The BGMs of La-mulana are earning good reputation. We have a plan to release the sound track, but its form is not sure yet.
We are worrying about how to make the form.
We place a software which substitutes the sound track in the game.
So,you can use your Will as a sound track if you get the software.
You can also record it and edit it by yourself, and make a sound track which is able to play on your computer.
Now, some people upload those music and movies. So what is the significance for us to release the sound track?
There is no meaning unless we provide something official, for example good sound quality or bonuses.
So, it has been a long time though, we’d like to have a questionnaire.
We did same thing in the past. That time was also a questionnaire about music.
This time, we wanna ask you about the sound track specification, namely,
how to form it.
[1] Loop count
The music software in the game is about 1 and half loop, otherwise I do fade out when it comes to the point.
But, I heard that people who like game music want 2 loops. That’s understandable, but the size is gonna be too big because of the number of songs.
[2] Sound quality
We are handmade game company, so recording stuff is also handmade.
The only way we can do is exactly same as a standard home, connecting PC to Wii directly, and record it.
We’ll reduce some noise by our means and business applications, but there is not big quality difference between official one and recorded one by yourself.
However, there is the only way to provide high quality music.
If I record music from the software which I used to create BGMs, I can record it with very few noise.
But, note it’s a bit different from the sound on Wii, just slightly though.
Anyway, depending on encoding at 128 or 192, the quality is gonna change.
We’d like to know which is better for you to make the music same as
Wii or as high quality even if it’s slightly different.
[3] How about bonuses?
We will upload onto common services like iTunes, because most people basically play the music on PC.
Then, is it necessary to put tags on MP3 files? (Won’t you wanna get M4A files, will you?)
or necessary to set a cover picture if it’s iTunes?
We’d like to know that sort of additional things except the music file itself.
Besides, would you wanna get liner notes or a music explanatory booklet?
Please give us your idea for above 3 items by leaving a comment on this article.
Gathering from the comments, we’ll find out the best form.
Latest Movie
Product Information
Special Contents
Links
No news is bad news. People might spend their points elsewhere while waiting for life signs.
I’ve been encouraging fellow gamers to buy this on WiiWare, but right now I feel a little lost. The next blog entry better be: “How we’re gonna do for western release”!
I have Officially lost hope in this game ever being released outside of Japan. 🙁
There’s a few game soundtracks that do 1.5 loops, it drives me crazy. The fade out in the middle of the song always leaves you wanting to hear the rest of it.
Please don’t do half-loops. Even 1 loop would be better.
@Danno
Ah but they have release their game.
I feel like you’re getting way ahead of yourself gathering people’s opinions on the soundtrack when you still haven’t released the game or even bothered to give anyone following your website any sort of time estimate on when that might happen. What does it take to post something on a blog? About five minutes? Maybe you could let people know what’s going on once in a while so we can quit checking back here every day wondering when you’re ever going to post again.
1. Two loops
2. Highest quality
3. Include the Hell Temple songs as well as the original and arranged songs from the PC version of the game, and maybe some unused songs as well.
Hope the actual game releases soon, too!
So, erm, how long might the game actually be in “lot check”?
1) 2 Loops. It’s what I’m used to.
2) Highest quality sound possible. http://www.bandcamp.com is a great place to release music. I highly prefer it over iTunes.
3) I am a fan of unused tracks as an album bonus. A PDF with images and commentary is also a great bonus to include.
I know that I will mostly repeat the other comments, but there is one idea that I want to share.
1) 2 loops would be the best I think. Many have pposted various reasons for this, and my reason mostly is that it might sound a little awkward if the music fades out in the middle of the loop and not at the end.
2) Highest quality. Not much else to say here.
3) I have an idea for bonus content, though this isn’t really a serious suggestion. So, if you think that this idea is too silly and/or you don’t want to do this, then I can definitely understand that.
My idea is that you might do a so called “acapella” version of a song (I might have misspelled the word there). What I mean is, that you try to play one of the songs of La-Mulana, using only your voices as instruments. I know that that is a pretty stupid idea so if you don’t like this idea, then just ignore this.
Engrish FTW!!!
1) 2 loops is safer, I suppose. What if someone’s favourite section is the second half of a song?
