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Post by The Count on Sept 18, 2021 20:21:09 GMT
That's an interesting sound. Both albums are on Spotify so they are lined up for proper listening tomorrow
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Post by The Count on Sept 19, 2021 17:27:46 GMT
While they don't quite take me to what I imagine Kallamehr to be, there are a few decent tracks on both album. In particular: Mysterious Forest Part 1 & 2, Underground Passages, Hidden Tunnel, Lost in the Abyss. The last three do suggest the Abyss, though equally could be suited to particular passages in Island of the Undead.
If all the tracks were performed using different sound effects that sound less like a synthetic cheap casio keyboard, or with real instruments, I'd probably enjoy them more.
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Post by sleepyscholar on Mar 19, 2022 8:02:07 GMT
While they don't quite take me to what I imagine Kallamehr to be, there are a few decent tracks on both album. In particular: Mysterious Forest Part 1 & 2, Underground Passages, Hidden Tunnel, Lost in the Abyss. The last three do suggest the Abyss, though equally could be suited to particular passages in Island of the Undead. If all the tracks were performed using different sound effects that sound less like a synthetic cheap casio keyboard, or with real instruments, I'd probably enjoy them more. Wish I'd come across this thread earlier: anyone know anything about this mysterious copyright-defying game version of Slaves of the Abyss?
Count, I presume the 'Casio keyboard' quality is because the music is designed to be playable on MIDI or whatever music environment computer games have nowadays.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Mar 20, 2022 9:04:38 GMT
I know no more than what I've found on that Cosmomoose site. The game seems not to have seen the light of day. Perhaps it was a labour of love not intended for commercial release, or project for a computing course or suchlike. Anyhow this is what I found:
In early 2016 I was asked by game designer, Glen Chudley, to compose a soundtrack to a computer game based on a fantasy adventure book "Slaves of the Abyss". This is one of those books where you are the hero of the story and you decide what to do next on your quest.
I couldn't get the rights to use the book's name (which may not have been a suitable album title anyway) in the album so decided on the name ABYSSIUM. Each track on this album represents a scene from the game and there is more to come in forthcoming Chapter II.
Glen gave me specific directions on what music he wanted in each scene in the 'quotes' below:
• KALLAMEHR – 'Should create the impression of a prosperous city. Arabian influence'
• ITER FORTISSIMUM (Latin for Journey of Courage) – 'Should evoke the sense of travelling on a long journey of which the destination is not known'
• TEMPLE OF FOURGA – 'Should sound stereotypically holy, but in a pretentious way. Fourga is the god of pride'
• ABANDONED VILLAGE – 'A mix of sadness, mystery and danger'
• PATH OF RIDDLES – 'Incongruous, completely juxtaposed to the mood of the rest of the game – perhaps even a bit carnival/funfair like?'
• MYSTERIOUS FOREST – 'As the name suggests, mysterious, though in a more positive and playful way than is typical of the rest of the game' [Glen then gave directions that there was a second forest scene which should be sadder]
• GURU REUNION [this scene was a late addition to the game where Glen wanted something peaceful but oriental]
• BESIEGED! – 'Like Kallemehr, but slightly subdued. Should also hint in some way of an impending threat' [although this track started off like Kallamehr it took on a life of its own with more than a hint of threat!]
• OPEN THE ABYSS – something a bit surreal [This is the opening title theme to the game even though it's at the end of the album. I thought it too strange to open the album and a nice way to close Chapter 1].
CALL TO BATTLE – ‘A basic military drum beat, overlaid with other instruments to give the impression of a final showdown (actually turns out not to be, but oh well)’
ITER PERICULOSUM (Latin for Journey of Peril) – ‘should be like [ITER FORTISSIMUM] (on Chapter I) but sounding more ominous”
UNDERGROUND PASSAGES [Glen wanted something based on the Kallamehr theme from Chapter I but the action is happening in the sewers rather than in the City]
HIDDEN TUNNEL – ‘Mysterious, in a slightly surreal way. It is the first time the player enters the Abyss’
LOST IN THE ABYSS – ‘Surreal and should give the impression of an endless barren expanse’
CASTLE OF DOOM – 'Church organ music. Should suggest the massive size of the castle. (The Castle is basically designed for use by someone 50 feet tall)’ I plan this piece to be the first ORGAN PHANTASY in a series.
