Dynamic Weather in Games

Good evening.

Good news, I've been asked to master some tracks with the potential of more coming my way if the client likes them. I'll let you know how that goes.

Now the main point of distraction in my day.

I was staring out of the window at some wisps of cloud as they formed into larger clouds passing by. It was interesting to watch as it seamlessly grew into bigger clouds. This got me thinking...

In games, there doesn't tend to be much weather related focus in games, sure there's rain, dry spells, thunder storms, snow etc but it doesn't seem dynamic or at least doesn't seem natural.

So I ask this question, what's the current best dynamic weather in any game at the moment? I read earlier that F1 2010 has dynamic weather conditions, in that the weather may change during a race and you must make the correct choice of tyres, for example, or get ready to adapt for changes in the weather. This sounds good, for a drving simulator, I'd imagine it adds a lot to gameplay -rather than weather on/off options.

But what I want... (and I'll keep it brief)
A massive RPG world (probably a MMO). Stunning graphics. 3D/Surround sound. Immersive gameplay with excellent storylines. Dynamic events.

Basically, Guild Wars 2.

However I want to see a game with fully dynamic weather, both on a local and global scale (in game). Maps and objects that can be affected by weather. Tides. Rivers and streams that could flood. A variety of different rains. Seasonal weather conditions. Dynamic wind conditions. Local climates and weather systems.

Does this yet exist?

And I don't just mean visually in games, I mean physically in games.

Actual in game phyics.

As I said I'd keep it brief I'll not go on any more, but I think a game that has such a dynamic event system would be incredible.

I've written a small program idea that would use random variables to affect the gameplay -and I might make it if I get around to it, but in theory it works and would make RPGs so much better.

Maybe all I'm trying to get around to is dynamic events, random events and generative programs to make games better. Predictable is boring.

Well, this half-rant is all because of looking out of a window today.

Maybe I'll learn a language and write programs.

Who knows?

If any developers, game designers, programmers are reading this,

I've got plenty of ideas that could be worked on.

Anyway,

I'm off to get an ice cream. Cheerio!

(did this blog make sense?)

Nothing

I've done nothing today.

Nothing

Not a thing

Other than watch Fellowship of the Ring.

I must commend the audio team for LOTR, very well produced and mixed. Really learned some good skills listening to it. Especially when considering frequency mixing -LFE in particular. Also the link between what you see and what you hear is wonderful.

I've decided to make chainmail, seeing as it looks really simple. So I'll (probably) buy some stiff wire tomorrow to make rings/links.

Other than that, I'm very impressed with the 4000+ views of that Minecraft YouTube video. Obviously the traffic isn't coming from this blog -which rarely gets visited! Still I like to blog and also that over 4000 have listened to something I composed, whether they know it/like it or not!

Nothing more to say.

Cheerio.

Minecraft!

So this is the music I've been working on...

I'm pleased with the results, and I'm pleased to share it with you.

The video was made by Pete Curran. Hope you like it (give it a thumbs up on YouTube)

Stay creative!

Something new

Is in the pipeline.

Well, it's almost out of the pipeline actually.

I'm just in the mixing/analysis stage. I composed the music on Sunday, and I'm reasonable happy with it.

That is to say, I don't wince too much when I listen to it.

I guess it's the sample library I'm using, and the effect I'm trying to achieve... which is a fog horn(ish) sound using a bass trombone and tuba. Too brassy.

Also I installed PT8.0.4cs2 about an hour ago, and when I open my session I couldn't use some basic MIDI operations (came up with an error message) and yet it worked yesterday, pre-update. Dah...

So tomorrow (I've given up for tonight, tired) I'm going to try some pitch shifting/slides for more fog-horn-ish sounds, if it works. If not, I'll find a different instrument, there're bound to be lots in XPand!2 and use that instead.

So, I'll tell you more about the video when it gets uploaded onto YouTube later this week.

Now to the good news..!

I passed my car theory test. Well, it's not brilliant news, but it does put me one step closer to driving a car -not that I don't enjoy riding my motorbike, but it's about time I drove a car! Then I can take to the roads/off roads with recording gear, and sit comfortably in my car, take a flask of tea, and wear trainers instead of armoured clothing, gloves, helmet and boots!

Plus it'll be warmer in a car over winter... Just need to do a practical test, then buy a car...


Until next blog..!

Hello Heli

Ok, so this morning I decided to make a train into a helicopter...

Well, listen and see what you think...




You may also notice that i'm finally using embedded audio players (thanks to SoundCloud) which makes things easier for you. Simply click to play and listen.

