Alora Fane

2021's got off to a decent start, productivity-wise! I composed three pieces of music for Atonal Dreams! I've also added an additional album of my old music to the Bandcamp page I set up recently, which is something I intend to make a weekly habit of.

Atonal Dreams Progress

The three pieces I composed were themes for the game's three factions: the Seraphim, the Blight Wolves, and the Beyond Ponderers. I'm really pleased with the first two, though the third is something that's taking time to grow on me.

Previously I've included music I composed for the game in these blog posts, but this time I've only posted them to ∞ my Patreon ∞. I want supporting me on there to feel worth it, which I think would be lessened by just releasing the music everywhere else anyway!

There's not really much else to say other than that! I also did a bit on the Pierce battle at the beginning of the game, and it seems likely that I should have a new video of that with the revised script by next week. I intended to fully complete the script before doing anything more with the actual game, but it might be a better idea to get the intro working so then I can do the demo I've been talking about for ages, and so then I'll have some visual stuff to show on Twitter in response to the various "show us the indie game you're working on!" tweets I see.

Music Album of the Week

As I said a while ago, I took some time arranging all my old music into a series of albums, which I'd like to release gradually for archiving purposes as much as anything. The first one I released - Cambrian Explosion - had some of my earliest non-game works from when I was still learning, and while it was technically for sale, I didn't actually expect anyone to buy it (though hoped they might). I got an email from Bandcamp though telling me I'd passed my first $50 in sales, so that's not nothing!

All this old music is really meaningful to me, and I personally get a lot out of it. So if anyone else gets even a little something out of it, then that's something that makes me happy!

Writing these blog posts every weekend is something I actually look forward to, and which keeps my life slightly organised. So I'm thinking I could upload one of these albums every weekend too! Obviously I don't have an unlimited amount of them, but I'd like to get through all of them eventually. Most are soundtracks for (mostly unfinished) games, though this time it's another of my old non-game music:

Link: ∞ Piano Rambles ∞

I've composed a bunch of these 'rambles', the first of which were included in ∞ Cambrian Explosion ∞. I consider these ones a second set, and they're all fairly long solo piano pieces (they have too many notes to be playable by a human).

They were composed when I was 18-20, during the period where I worked on MARDEK, and I think I released all of them on Fig Hunter back in the day, so you might have heard them before if you were around then.

They just had names like 'Ramble 17' before, though I listened to them all last night and gave them evocative titles based on whatever came to mind. It might be more interesting though to listen to them yourself and just let your mind conjure up whatever imagery it does; I remember that being one of the most interesting things about them back when I composed them, how everyone imagined different things.

Like with Cambrian Explosion, I was still learning here, so the harmonies can be dubious or naive. They're outpourings of pure creativity that I wouldn't be capable of these days because I'd be too concerned about achieving a certain goal or doing things 'properly', so I look back with appreciation and some envy on them! I think they're interesting if you just want to stand under a waterfall of pure creative exploration for a while.

I've listened to these a lot over the years, and I'm still enjoying listening to them as I type this!

Other Indie Games

I'm also trying to make a weekly habit of playing other indie games! I started this week with Timelie, which I ∞ wrote this post about yesterday ∞.

I need to do more research into other indie devs' promotional efforts too, so I might try to make a habit of commenting at the end of these weekly posts with some things I've noticed over the week, like this:

I saw ∞ this post on Reddit ∞ about a person's one-man indie project, which is in r/gaming and currently has 91.2k upvotes. Notable, since I was under the impression such promotion wasn't allowed in r/gaming.

I was blown away by ∞ this Patreon ∞ that I found via Twitter. He makes pixel art assets or... something? And has 718 patrons giving him $3273 a month for it. Wow. How did he manage that??

Hmm, I thought I had more, but I can't remember! In future I'll make a list of stuff I notice over the course of the week.

Also, I'm aware this website looks like crap on mobiles, so I'll be looking into that. It may or may not even be fixed by the time you read this!

10 COMMENTS

AnotherrandomComrade4~4Y

As I am writing this message I just purchased Piano Rambles.

I am looking forward to listening to it when working next week.

