Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

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Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Yali » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:28 pm

;)I'm gonna play Devil's advocate here and say that, standing here at this juncture in the Myst story between the old Cyan guided Uru and what lies ahead, Uru needs to both redefine itself musically and organise itself musically. What I mean is that, if I'm correct, Tim is no longer in charge of the music, both for the reasons of Cyan's contracted staff and Uru in and in itself having now been passed to us. What I'm afraid though is that individuality and individual working will supplant a cohesive order and artistic aim for Uru.

Here's what I propose:

Firstly, a reinvented musical style.
Second, one creative overseer that will be able to guide the music appropriately, but may join forces with individual age makers and various other composers for consultation and consolidation. This could allow a stronger array of creative looseness and diversity, all under a general aim and mantra enacting a unified vision for Uru.

Personally, I'm strongly in favor of taking the music into darker, more emotional depths. While Tim brought a radically new style that was far more vibrant and 'colorful', especially at the time following Riven, I'm again going to play Devil's advocate and say, that well, after 7 years I think it's time to move on. I've never been too enthusiastic about the style really. It had it's moments, but often to none, the moments which shone were those where the music truly attached itself to the visuals and subtly emphasized them with restraint. Specifically with Minkata this was the case.

When I speak about a darker, more emotional sound, I'm echoing much of the mentality that was favoured during Myst and Riven. In Myst, melody and simple, poingant style composition was the focus. It was about how to get the most out of a few notes and sound effects. Pieces like the Selenitic Mystgate are immensely powerful in their simplicity and focused concept. Channelwood featured inventive rhythms, Stoneship featured the telescope theme which hightened the visual emotion of 'beautiful despair. etc.

Riven on the other hand was all about power through minimalism. Robyn would slowly turn out notes and bell sounds and simple drum beats making the player savour the uneasyness, the tranquil environment, and the tension. The music sound also strengthened the visuals. Minor keys to match the rustic, warm environment. Bells to match the D'ni, drums to match the tribes people. Etc.

This was music that through simplicity, I've found said infinitely more than what was presented in Uru.

I'll now voice my vote for Turjan as musical director. Turjan's music embodies everything about the original games that worked - the subtlety, the natural/cultural quality, the roughness and warmness of sound. Not only does his music showcase the virtues of Robyn's approach, but goes even further as to be genuinely imbued with the culture of D'ni. It not only follows suit of the old games but strongly infers a sense of authenticity, as one would hear if they were in ancient D'ni . To put it shortly, it's more raw, more referent of D'ni culture, more a part of the environment instead of being superimposed onto the experience as a mere game soundtrack. His music brings you to D'ni and lets you experience the environment as if you were there before the fall.

On a related note, I'm not sure if Robyn is working on any projects as of late, last I checked. Maybe we could contact him and see if he'd be willing to aide with the music. Who knows, it could be a way to boost his career. As far as I know, he hasn't been actively busy with large projects since Riven 10 years ago. I think it would be great to bring him back into the ring.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby AtionSong » Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:52 pm

My opinions: First, I completely respect your opinions. But there's a few things that make me think that it might not be the correct direction to take.

Firstly, not only do I think that different music works for different styles of ages, but also that there may be multiple ways to write music for one age. I think that instead of looking at an age and saying: "Well this is what I think the age is like, so this is what the music should be" one can instead say "Okay, I know what the idea for the age is - I can write the music to bring out the emotions I want." What I mean by that is that the game music should not only follow the style of an age, but it can dictate it. Let's think of your example of the music of "Riven" - the music in the game is really creepy and foreboding, very dark and mysterious. This lets the player know: Okay this place looks awesome, but there's something kind of sinister going on behind the scenes. When one first would look around Riven, perhaps they would be struck by the beauty of all the surroundings. If the game came with majestic and shimmering, wonderful music instead, it would focus the player's attention on the beauty of the surroundings instead.

