Description



Summoner of Sounds is designed to be a series of interactive community events where video game music will be celebrated by the means of craftsmanship and community interaction.

Community members with experience in music production will be dared to participate in challenges testing their ability to perform well as a versatile video game composer, while the game developers with other areas of expertise are encouraged to to analyze the challenges, and provide the composers with commentary, feedback and constructive criticism.


Table of contents:

  • 1. Event Outline

  • 2. Event Schedule

  • 3. Licensing Rights & Submission Guidelines

  • 4. RMN as a Platform. What do I have to gain?

  • 5. Post-Processing Submitted Material

  • 6. Role of the Composer - Becoming the Summoner of Sounds

  • 7. Role of Other Developers and the Audience - You are not NPCs!

  • 8. Picking Favorites!?

  • 9. RMN Music Pack 2 and Guardians of the Groove







Summoner of Sounds consists of a periodically recurring series of challenges presented to the composers to participate in and for the developers and audience to engage in throughout the year.

Participants aren't obligated to participate in every challenge, but the more challenges you participate in, the greater the reward.

Presented challenges will test the composers' abilities to perform well as versatile video game music producers in a changing environment. Each challenge will introduce a different set of rules and restrictions, and a new concept where the composers will have to find a way to express themselves in.

The challenges may restrict and determine the video game genre that will need to be composed for, the game world setting to be composed for, a specific game instance to be composed for, or a specific manner to be composed in.

While the challenges will present a number of restricted aspects, each challenge will offer choice of freedom and room to stretch around in some of them.

Summoner of Sounds will be running for several months in total and challenges will be issued roughly once every month, or on a similar pacing.

Each challenge of the series will run approximately over the course of one month and the deadline of each challenge will be stated as the challenge and its ruleset are announced.
























Any work submitted to this event will be disseminated under a creative commons license as publicly usable in any way the end-user wishes as long as they attribute the work to the artist in their credits and that they also do the same themselves with any derivative work based on the artist's.

End-users of this material, and any derivative material, will not, however, be able to legally make any money from anything containing these tracks without the artists' express permission.


All works submitted to the event have to be 100% original work of the participants and must contain no copyrighted material, either compositionally or in terms of sampled sounds. Submitted works must contain no arrangements of any material of a different author, and they can not lift motifs from anywhere else, except possibly from the participant's own works.

Submissions should contain as little audio quality loss as possible, WAV file format being heavily preferred.





The RPG Maker Network offers an extensive network of gamers and game developers, both hobbyists and professionals.

This event series is designed to help the composers of the game development community come together, challenge their know-how and showcase their creative efforts, and the rest of the community to come in contact with the composers.

This event series won't have a panel of judges, and there won't be hand-picked winners. Participants are encouraged to challenge themselves and work together towards solving the presented challenges.

During the course of the event series, the composers will be creating video game music in various forms and manners, and build themselves a diverse portfolio while doing so.

The rest of the community is encouraged to provide feedback and impressions on this material and to be in touch with the composers, possibly giving them ideas, or request something specific from within the given ruleset.

RMN will bring the participants visibility, and the yields of each challenge will be shared on RMN's social media during the course of the events.



Each composer has a completely optional step to sign up for post-processing their submitted material.

In the post-process, the composer will be in touch with the event organizer who will help them personally by offering them feedback on composition and mixing details and assist them by creating alternate, OGG file format versions of their tracks with a coded-in looping point, which will enable seamless looping of their songs in the RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker VX Ace engines.

Enabling looping for the songs requires them to be composed in looped structure, with recurring sections.






Summoner of Sounds as an event series will present a series of challenges that will test your abilities as a composer to express yourself in a wide variety of restricted environments. This will help in readying you to have the tools and confidence to perform well as a composer in a wide range of video game projects.

Each challenge will introduce a different scenario where you may need to compose music for different game genre, imply a different game setting through instrumentation, cultural, and musical genre references, or approach the the task by expressing yourself with a very specific perspective in mind.

Some of these scenarios may, and most likely will, require you to research and learn new ways of designing video game music, but they will also encourage you to test yourself, and express yourself in ways that you haven't before, and you will experience the joy of discovering new sides of your creative self.

