Damn it, Slax, you had one job!
After some time, I (Graham Lloyd) decided to come back and write one more piece for Cataclysm. It’s a lot different from the other pieces. Piano isn’t a central part of this one. It’s more ambient, and I think sums up quite nicely the tone of Cataclysm and the tone I was attempting to go for with the other ones. It’s not as exquisite as some of the stuff that’s been posted since the beginning of this thread, but I though I’d post it anyways, I hope you guys enjoy.
The link is here: https://soundcloud.com/against-the-tide-canada/in-the-end-you-will-be-alone
It’s also in the same set as the old 5 pieces, so that older link should take you there as well.
Thanks guys,
Graham Lloyd
ROFL
Well, it got a bit quiet in here. Nonetheless I came up with another theme idea. This time it’s a full piano composition.
https://soundcloud.com/marius-schlichting/cataclysm-piano-theme
Well, it’s time for me to post here, at last - after a glass of beer, a bottle or two.
There was a time I cracked open artwork end of game folders only to hope and eventually find ingame music and sound data; it was a time of real bliss, I was real young, and every attempt I made in such a direction was considered an ownage - I was the first one amongst the people I knew to phreak out what the hell were .ogg and the other, weird wave formats. I have to admit I never got to the Scene though, it was a small community led by Razor and Torchlight, whose demos were always an omage to the game played, so I turned to the net, and honed my skills vice-versa… ‘nough braggin’ 'bout the times you could have your mural in the game’s starting screen, it’s all in the past - I want to tell you what’s happening here, and now.
As rustic as it feels, this game aims at none of it. It’s a full-pledge, ass-kicking adventure and only some of the newest entertainment media, such as the World War Z movie can make its idea somewhat out-of-spotlight, predeceeded if you wish. I was up to finish a real project, a complete soundtrack of about a dozen songs for the game or so, until I realized one thing - the b*tches don’t want it so. Majority of the crowd find it that ambiental is the sound of this game. I find it a deep, profound underact for a game of this scale, but as I am the one making statements and not asking questions, I have to put up with it. Went with some scores that featured the 'clysm feel in the background but, as it’s midi in its basics, it felt like redrawing a lot back just to keep as nifty and cool as some of the guys here did. It’s really a question if there is a tune to the game, and a big and fluffy goo of chords around the precognited middle. After so much time, it felt like there is really no need for that. In the end, the effects can have a wider spread now, blending in more rapidly now, as if someone tried to push a SFX base in the data variety.
I’m just a simple artist that haven’t promised that which can’t be delivered, but simply agrees to scratch the work on his ideas, biased by the recurring, and the following matters of this subject.
I finally registered so I could post in this thread, and let me say that many fantastic pieces have been posted so far.
Yet, the most enthralling I’ve heard so far are those four pieces by Disarray. To me they very much ‘fit’ the feeling of a lonely cyberpunk apocalypse.
Just listened to that last one you composed, Graham, and I gotta say I’m digging the sad, lonely vibes. Very nice.
Time has passed. We’re at the summer’s end. Yet, no erm, no ahm, no hubba-hubba for the Catasonic people that will play the game in the Shorter Days, Darker Nights ahead. So I’ll go.
I’ve reviewed my work regarding the ambience and theme for the game soundtrack. I’m willing to resume the task, since no one seems to pick up on the various contributions people have hyperlinked here. And I’ll be direct, I want to organize the whole bunch, and be able to share ideas with you guys. As you all know, your system uses your sound card via two means - a wave mapper for digital audio, and midi instruments for recording and playback. Anyone can plug in a mic, a guitar, or use a wave synthesizer of sorts to create music with various quality and genre. But MIDI is standardized. Depending on your sound card/driver, intensity and satisfactory elements may vary, but it’s pretty much the same on any platform, OS and speaker. You can create MIDI music with as little as some free software that utilizes the capacity of your hardware, and express what you feel in this game, the CataDDA.
So hi there, fellow CataDDAtor, friendly dev or an innocent bypasser. Can we mend pieces into whole? Do you have ideas of a kind, and can you compose them into a theme that describes what you think of while playing Cataclysm? Have you heard MIDI synthesisers in any of your favourite vintage games, and want to be able and show-off your vision in such a convenient way?
I want to make it fun and games, while remaining serious as much as there is consistency of the work that is being done - so I’d like to explain to you what are two-by-fours when I talk about them. 
Let’s assume we all know what EPs and singles are; well, when music was vinyl-flavoured, you had A-sides with all your favourite hits, and B-sides with demos, remixes and edits (and many more). Basically then (and sometimes nowadays) you could have the radio version of the song, and an insight on the progression of the artists’ work. In more than a few cases, you had three or four tracks on one side, and as many on the other; hence the 2x4 abbrevation of my own. I’ve noticed that I have 4 full songs, themes that I’d like to hear in this game - and I want to make four more, arranged somewhat differently, or picked up from a different point if you wish. They are, in order of their making:
A1
Nightermath
Savour Night (Silent Night, Holy Night theme)
Seam Toss
… and the buildups, which will follow as soon as I finish the edit of the existing trax.
