I know this is probably the part of the game most people dropping by here will care the least about, but the hardcore fandom of RPGs tend to merit a game’s success heavily on its music, even if it isn’t the most important aspect of the game to them on the surface. In fact, just about every top-rated or best-known game in the last 25 years has a well-known tune at the very least that adds to the overall nostalgia when looking back on a finished game. I believe there’s something to a game’s soundtrack that elevates a product to something more than just a diversion.
There are at least 25 tracks needed for this game, a lot more than I originally planned for but thankfully XNA’s audio engine XACT has some amazing compression so the filesize won’t get too large. I estimate about 15% of the final game size will be music, if I do indeed max out the game to the Xbox Indie Game program’s current limits. I’m starting to think I won’t even with all the complex animation I am putting in, since the artwork compression works very well and dialog, level, and item data are all marginal in filesize.
Anyways back to my thought. I have written countless tracks over the years intended for use in the original game Shadowdawn. Since that game is a few years off, I figure I could repurpose a few of the more professional tracks for Arashi’s adventure here. But sadly I will have to write a lot of new music, aside from the fact I’m really going all out in remixing/remastering the original music (I’ve learned a LOT in the last week about how to do it right). I’m also trying to figure out a good place for Ket’s theme to appear, I suppose it could work in a cutscene. If anyone who is familiar with my old music has a request for tracks they’d like me to fit in, by all means help me out! Also I am taking advice from my friends and fans on music styles they like to hear. I’ll be working a lot on music while drawing, it’s one of the few times I can multi-task.
I hope you like the above sprite for Arashi, I thought it came out very nicely. It was disorienting at first to see the new look but I think it’ll fit in well by the end.
One of the things I always notice once I’ve been playing for a bit is the environmental audio design, personally. In WoW the only thing that really stands out to me is the audio. (Too bad I can’t stand anything else…)
I guess I’m so used to living around nature (even if I dislike it) that an excessively quiet world just stands out.
This is one of the things I thought they did well in Ultima VII (which you said you never liked, or was it that you never got into?) The only short music cues were triggered once without looping when near a certain type of building or engaging in combat but the huge majority of the time the game was quiet and used ambient sounds. Of course it was 1992 and ambient audio was stuck mostly synthesized, but what can you do.
I think I want to take a cue from U7 and other games with that design for audio. Especially with so much side area to explore in nature it makes sense. I’ll have to write a normal combat theme to trigger when approaching danger though if the current area’s music is finished playing, I think.