rRPC - The Remix Role-Playing Competition (Congratulations to Jason Covenant and evktalo)

[FenixDown]

I wanted to do more fallen songs, but for almost an entire month I have been helping my sister from her sickness. Been helping her with her medications,helped the ambulance ppl take her to the hosp twice, babysitting my nephew and keeping the house clean. the choices for the villain fallen songs were great Fenix, I had a real long debate on whether of doing hallow bastion or that other song from ff8. since i couldn't do anything I feel like this lol

That's totally understandable. I appreciate that you were able to submit a Fallen mix earlier in the compo. And when you have time in the future, there's no reason you can't do something with those sources for your own sake. Maybe you'll have something that'll be posted on the OCR homepage someday.

Wait, so what are we remixing exactly? Are we remixing only our own themes or both themes?

Ugh, I can't believe I was that careless. The finalists will be mixing their themes combined with their opponent's theme. So basically carrying on the Villain bracket approach. I know it's stated somewhere in the opening post of the compo but I still should have remembered to include one of the most important parts of the round in the finals post. I'll edit that in. Sorry about that.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Listen to the main melody again (the one I'm singing). I grabbed a melody from each source and then combined them. I'm guessing you just heard Sherincal in it and didn't keep listening to hear if Pokey was there too, which is understandable. The bell thingy at :53 in mine is also from Pokey. In GLL's, check out the gated saw at :59. That's Pokey.

Thanks for the pointers! I can hear the bells figure, that's the bass line indeed. With the other usage, I can hear the rhythmic pattern, and your piece's melody going in the same direction (up, down, up) in the first phrase, but the intervals are different. I can kinda feel now it's pointed out to me but I do think it's too far off.

[Refraktion]

Too bad I missed this, would have been fun to do. Congratulations to the finalists.

[FenixDown]

Well, there's always next year (or whenever another rRPC may take place). In the meantime though, feel free to join the rRPC Social Group and vote on who you think should win the compo when voting opens next week.

[Eino Keskitalo]

I've started my track. I'm thinking of trying to do vocals, I believe Jason would appreciate that.

[FenixDown]

Nice, I'm looking forward to that. How is your mix coming along Jason?

[Jason Covenant]

Nice, I'm looking forward to that. How is your mix coming along Jason?

I'll try to get started tonight.

[Eino Keskitalo]

I don't have the time and space and opportunity and stuff to record any vocals unfortunately, but I shouldn't have trouble finishing my piece otherwise.

[Jason Covenant]

I haven't had a chance to do anything yet. I've been super busy. I don't know if I'll be able to start anything before the deadline early tomorrow, but I will have time tomorrow night to make something. Any chance we could get a 1-day extension?

[Eino Keskitalo]

I'd be ok with that.

[FenixDown]

Alright, I'll extend the deadline to tomorrow. Just send me the music when it's ready and I'll do my part after I get out of work.

[Jason Covenant]

Ok, starting ye olde mix now. I forgot I had planned to have company over tonight, so I'll be working on it sporadically for a bit, then OHC'ing it for the last few hours before the deadline. My plan is to make a beat, then 'sing' improvisationally over it.

Is the deadline still noon EST?

[FenixDown]

Just send it in as soon as you are able today. I'll be at my job during the usual deadline today so you've got two or three extra hours there. So I guess aim for 3 if you need a specific deadline to shoot for. Please include any lyrics in the PM. Thanks a lot and I'm looking forward to hearing what you've got.

[FenixDown]

and

have submitted their mixes so voting for the rRPC Finals is now open! You may download the round’s zip folder here. Voting may be done in the rRPC Social Group and will remain open until noon EST on Monday, August 18. If you want to post reviews of the round’s tracks, do so in a single post in this thread.

I wish the best of luck to our two Finalists.

[FenixDown]

Some thoughts on the final entries of the rRPC.

evktalo - Pokey Needs To Go Down:

I like what you did with this mix. You made good use of your Marth theme. You managed to implement the Pokey theme despite its sparseness and tweaked the sound of it over the course of the mix to offer more variety. The synths for the Marth theme parts could probably be a little cleaner, but that's more a nitpick on my part than a serious criticism because the sound works just fine. It's a good mix and thank you for all your submissions.

Jason Covenant - Pokey the Joker:

First off, I've been waiting for you to title one of your Pokey mixes as Pokey the Joker ever since I caught on to your mix title trend. You made excellent use of the Pokey source, which is expected of the one who signed up as Pokey. You managed to make good use of the Marth theme as well. I'm really digging this mix and thank you for all your submissions.

Alright guys, there's only about four more days left of voting for the finals of the rRPC. And don't forget to share some thoughts on the mixes here in the thread.

[Supercoolmike]

it was hard to vote between Jason and Evktalo, both songs are great.

Evktalo - I liked how you made pokey's theme into a background/supporting role as you marth theme was going on, it blended really great. the synth used for the melody made me imagine there was someone stranded in a desert somewhere in the middle east, just traveling in one direction.

Jason Covenant - From start to finish I imagined that there was these group of guys dancing the night away by having a montage of going into clubs.

If my review didn't help, i'm sorry. I don't really review things at all but because this is the finals,I had to make an exception. So the next best thing I know I can do for music reviews is say where the song(s) takes me in my imagination as I listen to them.

Its a shame to see the community that was here slowly die out since the tournament began even with the chance to still be able to participate as the fallen to help keep the community alive (Great Idea btw Fenix). we can't win all the battles, but i'm still glad I was apart of this group.

