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…and the theme for the new upcoming adventure seeds would be Not Really What It Seems! Sometimes things are really that straightforward, but not this time! Hopefully I can get the first few of these themed seeds up in the week.
I have tried to restrict rants, soapbox-style speeches and stuff about personal life for this blog as it is meant to have a ‘professional’ slant. Just the facts, my analysis and good old ideas generation. For those who are interested in what’s going on in the back of my mind, here’s the Struggling Games Developer – a blog detailing my up and down struggle just to make a game…some games, whatever form it may take. Hopefully that would be of interest to some of you!
Sometimes as I put out adventure hooks, I have a nagging worry that I keep going to back to explore certain themes. I do not have the time to create a custom taxomony in WordPress that would allow me to categorise those hooks, so I am trying to set themes for a week or two and go by that. So the next series of theme would be environmental-based adventures.
Those hooks would be based on different type of exotic settings, such as desert (a tried and true staple in many JCRPG), arctic icelands, jungles and the such. Any feedbacks on any particular trends you are observing and any fantasy staple I have been lacking in would be welcomed too!
Last time I mentioned that magic is often used as a clutch to explain all sort of plot devices and the week series of daily (okay, almost daily) plot seeds have nothing to do with magic whatsoever. So for this two weeks, I am going to try the other extreme. Really smashing epic high level of magic.
Do note that when it comes to magic, the magic level could be high, but uncommon throughout the world. So we’re not talking about having every town their own resident cleric and Deckard Cain, but rather stuff like an entire city popping out from nowhere and the adventurers got to figure out how to deal with it. In fact, that would be the very first upcoming seed…
It is the most anticipated game concert event for me – Video Games Live. It started in 2005 and began to tour the various states in USA, and it was a matter of time before it came to Singapore too on 19th July 2009. Recently, for this country with the nickname of “the little red dot”, there has been a series of concerts – PLAY, one for Final Fantasy and some time back, the Eminence Ensemble performed at the Victoria Concert Hall. So how does the legendary VGL @ Singapore matches up?
The tickets for VGL @ Singapore were on sales at SISTIC since March, but there weren’t really marketing and promotion till May, which I found strange. The event was organised in conjunction with the CG Overdrive, and when the tickets are out (during the early bird period), there was no announcements, no updates on both the official VGL and CG Overdrive website. It was frustrating until a friend, who often go to such concerts, helped me to locate the page at SISTIC where I could book the tickets. Only later then there is a site called VGL-SEA (VGL for Southeast Asia?) launched. Even for the official site for this concert, there are no previews, just a site hastily put together. Posters for VGL only sprang up around the IT hub of the city, only in May. Isn’t that a bit too short a period for marketing effort?
Also considering that in May there was a Final Fantasy concert at the Esplanade and the tickets were completely wiped cleaned by late March. Considering that VGL coming to Singapore is such a rare opportunity, shouldn’t the marketing efforts be ramped up a bit? Marketing +0 (Medicore).
Marketing, of course, is just something that happens before the event. The real meat is during the show itself. So how does it stands? Let’s talk about the entire performance first. The symphony is the NUS Symphony. Sadly, some people I knew were put off by that as it is not a “full-fledge symphony”, and the price tag (SGD 55 just for the lowest tier ticket) just put them off. So did the NUS Symphony performed well?
I don’t know.
You see, there was a bit of problem with the mixing at the indoor stadium. The first piece, Metal Gear Solid 2 Opening Theme feels a bit underwhelming. There is no sense of listening to a live performance. It was like, listening to a recording of the performance itself. Of course, it is performed live, but something seems to be lacking in recreating the “live atmosphere”. My friend pointed out that the brass was too weak.
Later, they compensate (or attempt to try to? Or I guess they did try) by boosting the volume. That backfires, I guess. To me, the volins, strings and trumpet, when they reach high pitch, are especially jarring on the ear. When I listen to a piece of music, I like to follow the subtle things beside the main instrument playing on the foreground – things like the strings, the brass and motif. However, they were all clashing with each other. It’s hard to pick out the strings when something else is overpowering it. This I feel, is not the Symphony’s fault, but rather a mixing problem. I would really suggest VGL looks into acoustics next time for their next performance at Singapore.
