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[Diamond16]

Thank you all for your entries!
I will write about some things I see as up- and downsides, in the light of this contest, and then announce the winner.


Lion Manta Neath
One has to appreciate a traditional sentiment. Cliché is often used as dirty word while, in fact, it's not quite the easy road sticking near conventional notions. It can be very hard to balance stuff and keep things interesting for long. I think Diamond16 did manage to do both.
Almost deadly, or at least unflattering, however how it just cuts off at the end. Makes you feel like there should be more to it.

Android Nation Anthem
For me this one stands out in many ways. The progression is captivating and the whole speaks to the imagination. It's interesting, daring and greatly sensible overall.
As downside, in the light of this contest, I would say: the length. (or how it perhaps works best as a loop, not a "full" song.) But it sure is original, inspired and inspiring.

I'M WATCHING YOU FROM SHADOWS
Now this tune generates a alternate reality where national anthems kinda try dragging us into a multitude of dark corridors.
This provoking take on the challenge perhaps gets a bit overclouded by it's own gloom. And I think the percussion could have used some more attention.


It been hard picking a winner. And I have enjoyed listening to the entries multiple times. In the end I had to pick Diamond16 as the winner of this contest. The floor is yours.

[National anthems]

... The Song of My People.



"You take a bunch of people who don't seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem."
~Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment.
 


National anthems, who hasn't heard of national anthems?
Speaking of witch, here is one now: Russian National Anthem. That makes for a fine introduction to our subject. Please note how this russian specimen shows similarities to one of your favorite side-scrolling game tunes: Yoshi's Island Intro.

National anthems, in all forms and shapes.
Oh oh, Oh Canada what arrangements do to thee.
80's tv-commercial?
Lion King?
Space opera?
Christmas agian?


But yes, forget all this now.
We will be making our own national anthem.
To be more precise: you.


Guidelines:

- For this challenge lyrics are permitted but not encouraged.
- Human singing is also not encouraged.
(Humming maybe, choir synth perhaps, robotic voices would be awesome... but basically the idea is to make an instrumental anthem)
- The nation you are composing for can not be a typical, "real" nation.
(A country, or place, from a work of fiction could lend itself. But also, for example, a Minecraft village, anthill, the first Mars colony, inhabitants of a sugarcube... Just take it where you want.)
- Entries should sound convincing in their own domain/style/genre.
(So they don't have to sound like any archetypical anthem. Although I imagine it's helpfull relating to such one way or the other.)
- Entries should communicate a sense of effort.
(Unfortunately no random water/air bubbles and claiming it's the anthem of fishbowl nation.)



I will be picking a winner February 24th or shortly thereafter.

Good luck, may guidelines guide you!

[Congratulations, tamatic!]

Sorry for the delay. I have the flu and had to stay in bed most of the time.

Too bad there were no more entries.
Tamatic wins by default, but this is well-deserved. What a fantastic entry! Interesting sounds and buildup, I just love your style. The music fits the scene perfectly, very nice use of sound effects, a very detailed description, you even drew a storyboard... this is so much more than I expected.

Congratulations, tamatic!

Thanks! And gesundheit.

New contest here.

Despite these suspicious circumstances I'll celebrate my victory now. 
Next challenge will appear within days.
Meanwhile keep watching your back everyone.

:0

[0:00]

Goodbye Blimp, description and approximate timing:


This cutscene funtions as a false ending to the 3th (final) act.
Our adventure, by now, did teach our hero a few new things about life and himself. And with great convenience, while reaching this point in story development, he also just fixed his blimp. Time to go home, he takes position.
Up up and away?

The initial setting includes our hero, the blimp and another person standing next to those. All are situated near the bottom of a dense rocky valley. The person standing next to the blimp introduced himself as guide earlier in the game. But despite his title, and periodic appearances, did not show to be very useful... until now ironically, just when we are about to leave this place of wonder and annoyance.

1) 0:00 We witness a few last words between our hero and his idiotic, kind-hearted guide.
2) 0:11 With an overly determined gaze the guide starts winding the propellor. (He seems to know what he is doing, for once, and doesn't try to hide this.)
3) 0:17 Slowly but surely the blimp starts to rise from the low spot in the valley.
4) 0:22 We cut to our elevated hero, he looks content with recent events and even decides to look down.
5) 0:27 The guide is seen from above acting out an unrestrained goodbye ritual.
6) 0:30 Wide. The blimp, rising. (first real hint of twilight/night --in the last few chapters it been noon/late noon.)
7) 0:35 Close. Our hero suddenly shows a look of joyfull astonishment. (Making us wonder why)
8) 0:40 The town/world seen from the sky, no longer obscured by the hills. The lanterns our hero fixed (and whatever other outstanding accomplishments down there) make for a great view.
9) 0:45 We rise further. The world gets smaller and all things below magicly seem to wave goodbye.
10) 0:49 The blimp keeps rising in the night, and approaches a roof firmly build out of thick clouds.
11) 0:52 All is veiled by a thick cold mist. We can hear there is something not sounding as it should. (the propellor)
12) 0:56 An unsettling blast makes our hero realise that he won't be leaving this hell hole full of needy idiots after all.



