Super Jazz Man

[Disco]

Wow. You guys make a game with only 11 colours look darn good . It is so neat to have an adventure to look forward to that is almost ready by the time it is announced. My poor "refresh" button will get a nice rest :P. I like the music of this game, especially #2, very bossa/samba (a favourite of mine). Will I be able to download this for my friends for Christmas? or should I start looking for new gifts?

[big brother]

Hmm... Christmas might be a bit optimistic. I mean, originally, the game was supposed to be finished by now. We worked a good deal on it during the summer, but Gregor was playing a lot of gigs and I was spending a lot of time on the job search, so we didn't get as far as we thought we would. But you can credit us with having excuses!

After seeing so many projects with promise sink, I developed an adversion to announcing a project as "in production" when it's really "in conception". That's why you haven't heard about SJM sooner.

[Disco]

After seeing so many projects with promise sink, I developed an adversion to announcing a project as "in production" when it's really "in conception". That's why you haven't heard about SJM sooner.

I applaud this sort of announcement strategy, I can't want it if I don't hear about it :P.

So this Super Jazz Man, I would like to know more about him. Is he really a superhero, or a wannabe? Jazz in as interesting attribute for a hero. I can just see him taking down an adversary with his mighty improvisation!

[big brother]

Hahah. Well here's how it goes:

Yes, he really is a superhero. But no one seems to notice that when he's not playing his sax. His superpowers include flight, sublime musical talent, and lateral thinking (that's where you come in). Also, unlike most superheroes, he's a bit afraid of the dark, so he's a superhero by day.

[Disco]

Also, unlike most superheroes, he's a bit afraid of the dark, so he's a superhero by day.

So crime is being solved then , unless it is happening at the school playground or baseball game or something :P. I can dig the irony in that.

[Whiskey]

You know, I beleieve there were some TV-series with a men, who used to play on his sax every nigh in a club, but when the bad guys come up with somethig, he wear his suit and starts acting like super man. Sounds familiar? Don't know what was the name, but maybe was nightman . Comments on this? Anyway, if the game have to be retro style, then this doesn't really have to affect the overal size. I've hear those 2 jazz songs and they are pretty good, so I hope you won't remove or decrease them. After all I don't beleieve many pepole are using 1.44 floppys these days .

[big brother]

Oh, I definitely agree. But it's a challenge to try to make it fit. If we're trying to go retro, we might as well go all the way.

All the way. Heh. In a post about adventure games. I am such a turd.

[geoffkhan]

You know, I beleieve there were some TV-series with a men, who used to play on his sax every nigh in a club, but when the bad guys come up with somethig, he wear his suit and starts acting like super man. Sounds familiar? Don't know what was the name, but maybe was nightman . Comments on this? Anyway, if the game have to be retro style, then this doesn't really have to affect the overal size. I've hear those 2 jazz songs and they are pretty good, so I hope you won't remove or decrease them. After all I don't beleieve many pepole are using 1.44 floppys these days .

As for the music, as you know they are MIDI files. I just love that retro Lucasarts feel to games. They definitely have a style because they were limited to 1.44 floppy discs.

[big brother]

Honestly, I don't know anything about a Nightman character. Man that will be frustrating if it turns out someone else thought of this first. Grrrr....

[geoffkhan]

We thought of it first! Years before! Sue!

[Whiskey]

If you leave the music to midi, you should be aware that this format sounds different on different sound cards. You know, in the past there were only Sound Blaster cards. Midis used to sound different on those old cards in DOS mode in contrast of todays heh.

[geoffkhan]

If you leave the music to midi, you should be aware that this format sounds different on different sound cards. You know, in the past there wre only Sound Blaster cards. Midis used to sounds different on those old card in DOS mode heh.

Yup. But I found that the music in those old Lucasarts games sounded great on any soundcard I tried it on, even if the sounds were really crappy (which they usually were). So I've been studying the Lucasarts midis.

And they take up so little space, too...

[big brother]

Yeah, that was one reason we posted the samples as MP3 files.

I guess if it sounds really crappy, we can always end up posting an mp3 patch for the game.

[geoffkhan]

Yeah, that was one reason we posted the samples as MP3 files.

I guess if it sounds really crappy, we can always end up posting an mp3 patch for the game.

Yeah, that'd be a good release... a voice pack and a music pack that you can just drop in the folder.

[shae]

Doesn't the engine support software synthesis? There were these two OPL "emulators"...

I am fond of the AdLib sound, sometimes more than sample-based synthesizers, but there certainly can be advantages to digitized versions. I recently found out about Mark Seibert's site, in which there are some nice MP3 versions of classic Sierra music which are part sample-synthesized (I suppose) and part recorded. "The Magic Meadow" does sound nicer with a real classical guitar.

[geoffkhan]

Well, XM files are an option because they contain their own sounds and still take up little space.

The engine, AGS does have a software synth patch, but it's over a megabyte large. A whole megabyte!!

[shae]

The engine, AGS does have a software synth patch, but it's over a megabyte large. A whole megabyte!!

Yes, indeed unfortunate. But an OPL-only synthesizer would be smaller -- like the one by Tatsuyuki Satoh (used in ScummVM, and AdPlug for e.g.).