Dungeon Master And Music

sucinum · Post by **sucinum** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:10 am

Unlike most computergames i played DM has no music at all. it's not, that it's really missing any music, but it's just not there. i don't know if music could intensify the tension DM creates, but after completing it more or less times [:roll:], this feeling decreases and you need music

Just some theory

Now to the Question:
What music do you hear when you play DM? Do you hear music fitting to the levels or just a random playlist? What music do you think would fit the best?
Someone proposed Haydn, i think, classical music would be perfect, but i don't know to much about it so i hope for proposals (of any kind of music of course).

np: Beethoven - 5th (aka mainstream classic

)

regards

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 4:41 am

Dm has been done with music. DM for SNES has music of it's own. DM2 in all it's incarnations had music and not only that but each version had their own unique compositions. so DM2 for Amiga had different music than the PC and the PC was different from the SEGA version etc..

There was also a CD released containing music to play DM to. That was inspired by the game.. made by people who played it I imagine. I suppose the point being you could play it while you were playing DM to have some background music going on.

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:38 am

The CD you speak of was made after it's music was used in the FM-Towns and X68000 versions of DM. The CD Tracks were used on the Towns, while MIDI versions were used on the x68000.

The CD Album was made later as a standalone release. There was also music for the CSB versions of these games, but this was never made into an album.

Some of the music in the SEGA release of DM2 was orginally on the DM Album! And one of the tracks off the Album is also the looping sample you get at the entrance to PC DM.

I don't listen to music while playing DM -- prefer to concentrate on the ambience (or lack of!). I wish it was a bit richer though, which is why I keep pushing for ambient sound effects in RTC...

Post by **ChristopheF** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:44 pm

I remind you that you can download DM Music (SNES and Album) here: http://dmweb.free.fr/DMDownloads.htm#Music

And the DMII music (Amiga, Sega CD and PC) here: http://dmweb.free.fr/DMIIDownloads.htm#Music

You can use that music as background while you play.

sucinum · Post by **sucinum** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 8:45 pm

i got the snes-music but i don't like it too much. and it's also made to fit the levels, what i can't simulate in my playdisc, which makes the scorpion-level-song appear in the riddle-room etc.
and i was looking for alternatives, too

Post by **Paul Stevens** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:22 pm

I have considered adding a music capability to CSBwin.
Selecting tracks based on zones within the dungeon.
You say the music was selected by level. How did they
do that? If you go up and down the stairs does the
music switch right away or what? I could not think of a
good way to switch between tracks when the player is
moving rapidly between different 'musical zones'.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:25 pm

lol, alternatives? how's this for alternative:

fighting scorpions:
korn - it's on (ok, ok, it was more DOOM deathmatch music, but whatever)

heroic exploration:
noel gallagher - teoteucan (the song at the end of x-files film, and if i was ever wanting music for the start pof a fantasty film, i think i'd use it there too...but i don't so i won't : ) )

indiana jones theme - come on! for bonus points hit mummies in time to the heroic end bit

more:
human waste project - electra (ignore the band name, nice bassy song with female vocals)
prodigy - mindfields (sounds like the start to mechwarrior 2, actually)
veruca salt - fly (nice soft one doesn't interfere with the atmosphere)
afro celt sound system - dark moon, high tide ...

ok, i admit it, i'm just looking through winamp and reading out names here : ) probably wanna stick to classical stuff..

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:28 pm

Paul, couldn't you link it to actuators? you step on designated squares to turn on and off area music, which is linked to a hidden trigger that is actually controlling it?
you pass the headache of including logical music control to the dungeon designer ,though even then a 'stop music' option in an actuator would solve pit drops, etc where levels can suddenly change - designer includes then in desinations to teleporters or pits ,and can have dramatic music or exploration music activated on the next step along if they want...

sucinum · Post by **sucinum** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:34 pm

Paul Stevens wrote:You say the music was selected by level. How did they do that?

i don't know, i only guessed that by the names (in the dm-album there are names like "hall of champions" etc) and i never played DM for SNES. maybe the titles are simply looped, and if you change the music-environment, the next title in the "playlist" will be from the current environmet, while the last track will be completed. or there is a fading effect and the tracks will change softly.
maybe there is both.
example:
you go down to the riddle room: riddle room music will instantly start
you go back outside/you proceed: music will be changed slowly.

that's only raw guessed because i don't really listen to music in games, i just welcome it as ambience.
maybe "music pads" with 3 different options (change instantly, change after track has been completed, fade tracks in each other) would do, where you can set the effect to the music depending on the direction you cross them. just a thought.