Goodbye Blimp, storyboard draft:
storyboard02.png

Goodbye Blimp, music and sound:
goodbyeblimp01.ogg


A fun and intimidating challenge, so many choices.  Writing the description was one of more frustrating parts for me since English isn't my native. I didn't find the time to flesh out the storyboard, but well that wasn't part of the challenge I suppose.

Hope you'll enjoy.

[tamatic]

You have a very romantic view of things tamatic.

   
Counting virtues isn't romantic. Neither is sticking to the numbers. All I tried is  pointing out that physical lack of food is just a lazy myth. And how we seemingly already are moving in the right direction when it comes to reducing proverty and population growth.
I don't deny this comes with problems but I also refuse to bagatalize those with buzz words like overpopulation.  Myths like that seem to have rose from old cultural naratives that embrase the idea of the human being sinful -and more such romantic notions. I refuse to join that side of things and yet then someone calls my views romantic? Seems a bit weird to me.

If you meant my hopes for technology, you just have to look at history to see it's not some romantic utopian dream. Ever since civilisation started with the plough tools have liberated us. Made us reach further, freeing our hands and minds.
And it sure cuts both ways but should that make us deny our legacy one way or the other? What stops us from projecting it into the future? Just how easy is it to be a pessimist? Just stop thinking and doing, blame the others/world, everything doomed to failure anyway.

We failed and keep failing on how to solve 3rd world country problems. What some people say is that there's no way for those countries to skip the crucial stages that led developed countries where they are. And the differences are simply huge. Political because we've came from monarchies to democratic republics and this path was bloody and ideologically insane with all the notions of socialism taken to extremes and finally discarded. Socially because we reinvented ourselves in just a century and at supersonic pace, imagine placing someone from the 20's with another from the 60's? And technologically because we are indeed far beyond water pumps and steam engines.
Now, all this can't be exported to another country and expect it to work just like that. It takes generations if all goes well.
I'm not even considering populations with extreme poverty, they may be doomed.

The thing is that this is already happening. And indeed it's problematic but happening none the less. Failure is just part of it. If you stick to the numbers things are getting better. You can ignore that but at least know apparently there is more going on than just damage control.

Stats saying that global poverty are lower are fine, but there are still 1 Billion people starving.

Should we let them starve and die of disease? No. But can we save them from a already written fate? I'm afraid the answer is No as well.

It is deeply tragic but simply not the result of overpopulation or lack of food. Poor distribution, artificial scarcity, proverty, war, naturel disasters, wastefull farming and poor infrastructure however are very real factors. And most if not all those things relate to technology.

Like Hans Rosling said Africa had more progress than any others. Climbing from our middle ages to the last century in just a few decades.

Now this is simply not true. Some countries in Africa do manage to give the rest of the world the idea that they have all the facilities developed countries do. Things as basic as clean tap water or electricity can only be found in capitol cities, while the rest of the country is pretty much still in the dark ages. This is a fact (even in South Africa) all over the continent. And then there's corruption. Mr. Rosling probably had his pockets full when he decided to tell that huge lie.

I don't think there is this lie you are talking about. Rosling is clearly speaking about the rate of progress here.
Also you seem to have the idea that these utilities were for the common people back in the last century? Don't forget that the common people here would initially still be using waterpumps, washboards and warm their houses with coal till only later into the century. Todays infrastructures only just came to be, and indeed also had kicked off first in the cities.

In my opinion, Mr. Attenborough is telling us to take care of our problems because nobody can save Ethiopia and the likes. It is very sad, but it can't be done. In 2010 there were 925 million hungry people and while it would be possible to feed them all, the gap from being fed and becoming productive nations is too big that nobody will take the effort. And the fact is that they are being left to die. All the support and charity they receive is funded by "laundry" money and most of it never reaches the starving populations. In fact, most of it sponsors militia groups and weapon trade.
We sure are lucky people.

It all sounds nice reading it in his pleasant voice. But that doesn't mean he is right.
The food problem is a primary a problem of distribution and artificial scarcity. And indeed corruption and carelessness do feed into those. But, for example, to claim there is just to many mouths is a lazy fallacy and ignores the real problems.

You mention fed nations VS productive nations, ironically the countries that are richest in resources (being extracted from) often are those with the biggest development/inequality problems. The truth often seems that we eat from their fields, drive on their oil and call/email eachother using their metals. So who is being fed?
To then just, more or less, claim there are to many mouths -while we trow away more than half the food and stil live in abundance- just shows grotesque ignorance.

