Castle Paradox

[KainMinter]

Hey Calehay!
Here's a detialed list of what songs I need for the demo portion of the game and some details about some details about whate they are being used for so you could get a feel of what you are composing. Hope you don't mind any slight spoilers. X)

A forest theme-
One of the first areas you encounter is this forest. The forest represents the whole known world of the tribe the main character, Kei, is from. To them it is a taboo to travel too far into the forest for fear that the gaurdian of the forest will strike down anyone who dares and eat them alive. Besides being a barrier that keeps their tribe ignorant and fearful of the outside world, it is also where the tribe hunts for food, as shown in the first scenes of the game.

6 town/village/city themes-
-1. A village hidden deep within a forest, home to the tribe of people from which this game's main character hails. The village mainly consists of treehouses, under ground dwellings, and vegtable gardens. The inhabitants resemble a mix between european and asian decent, and they hunt and fight in a style that resembles ninjas. The vilage theme could have a since of japanese style if you desire, but anything peaceful is acceptable.
-2. A freshly built small town on the outskirts of the forest. This town contains a bustling market place and has become a tourist attraction in recent. This town will be Kei and Eci's (a girl from the same tribe) first impression of the world outside of the one they've known all their lives. Any kind of good town like theme would work here.
-3. The third town theme is for a beach village, which you have already written. This village, named New Thebes, was created after Old Thebes was destroyed a few years back. The people have learned to adapt to their new sea side life, and the village has a pretty optimistic overtone (which came across quite nicely in your midi). This place has the first views of the chocobo racing and fishing minigames. The chocobo racing track here is only a very small practice course used by locals who want to get ready for the big games held on the southern tropical islands.
-4. The fourth town theme I need is a small makeshift community consisting of students of the church. This community is a temporary home for them used for a place for up-and-coming to be educated on the ways of god so they can mature into full blown members of the holy order. This small community is on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The area contains several dorm residences, a place of worship, a large flower garden, and a set of cobblestone pathways connecting them all with a large decorative fountain in the center.
-5. The fifth town theme needed is for a very large city located in the snow fields to the north. This magestic city surrounded by stone walls and is home to the Grand Cathedral where the arch bishop reigns. There is also a large chocobo race training track on the outskirts of the city.
-6. The final town theme i need for the demo portion of the game is for a simple port town. This is a town where fishermen, sailors, and their families call home. The town is built mostly out of wood on docks over the water. This town is known for holding the only shipping route that connect the eastern continents to the mountainous center world contenent.

A ruined town theme-
This theme will be reused on two seperate occasions. Firstly, it will be used when visiting Old Thebes, a dead city full of broken buildings and rubble looked over by the still standing statue of a godess in the town square. Secondly it will be used to replace Kei's village's theme after certain a tragedy hits them.

A cave theme-
This paticular cave theme is being used for a cave that goes under the ocean connecting the main eastern contenent to one of its islands. The cave is riddled with sea vegitation, shells, and underground ponds. There is also a portion of the cave that changes accessiblity depending on the tide. There are not many caves throughout the game, so I havent decided if this cave will get its own theme or a shared cave theme. Of the couple other caves in the game, none of them are as sea based.

3 chocobo themes-
Chocobo riding, chocobo racing, and a chocobo forest theme. There are several practice tracks in the game set in various environments, but the big chocobo race where you race other npcs and such is located around the battle colloseum on a tropical island to the south west. The chocobo forest theme should be very serene.

A fanfare theme-
I wrote one attempting to mimic the good ol' FF fanfare theme.. but it just doesnt sound right.. feel free to try your hand at it.

A boss battle theme-
Pretty self explanitory. This theme would be used for the normal storyline boss battles in the game.

A church theme-
This theme would be used for the interior of the grand cathedral. A melody that could be reused in a couple of later cutscene and character themes would be a plus.

A military camp theme-
There is a checkpoint where you must cross to access the snowy northlands where the grand cathedral is. The area around the checkpoint is somewhat like a military camp, littered with tents and metal sheds. The soldiers here ae strict and paranoid about letting the wrong kind of people past the checkpoint.

2 various dungeon themes-
-1.The first "dungeon" involves sneaking past the check point via an underground sewer system. The sewers are riddled with red and yellow doors that alternate access via switches found throughout the tunnels.
-2.There is a large nest of giant insects on the north end of the contenent that you area asked to do something about. The interior of the nest looks similar to a honeycomb-meets-biological-dungeon with icky gooeys and bugs all over. The dungeon layout is multilayered where you are working your way down several layers to the underground core of the nest where you need to exterminate the queen.

