Better editor sprite area

[Semi-Native]

Love it, love it, love it! When will all this be ready?
Thanks.

8-)

[Freddy]

Together with your ... ... ... hacienda?

[aquaMat]

@Vern: Wonderful !!
Especially the big tiles area !!

And - one other thing: you mentioned new music. A couple of days ago, while

checking

the music IDs for my Palace Of Gore, I actually played MM with the music ON for a continued amount of time. Putting the music off is usually the first thing I do in ANY video game (even there have been progressions made in this area in some games).
However, I hate to say it, with you being so nice and everything.... but the music in MM is particularily bad. (Sorry). Maybe I'm over-sensitive in this field, as music is not only my job, but also a real passion for me (with records even blocking the way to the bed etc....).

The music in MM (as in most other video games) sounds like the auto-pöay mode of a Portable Keyboard (that belongs to an ageing entertainer in a 3-star hotel lounge in Mallorca). Mmh, you get the picture (sorry I got carried away....).

Please feel free to contact me anytime should the need for music arise.
Even with the limitations of mp3 and restricted length you can do pretty good stuff these days.....

[Semi-Native]

Freddy wrote: Together with your ... ... ... hacienda?

I have finally started playing around with custom graphics, so I hope inspiration will strike and I can get myself busy making another mansion. I could find the time to do it if I didn't spend so much time actually playing MM. Oh the irony.

[VernJensen]

aquaMat wrote: However, I hate to say it, with you being so nice and everything.... but the music in MM is particularily bad. (Sorry).  Maybe I'm over-sensitive in this field, as music is not only my job, but also a real passion for me (with records even blocking the way to the bed etc....).

That's funny because music consistently got the highest marks in reviews. (MacWorld, InsideMacGames, and others.) It sounds a bit more like your own perspective. I personally think the music is great.

However, you're welcome to contact me at the ActionSoft support email and refer me to samples of your work. I'll always consider new options.

Part of the reason, perhaps, that you're bugged by the music in Midnight Mansion is that we specifically wanted something that was *background*. We wanted to limit each piece to aboout 2 minutes for download size reasons, and it's VERY easy for that to become very repetive and drive you nuts when you play the same mansion for 30 minutes or whatever. So we wanted to avoid that by not making it stand out too much. I think we succeeded pretty well.

But anyway, send me some samples of your work if you think you can do better.

[aquaMat]

VernJensen wrote: [quote author=aquaMat link=1168496409/0#12 date=1168906829]However, I hate to say it, with you being so nice and everything.... but the music in MM is particularily bad. (Sorry).  Maybe I'm over-sensitive in this field, as music is not only my job, but also a real passion for me (with records even blocking the way to the bed etc....).

That's funny because music consistently got the highest marks in reviews. (MacWorld, InsideMacGames, and others.) It sounds a bit more like your own perspective. I personally think the music is great.

However, you're welcome to contact me at the ActionSoft support email and refer me to samples of your work. I'll always consider new options..
Hi Vern:

I guess I might have been a bit 'harsh' in my last remark about the music.

Of course you are right, the majority of games out there has music that is MUCH WORSE than that of MM. Last night I listened to the background music files again on their own (not from within the game)...and they're really not that bad.

However, I still think that it could be done better, and will e-mail you some samples of my work.
I also do think that there are more and more games out there, which do feature better music than MM.... a German colleague of mine has recently hired a whole symphony orchestra for a game music project (!!), although I have to admit that this was a big budget game, probably PS3 or something.

Please watch your mailbox, I'll make it several mails (to be faster).

[VernJensen]

Yeah, budget is definitely a consideration. I talked with one musician who had done music for an Ambrosia game as well as at least one of Brian Greenstone's games, and it would've cost over $1000 per minute of music. That's *way* above what I could afford.

I was very happy to get the quality of music that I got for the price I paid.

In the end, I know MM's music doesn't compare with the very best out there... Some day, I'd like to get music of a similar quality as those from certain Nintendo games, like Super Metroid or some of the Zelda classics. They have these themes that stick in your head, and you even play the music on its own, just to hear it again -- it's that good. I'd *love* to get music that awesome for future games.

But musicians that good are extremely rare, and you need a very good budget to hire them. :-)

[Semi-Native]

I don't mind the music in MM. I play a LOT, and it still doesn't drive me crazy hearing it over and over again, like in some games. I think it fits the game.

8-)

[brell]

I agree. The music in MM fits the game like XO cognac fits Havana cigar

I also noticed how nice effect it can be to have NO music in a

quiet

room after a havoc room, like the saving room after the zoo in the hard area of my BtSO.

[aquaMat]

@Vern:

While you're at it, re-designing the sprites area i mean, I have one more suggestion for you:

For some reason you have left out 1 sort of brick-switch / moving platform until now - there are switches / platforms in every color BUT NOT in brown.... so whenever I am creating an area in brown colors, using brown bricks etc., I have a problem, as there is no platform / switch to go along with it. I always have to use another color...

I'm not quite sure, why you left them out, maybe it wasn't needed in the original mansions.

However, it would be a very welcome addition for all of us, I think.

(And I guess, it shouldn't be too complicated to add it, would it ??)