In this development video-blog of our Rogue-like game, I show you more game-play footage, our major goals for the game, and how Chiptune artist Comptroller is working to develop our original soundtrack. We also give you a sneak peek at some concept art, and we've got free music-track downloads as well.

Posted by vidjahgames on Feb 17th, 2012

Posted here is the transcript of our video. At the end of the article is free music and more information. We hope you enjoy, learn a little about our game, and leave us some feedback. Please join us again next week for a look at the progression of our character development and GUI.

Thanks for joining me again as I show you more about the development of The 9th Wizard: Rings of Eternity. Our most important goal is to make a fun game. We feel that part of the fun will be derived from the atmosphere and engrossment we are hoping to achieve.

If you think of your all time favorite games, I imagine that you can recall the sights, sounds and music clearly. That's the motivation behind our investment in the atmosphere of the 9th Wizard.

The balance of maintaining a Rogue-like feel and style, without going too basic visually, is a challenge. We also don't want to try and get too real or heavy on the graphics because that conflicts with the simple nature of the game, but we want emotion to be evoked while playing.

We are confident that the solution lies in a balance between simple yet detailed environments and a killer original soundtrack. This aspect is terribly important to us, and we were lucky to find someone who is as compassionate about his "simple" medium, as we are about ours.

Comptroller, Michael Cox, is an experienced Chiptune artist who constantly surprises us with his

ability to understand our thoughts and goals exactly, despite the 3000+ miles that separate us (or 5k+ kilometers).

Many people may not know exactly what Chiptune is; fewer know exactly how it is made. Chiptune is a genre of music, similiar to "rogue-like" in that draws its base from times of video-game-past. But, it would be best if I let him do the talking.

Hey, I'm Michael Cox, and I make Chipmusic under the name Comptroller. Chipmusic being the music

produced using the sound chips of old consoles. In my case, usually the Nintendo Gameboy or Commodore 64.

I've been writing and playing this kind of music since 2006, and EpicVessel Games enlisted me to create the soundtrack for their new game, The 9th Wizard: Rings of Eternity.

After talking over the concept of the game with the guys and playing an early demo, I thought a pure C-64 soundtrack would be appropriate. The SID chip is great for creating eerie atmospheric sounds, creepy base rumblings, plus more full-sounding melodic pieces. It's also a sound that harkens back to an earlier period of gaming that ties in nicely with the rogue-like roots of the 9th Wizard.

All of the music is being composed on and recorded from a C-64-C for maximum authenticity; with all the storage issues that entails.

As well as the Main-Title, Boss fight, Game-over style music, we aim to have a number of situational pieces throughout the game. This way, rather than having simple looping level music, the soundtrack will respond to the player's actions. Making it more interactive and adding to the overall atmosphere of each unique play-through.

This is a neat idea and I am enjoying playing around with the possibilities. There is still much work to be done!

We are thrilled to have Comptroller on our team. We don't pay him (because we have $0 as a budget), but he works incredibly hard to meet our expectations and needs.

Here is a little more about the guy:

Comptroller released his debut EP ‘Challenge!’ on GM4A Records in 2009, a self-titled album in 2010, and a third EP ‘Baddies’ on CalmDownKidder Records in March 2011. He is also one third of future sound terrorists Beats of Rage plus co-founder and organiser of annual chipmusic event Ultrachip.You can contact him via this mechanism.

Please enjoy the music Comptroller free by listening here or visiting his website: Cmptrllr.co.uk

