We've considered ourselves extremely lucky lately in getting two very, VERY talented new team members on the Malevolence project. The first is the music composer Nicolas Lee, who has taken up the position of Lead Composer on the team. He's been hard at work developing the musical score for the game. His latest creation is actually the official theme music for the game, which REALLY sounds amazing! It really sends shivers down our spines when we hear it on the game's main menu!
So it's been really awesome to have an official sort of sound for the game. He's currently working on a more percussive, war-like version of the theme for more dramatic parts of the game. It's not done yet, but it's sounding AMAZING. Welcome aboard, Nicolas!
The second new team member has been a real bonus! We've had the luck to have the very talented Roland Shaw from Spicy Horse Games (American McGee's games company) offer his services to the project. Even though he has only done up a handful of new sounds, they have already COMPLETELY revolutionized the atmosphere of the game. From the sizzling crackle of hot coals to the creaking grate of the rusty iron portcullises, everything seems so much more alive. Every new lot of sounds he produces ups the quality of the game massively, so we are all VERY grateful for his attention. I can't show you a video with his new sounds just yet, but there will be one coming very soon!
Finally, lots of work has been lately by myself and the art team perfecting the lighting of dungeons in the game. The outdoor environments are easy to light. You have the sun, and... Well... That's it... But in the dungeons, we want it to be scary and disorientingly dark, but at the same time feel alive, and lived in. And we've finally gotten it to a point where we're happy with it! So take a look!
So that's coming along well, I think. In the last post you read about the trap system that is being implemented, which has been making a little progress, and is turning out to be as fun as it is scary in the game! We've also been doing quite a bit of work on the magic system. In past videos you will have seen the temporary fireball graphic we put in place to get it working, well now there's a fully-fledged particle system in the game, and when you hurl a fireball down a corridor, you see a burning orb of fire shoot away from you, illuminating the corridors as it flies! It's very exciting and we'll have a video for you very soon!
Until then!
Oh, and please join our Facebook fan page if you haven't already! We'd love to see you there!
Sound and music is probably the most important part of creating the game's atmosphere. So I'm happy that you found two very talented people to do just that! Keep up the good work!
Thank you! If you get a chance, check out the new video we just uploaded showing the updated magic system! The sounds are incredible and really make it fun to lob fireballs around the dungeon!
looks definitely interesting, a lot love for details there!
Thank you for the praise! :)
The new music is AWESOME, and combining it with some new gameplay footage is just as good! I also appreciate seeing some proper (albeit brief) combat using the new lighting system.
I would like to note one thing, however. If there are sounds in the gameplay footage in the article, it seems like the new music is overpowering them to the point that they sound like they aren't there.
Hello! The music isn't actually used in-game. That preview video just has the music played over the top of it since I forgot to record sound when I recorded the video ;-)