Guvnor_P on 7/1/2011 at 10:13
GDC do publish all the talks and are filming each session (I believe) but I don't know how public these are made. Providing Eidos clear it, I'd be more than happy to submit the paper to other sites but I'm not sure about the video.
This is a talk primarily about generative music to fellow game industry people, with Thief being the context, so it's going to be a very focused talk with the emphasis on music theory and practice and not about the game in general.
One site even reported the talk as being the first public demonstration of the game, that's definitely not what I'll be doing nor is it how the talk has been described. Hopefully we'll send out more of a press release once the talk has been scheduled to be clear on what the talk is and isn't about.
Briareos H on 7/1/2011 at 10:21
Quote Posted by Guvnor_P
it's going to be a very focused talk with the emphasis on music theory and practice and not about the game in general.
That's usually the first sign of a developer doing things right. Game programmers and even designers should see themselves as researchers first and foremost, and all the game studios we know and love publish regularly new papers.
Let's just hope that the press release is clear enough for all those (from gamers to bad journos) who hope to see Thief 4 screenshots or a talk about the game itself. Thanks Guv'.
jtr7 on 7/1/2011 at 10:37
Quote Posted by Guvnor_P
GDC do publish all the talks and are filming each session (I believe) but I don't know how public these are made. Providing Eidos clear it, I'd be more than happy to submit the paper to other sites but I'm not sure about the video.
This is a talk primarily about generative music to fellow game industry people, with Thief being the context, so it's going to be a very focused talk with the emphasis on music theory and practice and not about the game in general.
One site even reported the talk as being the first public demonstration of the game, that's definitely not what I'll be doing nor is it how the talk has been described. Hopefully we'll send out more of a press release once the talk has been scheduled to be clear on what the talk is and isn't about.
Thanks! Yeah, I've watched a few and love the craft aspects of most entertainment media, so even though I'm an outsider, I have a keen interest. I noticed the hopeful tone of the news articles, but I hadn't seen the one you mention, yet, leaping out into fallacy like that. It's why I mentioned Fat Man's book, since he advocates having all the audio interrelated by one author for the unified experience.
In film, Ben Burtt really got me into paying attention to sound and mixes, with how he approached all the layers of sound as a musician and arranger, and some scenes are very musical and synergistic between Williams' score, the sound f/x, and vocal performances. I listened to the Star Wars story on vinyl many times after seeing it once in theatres, and not having the visuals to take in, I could really appreciate the sound mix. In fact, I'm often more a fan of the making of and philosophies behind a project than the end result, but it's heaven when the product is great, regardless. I've been going through the Beatles Anthology this week...
MoonAchilles on 8/1/2011 at 12:17
Quote Posted by Guvnor_P
(
www.earcom.net/files/dwnoir_ost.zip)
This was my first game (apart from some work I did on Discworld II) and my equipment was very limited, just a Kurzweil K2000 and a Roland Sound Canvas. Dem were the days...
Just listened to a few of the tracks. Great work, Paul! It really sets the mood I think. I have no doubts that the sound of Thief IV is in capable hands. To me the "Cafe Ankh Act 4" sounds a little thiefy..growling sounds in a waterfilled cave..sort of.. :)
Guvnor_P on 8/1/2011 at 23:34
Quote Posted by MoonAchilles
Just listened to a few of the tracks. Great work, Paul! It really sets the mood I think. I have no doubts that the sound of Thief IV is in capable hands. To me the "Cafe Ankh Act 4" sounds a little thiefy..growling sounds in a waterfilled cave..sort of.. :)
Ah, it was so many years ago but thank you for the kind comment.
nicked on 9/1/2011 at 08:33
It's been many years since my copy of Discworld Noir ran on my PC, but I remember being very impressed with the music in that game and how it fit perfectly with the locations and story.
Sounds like Thief 4 is in good hands with this clear focus on getting the audio right from an early point in development.
deathshadow on 13/1/2011 at 03:47
Quote Posted by T-Smith
*Listens to Thief 3's soundtrack again*
Wait, people didn't like this?
I'd have killed for just one decent electric guitar riff during a cutscene. Most of it was ok for in-game, but let's face it the metal distortion strumming of the original two games intro's were pure /WIN/ drawing you in...
While T3 was just kind-of... whatever. Rolling high-tempo nothingness... T1/T2 had a metal feel, T3 was more techno...
I mean, compare:
TDP: (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uR8pcqV_HY)
TMA: (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUxsgmJv-2c)
TDS: (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY483Gd3lOU)
Though I have the feeling Thief is going to end up like Star Trek in that regard. Original series had sweeping epic orchestration, they flushed it with the movie - but that movie theme was turned into something totally cool by the time of TNG... then along comes DS9 with it's Cornet Dirge for the Tone Deaf, V'Ger with it's annoying drawn-out non-comittal twinky crap that you keep waiting for the song to actually START, and then Enterprise with it's cheap ass whiny wussy garbage that an artist off a 1980's easy listening AM radio station would have kicked the ass of for being so lame.
Of course, then there's the '09 movie that came full circle.
Or Bubblegum Crisis -- where Priss from the "lame" BG Crash would torture and kill the Priss from the "reimagined" version for being such a wuss. (and the transition from 80's metal to 1990's techno -- well, if you consider off-key Casio FM Synth keyboard recorded in a bathroom to qualify as techno)
Konya wa Hurricane, Original - (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1xYc7jmz84)
Crappy ass late 90's version - (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjdhUii_Oeo)
Sometimes you just want to kill people who make sequels.
jtr7 on 13/1/2011 at 04:13
Yeah. I like me some Beatles, Led Zepplin, Devo, and Johann S. Bach, and the Muppets, but not in a Thief game--liking it has nothing to do with the disappointment of a cinematic score that tries to be subtle and of a different atmosphere, as atmospheric as it is. Also, to cover another angle, just because I groove to some Subway to Sally's Accingite Vos, it doesn't mean I want more StS tracks or like the band in general. I like the abstractions of eeriness created by the odd sound choices in the older titles over the cinema score of TDS, while enjoying the soundtrack outside the game more than in it. It was a departure and it lacked the alien qualities and unconventional choices that hooked me, when it wasn't only referencing them. Remember, TDS was the final chapter of a trilogy, and yet it's so different, it's categorized by itself by most fans. It shouldn't have left its best stuff behind, its infectious weirdness, no matter how good it is, or how good it is "in its own right" (a phrase that is as much an admittance of failure as acceptance). It was not unconventional, and not of the same universe. It referenced the other soundtracks and was not of the same DNA.
negativeliberty on 19/1/2011 at 18:14
Quote Posted by deathshadow
While T3 was just kind-of... whatever. Rolling high-tempo nothingness... T1/T2 had a metal feel, T3 was more techno...
No the first two have an (electronic) ambient soundtrack pretty much throughout whereas TDS had lots of annoying metal shouting in your face most of the time (just listen to the TDS intro, ugh that is ugly).