Well, that's just what I've been doing this morning, no reason, just thought I'd try it.

I also got a called from Mark from Nintendo this morning, asking me questions about the Game Expo... ahh, and I thought Nintendo had spotted me and wanted me to make helicopter sounds for the next Mario game... yeah right. Mario meets Battlefield. That's an interesting mod if wants to steal the idea?

Anyway, I'd best do something more practical with my morning/day.

Cheerio

Ackk!

Exactly. Ackk!

So.. here I am playing with Ableton and then I get told something about I can only use 6 effects at once in my version...

Which is pretty annoying... also I found out I have loads of instruments I can play on there but only a few of them are in my version (allowing me to save). Ackk!

I guess I need to buy the full version to use more stuff, makes sence seeing as this version I got for free when I bought an M-Audoi MIDI keyboard.

So that's what I've been up to recently. Playing in Ableton. I'm pretty familiar with it now, familiar enough to know I'd like to upgrade to the full version... But I'll hold out until 9 comes out, and by then I should have a job too.

Ah work... where are you?!

Anyway, I'm sorting out my recent recordings (labeling/delete junk etc) in Audition when I decide to play with the Doppler effect on some sounds. Instantly realising I've not explored the full potential of Audition!

(oh and for some reason Audition is really buggy [for me] on Win7 32-bit but seems to work fine on my 64-bit computer)

So I'm looking to do some sound designing/video sound replacement. That sort of thing. Well maybe.

Meh.

Hope you're doing well in whatever it is you're doing!

Drum and Bass Take 1

Here is something a made this morning in Ableton, "Thinking In The Woods"

It was fun to make, but not to mix. Well, the only "mixing" I did was adjusting levels of each track...

I'm much more comfortable mixing in Pro Tools, but making beats and loops is easier in Ableton. I just need to export the loops and use Pro Tools as a sequencer.

Maybe.

But it's all just fun at the moment. Just wanted to let you hear how it's going.

Oh, and before I leave, I got an email about a possible trailer project that needs music. Probably about 30 seconds or so long, but it has to be epic. More news as and when I get any, or develop any music, motifs, themes, ideas etc.

One more thing, it's getting colder (if you hadn't noticed)

Back again again

Hello

I've been downloading lots of free Ableton things, but so far I haven't used anything. But I did make some wierd science music.

I'm trying to figure out things a bit better, start making music in Ableton would be nice -so far i've only used it to make loops rather than pieces. But I got some tutorial vidoes and I shall crack this wide open.

Hmm... the update solved the sound card problem, so that's good.

Anyway, had a lovely time in Oxford again -saw some awesome and tall trees too.

Anyway, I'm watching videos and stuff, I have some interesting ideas planned (music-wise) and i'll post up anything that is post-up-able. Also, still looking for a job...

Hope you had a good weekend and such, blog on!

Cheerio

Remixing

Ahoi!

So yes, I've been busy recently! (not with work though)

I'm taking driving lessons, and so far I've had 6 hours in the car on the road, and I am enjoying it a lot. But not as much as motorcycling... (although it is warmer and dryer in the car etc.. blah blah blah... bikes are more fun).

I've been having problems with Ableton 8.2, so i'm still using 8.1.5 for the time being. But hopefully, time permitting, I'll download the latest version this weekend and hope that it fixes it -it's having problems using my MBox as an audio output. It's worked before, but not in 8.2...

Hmm...

So five minutes ago I was working on some beats. Yeah, phat beats. Dropping some heavy ones.

Etc... You can tell I up to date with all the lingo.

So Ableton has lovingly allowed me to create and export drum loops. Brilliant methinks. So I was straight in there, fast beats, acoustic drum kits with flangers and chorus fx to make it more electronic etc. All good. Probably. Just for laughs anyway.

Now, moving on to remixing.

right

I found some competitions allowing one to download stems and remix a song, and win prizes. Now, I'm not so bothered about the competition but it's free and easy access to mixing music, which I so dearly need to practise. I know what to do, I just haven't got anything to mix.

My own music doesn't count. I want recorded music, with vocals. Yeah, voices! Yeah!

Anyway... I hope to do some remixing things, any tips/advise? Basically I plan to grab these stems, and think of my spin on the music -i.e. tone, emotion, bpm etc, and cut it, spill it all over my DAW(s) and sew it back together using my own brand of audio creation.

That's the idea right?

Meh.

Stay creative! Good night!

Heading to Oxford tonight, so see you Monday. Obviously not literally... Maybe literally..?

Ahoi-hoi

Now then...