Summoner of Sounds is an event series that will be running for several consecutive months. It may sound intimidating at first, but you can decide which challenges you want to participate in. However, the more challenges you undertake, the greater the rewards.

If you want to achieve the very best yields, then the series will also test your ability to perform under pressure as you'll need to be undertaking all the challenges.

It will test your ability to practice your trade under discipline, not only when you are motivated, and it will test your adaptability at the times when you'll have to find your creative freedom and inspiration while you still have to make your visions meet with a set of pre-existing rules.

Remember, you are not alone! This is a collaboration event. You may work alone if you wish, but you are allowed, and encouraged to collaborate with other members. Do you have the same Digital Audio Workstation as the other participant? You can work together! And if you feel like discussing how to approach any of the issued challenges with the other participants, then nothing stops you.

Building an extensive network of colleagues and other practitioners of your trade will also work greatly in your favor!

Will you be able to take on the challenge? Can you become the Summoner of Sounds, or even something more?

Introduce yourself at the Composer Introductions!





Video game composers wouldn't be composing music for video games if there were no video games, and video games with no music, or audio, would offer us only an experience with half of the things to sense, than what they do with audio, so let's agree that sound design is an integral part of game design.

Video game audio does not only offer us audio clues on game mechanics, but music activates large parts of our brain on fast rate and communicates us a great variety of information, which married with the visual material will bring the gaming experience to a whole new potency.

That being said, video game directors should not underestimate the importance of solid audio design, and advanced communication with the audio designers plays a major factor at what the end product will communicate to the consumer.

Music helps to communicate ideas which aren't visually present, it may also underline and empower the visual ideas present, or it may change the way we perceive the visual clues completely when the marriage of the visuals and the sound refers to a completely new impression than what either part of the combination would carry across alone.

Video game directors need to be able to communicate their vision to the sound designers and together with them, find a way to communicate this idea to the consumers.

While the Summoner of Sounds challenges will introduce composers to predetermined rulesets, the rest of the community may still engage in the process by discussing each challenge and the methods fit to completing the challenge.

Everyone can take the role of a critic. You don't need to be educated in music theory or terminology to be able to tell whether you find a musical piece fitting for a specific game genre, instance or setting. Communication matters, even if you don’t have the most optimal tools for it.

Express yourself with your own words and impressions. A composer will be glad to hear any of it. Tell the composer what their music communicates to you: feelings, impressions, visual images or atmosphere, for example. Does their track fit the description of the given ruleset?

Everyone may also post ideas of any themes they would like to hear. If the ruleset permits, a composer may very well decide to compose your idea.


While there isn't a panel of judges, or winners for the event, everyone is still encouraged to show appreciation for entries submitted to the event.

Simple feedback and commentary alone is welcome enough, but if you really like some track, give it a star to mark it as your favorite! You can give stars for multiple tracks if you wish. Stars play a part in event visibility and achievement mechanics.

To reward composers with stars post a reply to the event explaining which track, or tracks you want to give favorites for. Attaching a star image to the post helps the process.

Image code for the star:
[img][url]http://rpgmaker.net/media/images/events/sos/sosstar.png[/url][/img]







As of today, one of the biggest, if not the single biggest achievement of the composer community of rpgmaker.net still is the release of our RMN Music Pack!

It's a great quality pack of music that we can be proud of, and an achievement that we were able to put together with collaborative effort and all thanks to the network and community that RMN is.

Reception of the RMN Music Pack was overwhelmingly positive and it has been a good while since its release, so it is time we set our sights on the future, and to the release of its successor, the RMN Music Pack 2!

The journey for RMN Music Pack 2 begins with Summoner of Sounds.

Summoner of Sounds is designed to work as a count down and prepare us to bring RMN Music Pack 2 to a whole new level.

While Summoner of Sounds works also as the countdown for the RMN Music Pack 2, Summoner of Sounds will still be the greatest undertaking of the RMN composer community as of today and it will challenge everyone's creative abilities.

