I have been working on music quite a bit lately. I currently have about 27 minutes of the OSV finished–or half of the soundtrack. The game may or may not make the end of 2012, but I am pretty confident the soundtrack will.

As promised, following are a few tracks from the game. They are rough sketches, so there are some production issues and I will go back and tidy up some of the dynamics before game publication, but for now, enjoy. You’ll need an HTML5 browser to play the audio content, or you just won’t see anything.

Arrival

This is a track from the opening scene of the game and the first map. You may have heard it already, as it is the track played in the demo reel we made last October.

Cliffs

This track is from the first section of the game also. Shortly after the opening, the heroes find themselves exploring a misty canyon.

Magic Trick

This track is a battle theme. Wilfred the Hero will not have a stock battle theme; rather, regular battles will occur seamlessly and without additional loading or a change in music. This battle theme plays when the heroes fight Streganona and her monster, which you may remember from the original 2005 version of Wilfred the Hero. I don’t have a screenshot for that battle yet, so here is a screen from a different boss fight.

All of these screenshots are from the actual game running. No mockups here! These are all from last October, and we’ve come a long way since then, but they fit the scenes for the music.

The first area of the game takes place around the foothills of the mountain. The path forward cuts straight into and through some of the foothills and into the mountain itself, so there are some caves to explore. They’ve been hollowed out over the centuries by the rising and falling water level, so they are fairly wide-open and airy. They are also filled with water; Wilfred, like many video game heroes, has never learned how to swim, so he has to make sure he doesn’t fall!

Teo and I are still working hard on Wilfred the Hero and we are making very good progress. About 1/4 of the game content is complete at this time, including music, sound, scenes, etc. The majority of the game’s basic framework and mechanics are complete. We’re sticking to the 2012 release date indicated in the demo reel, but I would advise that it will be closer to the end of the year than the beginning. It takes time to make a video game on the weekends.

At some point in the coming months I will post a preview of the soundtrack. There are a number of very good tracks that are very close to being complete and I thought I would share them without anyone interested. Stand by for more updates!

Teo Mathlein sent in some wonderful concept art for an area of the game called The Great Wall that I thought I might share.

This austere structure made of sheer rock faces, impregnable stone walls, and many treacherous walkways is the only way up. This area marks the Heroes’ major climb up of the dragon’s mountain, through low-lying clouds and into the sky, as they journey always to the unreachable summit. By this point in the mission, it is well into the day.

There are many entrances that lead into the heart of the structure; inside, lie the mysterious passages and tunnels that many monsters call home. The only up is through them—and through whatever danger is inside.

 

Waiting to Die is the official soundtrack to the independent horror film Waiting to Die. As of this writing, the film has not yet been released. It will debut during Spring 2011.

Download the entire soundtrack here: http://www.brandonabley.com/files/Waiting%20to%20Die%20FINAL%20Mp3s%20FEB%202011.zip

Listen to the streaming soundtrack free at Last.fm (click image):

This music is alternatively moody and melancholy and horrifying, depending on the track. It is writting for piano, violin, miscellaneous percussion, and synthesizer. The entire soundtrack runs about 50 minutes and includes 19 tracks.

These tracks are not significantly changed from the versions heard in the film.

All composition, sequencing, and production was done by myself.

Cover art by Teo Mathlein.

http://www.last.fm/music/Brandon%2520Abley?ac=brandon%20abley

http://www.gamingw.net/item.php?id=77267

Primarily we talk about my music catalog, my influences, and Wilfred the Hero.  Carius is a good interviewer, and if you are interested in me or my work, the review is worth checking out.  I was really surprised by the superfans that crawled out of the woodwork to say good things about me in the comments!  I have always known I have a few listeners here and there, but I didn’t think I was popular at GW at all.

There are personal reasons why I am ambivalent about this interview, but I am sure my (limited) blog audience is probably interested in it.

Also: I am sure you have noticed I am updating more frequently.  This will probably continue.  A new layout is in the works – it doesn’t seem appropriate to keep using Teo’s art for the layout when he and I aren’t working on a game together anymore.

RMNCast: Episode 6 should be up within one week.  We are recording tomorrow.

http://www.rpgmaker.net/games/433/downloads/

If you aren’t familiar, U.S.G is an interesting hybrid of bullet-hell shooter and Japanese RPG.  The game features character levels and customization as well as an epic story like a typical jRPG, but the core gameplay stages are a bullet-hell SHMUP.  It’s a pretty good game and my favorite RPG Maker game.

I wrote the complete official soundtrack for U.S.G (one or two tracks were created by other artists I believe).  Game design and coding was done by community member Hima, and art was done by community member Piti.  GamingW moderator HandsomeLamb helped with the English script (Hima and Piti are from Thailand and their English is pretty good but not really suitable for writing dialog).

If you missed it, be sure to download my U.S.G Symphonic Suite!

http://www.brandonabley.com/files/USG-OST-SV-06-04-2008.zip

Screenshot: