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Atonal Dreams Progress, Week ? - Weapons, Overworld, Musical Themes

4 years ago - Edited 4 years ago2,736 words

I've done a lot of different things on Atonal Dreams this week! I've added weapon functionality for Pierce and Ossoum, I've started building the island the game takes place on, and I've composed music for all four playable characters.

Back when this was still Divine Dreams, I wrote 13 back-to-back Weekly Update posts, starting with ∞ this one, where I was still calling it the 'MARDEK Reimagining' ∞ and ending with ∞ this one, where I had a demo video with all the major gameplay intact ∞.

Those were followed by a break where I focused on the Steam port of MARDEK, then several revisions to gameplay and characters before eventually I decided to make Atonal Dreams as a briefer prequel rather than locking myself into a years-long project that might not be financially successful enough to warrant it.

I'd love to be able to number these weekly progress reports for Atonal Dreams, but since much of what I'm making use of was already made months ago, I don't know what number I should be using here! Annoying.

Anyway, I've done a bunch of stuff this week!

Progress Bar

If you haven't seen it already, I've added this progress bar to both the Atonal Dreams info bit on the ∞ alorafane.com main page ∞, and to the ∞ alorafane.com/atonaldreams ∞ info page.

It's tied to a private task list thing, so it increases when I tick those off, rather than me just estimating completion. These tasks are divided into weeks, which are separated into blocks on this bar. It means that one week's bar can increase even before the previous week's fully complete. It's also why I've been wondering what week this could be numbered, since according to this, this was week 2, but obviously I didn't start from scratch at the beginning of week 1, so I don't know.

The tasks are fairly vague big-picture things though. I do have a more granular task list with extremely specific things like "use different flash colour for apathy heal skills" and "sound effects on command menu" (to use two current examples), but it's not tied to this bar. These tasks are more like "make sure the battle system fully works", so there were a couple of days at the start of this week where I was doing a lot of little tasks, but it was only once they were all done that I could tick off the remaining two for week one.

I'm a bit behind currently; ideally the second block should be filled as well by this point. But I've included a few catchup weeks in anticipation of things taking longer, so hopefully the estimate for completion won't be too far off.

Pierce's Sharp Flute

I had to finish off some basic battle animations, including attack and magic casting animations for Pierce. Originally he had a long steel spear-flute, but I wasted quite a while trying to animate a striking animation for it without success. There wasn't any way for him to hold it that would be natural for a piercing stab which would easily transition to a flute-playing animation; it's similar to issues I had with Deugan's greatshield a few months ago.

So I gave him what I feel is a more appropriate weapon anyway: a dagger flute, or 'sharp flute' as I might call it, since sharp is a musical term and, well, it's sharp.

Deciding how to animate this was a bit of a pain too. I'd assume for a dagger that it'd have a straight forward stab, but he couldn't do that with this grip, and if the grip was reversed, he couldn't use it as a flute. I went with this:



A psycho downwards stab seems more appropriate for this unhinged, villainous character, I feel!

Ossoum's Potion Spray

I also had to animate - and code the functionality for - Ossoum's weapon. This took an annoyingly long time (like a whole day), and was largely unenjoyable!



(This has been cut to show three separate non-consecutive turns.)

He can use it as a basic attack to spray out what I suppose would most sensibly be steam. He can also use his turn to load in a potion, and all subsequent turns will colour the spray with the effect of that potion, at least until you change the potion in the same way. This might need to be changed later, but that'd require additional code and/or animations.

Overworld Building

I'm designing Atonal Dreams to be fairly short, but not too short. Long enough to get lost in, not so long it overstays its welcome. Maybe a bunch of optional stuff for people who want to inhabit the world for longer. As such, it's got three major areas: an 'overworld' (that is, the island's exterior/surface), an 'underworld' (the catacombs beneath the island), and the drealm (which wouldn't work in quite the same way).

I planned the layout of the overworld this week, and started building it in my custom map editor. Here's an amazing look at how it looks in Unity's scene view:



Structurally, it's divided into 'rooms', with only those in visible range rendered; I had to stitch this image together. The player characters are dots with red lines showing the direction they're looking (they appear twice because of the stitching), so you can get an idea of the scale. I've done maybe 70-80% of the rooms, though I haven't decorated them yet, and I'll likely tweak their layout as necessary as I go on.

