Medieval Sandbox MMO Main Theme Voting Thread

Bercilak

Hi guys,

we are an independent developer working on a medieval sandbox MMO. Our composer just worked on two different themes but within our team we can not decide, which Version is better. The developers in our team like Version 1 more while the artists prefer Version 2. So we wanted to get an external opinion about the two drafts.

 

 

Version1

 

https://soundcloud.com/albion-online/albion-main-theme

 

 

Version2

 

https://soundcloud.com/albion-online/new-main-theme-demo-v2

 

 

Important information: Version 2 is not finalised yet and way shorter. Try to include this in your voting pls.

 

Some information about the game itself

 

The game itself is called Albion Online and is supposed to be more medieval fantasy then high fantasy. Key features of the game are

 

• Crafting & Player Driven Economy (all items AND buildings are crafted by the players)
• Territorial Combat (You can claim territories or conquer territories from other players, burn down their self constructed villages ...)
• PvP & Full Loot (dying means serious consequences and if you die everything can be taken from you)

 

The game will be a pure cross plattform game running on Windows7, MacOS, Linux but also on iOS and Android (tablets only). So you do not have to worry on which device you want to play you can play with your friends at the same time no matter if they using Linux or an iPad.

 

Below you can see one of our Artworks giving hopefully an impression of the game. I will add some screenshots later.

Thanks for your help!

 

Kind regards,

Bercilak

Goatgod76

Hard to say for certain.

If I HAD to choose one, I'd say Version 1. BUT...seems there are a few spots in Version 1 that kind of...skip, or jumble and aren't real smooth sounding. Kind of jumps around with tempo.

Version 2 sounds more Final Fantasy in nature and not quite fitting for a more Medival Themed Sandox MMO.

 

Seems it needs to be heavier throughout. Of course though, more warlike in sound as the theme seems to be PvP, seige warfare and brutality. These are just my opinions as I am not a composer lol. GL with your project!

 

Bercilak

Thanks for your feedback, always very important to get some external feedback, especially if we have listened to each version 30 times already it gets hard to stay neutral and objective.

 

Kind regards,

Bercilak

Exilor

Here goes my opinion. Uneducated, not-even-amateur opinion.

Version 1:
0:00-0:13 seems to be going for a Game of Thrones opening theme kind of sound.
0:14-1:08 the melody is not bad but the strings sound too artificial.
1:09-1:18 made me think "foobar2000 has encountered a problem and needs to close"
1:19-1:28 reminded me of Stargate SG-1 and the goa'uld (good thing)
1:29-2:02 this section gets pogressively better although it still feels too synthetised
2:46-2:54 love that, needs more of it lol
2:55-3:48 much more convincing than before, I liked it

Version 2:
0:00-0:19 too long
0:20-1:09 starts dull and gets better, but I think it needs more "kick"
1:10-1:34 I love the melody, nothing else to say about this section
1:35-1:58 i liked this ending too

Version 1 wins but 2 has good things too that I think could be expanded into something cool. Not that I would be able to do it any better.

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aleos

2. 

number 1 to me just sounded like a mash up of a lot of different tunes. i think i picked up batman and game of thrones somewhere in there.

KenFisher

I like version 2 much better.  Perhaps it could use a bit of sweetening, or it might just be that my laptop speakers are lame.

 

Very professional feel to it in my opinion.

ignore_me

I picked 1 because it was more dynamic. I would have picked 2 if it wasn't so homogenous. 2 needs some bigger peaks, maybe emphasize a leitmotif or two.

Novusod

Both themes sound like typical hollywood movie themes. In other words not really Medieval at all. If there was no desription to your music and it was just played there is nothing in it that sounds like it could be from a Medieval setting.

 

If the theme is supposed to be realistic Medieval then why not make it sound like music that was actually played in the Medieval era.

Listen to Vox Vulgaris from the 13th century or Greensleeves from the 14th century. This is the music of minstrals, troubadours and bards.

Toferio

The first seems to vary way too much for a generic main theme, it feels like it's taken out of a movie trailer where it follows different pacing and action.

Adamai

no.2 and keep all magic out of the game.. it would also be nice to have ab honor/renown based progression system rather than levels for example.. mor honor and renown unlocks recruiting options. this could mean with time a player can build his own armour with his own heraldry and coat of arms.

Bercilak

Originally posted by Adamai
no.2 and keep all magic out of the game.. it would also be nice to have ab honor/renown based progression system rather than levels for example.. mor honor and renown unlocks recruiting options. this could mean with time a player can build his own armour with his own heraldry and coat of arms.

 

Unfortunately we want to have spells and such but on a lower edge then usual. So for instance there will be a heal spell.

For us the readability of the game is very important (understand what is going on on the screen).

 

If you take GW2 for instance or TERA it is super hard to get what is going on. Of course the spells look really great but then in an MMO world or a dungeon it is just one huge spectacel but you never can read really what is going on. Who is healing whom, who is taking lot of dmg and so on.

 

Kind regards,

Bercilak

 

 

GGrimm

My overall feeling is that both songs seem a bit lacking in highs and lows. The high/low, fast/slow musical dynamic  really helps generate excitement IMHO. As a result the music is quite pretty but not dramatic in a cinematic manner. It's like wandering around a nice garden.  When I start a game, especially for the first time, I'm looking to be hit with something exciting.

One game I still play, and think does a great job of conveying the Medieval milieu is Mount and Blade. So that's what I'm kind of comparing your music to in the back of my head.

Nice work so far. This is a game I will be keeping my eye on.