Summoner of Sounds will be creating composers a portfolio, but it will also be creating the community a whole lot of great video game music!

If you like what the composers of the community do and you want to show your support to them, you can be directly in contact with them, but if you want to show your support to the community as a whole and help us arrange events such as the RMN Music Pack, Summoner of Sounds and the RMN Music Pack 2, you can now become Guardian of The Groove and donate to the cause!

Every penny counts and the money will be used first and foremost to have artwork to go with the music and then to offer rewards for participating members. Any extra funds to the cause will be spent on future RMN Music events.

To get the Guardian of the Groove achievement you have to PM Happy after the transaction goes through, so that he knows to apply the benefits to your RMN account.

Thank you everyone! Let's do our best!

Illustrations: カラカモ @ twitter / 烏鴨 @ pixiv
Event concept design, visual design, direction and supervision: Happy @ RMN / Matias Heimlander @ tumblr

Details

  • 05/01/2015 06:57 PM
  • 07/01/2016 11:59 PM
  • 3
  • Happy

Achievements

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Summoner of Sounds.

Teams Members Entry
Team Happy!
My Composing Stick is Ready
Team Meat
Sum On Her Off Sow And
Team Failed Harmony
Team Where Am I?
Team The Team
Out of practice, so let's get back in practice!
"Insert Team Name Here"
I'll Do My Best...
Chaos Harmony
Symphony Of Enthrea
Super Merengue Bros.
The Spoony Bard
Music for humanity
Bring back the dinosaurs
How do I Music?
Team Drass
Ark of the Arts
Team Koi
To the Beat of a Different Drummer
Team Toni!
Dysergy
Jingle Jangle Jingle
Ylmir
Azhthar
Team Amazing Hotdog
Firah
Team Last Minute Production
Ogarth Munchies
The One-Ghost Gaggle
Team Giznads
Fungus Happy
Maat Wants His Cap Back
Misoundthropy
Rastapopoulos
Sweaty Angle~~~ <3
OneByOne
Toms Introduction Team!
Team Midi
Legion of One
FoxAudio Creations (AKA Team Oh God Who Let the Furry In Here)
Happy Rainbow Panda Bears
Team Curry
Acidbath
Jar Studios
Aersia Sound Team
Plastic, Meat, Smoke, Metal, and Sugar
Team Megollyen
Niyane's Team
Team Unhappy!
The Sword Of The Crest Heart And The Bird That Learnt That Hope Would End One Day
Team Neutral!
Team Probably Not Appearing In This Event
Scion Genesis
Without Creativity
Team Random
Team Cheese
JStewartMusic
No Excuses!
Team currently busy but what the hell
Team Yup
Uncanny Warriors
Team Jawns AKA Boring Team Name
A Team of One
The Singularity
The Duke's Jukebox
Sound Master
Entry Status Key
  • - Pending
  • - Validating
  • - Accepted
  • - Rejected

Posts

Hey Fulminis-Ictus,
I like your Jazz_Fight.ogg, really good for battle instanses, I like the jazz scale in the melody. Only thing I noticed: the repeating harmony patterns (which I like very much, but they don't change)
Otherwise I like this jazzy song very much!


I just finished my last submission for this chapter a moment ago. Calm scene or BGM theme. Take a look:
http://rpgmaker.net/content/events/sos/files/Bright_Harbour_at_Nighthour.mp3
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Here's some notes for the chapter IV entries from me, though I'll still need to listen to the chapter V entries, too:

TungerManU:

Under the Sun: Interesting atmosphere with the combination of modern and traditional instruments. To me it sounds like something you'd heard in an anime episode of Naruto. Solid, even if simple track!

Mix-wise I'd personally prefer the other instruments to have more presence over the drum kit's kicks and snare hits. Right now it sounds like the melody doesn't contribute as much to the mood as it could if the main instrument had more volume.


pianotm:


Mother's Dance: The song has really interesting developments through from section to other, though because of that it also sounds too progressive to remain as a location or situation background track. The song sounds more like something that would work with fixed time material, like a movie clip or with something else non-interactive.

