zircon

The song doesn't play on my computer at all, in any browser. Website design fail.

So... is it just me or did public opinion do a complete 180 on this game? It seems like everyone was hating on it before it came out, but around the release date and since then I've only seen POSITIVE things.

Also.. a few issues with that statement. First of all, there is no reason at all for actually moving unless you are looking to work INHOUSE somewhere. There are almost no inhouse video game audio positions, and you tend to need a lot of experience (ie. shipped titles) to even bother, not to mention they get a million applications for each. So, the other option is a freelance contractor, in which case you could work from anywhere - don't feel like you have to move just to be in "the industry". Dan is in Boulder, I'm in Philly, Sean Beeson is in Ohio, Jeff Ball is in the middle of nowhere, etc. You get the idea Another thing is that you shouldn't be thinking in terms of "perfecting your skills", THEN looking for work. Your skills will never be perfect, and even if YOU think they are, I can guarantee they won't be at the level of the big gun VGM composers out there. I'm not saying don't keep striving to improve - not at all, in fact you should be working tirelessly to improve your skills. However, you need as much actual experience as possible, which means working on real projects, even if they're just indie gigs. You can't compose and produce in a vacuum (I've tried), and you need to get credits somehow, no matter how small they are.

Sirlin has a pretty good writeup of all the game design and psychology-related things he attended at GDC; I can't speak to it myself since I only attended audio events (you need a more expensive pass to get into everything.)

Check out this article: http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2010/3/13/gdc-2010-day-3.html The whole thing is good, but specifically read the part about "Fired and Fired-Up: Jobless Developer's Rant."

Depending on your exact job, you might not be writing music for 30-40 hours a week. I remember a survey on VI Control (a pro composer forum) which basically concluded that many pros are only WRITING about 20 hours a week. The rest of the time is spent doing everything else. There's also the issue of crunch time; you might be working relatively few hours on a given project until close to the deadline, when you immediately ramp up to 60 hours a week, but only for a short time. Prophet's example is exaggerated; I don't think those hours are at all commonplace, and it really depends on the company, their competence and their staff. Video game companies that have hours like that force their employees out or end up closing entirely. Crunch time is a reality (I was up until 2am working with Bustatunez on MI2 a few weeks ago) but it's not common for that level of intense work to span across months at a time.

This is actually my favorite track on the FF4 project. It's hilarious, catchy and well-produced. What more could you ask for?

That's actually really not true at all. DKC1 was not intended to be some kind of fluid continuation. Yes, it was mixed that way after everyone had their tracks handed in (simple crossfades) but at no time was there every any direction besides "make a good track." And I'm not knocking that at all either, since the project was great, but if you ask anyone who was actually on the project they'll tell you the same thing. Binnie just asked an assortment of ReMixers, a number of whom weren't even posted, to do remixes of Donkey Kong Country. And that's what we did.

That's a very underpowered computer. My 5-6 year old Pentium 4 3ghz desktop was definitely more powerful. The main problem is your audio drivers... you need a real interface of some kind, as most laptop interfaces are bad/CPU inefficient. Reason IS a CPU-efficient program but FL is hardly hungry at all.

How old is your computer? That demo song should run fine on anything built within the last 5 years, easily.

Make sure to change FL's mixer interpolation to the lowest setting (Linear, I think.) Also make sure the audio devices and buffer options are identical in both FL and Reason.

Heroes of Newerth won an award at GDC these last few days, and it just so happened S2Hunter was demoing the game in a booth. I hung around for a bit to see him instapick Scout in a Single Draft game and harass the hell out of a Pesti/Soul Reaper lane (with DSham on his side.) Fun times.

GDC is almost entirely a Western conference... some Japanese studios come but almost everything revolves around US + Europe. Miyamoto definitely won't be there. AFAIK he's never been here. Also: Writing this from our motel! Jimmy, Jill and I made it in safely. We're about to grab some food and pick up our badges.