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:10 pm

In DM SNES the music just starts at key points, clearly attached to an actuator. It plays for the length of the song and is only interrupted if you change levels (stairs) or start another track. It won't start again though if you keep standing on the same actuator if it's already playing.

Post by **Paul Stevens** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:22 pm

Attaching it to an actuator would be the easiest thing to
do. Then I could add a function for DSAs that would start
playing a track. It would seem that MP3 files might be the
best. But the DMII synthesizer tracks are pretty good, too.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to play either of these things
yet. I'll have to look into that.

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:26 pm

Going back to the initial question, the DM2 MIDI music from the PC version sounds fantastic if you have a good wavetable in your sound card. Sounds pretty naff with the old general midi sound patches.

There have been one or two times when I've listened to music playing DM or CSB and it's been a combination of baroque classical and modern fantasy soundtracks. Things like 'Night on bare Mountain' and parts of 'Symphonie fantastique' work well, as do parts of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:39 am

http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articl ... le2053.asp

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:40 am

That's curious -- the article was posted 3/3/2004, yet when I used to be in CD-ROM development, MCI was listed as "outdated" at least four years ago. DirectX has pretty much superceded it.

But if it still works, hey, sounds good to me!

Post by **Paul Stevens** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:00 pm

Thanks for the link. That MCI stuff looks familiar
from many years ago. Never thought about it again
and it totally left my mind.

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:15 am

any way I can help get some music back in there all the better. I imagine many of the SNES fans which they had that since the SNES ver of DM does not play in any emulators.

However, Can't take full credit for the link. I was hunting it down and called upon someone with more experience in windows programming to gimme some idea of what I was looking for exactly.

(annother one of those programmers I bribe with GFX

)

so anyway, does this mean we'll be able to set music on and off in the game now? as well as music triggers in dungeons to play specifics?

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:19 am

Um, DM does work in snes9x since version 1.4:

http://www.snes9x.com/downloads.html

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:26 am

what??? how is this possible????

I was never told.. !!! all I could do was play essentially blind..

ok well I know what I'll be doing..

moo

OpTiMaL · Post by **OpTiMaL** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:32 am

In the FM-Towns version the music is specific for each level. It would play once while you were on that level. Every time you went to a new level it took a few seconds before music started up, but I'm assuming that is just the time it takes the CD drive to get the track ready to play. The music doesn't loop, but will play again once you leave a level and come back.

The only other music is one for when you are at the gate (the one that plays in the PC version), and one that plays right after you beat Chaos. That is how it runs under emulation anyway. I never tried it on an actual FM-Towns computer because I don't own one. Hope that clears some things up.

Post by **ChristopheF** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:33 am

OpTiMaL, do you have an ISO image of DM for FM-Towns?
And perhaps CSB and DM2 too ?
I'd very interested by it because it is the only platform for which I don't have DM, CSB and DM2. Would you be able to send it to me?

OpTiMaL · Post by **OpTiMaL** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:34 am

I only own Dungeon Master for FM-Towns, however if I find the others I will let you know. Would you like a full ISO or a ISO+MP3? The full ISO would be around 171MB compressed or the ISO+MP3 at 26.4MB compressed.

The best emulator I found for FM-Towns computers is Unz. Here's the URL:

http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/townsemu/

It seems to run pretty much flawless in Unz.

Post by **ChristopheF** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:22 pm

I sent you a private message on this board to discuss about that.

Sandman · Post by **Sandman** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:11 pm

Dungeon Master II included one of the most fantastic game soundtracks ever and I dare to call this a fact, not an opinion

. I remember its sound on Gravis Ultrasound (IMO the most progressive soundcard)...

But I think that best music for DM is dM! Though in my case it's caused by the fact that I am listening to Depeche Mode whenever possible

...