Topic: The first sign rises with the full moon.

[affinity]

Whoaaaa sounds like Bloodstained could be the ultimate IGAvania for whip fans!!

http://bloodstainedfanforums.com/thread/2542/bloodstained-whips-expect-theories

http://www.tsunderebeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/20150528-Tsunderebeats-Bloodstained-Concept-Art-Whips.jpg

http://imgur.com/pxU3qpw

[X]

F@#k swords, I know what I'm using 

[theANdROId]

^^ You can say that again!

[AlexCalvo]

You know what I really want to know?  What did Iga think of the Castlevania Netflix series?  I hope someone brings it up in an interview.

[The Puritan]

Maybe he's seen it but can't (or won't) say anything about it. #fuckonami and all that.

Still, it'd be nice to know. As long as he's not asked during a Bloostained-centric interview or something.

[theplottwist]

You know what I really want to know?  What did Iga think of the Castlevania Netflix series?  I hope someone brings it up in an interview.

TL.DR: He liked it.

[Castle34hk]

PAX West 2017 [All interviews]

http://bloodstainedfanforums.com/thread/2577/pax-west-2017-all-interviews

[Gunlord]

In case anyone gets perturbed about what IGA said about Yamane and Noisy Croak, check out my post here:

http://bloodstainedfanforums.com/post/47050

First, everybody, take a look at the Symphony of the Night credits:

"castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Symphony_of_the_Night_Credits

Specifically, under the "-sound staff-" heading:

-Sound Staff-
Michiru Yamane
(Music/Sound Effects)
O. Kasai
(Program/Sound Effects)
Imohore Imai (Mixer)
-Musicians-
Takayuki Fujii
(Electric Guitar)
Nishimura Oh. Ya. Zi.
(Electric Guitar)
Kahore Yamane (Vocal)
-Voice Coordinator-
N. Sakaue


Look at all the names there! Note that we have "O. Kasai" as a programmer and "Imohore Imai" as a mixer, along with several electric guitarists. You see the point I'm getting at? Even though Symphony of the Night is what Ms. Yamane is most known for, hands down, it's not like she did the whole thing herself. In fact, you could argue she had a whole studio with her. She composed the music, but that doesn't mean she programmed it in, or that she played the guitar we heard in tracks like Tragic Prince herself. She put the notes onto the bars and decided the instrumention, but other people played the instruments, provided the recording equipment, and translated the recordings into data onto the game.

That, bluntly stated, is what Noisy Croak is gonna be doing. When IGA said "soundtrack creation" he literally meant the process of creating sound--somebody needs to actually make noise, and Ms. Yamane can't be a guitarist, violinist, organist, etc. all at the same time! And looking at the Noisy Croak website itself, I'm growing more and more certain that's the nature of the job--they're not replacing or upstaging Ms. Yamane, they're playing the songs she composes and programming them into the game under her direction. Check this out:

www.noisycroak.co.jp/service/

And put it into Google Translate. It gave me stuff like

For example, in terms of game specifications, you need to pay attention to the "flow" of songs from A to BGM, B to B, or C to BGM to A to B and A to C. In addition, when sound effects with the scale are reproduced in a superimposed manner on top of BGM, take measures such as adjusting the key so that it does not become a dissonance, or take a technique of lowering the volume of the BGM and ducking the effect sound


Even with a machine translation, it's easy to tell what this means: Noisy Croak ensures that songs loop properly, they aren't too loud or quiet, they don't mess up other sound effects, etc. etc. etc. It's essentially the same job O. Kasai did on SoTN as a music programmer, though of course they and IGA would be able to give all of you much more specific information than I am, haha.

Now, IGA also mentioned that Yamane wouldn't be creating "all the soundtracks," but that's almost certainly a reference to A: the extra tracks we're getting from other composers like Virt and Yamada, and B: Probably a handful of other songs composed by staff members of Noisy Croak under Yamane's direct supervision. Possibly minor character themes, or very small music tracks that are more like sound effects than anything else but nonetheless need to be catchy--think the "Item gained" jingle from the Metroid games or small level-up themes from many RPGs. If they have an aspiring composer or two on their team, Ms. Yamane might let those folks make a more important stage or boss theme, but again, under her supervision (what IGA mentioned about making sure their songs "sound like what she would make) and as a mentoring kinda thing for younger composers. For the vast majority of the music, aside from the aforementioned bonus composers ofc, she'll have as much to do with it as she did in SoTN, which is what everyone wanted and expected from the kickstarter."

[aensland]

Sound design studio =/= In-house sound team, comparing this situation to Symphony of the Night isn't a smart choice.

Noisy Croak ensures that songs loop properly, they aren't too loud or quiet, they don't mess up other sound effects, etc. etc. etc. It's essentially the same job O. Kasai did on SoTN as a music programmer

It isn't.