While the NUS Symphony definitely is a notch lower when compared to the Singapore Symphonic Orchestra or the Eminence Ensemble, one thing for sure is that they tried their darn best. The pieces when the acoustic problem cleared up for a while (due to the virtue of the composition, I guess) are the Snake Eater theme and Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross piece. Those are quieter pieces and they do literally suck you in. It also helps that for the second part of the show, there were strong players, such as the composers themselves. Kudos to the lead violinist for playing the Chrono Cross piece.
The vocals, from the NUS Choir, are well done though. They do sound exactly like what I would imagine them to be, but they seems to be lacking in numbers for a really bombistatic performance. The music seems to be crowding them out.
Performance +1 (Average), +2 (Fair) for the second part
Mixing -1 (Terrible)
The only other concert I have been to is Passion, by Eminence Ensemble and I afraid that VGL @ Singapore, in terms of performance, lags behind Eminence. Then again, all the strong players from the Ensemble were presented and they were a professional one. However, one sore sticking point is that the ticket for the event is a lot more cheaper (yes, Singaporeans are picky about pricing). Maybe it’s wrong of me to compare the two, since Passion was a quartet event, more close-up and intimate whereas VGL is a large scale one.
I won’t comment on the light shows and the multimedia display. Perhaps I am just not used to large scale concert. For me, I prefer a quieter one where one could focus entirely on the music. The lights sometime just hit full into my eyes and I have to close it. Perhaps the other concert-goers are more used to such events, so I’ll let this pass.
But though – showing photos of cosplay during the rendition of One Winged Angel doesn’t struck me as a good idea. Perhaps I am too rigid or some such. I rather they ask for permission to put on more fantastic fan art. (Maybe it’s just because I am not a fan of cosplay?)
Singapore is between the East and the West, though largely put, people tend to prefer the East (Japan) when it comes to music. There was someone who I would dub “Final Fantasy 7 Fan of the Year” when he kept shouting out for One Winged Angel. That the reception for Chrono Cross, Castlevania and other FF7 pieces way outweight any other pieces.
For example, it was mentioned that Metroid is one of the most requested piece ever. The thing is, I doubt Metroid is that big in Singapore. Picking Halo, World of Warcraft and Diablo are the pieces (and checking out the audience’s response) that resonated more with the audience.
I would humbly suggest that VGL, if they are to return to Singapore, to leave out the Tron segment.
I am sure going out on a limb for this, but I think VGL ought to pick music that are good instead of just famous. How many time have we heard One Winged Angel, anyway? Recently, there are many games with good music (Shadow Hearts, Ace Combat series, Okami) but are not famous. Heck, there are many classic with great music which are really underpresented (Lufia, Final Doom, Tyrian, Quest for Glory, Ultima). Secondly, I would also suggest re-arrangement to a certain extent. The front part of the show seems to be straight covers, and adding in that somehow the playing sounds recorded, I find myself drifting off to boredom-land.
All in all, I have a fun time, however I have to say it doesn’t measured up to Passion by Eminence Ensemble.
Long ago, one of my friends (I forgot who) who explicitly told me that he hates fantasy and fantasy games. Where? Magic is often used as a crutch. Magic can be used for deus ex machina, to explain strange weathers – anything! Be it gods, unspeakable horror, faerie creatures and so on, they have been used to, sometimes carelessly, just to explain everything. “A wizard did it!” “An imp ate my homework”
The line between using magic effectively or carelessly is something that I have been thinking about. On one hand, it is good to use magic to preserve the mystery of a setting and the Meta Plot, but it get tiring when it’s always evil sorcerers, unhinged druids, mentioned unspeakable horrors, infernal demons and unexplained psionic manifestations behind the scene. So for this week, the usual daily adventure hooks would have no magic as its explanation whatsoever. That also includes faerie creatures and monsters which have magical abilities.
One of the thing I have been pondering over why D&D and Dragon Warriors are different in term of magic and the supernatural is because in D&D magic is fleshed out entirely. Schools of magic, meta-magic feats, what can be done, what not and so on. It’s limiting at first, and I find all the explanations suffocating, but on thinking through it, some people do like it. Magic cannot be used carelessly. It is possible to build a challenge revolving around the schools of Magic in D&D (or just see the speculation of who actually saved V and O-chul in the latest Order of the Stick comic).
