Nov
26
26
Austin Chronicle Interview
Chase Hoffberger from the Austin Chronicle interviewed us last month (with a photo by Todd V. Wolfson) and the story is running in this week's edition. It's got some nice background tidbits on the company but also some insight on our work on Mushroom Men.You can also check it out on their website here.
The article touches on the GL33k music backgrounds, how each of us at one point thought we were going to be rockers for life. Some of the people we jammed with back then who think we sold out or something don't get it. We're still making music, except the songs we put in games get heard by hundreds of thousands of people while most bands are lucky to get a small fraction of that.
"I feel like soundtracking video games, if you're a musician, they become home," says Piersall. "It's a personal experience for each individual, like you're playing a show, but you don't need to be there. But it's made for one person and always lays out differently than it did the time before. It's way cooler."
The article touches on the GL33k music backgrounds, how each of us at one point thought we were going to be rockers for life. Some of the people we jammed with back then who think we sold out or something don't get it. We're still making music, except the songs we put in games get heard by hundreds of thousands of people while most bands are lucky to get a small fraction of that.
"I feel like soundtracking video games, if you're a musician, they become home," says Piersall. "It's a personal experience for each individual, like you're playing a show, but you don't need to be there. But it's made for one person and always lays out differently than it did the time before. It's way cooler."
Posted by: kidko |
Nov
14
14
Global Agenda PWNs for the Cure
Hi-Rez had their official public unveiling of Global Agenda at an event in Atlanta, GA called PWN for the Cure where proceeds for gaming related raffles went toward battling Leukemia. Check out photos from the event at the official Global Agenda Facebook page. Also be sure to check out Kotaku Associate Editor Mike Fahey's write-up of the event and embarrassing moments while participating in Bobby Blackwolf's podcast of the event.
I'm happy to say that the audio for Global Agenda is coming along nicely so far and we have a whole bunch of cool ideas coming for even more interactive audio with a focus on player feedback. Basically, it's going to sound bad-a, watch out
I'm happy to say that the audio for Global Agenda is coming along nicely so far and we have a whole bunch of cool ideas coming for even more interactive audio with a focus on player feedback. Basically, it's going to sound bad-a, watch out
Posted by: kidko |
Nov
07
07
Guitar Hero World Tour = DONE!!!!
Guitar Hero World Tour is out and our hard work can finally be heard. As always it was great to work with the Neversoft crew on such a cool title. GH World tour was a lot of work but Clark really knows how to get results. When I get the game I'll capture some vids for our demo and post them.
-mtcs
Guitar Hero World Tour is out and our hard work can finally be heard. As always it was great to work with the Neversoft crew on such a cool title. GH World tour was a lot of work but Clark really knows how to get results. When I get the game I'll capture some vids for our demo and post them.
-mtcs
Posted by: mtcs |
Nov
06
06
Nov
06
06
Some Mushroom Men Articles
There has been some good press about the mushroom men audio. I accompanied Chad Barron to New York and LA as he schooled me in the ways of the press tour. I did a write up for IGN about the experience of working on the project. My trip to New York somehow landed me at MTV and they've managed to pump out a few articles regarding our "interesting Wii audio", and one with vids about our metronome music system.
holla back now
-mtcs
There has been some good press about the mushroom men audio. I accompanied Chad Barron to New York and LA as he schooled me in the ways of the press tour. I did a write up for IGN about the experience of working on the project. My trip to New York somehow landed me at MTV and they've managed to pump out a few articles regarding our "interesting Wii audio", and one with vids about our metronome music system.
holla back now
-mtcs
Posted by: mtcs |
Aug
14
14
Global Agenda Press
Our friends at Hi-Rez Studios were part of an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Georgia's push for getting more game companies in their state.
Now, armed with a more ambitious program enacted in May, Georgia is making a big push to market metro Atlanta as a hub for the video game industry.
Asante Bradford, the state's digital entertainment liaison, said he wants to double the industry's economic impact to $360 million in two years.
For gaming companies, Georgia's attitude is a nice change of pace.
"With so many politicians beating up on video games, it's nice to be in a state that is basically in the industry of fun," said Todd Harris, chief operating officer at Alpharetta-based Hi-Rez Studios.
AJC.com
Now, armed with a more ambitious program enacted in May, Georgia is making a big push to market metro Atlanta as a hub for the video game industry.
Asante Bradford, the state's digital entertainment liaison, said he wants to double the industry's economic impact to $360 million in two years.
For gaming companies, Georgia's attitude is a nice change of pace.
"With so many politicians beating up on video games, it's nice to be in a state that is basically in the industry of fun," said Todd Harris, chief operating officer at Alpharetta-based Hi-Rez Studios.
AJC.com
Posted by: kidko |
Aug
08
08
Found this cool article with Josh Bear about The Maw
We met Josh Bear at GDC (thanks for lunch!) and he was seriously the freakin' nicest guy ever. This interview has him talking about the motivations behind The Maw and what players can expect, including this blurb about using composer Winifred Philips for the music score and GL33k for the sound effects,
"...Winifred and her producing partner Winnie Waldron are awesome. From the very start of this, music was really important to us, not just for this game but for everything we do. I had worked on a previous game where Winifred had composed the music, and it was the best part of that game.