I want to have at least 16 main songs in the soundtrack, which means there will be 8 themes, and an another 8 that will be more or less of a spinoff. Just to be clear, those variatons may prove to be even better, or more to the liking of some. At any point past that, I’d like to organize the work into more, and more two-by-fours. Basically, everyone with a computer and a keen ear can participate as long as we all follow the existing format - and that is, if you compose a piece, there must be a remix for the game also, and it might be someone else that can share his ideas on your theme if you don’t want to.
Now, for the time being (before creating a topic with everything said and done) I’d like to discuss it with you guys a bit more and see what do you reckon of it. I’ll make sure to post the first 2x4 as soon as I’m done, so we can listen to it and discuss it even more. A good thing is, then, I’ll be able to show you an example, which could (I hope) make it in the game.
So, criticize and debate away, 'cause the way I see it, this game deserves TRAX!
Yeah… the music has been ready to go, I’ve just been busy/slacking on that front. Sorry about that guys - it WILL be going in, probably not this release but the one afterward - it’s going to be in by 1.0, anyway, and 1.0 is a date that keeps getting closer.
I’d like to show you some of my NG friend pieces.
http://nicksmall94.newgrounds.com/audio/
I invite you to listen at least some of them, they have from an strong, medievalish feel, to more or less apocalyptic-robotic things.
Maybe you can’t imagine them in the game, but for real, there are some that can melt with gameplay.
I still don’t have a chance to listen the songs in the fisrst post. But later.
I’d just like to explore a different possibility, one that’s embodied in classical gaming. I enjoyed only one out of all the existing contributions (in game, that is) and I feel there could be another “framework” people can contribute to. It’d be very nice to see how game-inspired game tunes evolve into different arrangements and compositions and get wrapped with the game, one bundle at a time. Bottom line is, creativity always defines genre, and it’s never the other way around; and if we can complement each other with variety, it just might have an edge over ambience and heavy beats.
I’m only so sorry I forgot about the initial idea I had, but at some point it felt that the Music component of the game went the whole other way. Anyway, the initial four out of 2x4 are in the final stages (I have to organize the tracks, decide on the instruments @ whole, sort some effecting and mix the levels) which leaves you peeps with a short period of time to decide if you also want your creativity to be heard. Some eyebrows up, maybe, and this could prove fine.
Ok, since no one is even considering, lemme give you a teaser before the topic and the project I intend to finish. I hope it gives you a hint of what I’m about when I say we need to make CataDDA a sonic experience; this is what I hear while playing it:
…and for the lyrics which I hope will find their way in the game somehow sometime somewhere:
Hide at night, gnawy bite
Hold thy breath, close thy eyes
Round thy undead neighbour and bride
Thy father’s bitten, scared thy child
Shiver 'till morning breeze
Shiver 'till morning breeze
Hide at night, gnawy bite
Living will quake at the sight
Hordes of dead now risen of us
Flesh and bone horror nocturnal
Pray thy god they’re gone
Pray thy god they’re gone
Hide at night, gnawy bite
Starved eyes, death lurks about
Festering claws nearing with pace
Hell now looks upon your face
Vile damned tongue speaks of your end
Vile damned tongue speaks of your end
[courtesy of smf.cataclysmdda.com]
SNightExt.rar (1.3 KB)
I’ve decided to split the main theme in three; I just feel there is much to be sung about the very start, and I like large classical pieces. Again, this is very much uncooked and raw. On the other side, I rate this small splinter of the Part I as the right one for the very opening of the game and even in its current shape it has the detail I want:
Cataclysm:Dark_Days_Ahead_Theme_Part_I(Nigtermath_Fragrance) >>
(just a moment… my upload folder is full…)
Here it is…
NightermathFragrance.rar (1.75 KB)
Loving spookypen and science lab funeral.
personally I’d think chiptunes would go quite well with cata. Go check out Zabutom.
Will do, 10x. Still an open invitation for others to pitch in on this. Author work, for this game of ours required.
Ok, a 10-day has passed, lemme summarize my point,
I’ll try and finish my translation work along with a remix for each and every of the 4 songs so I can post it here on the Boards. That means I’m gonna close the first chapter and call it the first 2x4. I also have some ideas for the next set of tunes, so mail me if you want to pitch in before I start working on the new 2x4.
As far as this goes for me, nearly 50% finished work is work_done for new entries. No one has contacted me on this at all, but I’ll keep my hopes up for the next couple of pieces.
And another thing, or a hint - since the feel to the two chunks I’ve posted is somewhat “suspense and intense” when they actually develop into a whole piece, I’ve decided to keep the “darker” feel to the other two, with some chord and scale changes in the remixes. The next 2x4 should be “elated and wise” and therefore lighter with the mood, for different ingame events or, if it comes to that, player’s choice. If anyone picks up on this, take care that even if there is a common feel to the whole tune, the game itself is dynamic in terms of encounters so you may want to adapt your chord changes accordingly.
The remixes for the first set are still a whirlwind of ideas, but since I’m up and running it shouldn’t be long before it’s set to go. I’m explaining since if you still have suggestions and pieces of .mid you’ve thought through, I might be able to make use of 'em if there’s any seeming cohesion with what’s already on the table. The build after 0.8 should have at least 16 tunes, so keep up.