Music.

This one would definitely a pain in the neck to design and implement codewise, but I think it could be really nice and make a huge impact:

Pick tracks based on events, or at the very least a very simple action/idle split. I often sit in not-quite-cleared zones while alt-tabbed, and all of a sudden the music changes track or hits a particularly dramatic strain in the current one, a big upswing in tempo, and I frantically alt-tab back to see what's about to kill me... nada.

Even if the tracks don't switch and there's no dedicated idle track, it would be really nice if the big sudden dramatic climax music didn't spontaneously play when I'm sitting in the middle of a nearly-empty field with nothing happening.

Music should always narrate, and when it doesn't, it at least shouldn't be openly hostile to narration.

I'd imagine it not being too difficult, just making all the music would prove tedious.

Me personally, I'm fine with having one track for one area.

I found that the music set the mood very well, very sinister. I definatly appreciate a good soundtrack to slaughter minions to.

The music is excellent just the way it is, with just one complaint from me: the music portions that stand out in some way should be adjusted such that they do not become annoying over time. E.g. in the starting beach maps from ACT 1, the music portion being preceded by a silence pause gets irritating after a while. Maybe try to decrease the silence time or lower the volume of that loud start after the silence etc.

The less something stands out (in background music), the better i guess

From what I've heard, I find a lot of the tracks to be great background tracks. At one point while I was browsing the forums, I was listening to the Act I Town's theme and it must have looped 10 times before I realized I was still listening to it. Great job so far GGG!

Compared to the D3 music i absolutely like POEs music better it has its own style and i just want to, tell you this. Vaal Ruins music is top nuts really amazing stuff :) i loved the change of mood later on. in that one.

Loved the themes in Act 1. Especially the beach and the first town.
Would love to have some more actioney musics, especially for big boss battles.
The jungle music felt a bit repetitive, would have liked a climax somewhere in it. Or make the tribal rythme generally darker.

"

brobbeh wrote:

Loved the themes in Act 1. Especially the beach and the first town.
Would love to have some more actioney musics, especially for big boss battles.
The jungle music felt a bit repetitive, would have liked a climax somewhere in it. Or make the tribal rythme generally darker.

I concur with this, even if you plan using a tribal music, it should be much darker to set the right mood in. Currently Act II encampment music bores the shit out of me honestly. Its so repetitive and uninspired that i try not to spend my time in town as much as possible, also how unfortunate that pools and streams also shares the same music.

I have several artists to suggest on how to create dark tribal music;

Ulf Söderberg - Ecuatoria [tribes on steroid]

Suspended Memories - Mutual Tribes [just discovered!]

Steve Roach - Clay, Wood, Bone, Dirt [didgeridoo magick]

Steve Roach & Robert Rich - Soma [more laid back, explorational]

These two for actiony times/boss fights;

Paul Romero - Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Music: Combat 2 [hellish drums of death]

Paul Romero - Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Music: Combat 4 [epicness at best]

Besides i think we need to hear didgeridoo instrument in music, especially if the genre is "tribal" then it is obligatory i say.

"

Didgeridoo;

Spoiler

The didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu or didge) is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread use today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe". Musicologists classify it as a brass aerophone.

Please no didgeridoo. Please. As a dweller of Australia's biggest city, I don't think I could imagine a more likely cause for me killing PoE's music than the inclusion of an instrument abused by buskers, souvenir shops and misleading tourism campaigns.

I know this is surface-level stuff, but it's an interesting start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_music

Perhaps I am mislead myself by the maori/karui flavour of Wraeclast, but I am drawn to the idea of at least some traditional maori instrumentation used in the soundtrack. For all I know it already is.

Please. Please. Please. No didgeridoo.

"

Erik wrote:

Yes, the existing music is currently going through some updates and this is one of the things that are on the list to fix.

This is good to hear. The poster mentioned the Act2 town music, but really, it's all of the musics. Hopefully not only in-game, but in the OST, the transitions will be smooth when the music loops again. It's the only bad thing I can say about it! OSTs usually play 2 full loops and fade out in the early part of the third.

The music itself is amazing, and hopefully the OST will be just as awesome. :)