Would you enjoy a sort of ''review' for this Album?
If so I will post it here after listening a few times to all of the songs.

Keep up the good work and stay safe & healthy.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Thanks for buying it, and I hope you get something out of it!

I've grown so much as a composer since I wrote these pieces that I wouldn't exactly want them critiqued; I'm already aware of and have moved beyond the issues with them, so having them pointed out would just suck some of the pleasure out of relistening to them for me. I always appreciate hearing what people liked or thought of though!

LevProtter42~4Y

Always loved your piano stuff. Just great vibes all round. I have recorded some of my own piano improvising, and listening to it gets better and better with time.
That pixel art patreon is pretty insane! I'm not jealous at all...
About music game stuff, there's the whole OCRemix community, and in general, people really like that kind of thing(I still listen to some Runescape tunes from time to time). Maybe remastering a bunch of old MARDEK stuff once in a while would get some interest.

Also, Sibelius... I've heard people struggle with it, but I also know DAWs suck pretty hard too. Have you ever messed with trackers? Digital music making tools interest me a lot.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I've been thinking about this a bit, and it feels like there's a big divide between how I and most (young) people see 'music'... If you imagine a room with a trendily-dressed urban DJ on one side, and a pasty, awkward violinist in a stiff suit on the other, it feels like most people would gravitate towards the cool 'music artist' - likely including the OCRemix communities and people who use DAWs in general - while I'd strongly move to the stuffy violinist. I often get frustrated by how much of that electronic stuff (with annoying distorted voices that sound like robotic chipmunks having seizures) appears in adverts, youtube videos, and VR fitness apps when I'd rather something more... delicate? Something like that.

I did start with a tracker program, but I have a background in Classical (kind of) and definitely prefer the written notation; the bars just don't read as music to me, and the thought of using samples or playing with the timbre just isn't interesting to me. The beauty of music for me comes from the relationships between the notes.

I did start with a tracker program, but I have a background in Classical (kind of) and definitely prefer the written notation; the bars just don't read as music to me, and the thought of using samples or playing with the timbre just isn't interesting to me. The beauty of music for me comes from the relationships between the notes.

LevProtter42~4Y

Hmm, I feel torn about both sides.
I might be slightly towards the DJ side, but I get where you're coming from.
I have a cynical view of popular media as just masquerading porn, so it makes sense they would go the route of the most 'stimulating' music they could find.

To me music is the relationship between everything you hear (with an emphasis on rhythm).
I think the big problem, is music making tools have failed classically trained people miserably.
The notation from sheet music that tells how to play, hasn't been translated well into the digital.

On the flip side, I think these same tools fail the average music producer type just as badly. "Automation" is convoluted and hard to manage without mastery of the tools, and even then the fine tuning isn't worth the time it takes. (for getting precise results)

Synths have come so far, but the tools to use them effectively don't really exist.
I really like the ambient texture stuff as well.

mount201046~4Y

I'd love to share my thoughts, since I've also recently come to a revelation about music and wonder if it'd help you understand:
I really don't like commercial music. When Despacito became a meme, I went and listened to it, and I went "the hell?". I think, perhaps, what you don't like is *mass appeal* music. I'm the same way - I much prefer music written by indies, because it feels like some *heart* is in there, and I like to support "true artists" (though it can be argued how commercial art is also art, I don't really enjoy their work.) For example, I really like game OSTs, because there the composer doesn't have to sell *music*, but rather a game, and thus has more freedom to write whatever they want - though I remember you saying that you didn't like to listen to them before playing the game, as you'd prefer to listen to OSTs in their properly intended context (fair enough). But I really wonder what you think about music from indies. I think it's a bit closer to what you're looking for (the stuffy violinist).

I'd love to share my thoughts, since I've also recently come to a revelation about music and wonder if it'd help you understand: 
I really don't like commercial music. When Despacito became a meme, I went and listened to it, and I went "the hell?". I think, perhaps, what you don't like is *mass appeal* music. I'm the same way - I much prefer music written by indies, because it feels like some *heart* is in there, and I like to support "true artists" (though it can be argued how commercial art is also art, I don't really enjoy their work.) For example, I really like game OSTs, because there the composer doesn't have to sell *music*, but rather a game, and thus has more freedom to write whatever they want - though I remember you saying that you didn't like to listen to them before playing the game, as you'd prefer to listen to OSTs in their properly intended context (fair enough). But I really wonder what you think about music from indies. I think it's a bit closer to what you're looking for (the stuffy violinist).