It's open to the public but costs quite a bit even for a super-basic pass. it starts at 200 or so and reaches nearly 2k. Also its more for pros and aspiring pros, not consumers. (on the tarmac in Denver atm)

Yep! Me, Jill, Jimmy (BGC) and Bustatunez will all be there. PM me your phone #.

Wait, keep in mind GATING is not stuttering. For stuttering BT-style you need to take one bit of audio and repeat it. You can do that with a granular sampler/effect like Glitch which buffers + retriggers, or by manually importing, slicing + copying bits...

I think what Arek is complaining about is the fact that using magic tied to stats is way better than using the magic itself. The strategy is degenerate/non-existent.

Both 1:56 and 2:03 in Gray's song are a brass swell. 5:11 is not the same crescendo, it's a choir ascending in pitch and intensity. The BSG opening sounds like some kind of prepared percussion or metal, as I said.

Fade Assassin looks like the cousin of Forsaken Archer and The Dark Lady.

I'd argue that the FF formula involves a particular kind of grand plot, party-based combat that is pretty much never 100% realtime, a heavy focus on a particular kind of character development/stat tweaking that is not like any Western RPGs, etc

There are a lot of ways to do stutters. The two best ways would be as follows; you can bounce the audio down to WAV, import it as an audio clip and slice it up, repeating certain slices and making them shorster. Or, you can use the dblue Glitch plugin and program it so the Retrigger effect is soloed, and just make a good pattern with that (or automate the wet/dry mix.)

For fun, revised tiers! God: Chronos, Zephyr S: Magebane, Scout, Tempest, Pyromancer, Witch Slayer, Behemoth, Pebbles, Jeraziah, Soulstealer, Corrupted Disciple, Demented Shaman, Forsaken Archer, Hellbringer, Plague Rider, Accursed, Pharaoh, Deadwood A: Swiftblade, Valkyrie, Blacksmith, Ophelia, Vindicator, Hammerstorm, Predator, Slither, The Madman, Arachna, Defiler, Puppet Master, Torturer, Wretched Hag, Succubus, Soul Reaper, Pestilence, Magmus B: Moon Queen, Andromeda, Engineer, Nymphora, Glacius, Thunderbringer, Pollywog Priest, Legionnaire, Keeper of the Forest, Pandamonium, The Dark Lady, Sand Wraith, Devourer, Electrician, Kraken C: Night Hound, Wildsoul, Armadon, Blood Hunter, Voodoo Jester D: Rampage, War Beast, Maliken I think everything is pretty well-balanced right now, especially if you compare to our earlier tier lists. Chronos and Zephyr obviously need to come down, but heroes like Magmus, Sand Wraith, Jeraziah, Tempest and Behemoth have all been somewhat reduced in power for various reasons. Heroes like MQ, Night Hound, Scout, FA, BS and Swift have all seen buffs. The D-tier could all use some buffs, though I doubt War Beast will see any simply because it IS possible to do some incredible farming with him if you're good; he just lacks the tools to really contribute to a teamfight outside of pure auto-attacks. Outside of Chronos, carries with safe farming have taken the S-tier spots. Scout and Magebane have very reliable escapes and monstrous scaling. Madman dropped a tier due to the Stalk nerf and the power increase of other carries. Corrupted and FA remain two of the strongest heroes in the game.

I haven't heard that sound before... or at least, if I have, I don't remember hearing it. It actually sounds like some kind of prepared instrument or metal rather than a string or brass section.

I bought a PS2 in high school after seeing the trailer for the game Disgaea and playing it once at a friend's house. I also had to buy the memory card and the game itself, making it technically the most expensive game I've ever purchased. But oh man was it worth it... I love Disgaea.

A couple of hard-working game developers are "corporate dicks"? That's really unfair. When anything like this happens, it hurts US directly because if game developers are getting screwed over and wasting their time and money in court trying to straighten things out, that's time and money they're NOT spending on making good games for us.