That really is a great background, nextheory, and I've found myself in a somewhat difficult situation because of it. I've nearly finished a very rough prototype of the game in AGS using my background and sprites (320x200 now, to give it that classic low-res flavor), but I don't want nextheory's gorgeous art to just be pushed aside because I jumped the gun.

 

Any ideas on how we can make some sort of compromise without either of our labors going completely to waste?

Hey Akril!

 

No worries! If you'd like to use my artwork please do, if it would make your job any more difficult then don't, no worries! Also if you need for me to create any background states (ie. door open/close states, etc), or if you would need the final psd, just let me know. No problems, and thanks for the compliments! And cannot wait until I play the final product!

BTW.. my favorite is the Mallard model...

Hey Akril!

 

No worries! If you'd like to use my artwork please do, if it would make your job any more difficult then don't, no worries! Also if you need for me to create any background states (ie. door open/close states, etc), or if you would need the final psd, just let me know. No problems, and thanks for the compliments! And cannot wait until I play the final product!

 

Thanks, nextheory (I actually sent you a private message regarding the background -- please reply to it as soon as you can).

 

This prototype is coming along pretty well. I've added a lot of great lines that Jess has written, and the game is almost completely playable now. I just need to do a few short animations and double-check some of my coding, as well as a few other minor things.

 

The one thing which I won't be able to do on my own is the music. At most, I think we'll need one piece of music for the intro, a longer piece for the main part of the game, one "victory theme" for when the final puzzle is solved and the game is winding down, and one last piece for the credits (which won't be very long.)

If you want to reuse SQ music, let me know. If Troels is agreeable, we could use the SQ7 music that was never released.

 

Do you need MIDI or digital files?

You can definitely use the SQ7 music, all you want. Spikey's got a fresh recording of it, too. Which reminds me, Spikey, when can we fire that thing off to Colin? ;)

An idea here for using nextheory's image and Akril's work right away... drop his in as a backdrop for the intro screen (where the exposition is for introducing the scenario) then switch to the game background. Yeah, the geometries & object placement are different, but I don't think it would be too confusing, as it would blink away when the player zips through the text.

 

Also (in case anyone cares at all about Linux) I'm only one linker problem away from a Linux build of AGS... I'm trying to set up my build & test environment on the latest Ubuntu release, 12.04LTS (probably 80% of all Linux gamers will be running this). This has introduced some versioning differences from bero's setup and has required a bit of hacking. I'll test it by rebuilding Troel's demo (the one using Filip's background) and report back when that works. Then I'll ping bero again about the installer bits.

 

This (pardon) god damn team summit in Colorado made me lose an entire day... how dare work infringe on my Space Questing!!

If you want to reuse SQ music, let me know. If Troels is agreeable, we could use the SQ7 music that was never released.

 

Do you need MIDI or digital files?

 

It doesn't matter. MIDI would probably fit better with the retro look of the game, though. Thank you for the offer!

Or, you could choose to play out the end credits over nextheory's art! That would be really cool looking.

 

I agree that you probably want something more retro-themed for the main game, and it would be nice if the theme of the main game music was also audible in the end credits (it would be a way for a musician like Spikey to reuse their main theme work with some tweaks).

 

 

Also, lots of classical music is available, creative commons licensed, in MIDI format.

 

You might choose a chunk of something epic (Wagner, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, etc) for the victory theme music to save time. For all I know, Spikey is a machine and can do it all himself in short order, so please try not be offended by my ideas, I'm just trying to help.

Yeah, I've used public domain tracks in games before -- the problem is rooting through the thousands out there trying to find one that fits just right -- it can take a pretty long time, especially for a perfectionist like myself. Right now, I think I might try filling in the empty spots with some of the unused music from SQ5/6.

 

EDIT: All right -- I've found some appropriate tracks for most of the game. All I need now is the intro and credits music.

You rock, Akril!

 

Jess

Akril; what are you looking for, thematically, for the intro and credits? Can you give examples? I know that ultimately you'll end up deciding, but I hope one us can get help, you deserve it :)

 

I ask because I have some ideas for sources, and can spend a bit of time screening, and compile a short-ish list distilled down to ~30s per track.

Also, the Bea sprite... total geek girl captured in EGA!! I love it.

Thanks, s_d!

 

For the intro, I was hoping for something fairly epic and Space-Questy, but not completely over the top. For the credits, perhaps I could use something a little milder, but still fairly upbeat.

 

I'm almost finished with Bea's walk cycle now. I asked nextheory if he was willing to work on the background, but it's been a day or so since I sent him a message, so I think I'll have to tackle it myself now.

Sounds good. I found some CC chiptunes that have the right retro feel, but are definitely too primitive to be considered nice Roland quality MIDI music. The big problem with them is they tend to have an arcade feel which doesn't completely fit.

 

There are some standouts that I'll post up here; possible candidates for the credits.

 

Also, nextheory was logged in and watching this thread when I last posted above!! So, I'm guessing he's busy at work and probably won't say much until this evening.

In fact... he's on RIGHT NOW... :ph34r:

Nextheory, Akril... you might be able to communicate faster on the IRC channel since it's pretty obvious that you're a pair of super busy people.

I am cheering you guys on ... I hope you all can pull something together in such a short time... I am in awe.

I got in contact with nextheory and it looks like I am going to be doing the background myself now. Hopefully it shouldn't take too much time.

 

I've also gotten most of the GUIs and cursors done (I figured I might as well go all the way and create some pretty custom icons instead of the ho-hum default ones).

 

Post whatever possible music for the game that you find, s_d -- the more, the better.

Akril; not low-fi at all, but my #1 choice so far for an epic orchestral, CC-BY-NC-SA (as best I can tell), main theme is http://www.jamendo.c...77316/space-ace ... though, it is kind of over-the-top. It could be shortened to remove some of the movements.

 

For retro space-like chiptunes, I've got a medium-sized list. Unfortunately, as mentioned, there is an extremely strong bent toward electronic J-Pop (reminiscent of 80's Japanese console games). Some are "space-ish". All of these are from http://freemusicarchive.org but I have found other sites (with even less appropriate tracks). I suggest using their embedded Flash player and give no more than 30-40s to each one so you don't get bogged down (should be able to chug through them in 10-15 minutes). As an aside, not necessarily anything to do with this, I *really* like Trash80's work :)

• http://freemusicarch...noon-voyage-iii
• http://freemusicarch...rty_anthem_1651
• http://freemusicarch...-trash80-icarus
• http://freemusicarch...rmat_the_planet
• http://freemusicarch...formation_chase
• http://freemusicarch...rstellarChannel
• http://freemusicarch...tesBeforeReboot
• http://freemusicarch...ot-UgolPadeniya
• http://freemusicarch...08_Bloody_Tears
• http://freemusicarch...unar_Beach_2009
• http://freemusicarch...10_-_64kb_intro
• http://freemusicarch...2_-_Unique_2011
• http://freemusicarch..._Exapno_Mapcase

I'll look for more from other sites when I get back to the hotel room after dinner. I hope something is usable!!

Here's another, possibly more suited for a pirate game, though: http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/25262/sgo-main-title

You can use this theme I wrote for the 2GFA podcast somewhere if you like.

 

http://brandonblume.com/music/2guyspodcast.mp3

Pretty cool MI its very SQ3

The SQ7 MIDI files are here if you want to use any of it:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1326711/Space%20Quest%207.zip

Yeah, that's what I was going for :). Really felt like a broadcast intro opener, so I made something in that vein.