[FenixDown]

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Supercoolmike. Thanks a lot for the support and for participating. Be sure to stick around OCR, there are other competitions run by more prominent members of the community that generally see a lot more action, particularly the Mega Man and Sonic compos. Take some time to go over the ones that have already ended, they're worth checking out.

As for Fallen mixes, while I don't want to do away with the concept altogether, I probably will downsize it in any future rRPCs that I run. Fewer choices to choose from, make my overall pool of hero round sources smaller, that sort of thing. At any rate, I'll worry about that when rRPC2 is actually a thing.

On that note, the first ReMix Role-Playing Compo is going to conclude today. Voting is still open for the next four and a half hours, ending at noon Eastern time today. So far we've only had four votes but I know we can do better. It's only two mixes with two short sources to listen to. You can be done in under 15 minutes.

[FenixDown]

The dust settled after the epic confrontation reached its conclusion. Standing dominantly over his fallen foe, the Divinity Orb clutched in his hands, was Pokey. The Orb shone a malicious crimson that surrounded Pokey in an oppressive aura. At the villain’s feet, Marth lay face down on the cracked stone floor with his sword broken before him.

With a triumphant sneer, Pokey raised his hand and summoned his minions. Numerous figures appeared in the chamber, their bodies engulfed in a similar crimson aura while their blank, empty eyes fixed upon the one who had called upon them. Many of the warriors had been Pokey’s rivals seeking out the Divinity Orb, but also among their ranks were the hapless would-be heroes who had sought to stop him. Even Marth rose to his feet, his eyes hollow and expressionless, and awaited his master’s command.

Pokey reveled in his absolute victory. With the Divinity Orb held over his head, shining like a blood red sun dawning on a new era, Pokey decreed that the world itself was his for the taking. And there was no one left who could stand in his way…

The End

And thus concludes the first ever ReMix Role-Playing Competition. Congratulations to our champion, Jason Covenant, may you be merciful in your reign over the world. Congratulations to evktalo for putting up a valiant fight as our runner-up.

I want to take this time to thank a few people without whom I would not have been able to even get the rRPC off the ground, much less run it:

- Darkesword for taking the time to hear my compo pitch, helping me refine/add details to the compo, answering my questions, catching my blunders, letting me be on OCR Talkback to promote the rRPC, and for ultimately greenlighting the compo as a whole.

- DragonAvenger for all the support, for listening to me ramble on about ideas before I had even pitched the compo, for recommending a lot of great source themes for the Hero Bracket, and for encouraging me to follow through with the compo idea and actually run it.

- OA for creating and updating the bracket graphics on the first page of the rRPC thread.

- Liontamer for allowing me to appear on Talkback the second time and for putting up with my compo plug requests on various episodes of the show.

- To everyone who took the time to vote and/or offer any kind of feedback on the mixes during the rounds of the compo.

- And of course, to each and every one of you who signed up for the compo. The rRPC would not have happened without you, even those of you who were ultimately unable to submit mixes for one reason or another. I’ve learned a great deal from this experience and I hope we’ll be able to do this again someday. Thank you so much for participating!

Edited August 18, 2014 by FenixDown

[gercr]

I hope you do the compo again, it was pretty fun to listen and be a part of.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Thanks FenixDown & all the participants & voters for a fun compo! And congratulations to Jason Covenant for an excellent run throughout. A well deserved victory!

After going through all the rounds in the compo, I must say I'm completely wiped out, and won't be signing up for any new compos any soooWAAAITAMINUTE, SHOVEL KNIGHT COMPO? SEE YOU THERE!

What I liked about this one was the theme that was focused, but enabled people to pick from a game or game series of their own choosing from within that theme. I also enjoyed mixing my pick into themes that were from "outside" the match-up if that makes sense.

[FenixDown]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. I'm definitely down with running an rRPC2 someday. I'm also cool with getting any kind of feedback regarding how the compo went, my personal performance in running it, so on and so forth. Any suggestions on how I can improve things on my end to make the next compo better.

I've already resolved not to repeat the biggest issue I had personally with the way I ran the rRPC, which is to allow more flexibility with deadlines in case multiple competitors are unable to meet them. I shouldn't have handled the first Hero round the way I did, but at least now that I have that experience under my belt, I better understand the consequences of that kind of decision. Not to say it was worth it, but at least I learned something important from it and I won't let that happen again in rRPC2 or any other compos I may run down the road.

That said, I thought I'd show off the 'alternate ending' to the rRPC I prepared in case Marth had been the champion instead of Pokey for those of you interested in the narrative of the compo.

The dust settled after the epic confrontation reached its conclusion. The Divinity Orb, once blazing with a malicious red light, now shone a pure soothing blue as it rested in the palm of Marth’s hand. Pokey lay sprawled out on his back, struggling to get back on his feet. His features were a mix of both fear and loathing.

Seven battle-weary figures emerged from the stairway behind Marth. The heroic champion did not have to turn to know that they were his allies who had fought valiantly against Pokey’s forces on the lower levels of the tower. One by one, the heroes took their places beside Marth, their injuries and weariness disappearing as the light of the Orb washed over them. Their eyes all fell upon Pokey, who desperately called upon the remnant of his influence over the Orb.

The Divinity Orb responded with a lance of blazing blue light that engulfed the villain and disappeared without a trace. Marth then lifted the Orb over his head and a wave of blue light extended out from it. Once the light faded, the heroes found themselves standing on a grassy plain where the entrance to the tower had once been. As far as the eye could see, what had previously been war-scorched land and devastated towns were now fully mended and restored to their former glory. Marth turned to his puzzled companions and assured them that the war was finally over.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Dammit, I should've made a better tune.