A music programmer is the one that manipulates synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines to produce electronic/artificial/sampled sounds, meanwhile the people at noisycroak are the whole package and may not even need session musicians or external studio staff, since most of them are skilled in DTM and have proper facilities to create sound, game music has come a LONG way since the 90s

Also, Igarashi clearly and literally said "they are pulling inspiration from her style and are creating songs that sound like something she would make"  , so, the real issue with this announcement is who they're going to pick, since noisycroak creators aren't full time employees and the only two Castlevania-related names in their current talent roster are the Harmony of Despair guy ( ) and the one who did the New Messiah arrangement from the tribute cds (  )

And the rest of their catalogue looks kinda, eh...generic?

[affinity]

hey Castlevania HD co op game has some of the greatest original tracks ever.     very IGAvania worthy overall.

[Gunlord]

Sound design studio =/= In-house sound team, comparing this situation to Symphony of the Night isn't a smart choice.

Good point, friend. However, I don't think Artplay, Inti, or DICO would have an in-house sound team like a big company like Konami did, so it makes sense they'd need to hire Noisycroak. That's the main point I was making, that Yamane would be in charge of things and Noisycroak would be helping her out because she wouldn't have the same type of resources as she did back in the Konami days

And about what IGA said about them creating their own soundtracks, as Affinity said they did good work on other Castlevania games; indeed the soundtracks for Judgement and HD might be one of their few strong points, so I think it's fair for folks to feel pretty confident about this decision

[aensland]

Yamane would be in charge of things and Noisycroak would be helping her out because she wouldn't have the same type of resources as she did back in the Konami days

Again, you're making assumptions, she has been producing for many other games since she left Konami, that has nothing to do.

And most of those works are as co-compositor and guest arranger, so I give it to you, she may not be in shape for a full soundtrack anymore, but still, the hiring of noisycroak sounds like an imposition from the game director, guided by what Igarashi said.


My point is that this change is another yellow flag for the game, since Yamane was announced as a main composer alongside Yamada (not as a "supervisor" or as an "inspiration to create songs that sound like something she would make") and now they're announcing that a totally different and new crew is working on it too, kinda sudden and weird like the DICO change itself.

But I think I'll leave it here, if Igarashi allows it, then it must be for something, whatever.

[affinity]

Again, you're making assumptions, she has been producing for many other games since she left Konami, that has nothing to do.

And most of those works are as co-compositor and guest arranger, so I give it to you, she may not be in shape for a full soundtrack anymore, but still, the hiring of noisycroak sounds like an imposition from the game director, guided by what Igarashi said.


My point is that this change is another yellow flag for the game, since Yamane was announced as a main composer alongside Yamada (not as a "supervisor" or as an "inspiration to create songs that sound like something she would make") and now they're announcing that a totally different and new crew is working on it too, kinda sudden and weird like the DICO change itself.

But I think I'll leave it here, if Igarashi allows it, then it must be for something, whatever.

so the conspiracy theory is that the makers that sabotaged mighty no 9 is also making Bloodstained and they are secretly sabotaging IGA's game as well?

that american guy that could speak japanese during the kickstarter countdown, sure looked like a gold digger.   

maybe shady stuff is going on, though maybe the money was mishandled.    well the community has to comment on what they think about how things are progressing.

[zangetsu468]

so the conspiracy theory is that the makers that sabotaged mighty no 9 is also making Bloodstained and they are secretly sabotaging IGA's game as well?

Sabotaging in what way? Because it's more profitable to make a flop than try to create something decent #springtimeforhitler

that american guy that could speak japanese during the kickstarter countdown, sure looked like a gold digger.

But he ain't messin with no broke...

maybe shady stuff is going on, though maybe the money was mishandled.    well the community has to comment on what they think about how things are progressing.

I seriously believe with most KS, there are too many updates. I ignore most of them. Somethings I can understand such as environmental features, filters and the like, but I'm not interested in seeing every boss fight, before I get to play them in real time. I don't need to see unfinished 3D models of Zangetsu. I'm not interested in seeing a 15 minute video of some random grinding and getting level ups. It's not leaving any element of surprise to the game for me. The game is, what, 30% done?? I understand keeping it relevant, but just focus on the end date and final product rather than treating the process as a series of social media posts. There's no sense of mystery anymore, people know more about a game before it comes out rather than by the time they've played it. Rant over!

[affinity]

but you see this is different from a publisher funded game.

the developers owe the kickstarter backers frequent updates, especially if they wanna keep morale high and have any sense of integrity and want a clean reputation.

and the updates are optional, those that want the game to be new and unexplored stuff, they dont have to look at the updates. but the updates are there for backers that are keeping the devs in check to make sure they are making progress and the backer contributions were not in vain.

the updates could also inform players, so the backers can give feedback during the developing process, so that could have a chance at influencing the game in a more favorable direction if the devs use the feedback to improve the game and make more fans positive and stuff.