Yet another page turns on the calendar, and that means we're back with a new edition of Dinolords Monthly.
Last edition we were a little cheeky, and a few of you hadn't checked the date of the post, but just to make it clear; no, we are not making an AI-slop shovelware match-3 farming lootcrate season pass game. We are still hard at work making Dinolords, which we definitely think is a much cooler idea.
This month, we are going to get a glimpse and a talk about the music, as well as some new concept art and 3d models.
Real music for real dinosaurs!
From the start, we knew we wanted to go big on the music for Dinolords. It is one of the most effective ways for setting the tone (hah) for a universe, and using anything but custom music composed and produced for the project seemed like it would severely hamper our ability to set the stage, but also highlight the care and work we have put into everything else.
Enter Jordan Rees, who we have collaborated with for the last good while to create something that sounds distinctly "Dinolords".
Jordan has composed and produced basically a whole album for the game, with music for combat, suspense, day and night themes and a theme over the last 10 months and it is very close to being finished.
Crazy instruments like Lur horn, Tagelharpe, Goat nail shakers and a bunch of other cool instruments that fit the time period but also very much fits the vibe we are going for.
A vast array of people are involved in the process of making orchestral music, and we have a few images to show some of the "behind the scenes" that goes on when making 16 pieces of music.
Guitars being recorded. Guitar: Joshua Lascar
Flute's gonna flute. Flute: Charlotte Thomas
Are French Horns really french? French Horn: Jack Sewter
Clarinet, more like Clarineat! Clarinet: Naomi Roberts
And to top all that cool stuff off, we ended up having the string instruments recorded by a proper orchestra, take a look at this:
Violins, Viola, Cellos, Double Bass, The gang's all here! Hungarian Studio Orchestra conducted by Krisztian Balassa
Look at all those bows! Where are the arrows though? Hungarian Studio Orchestra conducted by Krisztian Balassa
Solo lead violin, and more microphones than an Anky has legs! Violin: Balazs Bujtor
Additional Wind Instruments by Jessica Jones, Trumpet by Hugh Davies and Bassoon by Michael Elderkin.
To say that we are excited about the music of Dinolords is a bit of an understatement, and we can't wait to hear the finished results and put them in the game.
Please don't stop the music
Having all these awesome pieces of music does not help much if we don't have a solid system to play them from, and for that we have made a dynamic music system that can respond and adjust to what is happening in the game.
Imagine this: You are walking around your base peaceful music is playing, villagers are hustling and bustling. A messenger comes up and shouts that Vikings have been spotted on the shore, the music fades and an uneasy suspense track starts playing. As the vikings approach, the music abruptly changes with a bang of a drum as your sword makes its' first impact against a Viking shield. It starts raining as the battle comes to an end, a solemn violin plays as flashes from lightning illuminates the ground colored red from blood.
We are trying to have a system that allows for interesting transitions between distinct states, and it has turned into this cool thing that can handle background atmospheres, music and weather sound effects all in one, and different actions and events in the game can then ask the system to go to that state and it will make sure that everything is playing as intended, so that rain sounds like rain, nighttime has a different sound in the forest than daytime, fog feels more isolated and quiet as visibility decreases, and everything that needs to change sounds can get a meaningful feeling attached via sound.
Concept Art and 3D
There's also been a bunch of cool stuff made in the art-department, ranging from new concept drawings to new 3D models, so lets get to it and have a look!
Firstly, there's a couple of sketches for dinosaur saddles and riders, in both a Viking and a British flavour for the Ankylosaurus!
There is just something about the Anky that makes it look like the perfect mount albeit it's probably a bit slow.
Then there is a big one, Viking structures! Because having to eliminate a VIking village and when you get there it looks like your own English village does not really cut it.
So we need some Viking inspired buildings you can destroy!
And for that, here's a longhouse!
And finally, we want to have some more DInosaur-themed buildings to help show the British progressing into the Dinosaur-age. A Triceratops can help pull trees from the ground and makes for a great addition to any lumber camp, or a little Compy with a cart could be a great way to transport resources around the base, and we like to think that having dinosaurs as a part of society would influence many different aspects of everyday life including something like architecture.
Here is a little trip from concept sketches to 3D models to showcase this:
Until next time
That is all for this past month.
We are seeing a lot more people joining our Discord, and it's cool to have a more casual conversation about what we are doing over there, as well as the possibility for everyone on the team to reply to questions about their specific task of expertise, so if you are so inclined come say hi.
Catch you in the next one!
-panxter