What do you guys think of commissioning our own soundtrack?

[Vincent]

As the title says, I’m wondering if anyone here has an opinion on creating a unique soundtrack specifically for our game – we could still have all the soundtrack selections we have now, but we would also have a unique soundtrack to go with our own unique game. I wonder if doing this might lend our game a bit more of a ‘legitimate franchise’ feel to others, compared to how we’re often viewed as a simple (but awesome) mod by many of the people I’ve talked to.

I have no skills in composing, and I doubt anyone else working on this project does either, so we’d have to commission somebody to do it (my vote would be for Peter Crowley from Youtube), and that could be a very expensive proposition depending on how many tracks we want to include.

In the end, I’m just throwing this out there to see what kind of thoughts people have on the subject. I’m well aware that we have lots of good music already, but I still think it would be a really cool thing to do, and I’d immediately be willing to front quite a bit of cash to carry it out myself, but what is everyone else’s opinion? Would there be a desire for something like this, and if so, how would we try to go about doing it?

• This topic was modified 6 years, 12 months ago by Vincent.

[modernknight1]

Its funny because Jeffrey and I had already discussed this very thing in just the recent past. Part of what our legal team has done is quantify what is public domain and what is our owned content. This is why future packaging of our gaming offerings will be in two part downloads. The new MAELSTROM game engine itself and all of the exclusive self created resource content (new skins, characters, modelers ships – Orazio’s new map/models, etc. etc. are all part of the paid content. The companion package is a free download consisting of widely non-owned public domain content (music, images, resources, etc) that we cannot(legally) and/or should not sell (even in light of other video game offerings that are doing so anyway).

So Jeffrey and I had talked about a version with all exclusive new resource content created by us alone. We have estimated what it would cost to hire some modelers to build specific new content who would work directly for Orazio who would direct their overall effort and tie it in with his own work. In addition, artwork and images for loading screens, etc. and music might also require some commissioning, but I don’t want to make this overly expensive.

SO, I will tag friends who are artists (Deviantart) and put my own art in there as well. I will also use stuff that is completely free with NO risk of rights infringement (TONS OF STUFF HERE!) I have whole books full of free germane images.

If we do go the music route, there is a lot of really good stuff out there already for sale on the internet and much of it is DIRT cheap for unlimited licensing! In addition, I reached out to Gary Posner a number of years ago for permission to use one of his tracks and I LOVE his stuff. Its very fitting for our venue and I think he probably already has tracks that would work for us and wouldn’t break the bank. In addition, I am a fan of Peter Nylander. He has done some soundtracks for National Geographic and I understand he is both reasonable and available. Most of the music currently in the game was hand selected by myself so I will still be very selective in where I apply new music where, and the mood/feel I want it to exude.

BTW I have your character and ship finished. I haven’t posted screenshots here yet because of what I perceive as a lack of interest from our audience – AND – I am working on a ton of new stuff – and because we are trying to rebuild the website before the Decemeber 21st renewal date. We don’t want to renew, so we are frantically seeking other hosting.

I wasn’t sure the Shtandart coloring you requested would work on a pinnace, but it worked out nicely as one of the skins for this new ship – meet your character’s ship. MK

[Vincent]

Hot damn, that ship looks AMAZING, MK. The stern decoration came out really well also – love everything you’ve done with this! Can’t wait to get my copy of the new release and take a look at all the new content!

From what you said, I’m led to believe that this is a new ship being introduced in the new version, is that correct? Also, just out of curiosity, what tier is it?

I like the ideas you apparently have for such a soundtrack, as well as the other parts. Though I’ve never heard of the artists you mentioned before, but I’ll check them out when I get a chance to in the near future. I also fully understand why you want to be selective when building music packs, and I fully agree – even a single piece of music that doesn’t quite fit can create a jarring experience for me, so I know how important that is. I like the idea of new loading screens, though I’m fine with the ones we currently have as well.

The idea to create a new version with all custom content is an interesting one, as I had never considered that before now – but it certainly seems like it might be an excellent idea if you guys can afford it, and I know I’d be perfectly willing to pitch in some cash here and there to help out if you did go that route.

Sad to hear about the lack of interest ATM, but hopefully a new website will help to draw more people into our little community once we get something up and running. Best wishes on that endeavor, we could really use a new port of call as soon as you can get one up and running.

Here’s a health to the company!

[Alexander]

Hi modernknight1,
I have specially registered to express my words of support and respect! I really like what your team is doing! Unfortunately, the language barrier does not allow me to fully communicate here. But nevertheless, I constantly follow all the updates, so I’m very interested.:-)

[modernknight1]

Alexander,

Thanks! If only there were more like you. Much more would have been completed long ago.

MK

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