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Mav
167th Post

Regular Customer

"Indie game music-making merriment" , posted Mon 13 Nov 14:30

Hey folks,

I posted here more often before I was working 5 days a week and going to school. At least I can afford the things nerds deserve!

Anywho, on topic, this project among friends came up about scrapping together a fun little indie game. My friend has made amazing progress in Flash from scratch and my contribution to the project is to apply my musical prowess to the production. I have a piano keyboard and access to other musical instruments and percussives, but it doesn't seem right. I've gotta' kick it old school. Preferably something which sounds around the 8 or 16 bit era.
I was wondering what the denizens of this board may know of to help me out. What programs may emulate the sounds which draw out such nostalgia in us all?

I'd be pleased just to know what the creator of Cave Story used, considering he doesn't claim any musical background. I'm willing to spend a few bucks if necessary, as this sort of production has interested me for years. I just don't know where to start.

Replies:

Gojira

2079th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):Indie game music-making merriment" , posted Mon 13 Nov 14:41

It sounds like what you want is NES soundfonts. I don't remember any direct links, but I think you can find them on Zophar's Domain. (Google it)

I could never get them to work right myself, but my sound card was too old and had too many issues with XP. Most people didn't seem to have the same problems.

OmegaDog

1610th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(1):Indie game music-making merriment" , posted Mon 13 Nov 15:22

If you want what Pixel used, he did at one point make his Organya/ program available. You can grab a link here (just scroll halfway down). There's also an English IPS patch available somewhere, though I can't seem to find it.

Otherwise, if you like dealing with trackers and want NES-style, FamiTracker might be a good bet. There's no support for any of those extra chips just yet (like Konami's VRC6/7), and it might still be a bit buggy here and there -- but that'll at least get you some authentic sounds.

"So... IT'S FLITZ TIME EVERYBODY!" || CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 21

Bata kun

2963th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):Indie game music-making merriment" , posted Tue 14 Nov 04:19

I guess your answers have been brought out to you. I have to ask a question though. What kind of game is it? I'm curious myself.

ふもっふ！

Mav
168th Post

Regular Customer

"Re(2):Indie game music-making merriment" , posted Fri 24 Nov 07:06

Thanks for the help!

I don't really know what to do with soundfonts, but that Famitracker program is interesting. I've been messing with it a bit with some success. I wish chords were a bit easier, but that must be authentic to the time.

The game is still in the tinkering phase, but with much discretion, we launched into trying to build up a game around a few simple concepts, as this seemed to make for better old-school games and will save us heart attacks in production. The basis is a series of 3 interweaving short stories in a sort of survival setting. The basic weapon gimmick we're trying to get is sticking the player to stunning enemies with a mid-range stun weapon. They'll get back up fairly quickly, so the player will have to keep moving.
We've already mapped out a demo level which could hopefully be functional by January. We're taking it one step at a time, so the current major goal is to make a working model of the general movement, then general combat, then we can decide if the ideas are working. General movement is finished and amazing, so it's only a matter of more complex collision code for a playing surface more detailed than a straight line in the current model. I'm blown away by our progress with just that! Thanks for the interest! I'll post an update here if a demo gets completed.