Thanks for your detailed response! For question 4, I was wondering what kind of instrumentation you think the game should have. Since Utumno will have many types of lands and environments, it may need many genres of music from celtic-influenced orchestra to horror ambience. I wouldn't think any sort of synthy sounds would work; I would think to focus more on organic sound effects and acoustic instruments.

On the other hand, when I look at this $2 I naturally hear the music of an old console game because of the 2d graphics. The challenge is to create new-age music that fits with an old-age look... or maybe that's just a concept I need to get rid of.

Hi there, Sorry it took me so long to respond to you. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can.

First question:

Midi will not work for this game for a couple of reasons.

I don’t feel that general midi sounds (the default ones that come with your operating system) are capable of producing the kind of quality that we are looking for.

Secondly, I don’t think it is worth our time to create a custom midi type environment for this game. While this is what they have done for all sorts of games from the original Zelda to Final Fantasy VII, it was done in those cases because disk space was at an extreme premium.
In the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) days it was a big deal to add even kilobytes to a game. We don’t have this problem so it is easier for us to just render it.

Now for the second part of your question. For the purposes of showing what you have done, I would say, mp3 is fine. If we decide to use something you have done in the game, it will have to be submitted to someone (most likely me) in a lossless format. Preferably it will be the windows standard .WAV at CD quality (16bit 44,100Hz). I will handle the mastering and compression into ogg vorbis format from there.

Medicine storm already answered most of these but I’ll answer them again for some redundant goodness.

Question 2:

Game music will be used in most portions of the game.

Most areas will have general background music. For example, a particular grassland would have its own music, or a dungeon area would have its own music. This is in order to set the mood of a particular area.

Music will also be cued in significant battles in order to heighten the mood.
Also, music will be cued for special sequences of dialogue and events that contain emotional content that needs to be expressed.

In general there will be music playing for the majority of the game. This will enable us to use the effect of silence much more powerfully when we need to (awkward moments, sad emptiness times, creepy silence etc).

Question 3:

Partly answered above, Yes battle music will be cued, but only when a significant battle (bosses, minibosses, story driven battle scenes). Also I was thinking about a near death alert that is actually music instead of just annoying beeping but this may end up just being annoying too.

Question 4:

Music Type? This is not exactly rigid but here is what the idea is. Primarily orchestral. Personally, my influences vary pretty widely, but the idea is to use the music to make this game as cinematic as possible.

If someone thinks its strange for the music to be high quality rather than retro 8bit then so be it. I think we want to go beyond limiting ourselves to a retro sound. because then, instead of evoking a creepy dungeon feel, we end up evoking a retro 80’s video game dungeon feel, which I think would take away from the game.

So, basically, High quality orchestral music. Wide ranging from sad to energetic. adding tasteful electronics in to add energy and punch when it suits.

If you are looking for examples look at the Final Fantasy series. They are a great example of cutting edge scores for video games. Granted final fantasy one is really really old, and 8 bit, but it has some good things in there. By the time you get to Final fantasy 12 you will see that the scores rival multimillion dollar Hollywood productions. Another thing you will see is that they have almost always had a primarily orchestral backdrop, with some progressive rock, industrial, etc. thrown in there. I know that initially our little project is not going to rival Final Fantasy 12 or the like, but I would like the music to try.

So I have a question for you. I am assuming you write music. What do you use to produce it? Do you use a sequencer? Which one?

I use Reaper 3 as my sequencer. I used to use Cubase 4 and before that, Reason 3.

Here are two recent pieces I wouldn't mind contributing/editing for the Utumno project.

http://www.elanhickler.com/misc/Wind%20and%20Naal.mp3
http://www.elanhickler.com/misc/Liberation%201.mp3
(more on the way)

I use Kontakt, Wallander, Vienna Symphonic Library, and I have noteworthy sample libraries. I also own a D penny whistle, duduk, kalimba, a C bamboo flute, and a native american whistle which I can play well enough to add it in some of my compositions, even if just for some flutey shreiks or other fx.

I love to create ethnic-sounding music and mixing it with modern orchestral. I have a lot of unused melodies from unfinished projects that would be great for Utumno.

Lastly, I love game music from games like Oblivion IV: Elder Scrolls and Neverwinter Nights.

Awesome. I was afraid you were going to say, " I use GarageBand exclusively" when I get the chance i'll take a listen to what you have.
I only just recently upgradedto Vienna symphonic special edition. How do you like reaper, and why don't you use version 7? Isn't it a free upgrade?

Anyway, I'll take a listen to your stuff.

Those are really good! Hopefully we come up on a point where we start requesting music cues soon. So far the music portion of the game has been rather Blind. The first playable demo was just released and the storyline is now being shaped. We should have some cue requests soon.

How do you feel about collaborations, should the opportunity arise?

I would love to collaborate, it would be a learning experience for me.

ow do you like reaper, and why don't you use version 7? Isn't it a free upgrade?

I use FL Studio Actually. I find it really versatile, and I like the free upgrades. It has an awesome piano roll.

I for some reason mistook the scythe as a seven so I thought it was reaper seven. woops.

I was trying to like Cubase AI, but I always end up going back to FL Studio. On the other hand, FL Studio's Video and Time signature support is kind of limited, but those can be worked around in most cases.

I have been a little out of music for a while, but ill pm you a link to a couple of tracks that were made for this game. the Dryad's Passage one was never finished but it will give you a feel.

I like the Wind and Naal song. Its very easy to see a caravan or desert oasis town while listening to it. I don't usually go for asynchronous stuff, but Liberation would really add some atmosphere.

I am very interested to see what more you have "on the way"