SOUL CHAMBER – [Glen wanted something dark, surreal and disturbing]
ESCAPE FROM THE ABYSS [This is the End theme] – Something epic, suggesting exploring infinite new possibilities
RECOLLECTION is a composition inspired by the game recalling many of the existing themes
SONG OF THE SAVED is the only song with lyrics, sung from the point of view of those being saved. It is also deliberately an allegory to how Jesus gave His all to save us all. This song and all my music is made for God’s glory.
The tracks were composed based on Glen's descriptions and before the game was fully developed. I liked all the themes so much that I wanted to release them .... on two albums.
credits
released September 10, 2018
Composed Arranged Produced and Performed by Chris Medway (CosmoMoose)
Mixed and Mastered by Chris Medway at 9EQ Studios, Dawlish, Devon UK
Artwork by Chris Medway
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Post by vastariner on Mar 20, 2022 13:05:01 GMT
"ITER FORTISSIMUM (Latin for Journey of Courage)"
Only if you're Brian doing graffiti. "Journey does an unknown thing because we're missing a verb to a very brave man".
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Post by cyranotheswordfish on Mar 30, 2022 20:31:18 GMT
For those asking wondering about the game, I think it would be fair to come out and say that 'Glen Chudley' is me. bloodbeasthandlers comment of " The game seems not to have seen the light of day. Perhaps it was a labour of love not intended for commercial release," is largely true. The project initially started as a nothing more than a labour of lov, basically a sort of narrative context for me to try to program a basic retro RPG-ish game onto the Raspberry PI. As it was nothing more than a hobby, progress was sporadic and sort of dropped off once I'd sort of proved a few specific goals to myself. However, as I love the book, I did think it would be cool to release a hyptothetical finished game (for free) and asked Chris (who is a real-life work colleague and who has composed music for a much simpler game of mine previously) if he'd like to help out, (the idea being that it would in effect be a standalone set of works inspired by the setting that I would also use in the game). For the purposes of avoiding stress down the line, I did attempt to ascertain copyright situations etc so that a future release would not cause issues, but didn't get anywhere (as in, did not find out anything much) and lost motivation as result. I did later restart the project as a different form of game, but real-world events killed my motivation in that instance and it would be fair to say that neither iteration got beyond some draft locations - Chris' music is (and will always be, no matter what happens), the most impressive thing to come out of this. I feel no shame in admitting that Chris' description of me as 'Game Designer' paints a far greater image of my abilities than is true!
For what it's worth, I don't consider the concept totally dead. I certainly don't want to promise anything, but honestly, if I produce one creative work in my life, I want it to be the old-school videogame adaptation of Slaves of the Abyss
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Mar 31, 2022 20:56:59 GMT
What is it about that book in particular that made you want to create a game for it? And judging by the names of the tracks and the comments accompanying them, it would seem you had at least the skeleton of a narrative already worked out.
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Post by cyranotheswordfish on Apr 2, 2022 9:43:38 GMT
What is it about that book in particular that made you want to create a game for it?
I've always found it to be by far one of the most atmospheric and interesting books, and also felt that it's plot should translate better than some to other mediums, as it's actually a plot and not just context for a dungeon crawl (that's not a criticism of the latter type btw)
And judging by the names of the tracks and the comments accompanying them, it would seem you had at least the skeleton of a narrative already worked out.
The plot would basically be the path through the book, with some elements expanded on or amended to fit better into a basic video game. Your progress would be gated by puzzle-solving (ideally presented as diagetically as possible), rather than failing because you missed something earlier
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