You asked for it...

21 August 2013, Revision 5

12 new music loops again! (Why didn't I make it a ten?) Something's different this time. I made it to an event, kind of a ludum dare for music with me playing the role of several musicians. The theme was "heist movies", and I covered a lot of the typical ingredients of such a movie. The preparation, execution, looting and escaping, the relationships, even end credits. All the loops are in different styles, like different composers working on individual parts of the movie. My top favorite definitely is "heist". This loop just nails all the atmosphere (reminds me on the 2001 Ocean's Eleven)

I hope you all will enjoy it!

You can hear a demo of all new loops here

First post also updated. You find the download link in the first post, as always.

Thank you all so much for liking the loops! It's a great motivation. See, I can't stand silence, while I'm totally fine with negative critics, and certainly postive ones.

Blacksmith

It would be great if you'd be willing to review again! Just don't get bewildered. Do as you always did, without my explanations in mind! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle">

Oh, and I tried hard to make really bad loops. I might have failed though. <img src="smileys/smiley36.gif" border="0" align="middle">

-Silver-

Once more there's some music. Hopefully you'll like it!

parside

Thank you very much! I try to keep this series alive.

To all others: If you should have suggestions regarding style, genre or anything else, just reply. I'll try to take it into account!

Give the people time! Bumping just 5 hours after your first post won't help you much. Have patience, not everyone is looking around here 24/7 <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I had a similar problem with a classic vertical space shooter. The ship is always in motion, but I felt the need for both, accelerating and decelerating provided to the gamer for a better control experience. On the other hand this somehow interfered with the main design of building up tension by a constantly forward moving scenery.

I ended up with making the control expensive (in my case it uses a lot of rare energy). This way I experienced a new strategic element, as the player can't use it all the time and often has to decide wether to save a decelerate for critical situations or use acceleration for easier parts to rush through, for example.

I really think offering such buttons at an expense is the best compromise when you don't want or can't go without them.

EDIT: Regarding your second question, here's an interesting aspect: As a left-handed man I wished games would not rely on fixed keyboard configurations. You can't imagine how unnatural it feels when my left hand has to move to the right side to control the character with the arrow keys, while my right hand crosses to the left to, for example, select a weapon with the control key. <img src="smileys/smiley19.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> Please consider a totally free user based key configuration!

Blacksmith

Please could you try harder to create something I don't like, that way I'll finally have something to complain about   <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> I'll try even more harder! <img src="smileys/smiley36.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Thank you once again for your helpful work! Your ability to get to the heart of the music with just a few words is amazing. And you're investing some of your time. Apart from the community getting an overview, it has become some kind of a compass to me. (If my intentions and your descriptions coincide, I've done my job right.) I really appreciate it!

Seasky

Thank you very much. I'll try hard to add a third favourite! <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Sylvain

Thanks!

My main workhorse is Reason 5, where I create most of the sounds from scratch with the various synths and samplers. I also use Reaper with a big collection of virtual instruments. The most important probably are Addictive Keys Studio Grand, which was part of a software collection that came with my masterkeyboard (btw. a really simple one, 49 full size keys, 4 endless knobs, 1 fader, pitch and modulation wheel), and the freeware instruments Crystal, Unifyer 3, Freehand Free and the DSK series. I also use Reaper for mastering, with free vst like BootEQ mk 2, Aradaz Maximizer, Ambience, epicVerb and W1 Limiter. But the most important tool to compose is ... your soul <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

It's about time...

11 August 2013, Revision 4

12 new music loops again! This time extreme sound experiments and a lot of melancholy. (Need to let a character die? Try "tears"...)

You can hear a demo of all new loops here

First post also updated. You find the download link in the first post, as always.

And please say something. No matter what. There are a lot of people listening to the loops, why not drop a short line afterwards?

Blacksmith

There's work waiting for you! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle">

-Silver-

just nudging to let you know of a few new mini bites of inspiration <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle">

...but now its: move mouse right, screen turns left and vice versa..Hmm, that's weird. I programmed it to turn clockwise when mouse moves right, and counter-clockwise when mouse moves left. Anyway, it's pretty simple to invert it.

Replace this:

+ System: InputSystem.RelMouseX Different to 0

-> System: Add InputSystem.RelMouseX * 2 to global variable 'curRelAngle'

with:

+ System: InputSystem.RelMouseX Different to 0

-> System: Add InputSystem.RelMouseX * -1 * 2 to global variable 'curRelAngle'

By multiplying RelMouseX with -1, the values invert. -5 becomes +5, 3 becomes -3, etc.

You could use a variable that you set to +1 or -1 dependent on some user option, to let the gamer decide how to rotate.

i swear this was my last question about this shooter issue <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> We'll see... <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

In my attempt of finding a relatively easy solution to your problem, I made another approach. r2 of the cap, this time using the plugin "Input System". It has a nice expression called "Get relative mouseX", which keeps working even on the screen borders.

Hopefully this one is closer to your vision?

3D Shooter Control in 2D Topdown (r2).cap

Nice work! It's also versatile. Just a bit of tweaking here and there and it works as a top down ship simulation also. (Arr, Captain!)

Good to see an advanced template for CC developers.

Thank you, clodius666 but this is one of the rare exceptions. My music is pretty much all I invest time for here on the forums <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle">

You didn't say a word about mouse movement instead of position data.

EDIT: Actually you did, but I just yet discovered it. I don't know why I didn't recognize it the first time. Sorry!

Else I might have led you to the following link, with one of lucid's last plugins for CC: new miniplugin (mouse movement)

That should break the last barrier for your shooter. <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle">

I hope to see it sometime...

You're welcome <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Here's an example. It is more simple in terms of learning curve. It uses two arrays. The first array contains the values that need to be sorted and the second array will contain the sorted values. During the process of sorting the content of the first array will be destroyed.

Therefor you should either use that first array as a cache, or copy the resulting second array back to the first, whatever is the easiest for you (or makes more sense for your game's needs).

sort_array.cap

Just calculate every angle regarding the player (the player sprite(s), the weapons, the bullets from his weapons, etc.) relative to the current screen rotation. Here's an example you can build upon. Refine it by making the rotation less direct, add ease-in/out, etc.

3D Shooter Control in 2D Topdown.cap