2) High quality. Generally, the developer will release the music in the highest quality they can, and some third party will re-write them into smaller, lower-quality formats for those who prefer music like that.
3)Extras? Maybe a .pdf with artwork, or commentary? unused tracks?
1) 2 loops is generally the norm, it’s be great if you went with that.
2) Use the best sound quality you can get. The ReBirth games’ soundtrack had their audio coming from the place that they were made as I recall, so I guess if that was the way you could get your best quality that might be great, who knows.
3) Bonuses? Just some extra remix tracks and unused tracks, please!
Sorry to say this, but if you want people to buy it, you’ll outright REQUIRE bonuses. The Game Soundtrack Rip is already out there, so…You’ll need to make it more worth people’s money. Not a lot of people will buy it if it’s available for free elsewhere.
My Thoughts:
1) 2 loops. I hate that most vg music, even when it’s decent to listen to, only loops once or it fades out during the best part of the song…man how that annoys me. Just have it fade out when the loop ends.
2) This music is too good to not have a lossless version. FLAC would be ideal but the highest quality mp3 or ogg is good too. 256kbs or 320kbs is perfect since 128kbs is beyond horrible. Recording directly from the software might be better but I really do like the Wiiware versions. I guess I’d just settle on ogg or mp3 at 256kps but if FLAC is done…heck yes I’d be on that.
3) Man I would love to see a new version of Aqua Wish, Crazy Moon, and Electric Prophet from the 3rd Disc of the original album done in the Wiiware style. Aqua Wish especially since that one is amazing. It’s funny, some of my most hated tracks in the original (Death Game, Ancient Machine, Giga-Magma) are now some of my absolute favorites and all it took was a style change. 😀
Don’t like that there won’t be a physical OST. That’s very depressing since this game’s music deserves it. There’s zero reason to limit the OST’s quality then (2 loops, FLAC) if a physical disc (or two) is not in the cards.
I would recommend bandcamp as well. The super meat boy guys released their OST via that site as well. It’s easy to have a paid download setup through the site and the end user can decide what quality they want, flac, ogg, mp3, etc.
Also what program was used to make the music? If the files are a .it or a .xm tracker type format, the wav file can be exported, then converted to flac, then uploaded to bandcamp without any loss.
2 loops are usually what I do on my game rips. I almost want to volunteer myself for this because I do this sort of thing regularly.
Personally, I prefer digital distribution (of music) via Bandcamp. Digital Distribution can’t be beat when it comes to convenience.
I don’t understand whats being talked about here but I can’t wait for this game to come to the Wii ware service. I have been anticipating this game more that any other for what seems like a couple of years now. I don’t care how long I have to wait as long as it gets released in NA.
Why not make a physical CD available for purchase? Something with a large fold-out cover or extensive liner notes to make the purchase worthwhile. Essentially a text commentary, track by track, of the music of the game could be included in the liner notes. I’m sure a lot of collectors would be interested in that.
Considering the Man’s suggestion, I think that The Megas might be a good band for some vocal tracks. The gimmick of the Megas is make lyrics that represents a character, such as Bubble Man from Megaman 2 who wanted to show that he was strong and worthy of recognition, despite having only the Bubble Lead ability. OCremix should have “The Annihilation of Monsteropolis” as a free sample for those who might be interested in observing the Megas’s style.
There is also a variety of musicians at OCRemix who should be able to make some interesting renditions. Here are their websites, and the name of an videogame remix they each have done, to listen for yourselves whether or not they could do something interesting with La-Mulana.
Virt
Terrormask (Remastered, Splatterhouse)
http://www.biglionmusic.com/
Mazedude (This guy does a lot of different style)
Flubber Mountain (Super Mario RPG)
http://www.mazedudemusic.com/
The Goat
Froggy Mosh (Castlevania 3)
http://www.powergoat.com/
The Megas (Band)
The Annihilation of Monsteropolis (available at OCRemix, Megaman 2, Airman)
http://www.themegas.com/main/main.html
By my vote, I would be interested in a compilation, sort of what Magnus Souleye did for the VVVVVV soundtrack called “PPPPPPowerup!” Essentially, he had multiple freelance musicians remix the original tracks, and the whole album is fantastic. I’m sure you could get the word out easily, seeing as this game has one of the best retro soundtracks that I can think of. Essentially, what I’m getting at is that people tend to like tracks that are redone, in addition to the originals.