Also, this is likely not interesting to anyone but me, but I've altered some of the tiles, and gives the rocky cliff faces a new abstract/stylised texture:



WOW. So amazing.

Things like this do take time and thought though; as someone who makes things like this, I spend a whole lot of time ogling little details like rock faces in other games to see how they did it!

Musical Character Themes

And since that's clearly not enough for one week, I also composed three new pieces of music! I now have character themes for all four of the protagonists. (I'm not sure if I've shown Savitr's before other than on Patreon; a quick look at the blog archive suggests maybe not? It's been done for a few weeks though.)

They're each accompanied by hidden 'lyrics', which guided the composition of the melody, but which aren't actually heard, obviously (even if I could afford to hire singers, which I absolutely can't, I prefer instrumental music). These 'lyrics' take the place of the 'mottos' from Taming Dreams, as I may or may not have said before, in that they encapsulate the character's personality/drives/etc.

Here's a video:



(This has been Unlisted for days, but I've just set it to Public, so I wonder if it'll be shown to YouTube subscribers like uploading a new video would be, or not.)

Some comments about each of these themes:


Savitr

Overall, it's meant to be sombre, morose, but also glorious; an impressive but conflicted person, not a wretch.

This was my second attempt at a theme for Savitr. I don't hate the first or anything, but I feel this is more appropriate.

It's played by a violin, which is the sound his resonars make (and the instrument their playing animation is reminiscent of).

I personally like the excessive rhyming here (it surprised me how many -ight words were appropriate for the message I was trying to convey), but I get that might not be everyone's cup of tea!

"I am a knight": the seraphim aren't knights exactly, but close enough, and it rhymes. Plus he wears an AMMONITE brooch which has significance to him. A little detail that amuses me but which I don't know if anyone else would notice!

Musically, it's somewhat complex, atypical; many of the chords are altered (9th chords, 13th chords), and the primary motif makes use of an extreme seventh interval jump (to spell a 9th).

It's in Dorian mode, which I tend to use for somewhat melancholy or darkly mysterious music (though a prime example of Dorian mode is Drunken Sailor, apparently).

There's a consistent snare drum which gives a faint militaristic drive.

The B section uses the Divine Dreams theme (seen in ∞ this post ∞).

The B section is a darker contrast to the relatively lighter A section. Its climax sinks into atonality, and uses a dissonant tritone, which has a reputation as the 'devil in music'. The lyrics also clash here with the previously-excessive rhyming ('nightMARE').

I have piano versions of each of these themes, and I've been playing this one excessively. Largely because it's one of few pieces I've ever composed that I can actually play!


Collie

In contrast to the more mystical, unusual sound of Savitr's theme, Collie's is deliberately 'mundane'. The first bit uses a ∞ I-V-vi-IV chord progression ∞, which is used excessively in popular music. Unlike much of my music, it doesn't use an unusual mode; just the typical Ionian that most (modern, Western) music uses.

Despite that, though, it also uses a somewhat unusual alternating 6/8 + 3/4 rhythm (which I actually stole from the 'Bubbly' music I composed for Alora Fane: Creation years ago, which I used as a reference for the feel I wanted from this).

This is also a second attempt, though the first wasn't finished. I composed half of this a few days ago, and almost scrapped it, tried a third attempt... but found myself whistling its melody, so I decided to keep and finish it.

I transcribed Yuffie's Theme from FFVII during the composition of this, as it had a similar feel to what I wanted. Transcribing other pieces like this for inspiration is apparently a common and useful practice among composers that I don't do enough!

Its main instrument (amusingly called "DOG" in the sheet music) is the same one used in Solaar's and Glimmer's themes; technically it's called 'whistle'.

I wanted to have some notes which I wanted to tie together with continuous transitions (I think the term is pitch sliding or portamento?), but annoyingly the version of Sibelius (my composition software) that I have doesn't allow me to do that. One of few occasions where I'm limited by technology when making music! Oh well.

"...like he helped me", referring to Savitr, includes a gracefully-bowed violin, as a musical reference to both him and the tender, deep feelings of appreciation she has for him.

The contrasting B section is darker, but in a ferocious rather than sad way. It refers to her time in the Blight Wolves. "Beastly" uses a very dissonant note to express how it clashes with what she aspires towards now.

