3/4). They must be audibly 'different'.

And of course nothing over 1.5mb

Hope you enjoy! I'll answer any ??'s as quickly as I can.

EDIT: For some reason .ogg files have been playing up on me for the last couple of days. Send em in if you want, and I'll try and figure it out, but if you want to make me REALLY like you, send it in midi or mp3   (or wav... blah blah blah...)

oh right..... I see..... beserker changed geoff's name to mine... apologies...

*blush*  

Thanks, migs.

I just wish Geoff would *hurry up* with the next comp... it's been nearly four days with nothing to write music for  :'(

It's killing me...

Do you have AGS?  

28 days later was good because it provided some sense of reality (however far away and distant it might have seemed). I mean, it was about a REAL guy, with a real backstory (Even though they didn't show it. The most we know is he was in hospital). None of this aliens from another planet who mutated our nucleotides and screwed with our gene pool crap. The disease was 'real', and was released by 'real' causes.  And the rape scenes were fairly disturbing as well and I thought they were scary because I know there ARE people like that out there, and it struck a chord with me.

The other scary bit I found (which wasn't scary, but made me feel pity and fear at the same time for some reason) was when that infected drop of blood fell into the girl's father's eye. To know that he had to be killed was upsetting and disturbing for me.

But now I'm rambling...

I'm with Las (I think??) who said that fiction isn't scary. I didn't think RE was scary AT ALL, and not because I'm an invincable tough-arse. I just know that zombies won't be hiding in my wardrobe tonight, waiting to jump me, so there's nothing to make me THINK!!

If they can make a game with a REALISTIC plot that will actually get me to THINK about things, then I don't care what graphics are like. Hell, they can do Bugs-Bunny-esque art if they want. I just want mental stimulation

Yay

Me = Happiness.

Can't wait for the next comp.

Everyone say 'hello!' to my entry:

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Majik_of_the_Cave.mid

The instruments I used were (in case you can't tell):

Piano, French horn, Treble Strings and Bass Strings (I know... 'strings' were meant to be one instrument, but I had too many harmonies to call it one...) As well as the usual percussion.

Basically the 'story' behind the song is this: The piece opens with a surreal piano motif to declare the kind of wonderment you feel when you first discover something uncertain. The motif becomes a little more developed as they venture into the cave, and then becomes (slightly) dark and mysterious as they exlpore. Then there's the typical 'happy ending', mainly because I got frustrated and just wanted to submit an entry, but I hope you like it anyway  

Without meaning to intrude on Tails rules, I think strings should only be one instrument. If the violin/cello/viola etc are all seperate instruments, then people would just all stick em in one 'movie strings' section, to call it one instrument. So it makes sense to count strings as a whole.

oh! I am soooooooo totally entering this one.

*drools*

I love these type of comps.

One question, though. When you say four instruments, do you mean in total, or types. For example, could I have 600 bassoons, 20 strings, 5 trumpets and a foghorn? or four instruments at the max (ie, one bassoon, 1 string, 1 trumpet and 1 foghorn)

Edit: I'm asking because of harmony. If I have one flute, can I have it playing a chord? or is it *just* one note per instrument

Don't worry 'bout not finishing a game without a walkthrough   Each person who makes a game has their own personal touch, and their own sense of humour, and it's not until you begin to understand what that person is like that you can easily solve games. Just keep on playing and you'll end up going great guns.

Sorry I can't help you with regard to the games... it's been a while since I've played them.... If I get the time I'll go back and play them from the beginning, and then post the 'answers' here. But only if I have time  

*sigh*

someone kick me, please.... I think I must be having a brain-snap today, because I STILL don't understand this alphabetical list thing!!

How are the names you gave in that school list organised? Because they don't follow an alphabetical order (as far as I can tell, anyway.... the surnames aren't in any order, nor are first names).

That is why I need help... *cries* why does everyone else understand this??

 :'(

That brings back memories.

Just kick and scream a lot and act like you're about to die. That's the universal signal for superhero's. It worked for me, anyway...

Sorry I can't be a bit more... erm... helpfull?

You didn't offend anyone, Ben. And I agree whole-heartedly: some of this stuff can be intimidating to newer people, so I apologise if I've put anyone off entering this *very cool* contest.

Sorry to Damien, also, for ruining his thread.......


To loominous, I can't hear your entry for the world. Everything seems to 'load' as such, but it just plays back as silence.....

*spanks computer*

I would love to participate in this

Of course, none of you have seen my writing on this board, so including me would be a matter of trust. But I am doing a writing course at university, and have had several stories published, so I think I'm a safe enough bet.  

"Each one of us had to write a page of a tale in the order of the alphabetical list" I think this was the only sentence in your post I didn't understand... could you re-explain it for slow people like me??