Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation 2018

[MindWanderer]

Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation (CCoI)

A Remix Competition Presented by the OverClocked ReMix Forums

Introduction

After being defeated by Simon Belmont, the spirit of Dracula floated in the void beyond time.  After an unmeasurable age, he found himself returned to his body, but in a strange place.  Reaching out, he found himself cut off from his seat of power, the eternal Castlevania!  He soon discovered that, once again, fragments of the castle and the surrounding Wallachian countryside had been thrown together, along with some of his old minions--but only a handful of the monsters that once served him remained loyal, while the rest stood between him and his new enemy, the usurper of his domain.  But he also found new allies!  The heroes who had proved his bane time and time again have also been sucked through time and, sensing a greater foe than any they had ever faced before, now stand beside the former Prince of Chaos to defeat this mysterious enemy and restore Castlevania to its normal order!

Current News

Signups are now taking place.  Anyone who wants to participate should post the names of their two teammates and their top 5 character selections, in order.  Some characters have more than one source associated with them.  If you choose one of those characters, also specify which of their sources you would like to use.  You may choose only one source per character, and each character will be represented by only one remixer.

Signups are still open, but the competition won't start until late January.  More details forthcoming.

Format

This competition uses Darkesword's "gauntlet" format.  Teams of 3 remixers will take turns remixing their character's theme with the shared theme of the week.  The competition will be 12 weeks long.  The main event will consist of 3 blocks of 3 rounds each, one announced per week but with a two-week remixing period, so that they overlap.  This will be followed by a 1-week break and a 3-week final boss round.  In each block, each remixer on a team will be that team's remixer for one week.  The teams do not need to select a remixer ahead of time, as long as each member submits only one remix per 3-week block (which means that the third remixer of each block will be determined by default).

The other remixers on a team are allowed to help with production and ideas, but the chosen remixer for a round must be the primary artist/arranger.  Remixers can make use of other performers to play instruments, sing, etc., even those not involved with the competition, but these may not help in any other way.

Submissions and File Names

Entries must be sent to me by PM on the forums.  Please include your team name and the round number in the subject line of the message.  Please do not use a file-sharing service that includes ads or that changes the filename.  Dropbox, Google Drive, and Soundcloud work well.  If you use Soundcloud, please double-check to make sure you have set your remix to be downloadable.

I will specify the filename for each round depending on the theme.  Please read and follow the directions carefully when they are announced.

Voting Rules and Guidelines

After each week, I will create a voting thread in the public voting forum.  Voters will rank their top three choices.  A #1 vote is worth 3 point, a #2 vote is worth 2 points, and a #3 vote is worth 1 point.  Competition members who vote will also earn their team 1 point just for voting.  Team members may not vote for their own teams.

This is primarily an arrangement competition.  A creative arrangement that blends the two sources seamlessly, but with mediocre instrumentation and production, should be ranked more highly than an uninspired medley with flawless sound quality.

Everyone must adhere to the Competitions Code of Conduct.

Sources

Participants can choose from the following characters and associated themes when signing up.  They should choose their top 5 choices.  If there are multiple picks for the same character, I will randomly determine who gets which pick.  To prevent attempts to game the system, I will be be breaking 5th-place ties first and going backwards up the list.

• Dracula: Dance of Illusions
• Death: Evil's Symphonic Poem or Heart of Fire
• The Creature: Den of Worship or Walking on the Edge
• Golem: The Tower of Dolls or Stone King Golem
• Doppelganger: Riddle or Resonance of Malevolent Souls
• Isaac: Young Nobleman of Madness
• Joachim Armster: Melancholy Joachim
• Walter Bernhard: Dark Night Toccata
• Brauner: Esquisse of Violence
• Albus: Sorrow's Distortion
• Medusa: Cross Your Heart a.k.a. Crucifix Held Close or Stalker
• Akmodan II: Wicked Child or In Search of the Secret Spell
• Carmilla: Repose of Souls or Carmilla
• Elizabeth Bartley: Calling from Heaven
• Celia Fortner: Evil Invitation
• Stella and Loretta Lecarde: Dance of Sadness
• Simon Belmont: Theme of Simon Belmont
• Alucard: Dracula's Castle or The Tragic Prince
• Trevor Belmont: Beginning
• Grant Danasty: Clockwork
• Christopher Belmont: Battle of the Holy
• Richter Belmont: Divine Bloodlines
• Eric Lecarde: Iron-Blue Intention
• Nathan Graves: Awake
• Leon Belmont: Lament of Innocence
• Hector: The Curse of Darkness
• Soma Cruz: Castle Corridor
• Julius Belmont: Don't Wait Until Night a.k.a. Can't Wait Until the Night
• Sypha Belnades: Mad Forest
• Maria Renard: Slash
• Charlotte Aulin: The Hidden Curse
• Jonathan Morris: Invitation of a Crazed Moon
• John Morris: Reincarnated Soul
• Shanoa: An Empty Tome