"I don't want to hurt (...) anymore": I like this held pause (one bar changes to 9/4), and can palpably feel her cringing about past mistakes. "Hurt" here is both an action and a state.

Unlike Savitr's theme, where he aspires towards atonement but has yet to find it, Collie's brief descent into darkness here immediately returns to peppy courage; a big difference between the two of them. Both have dark pasts, but he falls down into his, while she rises above hers.


Ossoum

Though Ossoum rambles, his lyrics are much briefer than the others, since the music sort of has to be slow and ponderous otherwise it wouldn't have a sorrowful feel.

Right from the opening, it draws inspiration from the beginning of Meraeador's theme in MARDEK (though it's in 4/4 while his is in 5/4). While Ossoum's not exactly based on Meraeador, his daughter is, sort of. It's complicated.

Musically, its primary motif is a two-note pair of a dissonant, atonal note which resolves to a more harmonious one. Gives an odd, somewhat goofy feel. It uses a piano and low tuba, for a depressed, silly-ish sound. Since he's based on a skeleton, of course I had to use a xylophone too.

The A section includes a couple of augmented III chords, which add to the quirky/dark feel.

While the A section is in a fairly standard D minor (Ionian), the B section begins in Lydian mode, which I've read is considered the brightest of modes. This section is actually lifted directly from an old theme I composed (but scrapped) for Meraeadyth for Taming Dreams, which I've liked for years because of its eccentric, dreamy sound.

I want Ossoum and his daughter (who I have a name for, but I'll save that for another time) to have a lullaby which he used to sing to her, and which they'd use as part of the plot to connect with one another. So while composing this piece, I was imagining that this B section could have that purpose later. "Mental metal" comes from Meraeadyth's motto in Taming Dreams, and "love you" refers to his feelings for his daughter too.

I also like the thought of this odd, depressed skeleton man having (paternal) love as a defining quality since it seems different to expectations.


Pierce

Pierce is based on Muriance, and in Divine Dreams he'd become a cult leader who's 'seen the light'. His philosophy is basically that reality is just a dream in which we're imprisoned, and by 'waking up', we could find freedom. The cult would take on a Team-Rocket-like role in Divine Dreams, as recurring enemies with their own musical theme, so I wanted this theme to later be useful as a basis for music associated with the cult.

Muriance appeared in projects before MARDEK, and I have ∞ this musical theme ∞ I composed for him way back in 2005. His theme in MARDEK was basically a revision of this. It uses a rhythmic motif of repeated notes, which this 2020 Pierce's theme makes repeated use of.

It's in what's apparently called a ∞ Double Harmonic or Byzantine scale ∞, which is typically used to give an exotic/middle eastern feel.

There are some low chords using the sitar instrument which I feel give a mystical feeling befitting a monk/spiritual cult leader. His 'sharp flute' is a piercingly high piccolo, which STABS a few times.

Instead of having contrasting A and B sections, the B section is more of an elaboration on the same idea, which builds into a crazed rant with some chaotic lyric placement: THEY are il- | - LU - sions you'll | SEE, I will | O - pen your | EYES! I will | PI- erce the | LIES! Yes! So | just fo-llow ME then you'll | SEE!

The bar starting LIES! uses a sharp-III diminished 7th chord (you know, one of those), I think, and I find it amusing for music theory reasons that the depressed Ossoum uses augmented chords while the sharp pierce uses diminished ones. Har har, so hilarious, so accessible.



I'm really happy with those musical themes, though I get the feeling that in isolation like this, they won't really be appreciated by many people. Music for games can be so powerful because it can stick with us for years afterwards, holding inside it all kinds of fond memories of immersing ourselves in the game's world, but until those memories have formed through association with gameplay, there's less to attach to, and less reason for appreciation. It's sort of sad knowing that, but oh well; maybe if people play the game and like the music, they'll feel fondly about it then.

If you're one of the few who listened to it and liked it, though, then I appreciate that!



Thanks also if you read this! These blog posts are getting lower view counts each time, though I do look forward to writing them and enjoy doing so. It's motivating to feel I need to have something to write about each week, and helps give structure which I don't get from some employer ordering me around.

Next week, I need to finish off building the overworld, then make some monsters for it!