Topic, Game "Moonlights"

  Can you turn down the volume a bit, I find it loud enough that my volume setiings must be near 0. That's multiple sliders. It's much louder than the other ones.

  How about a 'main' track that lasts for twice (or four times) as long as the other tracks, and plays more of a tune than the others?

I re-exported my tracks to .wav files, because they are more accurate than .mp3 files (in which the time is altered very slightly when they are exported).
moonlights5.wav
moonlights6.wav

And here is a composition of all the tracks mixed together:
moonlights composition.mp3

If you decide to include my tracks (which you certainly do not have to), you might want to get rid of track five if you don't think it fits.

  jp, I used garage band for the mac. And jp, if there's something you don't like about it, or don't think fits, or if you don't want to use it at all, be sure to tell me as I won't be offended.

gecko, The tracks could be longer, these are just short rough drafts to get an idea for what direction we want to head with it. Rather than invest a long time in a huge track that's hard to edit and change, I made a smaller, more flexible one.

  Well, reading further back a bit, JP says:
"when the sound on the leading track reaches the end, all track/sounds are restarted from the beginning."
So we don't need to worry too much about going out of sync.

I also think that while you are not playing a level (in the level menu etc.), you should pick a bunch of random tracks to play at the same time, so as to keep the music slightly different each time.

I kind of wish some of the tracks could be longer...

  OK these are interesting tracks. I will experiment them as soon as possible.
@captain, what software did you use ?
@gecko, your tracks are Ok, but the sampels as not as depp as the piano samples used in captain's tracks. I think it's very difficult to work 2 on a small music :)

  I've experimented with the tracks in Flash a bit, and it does seem very hard to get the volume balance and timing just right. I'll upload what it should sound like (at least with only my parts) in a bit.

EDIT: http://ian.janasnyder.com/moonlights%202.aif

  Ok, I've made two tracks, which should be enough.
I think the music by Reasoner is more suited for this game, but we'll see which JP likes more. I'm also very worried about playing all the tracks at the same time, because even though they are carefully made to loop at exactly the same time, they will eventually start to drift out of sync, as Flash is not made for handling music with such precise accuracy (unless AS3 has some advanced music features).

So, here they are anyway:
moonlights5.mp3
moonlights6.mp3

Tell me what you think about them.

  Ultimately what stays or doesn't stay is up to jp, but if you want to write some stuff I'm certainly not going to stop you ;)

  So, I have your permission to add a few more tracks?
I might do some strings or something...
I mixed all the tracks together in flash, and they seem to work fine.

The second track seemed to be going out of sync, but then I realized it was meant to be like that.

  Alright jp, here's the first draft. I'd like to hear your thoughts as to the direction you want it to go, or if you don't like it all.

I've kept it fairly simple to start with.

Here are the tracks:
moonlights.mp3
moonlights2.mp3
moonlights3.mp3
moonlights4.mp3

moonlights.mp3 is the base track, then the other layers should be added in the order of 2, 3, 4.

Right now it's pretty much just piano and drums, but that doesn't mean we can't add in other instruments.

Gecko, I'll post the tempo and such info in a bit. I can't really name it off the top of my head as it's very strange.

EDIT:

it's basically just two chords:

G#, F, G#, C, D#, G#
and
A#, D#, F#, C#, F#, G#

the tempo is 105, each chord last for five beats and one sixteenth note.

  Oh ok thanks :)

  They test the game but not the levels.
The level moderators/administrators are followed by a A (or a G for the game author).

  Ah ok,
Do they also test other peoples levels?
Because they are named testers

  Testers, they test the game, reports, first imperssions, bugs, gameplay problems, create first levels.

  What does the T After some people's name mean?
And what do they do?

  @Silius, not for now, maybe soon for a first impression feedback.

@Captain, let's say the dead line is 9 march.

  need more testers or ?

  Alright jp, I'll write the tracks accordingly.

Hopefully I'll at least have a rough draft to send you by tonight or tomorrow.

Is there a certain date you absolutely want this finished by?

  Its a really beautiful start....
But there needs to be a music turn off button i know that you will make and that you are aware of it but then music can be a lil' annoying

  Thanks,
I can't wait to play it ^^

  @captain, the sound engine is ready. It mixes any number of sound loop (2 or 3 might be enough?) with a volume depending on an "ambiance value" (Number). There is a leading track, when the sound on the leading track reaches the end, all track/sounds are restarted from the begining. So you don't need to make the sounds with the exact same length.
(2dboy corrected thx).

@Yoji, middle / end of march.

  When will this game be playable for people?

  There is a certain freedom in working alone. At least while this is still in the idea/testing phase I'd prefer to work alone. Especially since key changes and whatnot can make things more complex.

Once I've finished and posted the first draft I'll be happy to send you some annotation though!

EDIT: jp, 2DBoy, not 2DPlay I think...

  Captain 404, we could work together on that! Just tell me what tempo the layers are, and how many bars are in each layer, and I will try to make a few!
I don't mind if you'd rather make it yourself.

  Alright, sound good. I'll try to whip up something. :)

Yeah, don't be afraid to say no if you end up not liking the song or thinking that it doesn't fit, I won't be offended at all!

Just so you know, I wrote the music that's in Push, so I guess I'm alright. That's really more for you to judge though!

  Oh yes that would be great. Can you do this ?
I would like to release the game quite soon (before the end of the 4K comp). I'm not sure if we can set such a thing within this short period (deadline for the entry is 9th of march, I guess the results will be published in the middle of march). Also the song must be good ^_^ are you a good song writter ?
Anyway, even if we don't use this in the game, this will not be a waste of time as this is a very interesting experiment.

  Personally, I found the music a bit too 'pop', but I think that's really more of a reflection of my own taste in music.

Have you considered maybe instead of changing the volume of the music as you get closer to the moon, having a few different music tracks that layer on top of each other the closer you get? Similar to what happens with the music in Aether.

This would, of course, mean that you'd have to get music custom made. But if you're interested enough in going this route I might be able to make a few simple tracks if you need it.

  OK I've added music on/off + volume sound depending on your distance to the goal.

  I loved that first one in the list, but I really don't think the game needs any other music. There are thousands of games that use the same music, and nobody really cares that much...

In your next game, your could ask me to make some music for you. After my game 'Ambidexterity', I started to make music for all of my games, and I made the music for 'Draw' by THeNiNJa, although he has not added the music yet.

Don't forget the mute button!

  Oh, that's a problem, maybe I should find another song then. On the other hand, it's not THE music of PR2, it's just one of the 10 songs included. taht's a pity because I was quite satisfied with this music.
If you have any other suggestions, don't hesitate.
Here are some of my other alternatives :

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/197636 (another song by reasoner)
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/187506 (maybe a little bit too short/repetitive)
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/210818
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/184475
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/194555