Blueshift City – Act 1 Complete

It was a long time coming.

Act 1 is finally complete.

Please let me know what you think

Act 1 – Almost Done!

Quick entry.

Over the Christmas holidays I bought a real proper laptop! No longer using my 10.1″ Intel Atom netbook to write the opera on. Got a full size laptop to work with. It’s powerful enough to run Sony Vegas at high resolution! Before it was…tricker but with this upgrade in hardware, the later acts should be coming out a lot faster than before. A lot of time was spent working around the speed issues of the older netbook. But no longer!

So a biggish gif below to show you something new, but the first act should be ready really really soon.

Menacing 4D Cube

Blueshift City: Overture

New upload on YouTube today.

I’ve uploaded a new video on YouTube designed to give a glimpse into the 8-bit opera I am currently writing. You can now see my progress in this continuing project called Blueshift City. It is a music video overture that displays the main characters in the opera. As this is an opera I’m writing, the music is of greater importance than the images, but the imagery still hold significance.

All images and audio were created by me using LSDJ, Sony Vegas and Audacity. I have found these tools to be very helpful and simple to use in my production process.

Feel free to leave feedback and comments as they are always appreciated. I will upload again next month and give an update of how I am progressing in this project. Below are a couple screenshots of the software I used to create my overture.

Using the LSDJ software for audio creation.

Audacity is a brilliant audio capturing and recording software I’ve used extensively

Sony Vegas is a great piece of software to use for video editing.

Engine Heart: Origin (Part 5)

Last post before the New Year.

I’ve completed the fifth video for Engine Heart. This completes this saga for the time being. There is scope to create more videos for this character, but I think my future interest lies in new projects for next year.

I’ve done quite a few animations this year and hope to continue with this next year. More stories with musical accompaniment using animations that remind me of my childhood.

Let me know what you think.

New GBA ROM Written – Splat!

Second post in the month. Nice.

I’ve written an interactive visual/music ROM for the Gameboy Advance. I’ve called it Splat! It consists of a piece of music you can directly affect by pressing the buttons and the image on screen is also directly controlled by the users decisions. It’s interactive art!

Below is a picture of what it looks like, but to truly understand what it does, you really ought to download and play it 🙂

Download and play!

Such pretty colours

Moving using UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT across the screen triggers new sounds and pressing certain buttons will also cause different sounds to play. I tried to make it as interactive as possible in that respect but still keep a central theme playing.

As ever, here are the controls:

Controls for VisualBoy Advance

As with my last post/ROM, WordPress won’t allow me to directly attach the game to my page so I’ve created a URL that will give you the ability to download and view Splat! Remember, you need the VisualBoy Advance application to open Splat! if you don’t already have it installed.

https://www.box.com/s/udtm7gxe398d7ucvc7vb

This took quite a lot of man-hours to create, I hope you like it. My second ROM for the GBA. Let me know what you think, feedback is always welcome.

Engine Heart: Origin (Part 4)

Part 4 done! The continuing story of a man dealing with love and life nears completion.

There is just one more part left in Engine Heart before I would be happy to leave it, at least for a little while. I’ve been thinking about starting a new series. One with music as the primary drive for the animation. Where they are synchronised and complement each other.

I’ve been writing the music on an original Gameboy, which can have a maximum of 4 simultaneous sounds. I think it’s time, for the new project to ‘upgrade’ to the NES. I think the NES can have up to 6 independent sounds so it’s a big leap and can allow for more complex rhythms and a more varied sound palette.

Below is part 4. Let me know what you think.

Engine Heart: Origin (Part 3)

Hi, it’s been a while. Had some job difficulties…but they seem to have resolved themselves quite happily.

Another video complete. Engine Heart part 3. The continuing tale of a man confronting love and the obstacles that get in the way. The music isn’t my best work. I had a ton of rough recorded ideas that just got wiped. Was so annoyed…but what can you do? That’s why you should always backup your data.

So below is the video. Let me know what you think.

New Music Uploaded: Ready 4

It’s been a while. The Olympics has been very distracting lately but I’ve managed to put lyrics to the music for Through The Motions” and upload it to SoundCloud.

I tried to project my voice a bit more in this one, apologies. I’m less offended by my voice than I have been for a while so I brought it further up in the mix. Getting better, right?

In other news, I have been toying with the idea of writing an 8-bit opera. Been researching what it would entail and I think it is possible. It’s the singing in digitised 8-bit that is gonna be the most tricky. It’s easy enough to do but harmonising 8-bit sung voices? That’s gonna take time. In the mean time I hope to finish the Engine Heart web series shortly.

New Video – Through The Motions

It’s been a while.

Been working on this latest video and it’s taken quite some time. Inspiration has been taken from the NES game series Ninja Gaiden to include movie style scenes around normal gameplay. It adds more to the video. I think. Closeups and thoughtful commentary.

This video includes changing from daytime to evening, ‘cinematic’ cut scenes and is loosely based on not having any money. It was the little things that took the most amount of time. Making sure the cut scenes were clear and embedding them into the story in a meaningful way.

The audio was originally created on a bass guitar then programmed into a Gameboy then recorded. The audio will be used in the next SoundCloud upload I complete. Getting better at this kind of thing.

Enjoy.

New Track Uploaded – Old Mistakes (Demo)

Another day another new post. I’m a big believer in the notion that completing something to 80% and having others view it is a million times better than 99% no one will ever see. The idea of just finishing it is an obvious to some, but not so obvious to me way of attempting to be creative.

I’m slowly learning that lesson. It’s not all that easy though. I’ve actually been sitting on the below song for quite a while. Trying to fix the vocals so they are just right, editing the snare and bass drum so they are just right, chorus effects etc. But now it’s all about just getting it out there (in demo version) for everyone. I like the beats SO much more than the vocals. Singing is tricky.

If you’re not too offended by the first couple of lines you may stick it though the rest of the song. (It’s still a demo version!)

Not perfect but still presentable.

Enjoy.