dannthr

Cool. I'd been slacking . Not sure which disc is appropriate for the idea I'm working on, so I'll leave that to you folks.

I didn't get an email from you, yo!

The biggest mistake a dev can make is concealing their budget from the person they're entrusting with their audio vision. Unfortunately, a lot of devs "shop around." Treat yourself with some respect but be objective and sincere about what price will yield your best results. You can't deliver a killer soundtrack if you're on your third week of revisions for a single minute loop and you're now realizing that you're getting paid about 3 bucks an hour to write it. Think about your skill level, be honest in your evaluation of how well produced/professionally produced your music is (as honest as possible) and come up with an optimistic fee, be open to negotiation and maintain a firm minimum. If you have no credits, then money is probably not your primary objective for the work, that's important to evaluate as well. I definitely charged low when I was starting out, never charged as low as $100/min, but low. I had my minimums and sometimes that meant it didn't work out. Sometimes that meant the dude who was charging $50/min got the job, but they almost always SOUND like it too. I knew a guy who was trapped in $50/min, couldn't seem to work his way out, kept getting gigs by low-balling and then he grew a customer base of cheap devs looking for the bottom line. He was not happy with the work he did and he had to do a high volume to maintain a steady income, so he burnt up all his creative juices just trying to churn out 40-60 minutes a month just to pay the bills. Most importantly: NEVER, EVER POST YOUR RATES ANYWHERE--JUST DON'T DO IT. All rate discussions should be kept private in undisclosed email conversations with your client. The client will want you to disclose a rate immediately, but you cannot honestly estimate a rate if you do not know what kind of music you'll be writing, what the scope or duration of the project is, whether your client is expecting any live musicians, what KIND of production they're expecting from you, etc., etc., etc. It's not about holding something back from the dev, it's about being honest about what rate will yield your best results.

Flipping a MIDI [flip-ing ey mid-ee] A hand gesture using the ASL "G" with the left hand crossed over an "M" with right hand. Used to identify members of the General MIDI gang. Turning your MIDI File over in order to achieve an even crispness when you're really cooking, man. Taking an existing MIDI file, improving it, and redistributing it for profit.

As far as I know, it is! I'm still in, anyhow, I just have time complications at the moment. The only time line I've seen on this (and maybe I just missed it) was that things were going to come together in the second half of this year--so it seemed like I had some time, yo!

I agree, Life Is Strange was a breath of fresh air--so to speak--out of curiosity, what about that game helped you become emotionally invested in the character decisions? Was it simply because you knew that there would be changes in the course of the story? Or did you emotionally connect with the characters themselves? What made it special to you?

Definitely agree! Do you guys have any other games that presented you with emotionally driven decisions that forced you to overcome internal conflicts about how to proceed? As a juxtaposition, I recently played Fire Watch, and while throughout the game I am making decisions that presumably alter the course of the discussion I'm having with the person on my radio, I found that I had minimal conflict or investment into the outcome of those decisions. Often times it was very subtle, maybe once or twice I would make a decision to try to keep on her good side, but that mostly had to do with not wanting to be punished with silence (which happened once) and partly because I didn't completely trust her.

So recently I've been playing a few games specifically because they put me in a position to make decisions that seem to have emotional outcomes and I've been really fascinated by this particular facet of design. I know that we've had a lot of games that by design (usually story) have had an emotional affect--like the death of a character, etc.--but these aren't emotional consequences based on the decisions you make as a player (usually). Like FF6 and FF7 had some emotional story marks, but these weren't the result of a decision rather they were emotional moments in a story surrounding characters the player had already invested in (as an example). I first started thinking about the impact of these sorts of game scenarios when I was playing Life Is Strange: [spoilers] During the scene in Chloe's bedroom, when her step-dad comes home and Chloe asks you to take the rap for her/protect her/etc. I got stressed out because I had, for whatever reason, bonded with the idea of Chloe as a friend and an important person--I was invested--and I wanted to make decisions that would help her, but I wasn't sure how much I was willing to sacrifice my own player motivations and character in the game. [/spoilers] There does seem to be a slight element of personal sacrifice in these sorts of scenarios and I'm really interested in hearing other people's experiences with game scenarios where you, as a player, have been placed in a situation where either the stress of making a difficult decision or the outcome of a decision resulted in an emotional stress/reaction. I would love to hear the scenario and how you felt about it and whether you thought it was a compelling or engaging experience. (And why you think it effectively tugged at your emotions) And be sure to tag your spoilers for courtesy. I'll offer another one, This War of Mine: [spoilers] I stumbled upon a woman being assaulted by a man with a gun in an abandoned building. I heard them arguing from outside a door and could see through a keyhole that he had a gun. He pulled her struggling off screen with the strong implication that he was going to rape her. I only had a shovel for clearing rubble, so I wasn't sure I could help her, but I wanted to help her--it seemed like the right thing to do. So I braced myself and pursued in the hopes that I could surprise him or get the jump on him with a shovel. He had taken her into a flatbed truck with the door closed, so I decided to just rush in. I died/was shot. That is, my character died, and he died forever. I was frustrated, of course, he was a good character in the game, and there were game related consequences for his death. But emotionally, it was everything that lead up to it that was really thrilling. The feeling of fear, anticipation, and the strong sense of justice that doesn't really apply in the real world was evoked. It was exciting and emotionally charged and it rested completely on my choices. [/spoilers] I'd love to hear what other people have experienced, what games they've played where they've faced these sorts of decisions, and what they thought about the experiences afterward.

That sucks, man! But at least you're getting out of there! Pose looks great, nice energy! I have a more interesting time with hands after some hand studies--you could try re-rendering some dynamic hands but with your 4-digit style: http://windsweptsummer.deviantart.com/art/Right-Hand-Reference-28509739

You going through something right now? Moving away? Or is it just a stressful trip? I like the pattern about her waist. I think would have liked her right hand to be a tad more interesting--maybe something more delicate like this: As it is now, she's clutching it in her fist--could be a transference of your mental state, if you were especially stressed, but I think how she holds the flower will help sell the "happy place" and bring it to life a bit more. Other than that, really nice atmosphere--feels thick.

Kat/RedRabbu cosplaying as Chun Li--5-15 minute poses, Markers and Pencil on Bristol:

Maura Evelyn Live Portrait 2.5 Hours, Charcoal on Drawing Paper:

The book is separated into three parts: First, an introduction to KSP--assuming no background in programming--and walking you through the various types of Kontakt instrument interactions you create in the script. Second, example applications which read like case-studies/code examples. Third, script vocabulary reference (basically an A-Z of script commands, variables, etc.). It's a small book--about 6" tall--so at first, I was kind of annoyed at the price, but it's hundreds of pages long, and it makes up for its small form by being a substantial reference manual.

Had a great session tonight with one of my favorite models, John Tucker! Charcoal on newsprint 5-15 minute poses:

Mike Novy's KSP book is a pretty good (and the only published) resource on Kontakt scripting: http://www.amazon.com/KSP-Scripting-1-Mike-Novy/dp/3839150515/ I find it a pretty handy resource when I'm trying to say set up custom instruments.