So, because of that, I think that choosing a universal musical direction might actually hurt some ages by forcing emotions upon them. Think of a garden age, a pod age, Minkata (let's say at night), and the cleft. All conjure up different emotions when you play them, each using music that is appropriate for them. When I wrote some music for Yinfara, I did one piece for walking outside with all the multicolored trees to conjure up emotions of wonder at the trees, and then did one for the temple that was supposed to feel both reverent and fantastical. The first one was quicker and moving, and the second was very basic. The first used two voices, the second only one. So, they were very different, yet both appropriate for the areas they are referring to.

Second, and a little more practically, especially on a game in which everyone can contribute, I think it will be difficult enough to provide any good music for an age, let alone one that needs to follow a specific musical direction. :D
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby robbieagray » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:31 pm

Are you saying that we edit the songs used in Uru and use them in our ages? :?:
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Jusme » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:03 pm

Yali wrote:

What I'm afraid though is that individuality and individual working will supplant a cohesive order and artistic aim for Uru.


I thought that writing music was individuality at its best...

Maybe it won't fit with the particular age it is supplanted into in this instance but then I've heard music that didn't fit in certain other aspects of theater as well.

Who makes that distinction? The director? The producer? The actors? Or the fans?
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Shoggoth » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:05 am

So people can build any Age they want and take that in whatever artistic direction they desire, but if they want music it has to be provided to them? Seems a little silly, even if they have artistic control over the soundtrack. If someone needs help with a song, they'll ask for it.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Yali » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:22 am

Ugh. No. What I think I was trying to say was that in order for Uru to be a game, that is a coherent work, there should be a balance of artistic direction and open community efforts, and this pertains to all the art including music. What made Riven and Myst so good? They had a vision of what they were and represented artistically. When you mention Myst, a distinctive style of music or visual 'look' comes to mind (i.e the quirky and haunting melodies and the space ship, boat, etc.) when mentioning Riven the same happens (the dark, earthy minor key music and scenes of the equally earthy and 'dark' landscape, etc.)

I'm all for fan efforts, but not without some boundaries and perhaps even rules or slight guidelines. I think if we want Uru to be something above and beyond an open source remnant of a declining mmo project, we need to craft it into something entirely unique and with a certain telos (i.e. Greek term meaning 'overarching direction'). Music is a prime exemplar of a personality and soul of a work, because music is kinetic and deals with the body. There is nothing more moving than a piece of music that hits the right mark, let alone a body of music that does the same and spherically forges/connects/and voices the nature of a complete work.

I've seen some of the genius this community has. Particularly with Turjan I see a style that I believe would perfectly fit Uru both stylistically and philosophically for a game that is a continuation of both it's old counterpart and the greater Myst saga. I've already voiced my reasons - in effect it's music that transcends the screen and teleports you to D'ni as one would have always envisioned it. This is not to say Turjan should do ALL the music, but say at least for major areas and Dn'i I think he would fit best.

Perhaps we could organize some sort of musical council that deals and balances fan freedom and an organized core score.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Kiril » Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:13 pm

What do we know of D'Ni music and musical instruments, if anything? It seems we ought to try and resurrect or at least incorporate something close to the original culture.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby D'Lanor » Sat Jan 31, 2009 3:10 pm

Kiril wrote:What do we know of D'Ni music and musical instruments, if anything? It seems we ought to try and resurrect or at least incorporate something close to the original culture.

Turjan has been doing research in that field. Yali mentioned him with good reason. You can judge for yourself by visiting his websites here or here. He has even rebuilt D'ni instruments and performs on those as can be seen here.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby Kiril » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:41 pm

D'Lanor wrote:
Kiril wrote:What do we know of D'Ni music and musical instruments, if anything? It seems we ought to try and resurrect or at least incorporate something close to the original culture.

Turjan has been doing research in that field. Yali mentioned him with good reason. You can judge for yourself by visiting his websites here or here. He has even rebuilt D'ni instruments and performs on those as can be seen here.


Hey, thanks. Will give these some study.
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Re: Re-envisioning Uru, musically!

Postby robbieagray » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:06 am

One thing we could do is create music that is based off of music from the Uru game but is done using different instrements to create simualr yet different music. Maybe we could get some vocal artist for our music.
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