Heh, I forgot about that. I was of the mind that it would be the OST itself that was on sale, with the PC game being free on GOG. However, it is true that the PC game is bit of an hot potato. Sometimes, I can’t help but feel rather irritated when friendly references could render a game unpublishable. 🙁
One of the reasons why I suggested GOG for selling the OST was because it could capture the attention of gamers – the people most likely to purchase a copy of the WiiWare version if they knew it existed, in my opinion. Music lovers would certainly enjoy the OST, but I feel they are not as likely to check out the game itself.
Well, much of what everyone else says, I agree with:
1) Loop it twice. There are alot of songs I like to hear more than one time through, such as ‘Good Night Mom’ and ‘Interstice of the Dimension’, which are REALLY good.
2) The best quality that’s possible. If you’re only releasing it online, then this would be the way to go.
3) Probably add the unused music, too, as bonus tracks, of sorts, and maybe a cover picture too.
Putting the original game up for sale would be impossible unless they got permission from Konami to make money off of a game with tons of actual Konami game names in it, not to mention the Maze of Galious area. The only thing I could possibly see happening in the future would be a PC port of the remake.
I think that bundling the Wii OST with the PC version of La-Mulana and putting it onto “Good Old Games” might be a good move. GOG basically sells old or independent games as a digital distributor, and bundles them with things like digital manuals, art books, soundtracks, and so on. Prices are generally $5.99 or $9.99, and the crowd at GOG has an interest in classic videogames, and the PC version of La-Mulana certainly looks like one.
My thinking is that having the PC version of the game distributed at GOG would spur interest in PC gamers to pick up the Wii version, or at least to create some additional word-of-mouth about La-Mulana being a good game. GOG has a relatively small catalog, so La-Mulana PC should be fairly noticeable there. In addition to that, GOG could act as a distributor of the WiiWare soundtrack, so you get to advertise the game itself and sell the soundtrack at the same time.
I also second Drake’s motion to have the unused music from La-Mulana PC to be remixed into Wiiware style. I really like Aqua Wish. 🙂
I also vote yes for Nigoro on Bandcamp!
The loop would be better to sound as in-game does I think. Sound quality would be pretty important though, even if it was slightly different than in-game version better=better.
A cover for MP3 and maybe a few artworks, as CDs would come, would be cool bonuses. Though, maybe a short dev video or something would be pretty amazing.
I love bandcamp as well! Make sure to check it out, it’s a great choice.
I like the idea of using bandcamp, as ZarroTsu suggested. I would not be able to get it if it were on iTunes either.
1. 2 loops would also be my preference.
2. No preference
3. I don’t have any suggestions for this unfortunately. ):
1 – If you’re not releasing the album on CD, but only online, is there any reason not to make every song loop twice? For most people, the size of the album isn’t a big concern.
2 – Hearing the music the way it sounded to the composer, in the best quality possible (256KBPS MP3? 320KBPS? FLAC?) would be a great bonus and a good reason to buy the album, instead of downloading an unofficial recording.
The Wii isn’t a Famicom or a Megadrive or an MSX – there’s nothing very special or interesting about its sound hardware.
3 – I loved reading the composer and developer’s thoughts on each track in the original La-Mulana Jukebox. It would be a great feature if the soundtrack came with a PDF, like the manual for the PC version of the game, with notes for each song.
1. as many loops as it takes to make a track thats 2-3 minutes long… I would hate having to replay a song that I wanted to listen to just because it was made too short
2. highest quality possible, I’m a flac guy myself, but that wouldn’t really matter if the original material was only encoded at 192 😡
1) Two loops would be best I think, only if it’s not too much work.
2) Highest quality. A slight difference in quality or the way it sounds is a bonus, and people can always just record the music from the Wii themselves.
3) Tags and covers are always a nice touch, as are the liner notes and booklet. I like the idea of adding some unused songs but arranging them in the new style, and you could also maybe include some early versions. A slightly more sillier idea is including all gameplay sounds playing in order in one long continuous MP3 as some soundtracks do.
I have another silly idea that might take a bit more effort though.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the idea, but some soundtracks come with short little breaks between songs (around 15-30 seconds long and included as separate files so the actual song will loop uninterrupted), that kind of act as a narration of sorts.