"Acoustic and Midi Orchestration for the Contempory Composer" arrived in the post today. So that's what I'm reading now.

Secondly, my website (click here) has been updated a little bit more. But you'd notice that if you were linked to this blog from the website... new video page, new music, and a bonus "ambience + fx" track on the "About Me" page. Yep. Have a listen. Why not?

Right, so I'm busy reading now, so I'll endeth the blog here.

Am I running out of things to say? Nay! But I have a book to read... to learn, to improve, to grow!

(no luck on the job front yet though, if you wanted to know)

I'm free to work for you! Yes, you! Well, maybe you?

Have a good day, stay creative!

Here's the Piece

Ok, so I mentioned I was composing something for a video. Well, if I didn't mention that, I was. But it didn't suit the intended video.

So I had a browse through some trailers I've downloaded and decided to use a LOTRO Mirkwood trailer instead. I muted and trimmed their video and simply added my music.

So, hopefully here's the video.

Remember, only the music is mine -the video is owned by Codemasters & Turbine, probably.

Shortest blog so far?

A Little Fantasy

Is the name of this piece I wrote today.

Originally it was intended for a video, but I decided that it didn't suit so I continued with composing for a bit longer until I came to a suitable time to end it. Or just an ending of sorts.

I have difficulties with themes and variations, and endings.

But i'm practicing, which is fun and helpful.

The music can be downloaded in it's rough state -it's basically a bunch of notes played by instruments that sound similar to the real thing. It has no dynamics or phrasing yet, and everything is centred in the stereo image but i thought you'd like a listen. I should have it all mixed by tomorrow.

Good.

Hope you're all doing well in whatever you do.

Cheerio

Composing

Hi!

A brief blog to say I'm composing.

I've often composed using Sibelius.

Today I'm using Pro Tools.

I prefer Sibelius for notation, but prefer Pro Tools for range of instruments, effects, mixing, etc. Yet the notation doesn't work that well (yet?) in Pro Tools. Still, I wrote a couple of motifs and patterns rather quickly. I need to learn and practice composition, and I have time to do that.

I have Sibelius 5 and I don't want to upgrade to 6. I might try 7 when that gets built. But as AVID owns both, I want Pro Tools to get more creative with MIDI and notation too. I might well be using Logic right now if I had a Mac, but I can't justify buying a Mac just for that -considering I can play many many games on my windows PC, run many many applications and other things.

This isn't a mac/pc debate. Sorry.

Oh and why do Macs only allow resizing from the lower right corner?

Rhetorical question.

Anyway, that's all. Nothing more to say.

Except...

I saw a guy on a roof in Boston earlier -the police below weren't happy. Which reminds me, I need to sort out a new rear tyre and front brakes in the next few hundred miles of use. Looking at EBC HH pads for the front (I already have new pads on the rear).

Anyway (+1), that is all.

Cheerio

Welcome Back

Thanks.

It seems to have been a long weekend. Well here I am!

Eurogamer expo was pretty good, met and talked to Richard Jacques, met lots of developers and saw some cool games.

But.

When it comes to enjoying games I'd prefer to play games in my own time without people peering over your shoulder and without the noise of hundreds of other games and gamers. Also I was hoping for more developers to chat with. Nevermind, a great day, not too expensive, and great to catch up with some friends too.

Now if you didn't know... I currently have a slow broadband connection (about max 1Mb) which is also capped at 10GB download thanks to BT. What a great idea, capping the internet, thanks. So I've not been playing any games online for about 4 months. I love games interacting with other players -ie killing or questing. I really want to play BF2, BF2142 and BF:BC2 and run around...

I do like the Battlefield games. Can't wait for BF3.

Should I buy/pre-order the new Medal of Honour? I'm thinking it'll be a good idea.

Also, I have a pc and a nintendo DS. That's the sum amount gaming consoles I own. I'm considering getting a 2nd hand Xbox360... Tis merely a consideration. But if I want to work in games, I really should get more consoles and games.

But I need a job first to buy things.

Finally, I'm starting driving lessons. Yep. In a car and everything! It's taken a while to get around to -having ridden motorbikes since I was 16. Hope it doesn't take long to pass a test...

Finally (+1) I've decided to start trying to compose using PT8 as a sequencer.

I couldn't get to grips with the score editor (compared to Sibelius) but i'm determined to try. I've updated my MIDI/USB M-Audio drivers hopefully to reduce latency for my keyboards to make live performance/recording a bit easier.

AWESOME

Farewell

(finally (+2) Richard Jacques inspried me to compose more which is nice, and also to read more so I bought a couple of books on orchestration)