The section starting at 0:52 sounds particularly nice and the chords especially at around 1:10, and I love the wind instrument that joins in soon afterwards. The progression change that comes at 1:31 sounds like the part that makes the song demand too much attention for it to simply stay playing in the background.

Because of it's progressiveness it's also hard for me to say what it makes me think about because the mood keeps changing so much. It was still nice to listen to, however.

Tanz Erbe:
First thing I notice is that the wind instrument sounds way too quiet compared to the piano. And generally, the volumes vary huge amounts and that makes it a bit distracting to listen to. The melody is really nice however, and wow, at later parts I can definitely hear you've got some practice under your belt. Very expressive and lively melody! I like it a lot!

I suggest listening to and analyzing some commercial and professional songs to find ways to approach volume arrangement and mixing. You seem to be rather skilled at composing, so it'd be great if the mixing department did that more justice for it too!


Fulminis-ictus:

World of Traditions Mura No Uta: Tranquil and mysterious! Definitely communicates an oriental setting. Makes me think of a tranquil forest, personally. The tremolo around 0:58 sounds like it could unfold to something grand at 1:00, but instead it doesn't! I like the development from 1:30 onward and thought those sections could have been repeated even more and be emphasized on.

Mix-wise I felt the instruments' acoustic properties could have had more reverb or space to them to build more ambiance, but even as it is, the mix works well enough.

Nice job! Especially with the usage of the mode and instrumentation!


ResidentEcruteak:

DesertTrek: Is that plucked string instrument an oud? Anyway, it does communicate a deserty atmosphere! The flute fits in well, too, but some notes it plays sound like they don't contribute as much to the mood as they could. This could only be a personal preference though, but I feel the melodic development and intervals could be more pleasant at times.

The development at 0:52 is good, though the bass range sounds too loud and close and the chords it plays sound a bit random. The bass notes don't necessarily have to vary a lot, so you could try to simplify that layer! The pad layer at 1:10 is a very nice enhancement to the mood!

Nice effort! The song has a very interesting idea and atmosphere and with little polish it could work very well!



Shade_Hunter:


Strings_of_Uncertain_Harmony:
Gives vibes of a large city with tall buildings or some sort of location at high altitude. Really exciting and interesting mood and the variance between the pizzicato string sections and the other string sections play very well together.

Setting-wise it gives me more of a fantasy setting vibe, though it still surely has some ethnic sounding influence to it. Like, I could easily use this track in a oriental city in a game, for example. Excellent work though. Probably one of my favorite pieces from you! The mixing is top notch too.

Pyramid_Mystery:
Oh the mystery! Very cool instrumentation. Makes me think of a lighthearted desert themed dungeon. I love the bells that join in at later point, and uh, pretty much all of it. Really nice use of instruments! This is definitely one of my favorites! Really creative track with great structure and patterns!


jasprelao:


A Trip to Tampak Siring:
Interesting atmosphere. The water sounds, flute and the pads make it easy to recognize as a track of yours! Makes me think of some sort of forest temple dungeon, or a forest. I love the part around 1:40 onward! Sweet melody there! Great track in general. Nothing to criticize in composition or mixing. It all sounds very solid and smooth! Another favorite from me!


Dance of Devananda: The wind instrument sounds too close to me here personally, and feels like it doesn't blend in with the backgrounds ambiance of the pads and drums. Same goes for the splashes and other high freq percussion. The violin is probably best thing about this track and with some polish on the other layers this track could work a whole lot better! Right now it just feels some of the leading voices are losing a lot of their presence to some of the percussion and this subtracts from the general effectiveness of the mood. Composition-wise it's a decent song though!


TheRexion:

sos_worldoftradtions: This starts off with a blast, but soon I find it a bit hard to discern the melody clearly. It sounds like the flute volume could be brought up a whole lot, and and harp-like instrument volume brought down a bit and be given some reverb to make it build the frames for the soundscape, so to say.

Right now I think there are beautiful melody ideas here, but with some more polish to the mix the song could work a whole lot better!

