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Topics - sickfiction

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Quest for Infamy / MOVED: Re: Steam question
« on: July 16, 2014, 07:38:34 PM »

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Hey guys, James Mulvale, QFI composer here.

When BT first asked me if I'd be interested in scoring Quest for Infamy it was a huge
honour, and almost immediately afterwards made me feel a bit sick. I had written many
many short pieces for different media and TV before but never score an entire game. I was
sure I could do it, but it meant getting a few things straight first.

We talked in depth about styles, and it seemed natural to go down the orchestral route rather than electronic or rock/metal... One thing I really did not want to go down was what
I call 'generic-epic' which is all style and no substance in my opinion. My best example
would be... Ask yourself this question 'Can I hum the tune to Avatar?' go on try... Some
people might be able to, I mean I saw that film twice in the week that it came out.

But a couple of years down the line? Nope I have no idea how that piece of music goes. Same goes with The Dark Knight, or any blockbuster that's been released lately. Can you hum the main theme
even minutes after leaving the theatre? I doubt it. And that's not a criticism of the composers, just more what music has evolved towards in Hollywood in the last handful of years – padding.

Now ask the same question for 'Can I hum the theme for James Bond' or 'Raiders of the
lost Ark' or 'Up.' or 'Jaws' or 'A Fistfull of Dollars' or 'Back to the Future'???

You bet.

The composers here have written a memorable theme that not only encaspulates
the atmosphere and drama on screen, but sticks in your head like an ear-worm.

Now I when I think about video games... If you've played any of the Space Quest series, Monkey Island series, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog...  Musical themes like that are burned into your brain like that Gotye tune is right now.

I'm not claiming to be as good or as qualified as the folks who wrote all the above music,
but it was a starting point for QFI. It HAS to be a memorable tune, or hook. Furthermore
all the main characters / places must have their own memorable theme too (or leitmotif)
which will identify who's on screen, or where Roehm is at the time.

The main theme from the opening sequence of QFI I composed from the middle (I did not know it would be the middle at the time). The happy, major, marching theme took a while to score but when I showed it to the team they all said (to paraphrase) 'Yeah it's nice, but we need something that punches you in the face right from the start.'

After a couple of failed attempts BT said the magic words. 'I want it to sound like a cross between Ride of the Valkyries and the Imperial Death March.'

Gotcha.

So without actually stealing anything, I knew exactly the feeling he was going for and
within 3 hours I'd written over a minute of music which is what you hear when you first
load the game. I didn't know how to end it though and was still pining over my original
theme. Again BT said 'Try sticking them together.' and sent me a crudely edited version of the two themes back to back. Luckily enough, they were both in the
same key, and roughly the same tempo, so by speeding the original theme up a little and
slowing down the new one, I joined the two themes together the wrong way around and they fit like a glove!

http://soundcloud.com/jamesmulvale/qfi 'Second' theme at (0:18) 'Original' theme at (1:06)

Once that theme was established, it was like a springboard for everything else. I used little
bits of QFI theme dotted all around the game, sometimes obvious like the Brattle/Fishing scene,
sometimes hidden like the Prospero music - if you listen closely to Prospero's theme, an oboe is playing the main theme's melody over the top of all this dissonant eerie glockenspiel and piano. But
it's there, subliminally.

I'm now writing the rest of the music and have some awesome and challenging themes to
come up with. The Port of Myr, Graveyard themes, Tobacconist themes have already
begun to take shape. I just hope that when you turn your computer off, you will go
outside into the real world and start humming the music to yourself!

Music Cues...
UP
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaLegF2hAxI" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaLegF2hAxI</a>

BTTF
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMX1_AU1slA" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMX1_AU1slA</a>

JAWS
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swMzRlFvKMc" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swMzRlFvKMc</a>

RAIDERS
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNlMgH2p-Y" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNlMgH2p-Y</a>

FISTFUL
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjjDOdaFZg0" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjjDOdaFZg0</a>

BOND
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM</a>



DARK KNIGHT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1B3Mgklfd0# (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
AVATAR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaZPF2Co-38# (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


3
IQ Chat / Merry Christmas everyone!
« on: December 23, 2012, 12:34:55 PM »
A little stocking filler from me :)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COq30m68Bk" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">The Christmas Alphabet!</a>

4
Quest for Infamy / GameHorder's Playthru (spoiler alert)
« on: August 02, 2012, 02:48:49 AM »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLSjywczFvI&amp;feature=plcp" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">Sorcerer&#039;s Path...<br />[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLSjywczFvI#]Let&#039;s Play - Quest for Infamy (DEMO)</a>
[/url]

Enjoy yo.

5
Banter and Chit-Chat! / QFI music composer's new website!
« on: July 18, 2012, 04:20:17 PM »
Hi y'all

Just hawking out my new bit of cyberspace! Lots of music to listen to too :)

 http://www.jamesmulvale.com

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Quest for Infamy / QFI music download
« on: July 03, 2012, 08:38:32 AM »
Here's the main theme for anyone who wants it!

http://soundcloud.com/jamesmulvale/qfi

Enjoy!

SF

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What class did everyone pick first? Did Ian charm you with his slick patter? Did Kurdt persuade you to kick some beast's ass or did the pentagramishness of Prospero draw you to the mystic side?


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Banter and Chit-Chat! / Funny Shit
« on: June 16, 2012, 09:15:08 AM »

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