I met her a year or two later at GDC and told her about The Maw before we even knew if we were making it or not, just because I was hoping she would be interested in doing it. It has been a great collaboration; she exceeded all my expectations. I really think we have one of the best soundtracks I've heard in awhile.
The music does a great job of matching the characters and the world, and was composed in a way where we introduce new music layers, or "stems," as you make progress, to help show the player that they are doing the right thing in the level. We also went with Gl33k for sound effects, which are awesome. Matt Chaney was our go to guy for all the sound, and he did a great job.
Check out the whole article here: [Destructoid.com]
"...Winifred and her producing partner Winnie Waldron are awesome. From the very start of this, music was really important to us, not just for this game but for everything we do. I had worked on a previous game where Winifred had composed the music, and it was the best part of that game.
I met her a year or two later at GDC and told her about The Maw before we even knew if we were making it or not, just because I was hoping she would be interested in doing it. It has been a great collaboration; she exceeded all my expectations. I really think we have one of the best soundtracks I've heard in awhile.
The music does a great job of matching the characters and the world, and was composed in a way where we introduce new music layers, or "stems," as you make progress, to help show the player that they are doing the right thing in the level. We also went with Gl33k for sound effects, which are awesome. Matt Chaney was our go to guy for all the sound, and he did a great job.
Check out the whole article here: [Destructoid.com]
Posted by: kidko |
Aug
07
07
Music for Mushroom Men Vid
Posted by: kidko |
Jul
13
13
Twisted Pixel + GL33k = MAW Love
Twisted Pixel first gave us a call on January 1st of 08. We were all on a company trip in Las Vegas and ever so slightly down on our luck (Never EVER drink a lot of rum and try and "learn" to play craps). We knew our luck was looking up when we received an email from Twisted Pixel asking us to work on an XBox live arcade original project.
Time went on and we eventually found out that the project was called MAW. I'll be honest it wasn't until we finally got to play it that we became truly excited. We had seen screen caps of early renders to make sounds to but seeing where TPG was going with this game was awesome.
I'm proud to say that the GL33k boys did it up tough for this project (honestly it was Chainsaw who made it happen,, I'll have his info up soon). The scope of the project ended up being much larger than we had anticipated which is a good thing. This just might be the biggest and most bang for the buck XBLA title I've ever seen.
Chainsaw did a fantastic job bringing the game to life with audio and honestly I know there are a lot of haters out there but XACT kind of rules. Winifred Phillips did the music for the game and she did an amazing job! Her music coupled with the GL33k sound really made the game come to life.
BTW-------------//////////----------------
MAW made the top 10 indie games for PAX, The PAX 10
Twisted Pixel first gave us a call on January 1st of 08. We were all on a company trip in Las Vegas and ever so slightly down on our luck (Never EVER drink a lot of rum and try and "learn" to play craps). We knew our luck was looking up when we received an email from Twisted Pixel asking us to work on an XBox live arcade original project.
Time went on and we eventually found out that the project was called MAW. I'll be honest it wasn't until we finally got to play it that we became truly excited. We had seen screen caps of early renders to make sounds to but seeing where TPG was going with this game was awesome.
I'm proud to say that the GL33k boys did it up tough for this project (honestly it was Chainsaw who made it happen,, I'll have his info up soon). The scope of the project ended up being much larger than we had anticipated which is a good thing. This just might be the biggest and most bang for the buck XBLA title I've ever seen.
Chainsaw did a fantastic job bringing the game to life with audio and honestly I know there are a lot of haters out there but XACT kind of rules. Winifred Phillips did the music for the game and she did an amazing job! Her music coupled with the GL33k sound really made the game come to life.
BTW-------------//////////----------------
MAW made the top 10 indie games for PAX, The PAX 10
Posted by: mtcs |
Jun
16
16
Mushroom Men Update 1
We can't talk too much about Mushroom Men, however I can say that I'm very VERY excited. In fact I've never had quite as much fun working on a game.
One of the features we created back when we started talking to Red Fly about the project was a metronome feature that would drive all the audio for the game. Essentially what this means is that world sounds and events can occur on the beat of the music creating a sort of found sound rhythm meets Les Claypool bass kind of experience. A lot of it is incedental but its provided a really unique approach to creating world sounds that sync seamlessly with the music.
We've been using Ableton Live a lot to create a lot of the environmental sounds that you'll hear throughout the game and the results are quite cool. When I started doing game audio I would often get side tracked by attempting to make beats out of environmental effects. Whats great is that now not only do I get to create rhythmic world sounds but I also get to create them to whats starting to become a very amazing and stylistic world unlike any other of I've seen.
-mtcs
We can't talk too much about Mushroom Men, however I can say that I'm very VERY excited. In fact I've never had quite as much fun working on a game.
One of the features we created back when we started talking to Red Fly about the project was a metronome feature that would drive all the audio for the game. Essentially what this means is that world sounds and events can occur on the beat of the music creating a sort of found sound rhythm meets Les Claypool bass kind of experience. A lot of it is incedental but its provided a really unique approach to creating world sounds that sync seamlessly with the music.
We've been using Ableton Live a lot to create a lot of the environmental sounds that you'll hear throughout the game and the results are quite cool. When I started doing game audio I would often get side tracked by attempting to make beats out of environmental effects. Whats great is that now not only do I get to create rhythmic world sounds but I also get to create them to whats starting to become a very amazing and stylistic world unlike any other of I've seen.
-mtcs
Posted by: mtcs |
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