It definitely sounds like it has world music influences and fits the theme, though!

world_of_traditions_messages: Very curious mood! Love the taikos! Definitely could work for a japanese-type town. Oh there comes the flute. Beautiful! And the beat at 0:56 or so, really nice! Very hypnotizing mood! Shame it doesn't go on for longer. This has a lot of potential, even if requiring some more polish! Would love to hear more of this. Spot on with the theme!


Ylmir:

ch4_unmastered: At 0:37 is pretty much where the song started to get a hold of me! The flute soon afterwards is really, really good! Goosebumps! Not sure of the choirs though. They fit in fine if I imagine this as a track for some sort of fantasy town, or a location, but personally I don't feel like they sound that much "world music like" or fitting to underline such theme. But some of the instrumentation and mood sounds like world music influenced, sure!

What comes to the mix, the background ambiance sounds a bit too low in volume and presence in comparison to the foreground lead instruments. The soundscape sound a bit too sparse and not as effective as possible. But this is still a really good track with a lot of potential! Would like to hear the "mastered version."


Giznads:

SOS_World_Music_Mountain_People: Now these sound like funky chords. Haha, I don't know what to think! Very surreal atmosphere. I'm imagining some sort of location with a twisted reality or some reaaally bizarre things going on. I can spot the world music influence and instrumentation, I just don't know what this makes me think of! could work great with some right visual material, though. Very interesting work! I like it a lot!

SOS_World_Music_Far_Away_Groove: Not sure about the percussion mixing here! I'd personally give some of the melody layers a bit more presence over the percussion by giving the percussion less volume or a bit more reverb. The composition is interesting though, and pretty modern take on the theme. Somewhat hard for me to spot the world music influence here other than the drums. Though they do bring at least a tiny bit of it there, so that the track could work in a setting where the visual material communicates some "world cultures" influence as well. I could've listened to a bit more of this too! Like, with more development! Nice work!


bulmabriefs144:

Hymn_of_the_Sage: The chords sound pretty atonal, as in not pertaining to a selected musical scale in particular. Like, 0:03 and 0:12 in particular throw the progression off the most. The song idea could work if some of the chords had a bit more resolving intervals and some varying development and if there maybe was an additional harmony layer creating additional ambiance to back up the more "uncomfortable" sounding layer. It's not a bad idea! It just sounds like it could use something more to spice it up and make the listener have at least one "ooh!" moment, detail, or something, if you catch my drift.

DemonicPolka: Well, this sounds even more atonal. I recommend reading a bit of music theory to help at establishing tonality in your song! I'm not really sure what to think of here, other than a nightmare circus! I mean, yeah.


captainregal & Icepick001:

Toms_Theme: Liking the soundscape! The shaker sounds good and the main "bassy" synth instrument has a curious sound. Reminds me a bit of Chrono Cross' OST. The gongs are a nice touch too, though the tremolo instrument starting at 0:17 sounds offbeat and makes the rhythm tackle from there on, and makes the song a bit hard to listen to. The percussion beat details are nice too, though especially the lower frequency beats sound like they could blend in the soundscape better. Also, it feels like the song could progress to a new movement and section, as where it currently ends it sounds like it has already repeated enough of the same melodic idea. This tracks has a lot of potential though, instrumentation and melody-wise. The atmosphere is really cool! I wish this was improved upon further!


Pancake:

Mountain_Fortress: Oh, I love the chords and the instrumentation! Very fairy tale and folklore-type vibe in a way. Reminds me of Final Fantasy IX OST! Some nice string layers 0:35 onwards and the 0:42 progression sounds very expressive and inspired! You've got a knack at carrying the melody in expressive way! Lovely! Mix-wise the flute drowns a bit in there and some other layers might work better with a bit less volume. I have actually difficulties pin pointing which instrument causes this, but some layer has this overbearing "airy" sound to it which steals some of the presence and efficiency of the overall mix. Very nice submission, though! Looking forward to hear more from you!
"Would like to hear the "mastered version."
I knew I forgot something. Since my headphones are falling apart right now, I'll wait for my new pair before uploading it, at least to check if everything sounds right. And I'll probably end up redoing the whole mix. xD