And even still things are moving forward. Global poverty is on a historical low and declining. Hell, only this day and age it's widely seen as something that is unnecessary, unjust and unnatural. The old cultural narratives that would blame the victims are making place for enlightened views. More and more people get watered and emancipated. As living standards and life expectancy go up birthrates do go down.
That doesn't mean we will run out of problems now does it? So Attenborough imo should have made way more clear that it's about our habits and not feed this myth about food and overpopulation.

While it's true that with current method and, more generally, our wastefull habits we won't last long. There are enormous technological developments happening.  As they say "the stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones."  Production methodes ect are getting more and more economical each day and can't do much else than liberating even more people. -not in any hollow retorical way-
And the same with our habits. Be it by law or by educated "choice".

So yes, I am convinced in the broad sense the best is yet to come. Maybe with some birth complications, can't totally let go of doom scenarios.

Those are some good stats but they're irrelevant. They can only be applied in context if the population of Europe was increasing exponentially, but it is not. I was talking about a hypothetical human population boom as it's a prediction thread, I didn't mean the population is spiraling out of control as we speak, but it is in some places...

Well we had us breeding like rabbits in the west just 3 generations ago. And you are right to say it's culture. But how did the culture switch? I dare say general education and healthcare are the biggest factors. And they sure not stand on themselves.  You need the means to lift people from porverty, emancipating women as well as others. And most "poor" countries have been doing just that. Like Hans Rosling said Africa had more progress than any others. Climbing from our middle ages to the last century in just a few decades.

I'm no 'demographist' and I clearly need to do some reading before getting into all the causatives My original question still stands though, why would having a smaller global population be a bad thing? I genuinely want to think of some reasons.

Well thats a legitimate question. But Attenborough is just wrong.
And I can't see hurt in few less people either. But it's not the real problem.

Hehe, made me think, in my take of things earlier I forgot cheap oil running out. But yeah I am stil not pessimistic.

It's not a presumption... if there are less people dying and more people being born, the population will increase. I can't think of any situation where better healthcare would cause a population decrease, it's completely antithetical. I'm not sure what you mean by emancipation here.

It is a presumption. History shows if you have a save environment and know how to prevent having kids you don't get as many, it's not a miracle.

In the article Attenborough is saying that there are too many people in underdeveloped countries: "We keep putting on programmes about famine in Ethiopia; that's what's happening. Too many people there. They can't support themselves â€" and it's not an inhuman thing to say. It's the case."

He is simply skipping a few steps. I don't call him lazy for nothing.

So yes the primary problem isn't overpopulation in Western countries (where food and water seem practically infinite), but I'm saying there's not enough resources to go around in underdeveloped countries. The quality of life if so low partly because the fertility rate is ridiculously high, for reasons other than healthcare (I would say culture but I'm no sociologist). Also overpopulation doesn't only cause depletion of resources. Problems more relevant to the Western world include more unemployment, lack of housing, more crime, overcrowded schools/prisons/hospitals, more pollution, and a greater strain on public services.

You don't show to have any idea where most of the food and goods in the west come from I think.
Also, apart from a minority of western countries, there been less crime, less lack off housing, less crowded prisons and less polution, even just taking these last 10, 20 years. So I don't think I will be convinced by what you are trying to say here.

Sorry, I didn't notice that kconan had already mentioned population growth.

Together with better healthcare this is moving us towards population decline.

Naturally it's the complete opposite. Less people are contracting or dying from diseases, more babies are being born healthy, and people are living much longer.

However, rather than population it's consumption that has the bigger effects on the environment.

They are related because population is the limiting factor here - if the population increases then consumption increases even further. So curbing population growth as well as getting people to consume less is equally as important.

Basically, with regards to the cause of many of the problems we have and how to deal with them, I agree with David Attenborough.

But yeah, you make presumptions that better education and healthcare make the population grow. This is clearly not the case, just look at developed countries where emancipation thrives.
A privileged person, however, uses more than tenfold the resources a poor uneducated (breed like poor uneducated) person does. The primary problem isn't population: thats just one of the lazy answers cooked up by people like D Attenborough.

[Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned a human population boom. It just makes sense that less people would solve countless problems, and I can't think of a single reason why having a smaller population is a bad thing. Can anybody else? (I'm not talking about a microcosmic population obviously, so no risk of a population bottleneck or restricted gene pool).

There is a global trend of more people (women) getting education. Together with better healthcare this is moving us towards population decline.  However, rather than population it's consumption that has the bigger effects on the environment. ( And backwards wastefull means of production. ) And in general the educated have more money to be wastefull. So it's not all positive.
If the population of China would eat meat like the people in the "west" this globe would be too small many times over.