For example, sounds of footsteps and cutting through vines in a jungle before playing Mr. Explorer, or sounds of a stone doorway opening and slow footsteps on the ruin floor before Fearless Challenger, or sounds of water running/splashing and machinery before Curse of Ocean. Lemeza could maybe react a bit with voices, but that might be a bit too much (seeing as how it would require voice acting).
And I would have to agree with the post recommending Bandcamp if you aren’t already going there.
It should be on iTunes as well, but I would like it to be on there too because I don’t use iTunes. Bandcamp also lets you upload FLACs along with MP3s, so you could have the highest quality possible if exported from the music creation software.
I just hope it’ll be available on the American iTunes. Square-Enix has a huge library of music available on iTunes in Japan and we get only a fraction of it in the U.S..
So, my own two cents:
1. Two loops seems about right.
2. Max quality. If people have a problem with any differences, they can just record the tunes off the TV.
3. I’d be fine with just a nice piece of cover art. Tags? I hardly use ’em, apart from the usual “song title/album/artist” business. And yeah, it might be smart to publish on Bandcamp as well as iTunes, if you can.
2. Highest quality for sure, even if it sounds a little different.
1) Loop count – yeah I think two times is good for the average song.
2) Sound quality – Somewhere in the middle I think, too low and it doesn’t sound good but too high quality and the files will be really huge so somewhere in the middle where it sounds good enough but doesn’t take up too much space.
3) I liked the idea pitched of remixing the ‘unused’ tracks in the new Wiiware style sound. Also would it be possible to have like a ‘digital artbook’ featuring concept sketches and the like? (I noticed Naramura last night tweeted a whole bunch of neat images; my favorite had to be the ‘Skimpy Swimsuit collection’ with Lemeza, Shorn, and Muburk all sporting the legendary summer wear. :P)
1.5 loops is pretty short, so yeah 2 is preferrable. And I would prefer high-quality PC captures, as I figure the “authenticity” of the Wii audio hardware isn’t adding much, like it might have with an older console. Additional rejected tracks or remixes are a bonus, but not required.
I highly appreciate metadata on music files, at least the basic stuff (track title, artist, album name, track number, year; genre should probably be ‘vgm’ or ‘game’). Cover pictures are nice too if you can do it, you can probably just use the new La-Mulana Wii logo as the album art if you wanted to cut corners. I prefer MP3 VBR V0 .mp3 format to .m4a.
I personally dislike iTunes, and have avoided purchases through it entirely. I would prefer another method of distribution with browser accessibility, like BandCamp. Then I can just purchase music from the web, none of this mandatory desktop application cruft.
You could always try http://bandcamp.com/ . Put your music online, and while people can listen to each individual track for free, the option to purchase the rights to a download is also available, both per individual track, and for the entire album.
Including bonus music tracks for full-album purchasers will encourage buying the music as well, rather than just listening to it online. Alternatively, you could disclose all but a few early game tracks from being seen or heard unless the album is purchased.
I only bring up BandCamp because I personally do not use itunes, and outright refuse to. However, the broader the audience the better, right?
1) 2 loops seems to be the standard, and I think that would go well for the soundtrack.
2) Highest quality. If it sounds so much better than the music in game, it gives a good reason to release a soundtrack.
3) Things like liner notes and a booklet would be cool.
I’m with Drake on everything he said:
1) 2 loops.
2) Highest quality from the software, not from the Wii. If it sound different, that’s a bonus!
3) Arranged tracks and unused tracks from the original in the current style sounds great to me!
Liner notes? Hell yeah! Music explanatory booklet? I don’t know what would it be like, but sounds like fun! Release that as well!
No physical CD release? Too bad…
A bit disappointing there won’t be a physical OST, but this is cool too.
1) 2 loops is generally what all game soundtracks do, as hard as it might be for you to do I’d prefer to have 2.
2) Highest quality possible. You say it yourself, people can just listen to the soundtrack in the game, so it doesn’t matter if it sounds slightly different.
3) I think it’d be cool if you remixed a few songs and included those as bonuses. Or maybe rearrange some unused songs from the original game (Crazy Moon, Aqua Wish, etc.) in the style of the WiiWare game and include those?