Not sure of the choirs though. They fit in fine if I imagine this as a track for some sort of fantasy town, or a location, but personally I don't feel like they sound that much "world music like" or fitting to underline such theme.
My intention, for the whole track, was to make something influenced by world music, without falling into something too "cliché".
The choir part was probably a bit influenced by a japanese track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LpZ5I8Iks), and I tried to EQ it in a slightly exotic way, to get a more unusual sound. I ended up denaturing the sound pretty fast, so I reverted most of the changes and kept an almost normal choir sound. But yeah, on this part, I was aiming more for something that wouldn't detract from the general mood than for something that truly sounded like world music.

the background ambiance sounds a bit too low in volume and presence in comparison to the foreground lead instruments. The soundscape sound a bit too sparse and not as effective as possible.
Well, if I recall correctly, there is a real issue with reverbs on one of the instruments, and everything was placed in the stereo field in a strange way, so that doesn't help. And the first notes of the stringed instrument (which is actually three instruments) were a bit loud compared to the rest. I might be thinking about the first "fixed" version though, which was actually ten times worse than the one I uploaded here - I was just too tired to make anything sound good that day.
There is also no real soundscape (only a soft choir and the harp), but I don't think this track needs one. There isn't really anything interesting in the background, and I think adding instruments would only crowd the overall mix. Since my goal was to make something "lighter" and with an heavy focus on the main melodies, I'm not sure it would help. I'll try though, maybe I'm just being overcautious. ^^

Thanks for your comment ;)

EDIT : Somehow I messed up and put some sentences at the wrong places in my message. Sorry, it's fixed now. xD
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32388
Happy
Mother's Dance: The song has really interesting developments through from section to other, though because of that it also sounds too progressive to remain as a location or situation background track. The song sounds more like something that would work with fixed time material, like a movie clip or with something else non-interactive.


I was only beginning to experiment with these two because I had really wanted to participate in SOS but just hadn't found the time, so I literally sat down and forced myself to write something. This was the second one I wrote. I followed an existing piece for reference. Tanz Erbe, I really was not pleased with so I resolved to do better with this one. I came up with a story and decided what I wanted the song to be about, so once I knew the point of the song, I started low and mournful, built up to a high, frenetic pace, and brought it back down to express mourning, a gradually escalated sense of anger, and down to despair. I realized it probably wouldn't work as background music, but I liked what I came up with and decided to test it out on here.

The section starting at 0:52 sounds particularly nice and the chords especially at around 1:10, and I love the wind instrument that joins in soon afterwards. The progression change that comes at 1:31 sounds like the part that makes the song demand too much attention for it to simply stay playing in the background.


Yeah, I just wasn't paying too much attention to the needs of a video game when writing this and was more interested in telling a story with the music. It occurred to me throughout that wouldn't be very useful as background music, but I thought that it might work for a cutscene.

Because of it's progressiveness it's also hard for me to say what it makes me think about because the mood keeps changing so much. It was still nice to listen to, however.


Well, it's about a mother complaining over her daughter marrying a man she doesn't like and having no real say in the matter. Also, because of the way things are happening, she's probably never going to see her daughter again.

Tanz Erbe:
First thing I notice is that the wind instrument sounds way too quiet compared to the piano. And generally, the volumes vary huge amounts and that makes it a bit distracting to listen to. The melody is really nice however, and wow, at later parts I can definitely hear you've got some practice under your belt. Very expressive and lively melody! I like it a lot!


As far as arranging music, I've done it quite a bit in midi and other formats, but for actual composing. No. I've written music before, but I've never finished anything and this the first original composition I've ever completed and arranged.

I actually wrote this first and was none too pleased with it (don't get me wrong, I like the piece overall; I just feel like I lost control of it very early on). I went ahead and uploaded it because I thought it sounded alright and that two entries would be better than one. I pretty much over thought this thing. I'd have probably trashed it if there weren't parts that I had liked, and I almost didn't upload it.

I suggest listening to and analyzing some commercial and professional songs to find ways to approach volume arrangement and mixing. You seem to be rather skilled at composing, so it'd be great if the mixing department did that more justice for it too!