Here is a clip I found insightful:

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty


As for my part of the world. (Apart from supporting wasteful means of production.) I think there are some big problems concerning the patent system, privacy and engaged citizenship.  And indeed with how economist seem to have stopped the sane tradition that would include questions of morality and ethics in their thesis.

And although I feel very privileged being born in Europe, there seem to be a growing inequality in access to things like education and the justice system. I think that is a harmfull direction. Perhaps a sign of the traumatized border between private and public.

But I also noticed the older I get the less of a pessimist I became. I think technological developments and the growing emancipation of more and more people make me hopefull somewhere.

And then of course there's wolves in minecraft, while everyone knows it makes more sense to have slime pets.

Yay, made a song.
It is about a horse. A dressage horse with a backbone consisting out of 11 segments that each have 7 parts in 3/4.
If you count it's steps I bet there are more prime numbers in there somewhere... hehehe

LaPholieDressage.ogg

Fun entries so far!

With blacksmith.mp3 my problem is with the sound rather than the music. I find the space/panning of the low string-like distracting. Not just the panning, also how it is more less doubled by the bass in centre and then just suddenly stops, to later suddenly come back. I don't know if its just the panning that makes it seem a bit harsh. While other things sound too wide.
The percussion could use some spice too. Again sound rather than music.
If you are going to use it for a comercial project I would focus on the mastering. Perhaps find someone to do it for you, because it can be hard.
But yes nice tuun, it sure does grow on you when you let it settle in.  Then again it seems of lower quality than, for example, your scifi1-loop. That one is well balanced and sounds lush! 

Oops, you're right!  Wikipedia agrees.  I'm not sure why I thought it was James Horner.  Anyway, I've changed it above.  Thanks for pointing that out!

Hehe, my understanding was that the best parts were writen by Clint Mansell.
Guess I liked the trailer better than the movies.

*edit
Also, nice idea for a challenge indeed. Started already started playing with it, hope it will result in something presentable, hehe.

Congrats to the winners! And a great new year to all.

[edit]

Well musagi is free and uses notation that is a bit closer to "normal" notation than the usual old school trackers.
Hehe, I always wonderd if Sibelius (even when you buy it) and such didn't have weird licensing regarding the sounds?

Anyway, gonna listen some more, thanks.


edit
Did some digging

For example it says they are "... licensed to you only for use as
part of a musical performance, live or recorded. You may not resell or otherwise distribute [the samples] ... in a game product ..."

I dont know how relevant or correct that is. But those kind of things are enough to keep me away from Sibelius.
http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpcenter/chat/chat.pl?com=thread&start=508762&groupid=3&&guest=1

Cool, if you are looking for a program that gets close to the NES sounds. I can say musagi might be interesting. To quote the maker: "The default instrument is xnes, which is a rough simulation of the NES sound hardware".

I have been using musagi a lot the last years. Not for chiptunes per se: you can create all kinds of things with it. Custom synths, support of wav samples and what not. But most people seem to use it for chiptuuny tunes.
It's fun, the only downside I find is that it's hard to restructure large songs.

Can I ask what programs you usually use?
Thanks for sharing your music.

Hehe, nice and hectic janleht.

This thread reminded me of a silly loop I made in november: FerryMassLoop01.ogg.
I don't think I'll find the time to expand on it now, never planned on doing that.
So yeah, not an entry to the challenge. But perhaps the christmasness can inspire some other songs, hehe.

Cheers.

But do you think I should make the whole thing a sort of hybrid between the original and the New Generation? Or just the one of those two?

Okay, did some digging. I see on wikipedia there were so many versions made that even Glen Beck was in one, the irony.
Bit barbaric of me I didn't figure at first the original was a book, lol. But thats because I learned about the radio drama first. And by it's original nature I assumed it was the "real" thing.

I scanned the musical versions. Personally I don't like the overly dramatic voices and how they keep talking in past tense. -but that could work fine in a game of course.-  The radio drama didn't use that, apart from the intro. Then agian the radio version didn't have any iconic music either. Just a constant stream of weirdly worried voices.

But yes, I think jumping from one version to the next could make for an interesting game.
It might also be interesting to incorporate the fact that a lot of people took the radio play for a real report into the game. And how those radio makers had some real world repercussions from their own creation.


Anyway, your first scene kicks ass.

[BUT]

WTF DUDE UR PIC KINDA SUCKS LOL

WTF DUDE UR PIC KINDA SUCKS LOL

LOOKS PAINT NEEDZ PHOTOSHOPP






SEE MUCH BETTA RELLISM!

LOOKS PAINT NEEDZ PHOTOSHOPP

SEE MUCH BETTA RELLISM!

U STOOLE MY IDEE WITH SOLARFLAMEERS! IS OKE BUT I HAVE BEEN USONG IT FOR AVARATS YES