A card game theme-
Currently, I am temporarily using FF8's card game theme for FFG's built in card game. Something of similar style is fine, or anything you can think of that would make a good card game theme works. The card game is a critical part of the gameplay. Cards in this game represent consumible items that can teach abilities or be equiped to the accessory slot for stat bonuses. Cards can be won or stolen from enemy encounters, found in chests, rewarded via sidequests, or won in card duels with npcs. A card game usually lasts about as long as one would last in FF8, 30 seconds-2 min. Sometimes it takes longer if the opponent is difficult and you need to take time to strategize, but a song that has at least 60 seconds before it loops should be adequate. I'm going to release a teaser demo that features the option to fool around with the card game, so you can get a feel for it when that becomes available.

A flashback theme-
In this case, the flashback in question is being made by the main character, Kei. He is remembering his late parents, the good times followed by the moment he was informed of their death.

4 character themes-
-1. The first character theme song needed is for Shaede. He is a mercenary who doesn't take life seriously and loves to have fun. After a job, hes known to blow all of his reward money on booze and women. His theme song will be used when there are any scenes where his actions are the focus (the first time he meets the main character, when he is found inside a bar surrounded by women, when he completely ignores the pirates declining the heros request to use their ship and just rides off on it laughing, etc. I was thinking something similar to locke's theme with a little bit less of the heroic overtone.
-2. The second character theme is for Krylanna. She is a priestess in training, who is sophisticated and intellegent. Her theme will usually be played when she comes up with a plan/idea and is relating it to the party, or an other time focus is directly on her. Nothing too dramatic. I'd also like to note that later on Kry is excommunicated from the church so having a shared melody wit the church theme is not desireable.
-3. The third character theme needed is for Eci. The good old heroin theme song complete with reusable melody for dirivitive tunes. Think about the songs used for Terra, Celes, Tifa, Aeris, Garnet, Yuna, etc. Eci plays a key role in the story in the end, so her theme is crucial.
-4. The fourth character theme isn't really a character theme persay.. this theme will be used any time Kei makes misjudgements due to his lack of experience or his ignorance of the way the outside world functions. In the begining this happens often, but he does evolve through the course of the game. For now, I was using the theme from FF6 originally used in Gau's Fathers house (you know, the crazy old man that says all the random stuff?) Something similar to that style would be ideal.

An epic battle theme-
There is a specific event in the game where one set of forces has to rise up to protect a relic temple from being invaded by another set of forces. You are given command over a small army and are required to position groups and battle the opposing forces using them. Similar to the FF6 keep the soldiers from the esper battle, with 5-6 groups under your command. The battle itself has an undertone of betrayal, so it shouldn't sound like a heroic effort to protect or anything like the ff6 3 party battle's theme did.

A superboss theme-
There are many side quests and battles throughout the game with rewards such as exp, gil, items, unlocking abilities, unlocking costumes, as well as deepening the plot with bonus cutscenes. Usually the optional bosses are extremely difficult for the level you encounter them at. Having their own theme might be interesting, but it is completely optional.

Avatar battle theme-
There are 24 summon spells in the game, 23 of which require you to defeat the summonable avatar in battle in order for you to unlock them. (Chocobo being the only one you unlock w/o battling it.) Even though you do not meet the character with summoning magic during the demo portion of the game, there are 2 summon monsters you can challenge in this portion. Carbuncle and Sylph. Defeating them without a summoner in your party to make a pact with them has no rewards though. (besides possibility of recieving cards)

A gameover theme-
Pretty self explanitory. A sad theme played during the gameover screen. It might be nice to work in the melody from Eci's theme here.


That about sums it all up. X)

If you would like to do any of this music, I would be very greatful. :D

[Leonhart]

Is that post intended to be seen by everyone, or is it just for Calehay?
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The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
- Robert Bloch

[DomGallo]

What post? I don't see any post. Are you reading another member's private messages? That's a bannable offense, you know.
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The turkey: God's most noble creature.

Don't eat Turkey for Christmas. I WILL FIND OUT.

[Leonhart]

okay, okay. I get it.
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The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
- Robert Bloch

[Calehay]

KainMinter.. Check your messages.

I'm not sure if he wanted this to be an open list or not. It is a little spoiling, though.
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Calehay

[LeRoy_Leo]

Wow. I really love the descriptions you provided to Calehay. I'm actually glad I saw this.
If I were Cale, I'd be pissing myself with excitement.
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Planning Project Blood Summons, an MMORPG which will incinerate all of the others with it's sheer brilliance...

---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

[KainMinter]

Sorry, I've been away for the new years. I'll check my PMs and your songs right away.

[KainMinter]

I just wanted to say that your songs are excellent, Calehay. Hearing that there will be such good music for the game is very inspiring and it makes me want to work on it and see it all come together. I will try my best to make graphics that meet the quality of your songs. ^ ^

[Shaede]

Wow, you gave a lot of info in there compared to normal.

But you didn't spoil anything, so it's all cool.

[KainMinter]

I sorta figured, why not. The more detailed the better so that Calehay could have a better idea of what the music he's writing was going to be. Didn't think to use PMs when I first wrote it.. but no problem. Didn't spoil anything too major anyway.