Well, it is the first completed piece I've ever really done, so I really take this last comment as huge compliment.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Just as a heads up: the next chapter will start later today! I will make a recap of all the submissions to the event so far, and also post all the statistics, either before the chapter VI is over, or after it.

There's still at least a few chapters ahead and I thank everyone who has participated so far and sticked with the challenges all the way up to this point! Great job everyone!

We have also received a nice amount of donations which will help at creating RMN Music Pack 2 next year, and I'll post more about that in the coming recap, too.

I'd also like to apologize to everyone for some of the delays in the announcements, confirmations and event recaps, as well as to myself for not having the time to participate the events properly myself! :(
That's great news!
I'm looking forward to seeing the recaps and especially reading about the RMN Pack.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
You've spent a good while doing sight seeing and exploring the modern metropolis, but you start to feel like you could use some rest and escape the scenery that has now become all too familiar. This calls for video games!

Artwork by wylielise @ Deviantart.com






Chapter VI: A Game Within A Game


You are a journeyman, a Disciple of Sound and you have been tasked to solve a series of mysterious disappearances of Sound in the Realms of Melodies by the Regal Musicians Network.

Previously your journey had brought you to a modern day Realm, but as you now feel that you've already seen enough of it you decide to boot up a video game. As you turn the power on something strange happens and you find yourself being sucked inside! As you regain your consciousness and look around you, you find yourself in a game within a game! And the Sound is missing!


Composer: What sort of game is this? What Sounds does it require?

Developer: What sort of game could this be? What could the different games within games sound like?


Challenge:

  • Composers:

Compose a piece of video game music that fits a video game instance that presents a game within the game.

  • Developers:

Come up with different instances in video games that could count towards being games within games and could warrant for music that specifically underlines that. Think how these instances should be approached musically to underline the fact that they are games within games!


Track restrictions:

  • Impression: The theme should emphasize the fact that it is specifically for a separate game instance in the video game. E.g. a board game, a card game, or something of the like.

  • Instrumentation: No restrictions

  • Game World Setting: No restrictions

  • Video Game Genre: No restrictions

  • Game Instances: You have to compose for a game instance that is specifically a game within the game, and has separate set of gameplay mechanics apart from rest of the game. The song should underline the fact that this is such a scenario. E.g. some sort of minigame, a card game, a board game, a dice game, betting, racing, or some other game!



Submission rules:


  • Render a track with as little audio quality loss as possible

  • You may submit as many pieces as you wish, but rememeber that quality is what matters.

  • You may update your submissions with further versions.

  • You may contact event organizer and sign up for post processing of your track.

  • You may collaborate and interact with all the rest of the community to any end you wish. You are encouraged to share tips, viewpoints, references and material for inspiration.

  • The challenge will run for one month and end 15th of December 2015

Good luck everyone!
Ah, finally a new challenge, I'm looking forward to compose for this one! Starting to work right away ;)
author=TungerManU
Doesn't this basically mean we can compose anything we want? If not then some guidance would be appreciated, like, what would not qualify for this challenge? Or maybe someone can link a good example of a game-within-a-game sound track.


The "Game Instances" section says that you should compose music for a minigame. This track from Tales of the Abyss is a good example in my opinion, as is just about anything from Mario Party.

Alternatively, you could go the cliché route and do 8-bit music for a fake NES-like console game that happens to be lying around in your hero's house.

I think the "story" for this chapter could have been worded better, given that it only specifically mentions video games, when the theme is games in general.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
author=TungerManU
Doesn't this basically mean we can compose anything we want? If not then some guidance would be appreciated, like, what would not qualify for this challenge? Or maybe someone can link a good example of a game-within-a-game sound track.

Well that isn't exactly how the theme is supposed to be interpreted. The idea is to compose for a game instance that is a game itself, so the song should convey idea of a "game" as its main theme and atmosphere.

author=Happy
  • Game Instances: You have to compose for a game instance that is specifically a game within the game, and has separate set of gameplay mechanics apart from rest of the game. The song should underline the fact that this is such a scenario. E.g. some sort of minigame, a card game, a board game, a dice game, betting, racing, or some other game!