Tobias 1115~4Y

For me as a composer, it's not about anything external to the music like its connotations, cultural impact, or its production that interest me or put me off, it's all about the musical structure and general sound. The notes and chords used and their relationships between one another. I'm interested in 'Classical' (a vague and inaccurate term) music because the structure was highly valued there, and I like most soundtracks of games and films because the techniques used are similar and the results are structurally beautiful.

By contrast, the music I don't like (I think EDM might be a catch-all term for it?) is often crass, harsh, and aggressive, with minimal, repetitive structure and some not-even-musical mechanical/digital grunge noise often included that just isn't pleasant to my ears.

It's kind of like comparing an ornate palace among scenic mountains to a gritty, run-down drug den in the ghetto.

I remember looking up Despacito a while back when it was a meme, though I just looked it up again and I don't remember it at all. It's not the sort of thing I'd choose to listen to, but it's not something that actively annoys me either since it has an interesting enough (if basic) structure and distinct melody, which is more than a lot of the EDM music has. It's a musical journey rather than just a harsh barrage of sound.

Basically I like music that includes interesting harmonic turns ("ooh, that chord going to THAT chord?") that inspire me, make me want to do something similar in my own music. Beyond that I don't care about the externals of its creation, whether it was commercial or indie or whatever, though the mass-appeal music tends to be very standardised because doing things differently might put people off.

I love the songs in Disney films for example even though they're as commercial as you can get, since their structure is usually very interesting.

By contrast, the music I /don't/ like (I think EDM might be a catch-all term for it?) is often crass, harsh, and aggressive, with minimal, repetitive structure and some not-even-musical mechanical/digital grunge /noise/ often included that just isn't pleasant to my ears.

It's kind of like comparing an ornate palace among scenic mountains to a gritty, run-down drug den in the ghetto.

I remember looking up Despacito a while back when it was a meme, though I just looked it up again and I don't remember it at all. It's not the sort of thing I'd choose to listen to, but it's not something that actively /annoys/ me either since it has an interesting enough (if basic) structure and distinct melody, which is more than a lot of the EDM music has. It's a musical journey rather than just a harsh barrage of sound.

Basically I like music that includes interesting harmonic turns ("ooh, that chord going to THAT chord?") that inspire me, make me want to do something similar in my own music. Beyond that I don't care about the externals of its creation, whether it was commercial or indie or whatever, though the mass-appeal music tends to be very standardised because doing things differently might put people off.

I love the songs in Disney films for example even though they're as commercial as you can get, since their structure is usually very interesting.

arnold5975~4Y

If you're looking for more indie games, OMORI recently came out this past Christmas. I had never heard of it before it came out, but I read that it's been in development for the past six years! In terms of promotion, they released a few trailers with art and music from the game, with the last trailer showing some of the final gameplay. But I would highly recommend you check it out!

Tobias 1115~4Y

I've never heard of that either, and I looked it up on Steam and see it somehow has 2800 Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, so I wonder how they managed that.

I'm not a fan of anime, horror, or RPG Maker, so it's the sort of thing I'll play because I feel I should rather than because what I see interests me; I've bookmarked it for that reason. I notice that the screenshots include what look like battles where characters' emotions play a part (and where you can't see those characters, which I hate), so I wonder how much similarity it has to the stuff I'm making.

Thanks for mentioning it though; I probably wouldn't have found it by myself.

Alberto13~4Y

I wish you much succes on Atonal Dreams to finish it.
I will wait to play the game.
Then you must to re-released all old games.
I wish to play again Deliverance and a sequel on Chapter 6: Pirates!! Deliverance v2.
Clarence RPG will be back to work hopefully.
Beast Signer must to be a continuaty after Alpha.
Fig Hunter Online same.
Have a good time and happy new year 2021.