Hi From An Original Developer of Machines
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Hi guys, my name is Jim Croft, sound designer and composer of the original Machines.
After 20 years in the business it's only now that I'm working on a game that I love as much as I loved Machines ( Elite Dangerous) . It was indeed a very special game and I'd love to see it somehow remade!
If you would like any help or info or have any questions you'd like to put to me pls don't hesitate.
My email address is croft.jim@gmail.com
All the best,
Jim -
Hi and welcome! It is an honour to have someone from the original development team and from Elite Dangerous! Your help and advice would be of great use for the development of this proyect. Until now, the origins of the game were uncertain, but little by little, people began to join and contribute, not only recovering the game's past, but also making a future for it. I will probably send you an email with some questions, or even some sort of written interview. That would be very interesting.
Greetings,
Pisarz -
@croftish
Hello, and welcome! Always happy to hear from developers of the original game! Thanks for your support. -
Thanks for dropping in! And thank you for your work! I have a two questions for you:
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What were your inspirations for your work?
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Got any old photos/swag that you received during your work on the project?
I also recently started playing the game without music; I am amazed at the auditory subtleties I found while playing.
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The first time I saw this topic, I was like "What should I say?"
Well... welcome to our little oasis in the middle of the Internet desert! Enjoy your stay!yay.gorilla
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Omg, is this really you? I've listened to Machines OST so many times during work. I'm also a music producer, for about 7 years now and I can say I'm a fan of your work.
My questions are: what DAWs did you work on for the original Machines and did you design sound fx and voices as well?
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@Byrgius Hi, yes I did all the sound design in the game. I voiced about a third of the characters , with the rest being voiced by Colin McFarlane , who's gone on to do a lot of TV and game voice work, as well as TV acting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McFarlane
I've always liked to use Digital Performer (MOTU) , which is an american favourite sequencer - not taken off much in the UK - but I've always loved it. Back in the day my mainstays were a Akai S3000 sampler and a JV1080! :-)
Jim
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@Aquarillis Hi, well I've got a few photos of the team from back then but not much else.
At the time I was listening to bands like The Chrystal Method , Propellor Heads and Chemical Brothers for inspiration. It was all about Big Beat back then! Listening back I'm not sure it really stands the test of time and I cringe at some of my naive musical/production decisions but it was what it was and very much of it';s time.
I loved to play the game. I'd love to see it on mobile! Think it could work well!Cheers
Jim -
@croftish
Hi Jim! I would like to know how was the overall working process for the sound and music creation.
Was there any emphasis or specifications regarding their style?
Was there any particular influence from real events, literature, etc.?
Do you visualize any images when composing? (Referring to synesthesia.)
Cheers,
Pisarz. -
I'd like to ask you a question too!
Did you make voice lines for the Gorilla unit?(yay.gorilla)
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@croftish Ahh not familiar to any of those, I'm from a different era haha, but it's very interesting to know the background.
What do you use now for Elite Dangerous?
I use Ableton 9, I also used Reason for years but it doesn't support any VSTs which is a huge downfall.
Also how did you become a game music composer?
I wish to write game music later in my carrer when I stop DJing and producing electronic music.Cheers :)
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Hi Jim, I'm happy to hear that you still compose music. Do you have a discography somewhere? I think the Machines OST stood the test of time and fits the game so well, even today. For that reason I would like to take a deeper dive into your work over the last 16 years.
I would also love to hear your opinion on the state of video game music today. To me it seems that BGM has really become "background music" and doesn't compliment games as much as in the past. The classic game BGMs from the past, for example Unreal Tournament, Starcraft and others, had music that one liked to listen to even outside the game.
Best of luck in the future and thank you for stopping by. If there is any place you share your experience with the world, feel free to share, as I'm always interested in learning more about the video game industry.
Best regards.
Edit: I forgot to say one thing: Your soundtrack for the Machines intro is actually the one thing that makes really memorable. Really awesome job!
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@SinJul Well I think a lot of game OSTs are brilliant nowdays and I listen to many of them. One of my favourites are ofcourse TES Oblivion and Skyrim. I love listening to that while hiking in nature. Also Anno series has some great music, Destiny and many more...
Here are the links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpqSdORmCX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQeIYVM3YBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvwDiV2K_0g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_AUZVS5LP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDihK7YFa7o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyG6YMLEWus -
@croftish Hello Jim, from a fellow music composer. OUTSTANDING job, and you just happened to pick a project that ended up enjoying "immortality" - in internet terms. I still remember buying this game in the late '90's since I was one of the people who had a 3dFX chipset (remember THAT?).
I see here that most of the data files have been examined and the models, albeit in DirectX format, extracted. AFAIK, if the models can be used and modified, and the AI programmed then there must be an engine out there that can use this data to recreate this game. I have seen Unity3D mentioned here and from what I have seen of it (quite a bit at this point) it would be ideal for this task. The only issue being the .x format but I was able to convert them to .obj and they show up in Unity just fine.
Thanks for checking in here, BIG thanks to you and the ream for this great game! -
@wildh0rse said:
I see here that most of the data files have been examined and the models, albeit in DirectX format, extracted. AFAIK, if the models can be used and modified, and the AI programmed then there must be an engine out there that can use this data to recreate this game. I have seen Unity3D mentioned here and from what I have seen of it (quite a bit at this point) it would be ideal for this task. The only issue being the .x format but I was able to convert them to .obj and they show up in Unity just fine.
You're posting in the forum of the remake. Unfortunately, I just haven't been able to do much work for it lately, but I will soon. I've already loaded in original models and given them very basic RTS controls in Unreal Engine 4. The reasoning behind UE4 versus unity, and trust me: I love Unity, is that Unity's terrain tools are pretty bad, and UE4 provides not only much better terrain tools, but a very simple way to give players a development kit for modding and map making.
If you look at the mod editor for ARK: Survival Evolved, it's pretty much just all of UE4's tools provided in a way to make it simpler for a modder to use.
Github is here: https://github.com/OpenMachines/machines
Picture of original models in UE4:
http://wiredforwar.org/uploads/files/upload-91fe4112-1a48-4ce1-8733-cc2177f72e3c.png