Teams

Participants pick their own teams when signing up.  They must also choose a Castlevania-themed team name, but they can wait until after their characters have been determined to do so.  Please do not pick excessively long team names.

Helping Out

I'll also need artwork (album art and signatures).  If that's up your alley, please let me know.  I can cobble something together myself, but it won't be the prettiest, so if you can help out before the first round, that would be great!

[orlouge82]

C'mon is anyone going to sign up??

[Esperado]

Id sign up. I wish remixing with the stars would come back though, or some compos with a month long remixing period to really push out some quality content 

[Gario]

Personally, I thought this compo last year had a great method of pushing out timely arrangements while giving artists two weeks to mix (which is twice the normal time for something like this). Staggering the remixing periods so you always had two rounds of remixers at any one time was a solid strategy for giving people that extra edge.

I would like to do more Castlevania music myself. I'll give my picks soon.

 

[MindWanderer]

We can do two-week remixing periods.  I got the impression last time that most people just procrastinated the first week away, but I'll go ahead and make the change.  I've also edited the minimum signup--we certainly won't get 5 teams at this rate.  Might just drop the team format instead if there are even fewer signups than that.

Remixing With the Stars was a tough sell at the time, and compo signups have dropped off even further since I was running that.  I don't think I'd be able to get enough experienced remixers to get it going at this point.  

[Jorito]

You know that usually I'd be game for a compo, especially since last Castlevania was a lot of fun. Gotta skip this one though, did another compo, 2 album directing & arrangement jobs as well as a few other musical projects this year already, so I think I can use a break  I'll keep an eye out, if timing changes I might jump aboard anyway.

Also, minor correction, I was pretty sure I won the last compo through the Dracula bracket, beating Simon with a curse

[Chernabogue]

I wish I could sign up but I'm still on a forced music hiatus until I settle down, so I gotta pass.

[MindWanderer]

1 hour ago, Jorito said:

Also, minor correction, I was pretty sure I won the last compo through the Dracula bracket, beating Simon with a curse

Per the rules, you both won.  Simon got the "bad ending."  Which is why Dracula is back again so soon!

[Ronald Poe]

I decided to sign up for this competition (I sent MindWanderer the message). I did well in that RPG Heroes vs. Villains competition last year (I was runner up). Anyway sorry recruiting isn't going well.

[PlanarianHugger]

Ill put my hat in the ring just have to pick a source. The last one was fun so why not do it again.

[Yami]

Even if I often suck at competitions (unless I have a stroke of genius) I always want to take part in them. Count me in. I just have to chose my picks first
My first pick would have been Kid Dracula though

Edited September 20, 2017 by Yami
Bad joke

[MindWanderer]

So, folks are sending me PM's with their source picks for some reason.  The rules said to post here with your picks and your teammates, but on the other hand, I've only gotten two.  I'll give it another week just in case, but unless a slew more people sign up, I'll put this on hold and try again in a few months.  January worked well last year.

[Yami]

1 minute ago, MindWanderer said:

So, folks are sending me PM's with their source picks for some reason.  

Haha sorry, I read about the entries via PM and misread that as sources. It was late last night

[Ronald Poe]

Sorry for messaging you my picks rather than posting them here. I still want to join the competition when you have enough competitors. 

For my pieces/characters, I choose the following.

1. The Creature - "Den of Worship"
2. Nathan Graves - "Awake"
3. Carmilla - "Repose of Souls"

Please check for midi's of those pieces and sign me up. Have a nice day.

[MindWanderer]

Competition postponed due to lack of interest.  I'll put it in the docket for January.  If you've already signed up but a late January start date won't work for you, let me know.

[MindWanderer]

Let's try this again!  Rather than starting with signups, let's just see if there's interest.  Let me know.  If anyone would rather do a more traditional elimination-style tournament, we can do that too, but as of late the team gauntlets have been more popular.

[PlanarianHugger]

Interested, I need some more Castlevania in my life.