I can now understand why some people prefer magic to have rules and to be a closed system, rather than an open system where are lots of unknown. I guess it’s no a matter of “this way is better”. In Dragon Warriors, the school of Sorcery and Elementalism are not the only form of magic there is. There are faeries, not documented and not detailed, and what they can do is entirely up to the GM’s imagination. Those holes allow the GM to challenge the magic-using players.
Yet this could get annoying when the GM keeps springing up “this is a new form of ancient magic which you have never encounterd before”. I have been guility of that. So how to you retain mystery and but not carelessly? I like to think of magic, like cooking and other disciplines, have basic fundamental. Work out the fundamental of magic for your setting and let the players know, but allow for variants and differences for different cultures, different ages and so on. For example, a very good fundamental would be the classic Five Elements, or Ars Magica’s arts and forms. Using those as fundamentals, even when a magic user comes across a mysterious form of magic, he would have some clue to proceed. The clues could either grant specific formal bonuses (which you need rules for) or a bargaining chip for certain rolls (agreed between the player and the GM).
Though said, I am intrigue now by how D&D handles magic. The game is not my cup of tea, but having a ’science of magic’ defined would help to remove the accusation that GMs and fantasy authors use magic as a crutch as an explanation for everything.
Over at SDLTutorials there is a competition going on. <cue dramatic music> And the theme ingredient? R-Type, the classic side-scrolling SHUMP game. Of course, as the site’s name implies, the game has to be created with SDL. Prizes include $200, chance to moderate the forum and your own personal SDLTutorial.com email. Maybe you would also win fame and honour as well too, if you ask for an email like “iron-gamecoder” 
Incidentally, the site is also great to get tutorials on…..SDL (with a side-dish of C++). Also there is something called sdl.net for those who like to work with managed code.
This has been something that I wanted to do for some time – a Wuxia conversion for Fate/SoTC. In many senses, a Wuxia game is pretty much like pulp ficition (I hope to explain why in a later article) and I think the Fate system is perfect for such a genre. I will begin writing the game one page per day and am starting a designer journal for it. Please feel free to share suggestions, gives comments and etc.
One thing for now is that I think I would put the game out on as “donation-ware” with an optional “buy if you like it”. After all, this is just my first work
First chapter coming up tonight!
The role-playing section of GamesTopica.net is now part of the RPG Bloggers Network, and there are new stuff: adventure seeds (as usual), new items and a Flash AS3 resource. I leave it to the prudent reader to guess what I am working on that would involve Flash
This should be all the important highlights. As usual, check out the New Stuff section to see daily updates!
Here are the new stuff put up for this week – ranging from new adventure seeds, a discussion on casual games and mathematics help for those who are doing simulation or sim-games. Here are the updates – I may have missed some, so check out the New Stuff page for all the additions!
These might be all. Do check out the New Stuff link from time to time!
After a week of haitus, GamesTopica.Net is more or less back on its daily update schedule. However, for updates, you shoud check out the Recent Stuff link (or look at the recent posts on the upper left). A summary of what has taken place here would be posted every week or so, so don’t fret if this site does not look as active!
We have a new adventure seed today – Mystery of a Sudden Spring. Do check it out if you are in need of adventure ideas.
Daily updates for the site would be suspended for a while as I work on a site revamp. I have gotten feedback that the site’s purpose is rather ambiguous and I notice that (from the data) not many people are browsing through the backlog of seeds and ideas.
Please do feedback on in what ways the site could be included. See you in a week (or two!) time!
Sorry for missing the daily update yesterday – I was busy working on a new class for Dragon Warriors – the Seeker- when I notice that it is already past midnight and I need to head off the bed.
For this week, the adventure seeds’ theme will revert to a more down to earth, personal basis. Sometimes I think not all adventures have to be fantastical, epic and over-the-top “save the world” and “ancient evil” stuff. I’ll try to come up with seeds that have a more personal touch.
…we start with some adventure seeds, items ideas and some really horrifying weapons. Expect more content on games development (of all types) as time goes by. Eventually, you can also easily submit your own ideas as well. Stay with us!