It is true that this gives you options for various approaches, as there are various scenarios that could count towards being games within games, so in a sense you have very free hands at this, but in the end, the point is to convey the idea of a "game" with your track.

Very simple example tracks:

Card game in FF8: https://youtu.be/0kWjJwbDF4g

Bird racing in FF7: https://youtu.be/Wx9hjDLX_FE

Cooking contest in Suikoden 2: https://youtu.be/acXbWjO_TTk

Board game in Disgaea 5: https://youtu.be/B0CaOXbUzUw

Hearthstone, a card game: https://youtu.be/Mypq__IhFC8

author=Someoneman
I think the "story" for this chapter could have been worded better, given that it only specifically mentions video games, when the theme is games in general.

Oh this is true. I hope the idea still comes across now though. I'll try and see if I can revise it a bit.
Catch_Him.mp3

So here's my first entry for this chapter, theme for a chasing minigame. (like help farmer to catch his escaping chickens or somethign like that) :D
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32388
Really having a hard time coming up with ideas for this one. I'm not sure if The Gamble quite fits with the challenge, and Master of Ceremonies feels a little forced.

The Gamble

Master of Ceremonies
Kept you waiting, huh?

Hi everyone! I've been keeping a (distant) eye on Summoner of Sounds while I've been getting RL stuff out of the way. But the stuff is stuffed, my muse has reappeared and was all "bitch make some music!" and I was like "okay."

My first thought when I saw this month's theme was to crack out LittleSoundDJ, but that didn't go very far. Then this tune popped into my head and I ran with it. Here's the result!

A Game for Two Players (MP3 version)

A Game for Two Players (OGG version)

The OGG verion already includes loop comments, so feel free to whack it into your RPG Maker project and see how it sounds there! I made this track pretty quickly so it's definitely open to critique and polishing (for one thing, I already think the guitar could come down a shade in volume...).

Good to be back, guys! Let me know what you think.


EDIT 09.12.15
New improved version!
A Game for Two Players update!

I've spent a while today fiddling a bit more with the track. The guitar is now a few shades softer, and is joined by the dulcimer. Both have been given a few little flourishes to help back up the other instruments here and there. The percussion has also received a few little extras, adding a little breathing space at the very beginning and, if the track isn't looping in a game, at the end.

Other than that, I've given the mix many little tweaks here and there, using EQ to give a little boost to the high end of the bass and the claps' mid-range. The claps also have a touch of chorus for a little more crunchiness and presence. The rest was mostly just volume and pan tweaks. Overall, I think the track sounds a lot more balanced now. Let me know what you guys think.

A Game for Two Players 1.1 (MP3 version)

A Game for Two Players 1.1 (OGG version)
Here's my entry for this chapter: Minigame

I tried to keep it simple and decided to use the Honky Tonky piano to make it sound more "playful". I'll give some feedback on the other submitted pieces in the next few days.
I just realized something. I'm qualified (more than three events) for the Herald of Harmony one, sucky music or not. And I missed the first event. Since the current event I'm having trouble coming up with anything, I think I just wanna get the award and stuff.
Feedback!

@Shade_Hunter
Catch Him: I really like the use of the percussions! Especially the maracas (?). The used syncopation also gives this piece a playful feeling. The pizz. strings got on my nerves after some time though. That's probably just because of the quality of the sample though.


@pianotm
The gamble: This piece really has a Final Fantasy esque feeling to it. Because of that it already gets some nostalgia points ^^ It feels like the roll is too long though. Mostly because the melody doesn't have enough room if the next note is supposed to be playing when the roll has just barely ended.

Master of Ceremonies: This really has a sense of hurry to it. This would be great for a mini game where you'd have to gather things as fast as possible for example. The whistle melody is what I liked most about this piece! Those should be used more often.

The Shell game: This sounds really tropical. I was able to picture a shell game with actual shells right away.

Your pieces are in general perfect for mini games since they are short and catchy!


@Snowy_Fox You get a star from me ^^

A Game for two players: This one is really catchy and the melody is great. I also really like the organic sound of the instruments. My only complaint is that the flute sounds a little too quiet.