GeoBirb

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Resident art birb

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Staff OVERTALE BIRBY NEWSLETTERS (24/9/2016) Quote Select Post

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Typically my morning starts with me checking my phone for updates, eating breakfast, checking for more updates, eating lunch and checking for more updates again -Then I eat Dinner. Much the same way the Bear starts cranking out codes by incidentally ordering honey, Lil’ Birbs satisfy their artistic fills by watching for updates. On occasion, nothing happens. But quite recently, a miracle happened. A long overdue thirst was quenched. Birbs sang triumphantly as fans across the globe many miles away cheer in victory, well that’s what the other birbs told me anyway.



You Never Thought This Day Would Come -



For those of you with your ears plugged up and have no idea what I was talking about, the wait is finally over and Dev Diary 2 is out in the wild! Narrated by Overtale Lead “Adameme”, check out all new never-before-seen footage of the game and a glimpse of concept art! (Some of which are done by yours truly *v*) Remember, we’re still looking for helpers! If you think you have the skillset and wish to join the team, make sure you are at least 18 years of age or have a decent portfolio to showcase your skills and apply for a Team Application which you can find on our Gamejolt page!









Music to my ears-



Video games are a fascinating medium in storytelling. Characters are as important as the locations built around them. His speech pattern tells a story, that eye patch on her face tells a story. Every element in a game tells a story, a form of narrative thread that spans from the very beginning when you first click that START button, to your first scenic view of a village, to the moment the first line of text pops up on your Text Box. They all tell a tale of sorts and what better way to complement the entire palette set before you than the music itself?



Undertale had a fantastic story that, if you think about it, is contributed in most part to the very tunes that flood the hall of the Ruins, the snowy landscape but warm village of SnowDin, the quiet homes and calm waters of...err..Waterfall, the mechanisms of the very industrial Hotland and so forth! They all had their specific themes that brought life and atmosphere to the world that these characters inhabit.



In Overtale, this is no different! Since the game’s inception, you will no doubt be familiar with the numerous tracks laid out to establish the mood and feel across Overtale’s narrative arcs! With such an important feature of Undertale, we want to ensure that we nailed it in our game, but we also want it to have its own distinct flavor.



There are many talented musicians on the team, but I can only grab one of them! If you are familiar with ‘Soup’ and several of other more recent tracks, you should be familiar with who I have on board. He is also the one who created this byoutiful forum site. Please welcome Alex Hull! Don’t be shy, introduce yourself to everyone!



My name is Alex Hull, and I am a composer and forum webmaster for Overtale.



How’s it going, Alex? Welcome to the Newsletter! Could you share with us about your workflow in creating these masterpieces?



I normally will start writing music based on melodies that I come up with throughout the day (like walking between classes), and I produce the ones I think sound the best. When I'm actually creating the music in Logic Pro, I'll play it back again and I'll usually hear something else in my head that would sound really nice, and I stop when I don't hear anything anymore. Finally, I just edit the tonal harmony and volume and then it's finished! (The editing stage is the longest)



In terms of how I'm directed in writing and arranging music for Overtale, me and the other composers are all on the same Trello board. Adam will add new assignments to the board when he needs new music for Overtale, and one of us will write something for it!



Were there any difficulties in making them?



Performance, song structure, and music theory are generally the most fun and easy parts of writing music for me. The hard part for me is knowing what to keep, and what to get rid of. For arrangements of Undertale songs, the hardest part is staying faithful to the original, but at the same time not sounding too similar to the original. My philosophy in those arrangements is if you're not adding anything to the song, then why not just use the original? Simply taking the old song note for note and replacing the original instruments is not the way to make a proper cover.







Are there any other projects you have worked on before and are proud to share?



I'm still in highschool, so Overtale is one of my first big projects, but I've worked on a few other smaller projects in the past. One of them is an anti-bullying PSA for one of my local highschools (https://youtu.be/CKH1iflLj-Q). But my very first project ever was actually a Halo machinima, which is also my first official credit, that you can find here (https://youtu.be/9sw8AcmrwoQ). I'm working on multiple other projects right now though so that's exciting!



A Halo fan huh? Me too! It must be something to juggle multiple projects at once, do you have any advice for aspiring musicians out there?



Some advice I'd give to other musicians is to learn a trade. It'll be very difficult to put food on the table with just a music job, so make sure you have a part time job to fall back on when the amount of music gigs you have is running low (for me it's going to be web design). I'd also recommend that if you're serious about being a musician, go to a music school. Even if you think you're a master musician, there's always more to learn, and the connections you'll make with other people in your field will be irreplaceable.



Finally, I have to ask...What is your favorite 'Overtale' track?



My favorite one that I've done is either the Enemy Approaching C theme, or Soup. But my favorite one from a different composer is definitely sunblushed meadows.





I love me some Soup! If you want to learn more about making musical masterpieces, feel free to check out more of his works! Thank you for your time Alex!



Thanks for having me!



Its a Byoutiful day outside -



Some people might say I would never see the light of day, with the way I work. That is not true at all! Just look at the glow my laptop gives off!











In Closing -



With that, the second Newsletter comes to a close. Back to camp for me, peace!





Typically my morning starts with me checking my phone for updates, eating breakfast, checking for more updates, eating lunch and checking for more updates again -Then I eat Dinner. Much the same way the Bear starts cranking out codes by incidentally ordering honey, Lil’ Birbs satisfy their artistic fills by watching for updates. On occasion, nothing happens. But quite recently, a miracle happened. A long overdue thirst was quenched. Birbs sang triumphantly as fans across the globe many miles away cheer in victory, well that’s what the other birbs told me anyway.For those of you with your ears plugged up and have no idea what I was talking about, the wait is finally over and Dev Diary 2 is out in the wild! Narrated by Overtale Lead “Adameme”, check out all new never-before-seen footage of the game and a glimpse of concept art! (Some of which are done by yours truly *v*) Remember, we’re still looking for helpers! If you think you have the skillset and wish to join the team, make sure you are at least 18 years of age or have a decent portfolio to showcase your skills and apply for a Team Application which you can find on our Gamejolt page!Video games are a fascinating medium in storytelling. Characters are as important as the locations built around them. His speech pattern tells a story, that eye patch on her face tells a story. Every element in a game tells a story, a form of narrative thread that spans from the very beginning when you first click that START button, to your first scenic view of a village, to the moment the first line of text pops up on your Text Box. They all tell a tale of sorts and what better way to complement the entire palette set before you than the music itself?Undertale had a fantastic story that, if you think about it, is contributed in most part to the very tunes that flood the hall of the Ruins, the snowy landscape but warm village of SnowDin, the quiet homes and calm waters of...err..Waterfall, the mechanisms of the very industrial Hotland and so forth! They all had their specific themes that brought life and atmosphere to the world that these characters inhabit.In Overtale, this is no different! Since the game’s inception, you will no doubt be familiar with the numerous tracks laid out to establish the mood and feel across Overtale’s narrative arcs! With such an important feature of Undertale, we want to ensure that we nailed it in our game, but we also want it to have its own distinct flavor.There are many talented musicians on the team, but I can only grab one of them! If you are familiar with ‘Soup’ and several of other more recent tracks, you should be familiar with who I have on board. He is also the one who created this byoutiful forum site. Please welcome Alex Hull! Don’t be shy, introduce yourself to everyone!Some people might say I would never see the light of day, with the way I work. That is not true at all! Just look at the glow my laptop gives off!With that, the second Newsletter comes to a close. Back to camp for me, peace!