Links of Interest (Part 1)

Here are a selection of links and some short commentary from me.

Music Related:

• Heroes vs. Villains ~ an album: - Two legendary VGM remixing websites engage in a musical brawl. Heroes of OCremix.org, the original website for VGM remixing, create amazing renditions of their heroic icons (Ryu, Kirby and Megaman to name a few) to battle the Villainous "Bad Dudes," a newer, infamous gang of VGM remixers who have composed themes of video game antagonists. I recommend Samus' theme.
• Random Forum Title - The official unofficial forums for the artist Deadmau5. If you love him as much as I do you might wanna head over there.
• Indie Games Blog - My go-to blog for the indie-gaming hemisphere. They recently did an interesting interview with Markus Persson (Notch a.k.a the mastermind behind MineCraft) and an interview with Team Meat.
  

Criticism of Game Criticism (IGES Part 1)

Recently, I read an article titled The Rise of the Indie Developer. The article is a very interesting read about indie game development with quotes from popular indie artists akin Jonathon Blow. This article inspired the following post, as well as a few more all related to Gaming Culture and Indie Gaming, or what I call "Video Game Theory." Here is the first installment.

IGES = Indie Gaming Essay Series

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In the midst of the aforementioned article, the author mentions a game called Flower developed by Thatgamingcompany. The game apparently did well on the PSN and got great reviews, yet I had never heard of it. I hop over to Wikipedia to check out what the game is about and I see this under reception:

Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell had similar praise, describing it as "pleasantly innocent and uplifting", though he awarded it a lower score than other reviewers as he felt the US$9.99 price was too high for the game's length.

I've heard this same negative criticism countless times -- that the price of the game is too high considering the length of the product. This resonates with some games that I love (I.E. Braid and Machinarium). The only criticism that Braid ever receives is that it is too short considering the $15.00 price point.

Braid - Too Short?

I think that time length is a completely irrelevant matter of criticism. Holding any kind of medium under the spotlight of length or replay-ability is a completely abhorrent measure of that mediums wholeness. Time criticisms, unless relevant to what the authors intention is, are missing the point.

The MOBA Post

For anyone that hasn't heard of the MOBA genre, it's the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre, hosting games like DotA (Defense of the Anciets), League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth (these are just some I've personally enjoyed).


I'm not going to take the time to explain these games because the point of this post is to plug a newer MOBA called Bloodline Champions (or BLC).

I think that BLC has potential to be a huge competitor with the former games.

Hit the jump for similarities and differences.

New Subject Matters

So over the course of this week I've came to the conclusion this blog, while having a focus on music, will be about much more. I already have a few posts laid out regarding my opinions on video game culture and will be putting those out over the next two weeks hopefully.

I'm taking more of a role in actual game design than I initially expected so I will also be producing music at a slower rate. Truthfully, I prefer to make music after we decide what is needed, rather than before which is what I have been doing. Should have a solid story for the game soon which will help us kick the team into a higher gear.

My friend Jake who I mentioned in a previous post will begin interjecting his own posts on here as well, providing some varied insight and perspective. He's an amazing musician with a well of musical knowledge. He also likes corgi's and late night Wendy's runs.

Beyond The Horizon (Listening Guide)

Every role-playing game that exists has an airship in it. It's the part of the game where the player is given ultimate freedom and exploration, and it's my personal favorite part of most RPGs (role-playing games).

Furthermore, I can't think of one RPG airship that didn't have a theme. Thus, I set out to create a tune of exploration and adventure for our game.

Here is the current version of Beyond the Horizon:

Beyond The Horizon by Project Panda Music

Hit the jump for the guide.

Jungle Grunge (Listening Guide)

My most recent piece is that of a Jungle-themed area. Hilariously enough, I don't even think there is a Jungle-esque area in the game itself, but either way I decided to finish the project.

Something I plan on doing for this blog is having a sort of listening guide that you can follow along as you hear these pieces, giving you an idea of whats intended from me, how I came about doing something, or anything else related to the piece.

If you'd rather have an unfiltered experience then go ahead and listen to the tune without reading the guide.

And now, here is the original piece:

Jungle Grunge by Project Panda Music

Hit the jump for the listening guide.

Some Backstory

Before I began this blog, my friend Paul asked me if I was interested in composing music for a video game he is going to begin creating soon. The game is supposed to be that of a SNES-like RPG -- a game style I grew up with and fondly remember. I agreed without hesitation.

I had a predicament though. I've never really composed music in my life. I jam and pump out riffs and solos' on my guitar, and the electronic music genre relies on incessant melodies with little variance -- something that doesn't translate well to orchestrated music (which, at heart, is what video game music is).

Surprising no one more than myself, I created this track immediately following Paul's request:

Kings Triumph (Intro Song) by Project Panda Music

Solid first attempt!

So I will be posting more songs on here relevant to the video game as well as some electronic music, but my focus is favoring the VGM (video game music) currently.

The Blog Has Begun

As the topic says, I will begin to update this blog of all things music related, paleo related, and whatever else I feel like telling the world.