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The music of Atolonen and the Hammerite Imperium
02-07-2009, 11:50 AM,
#1
The music of Atolonen and the Hammerite Imperium
This is a long story which some of you may know a little about already but I once worked on a project for Thief 2 called 'The Hammerite Imperium'. I wrote the plot, about three quarters of the missions and lots of diary entries and suchlike. The campaign bombed in a big way when our leader's ambitions crippled our plans....that's why I now take a much more practical approach to modding that says, "let's just get the bloody thing completed."

Our main assets, besides my writing and voice acting =), were the artwork of our leader Alexius: http://svitart.n-tek.ca/home.php and the music from our sound lead, Atolonen: http://koti.mbnet.fi/atolonen/main.html . Both of whom went on to professional work in their respective fields.

I always use Atolonen's work at the start of my voice acting vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/IbsensGhostUK but he's often commented that he'd like to polish off his work as it was intended to be heard. I had planned to use some of both this music and some of Alexius' artwork in a small mission for the Dark Brotherhood Chronicles but the guy I was working with has left the modding scene and I would like to make this available here.

This page of AT's website describes the selection perfectly: http://koti.mbnet.fi/atolonen/unguardedreliquary.html . You can also listen to the songs. You should be able to download them as well but at the moment, if you haven't subscribed to QuickTime, you won't be able to do so but it should be no problem requesting them from him by other means.

Most of it will suit dungeons and the like but I would like to use some of it as 'themed' music as suggested for particular faction questlines. I already use these as ambient for my dungeons. Enjoy!

Edit - Here's the full playlist: http://www.mikseri.net/player/player.php...ter=116326 .
Cunning Linguist (Writer and Voice Actor - Lost Spires, St and many, many more.)
Lizard King - Leader of the Black Marsh mod
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02-16-2009, 12:08 PM,
#2
 
I've listened to a lot of the tracks now, and they're a nice combination of melody and non-harmonic elements. I notice the particularly good ones from your voice acting vids (though I still think the Ibsen's Ghost choir-idea would've been awesome). I do however think that the music is too synthetic to fit inside Oblivion. The pads are too wide and tonal, and a bit lacking in air. Atolonen's style is similar to James Hannigan's score for Freelancer, and does well in wonderous science fiction soundscapes. I think Oblivion requires a more organic touch with natural ambient elements (crisp echoes, wind rumble and psychoacoustic pads).
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02-16-2009, 01:21 PM,
#3
 
The first track (Night's Work) is actually taken from (or heavily inspired by) the title track of the game and I can see what you mean by looking at that one, especially. However, for some of our darker themes, I think this could be used very, very effectively. We would, however, definitely benefit from blending in much more 'organic' stuff. That's where I'm hoping your stuff can come in. =)

I'm still quite set on including this stuff, although perhaps that's because I'm biased towards some music that I've long admired and want to share. What do others think?
Cunning Linguist (Writer and Voice Actor - Lost Spires, St and many, many more.)
Lizard King - Leader of the Black Marsh mod
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02-17-2009, 10:42 PM,
#4
 
I just checked the link to Vitaly's artwork site. It's impressive, I really like the picture on the first site.

As for using Atolonen's music in BM--disregarding the music's quality for a moment--I think it's a bit unbecoming to use music from another published project. Maybe if the mod is lacking in music when nearing completion.
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02-18-2009, 01:14 AM,
#5
 
It's not another published project. It was the project that I wrote and Alexius was the lead for. The Hammerite Imperium project ended up never coming to light at all. Therefore, not only is it not-published, it's also completely the property of the HI team and, seeing as I was the writer (a sort of 2nd lead, if you will) and that Atolonen is keen to have his work appear in some creditable form then I think it's got to be highly appropriate. Furthermore, I feel that your styles should complement each other quite nicely.

RE: Alexius' work. Yes, I'd like to have some of it in BM but this is where I have the most concerns, personally. The themes could transfer across in some way i.e. they can be written in but sadly, much of it will not fit with BM. However, I'm still keen on the idea of a group of ill-fated missionaries sent to Argonia to convert heathen Argonians and would therefore like to use a few of the stained glass windows that I posted up elsewhere on the forums.
Cunning Linguist (Writer and Voice Actor - Lost Spires, St and many, many more.)
Lizard King - Leader of the Black Marsh mod
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02-18-2009, 09:18 AM,
#6
 
Ah, I see, well, that changes things. I realise you mentioned the campaign bombed though I figured the mod was just released in a really shitty and half-finished form.

Alright, I'll have a listen through some more of his pieces. I can't quite deduce how well it'd fit yet as I haven't seen a substantial amount of imagery from the mod.
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07-30-2009, 12:02 PM,
#7
 
Hey Ibsen, have you decided whether or not to use Atolonen's stuff? And if so, which pieces had you intended to use where and how?
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07-30-2009, 12:39 PM,
#8
 
I'm planning to use serial stuff like 'DarkSpaces' and 'Disturbed' as episodic variations on a theme at various points in the progress of some missions. However, 'Disturbed' would go nicely in dungeons and in missions of a dark or tragic theme. One or some of the tunes could be used in Stormhold Cathedral and in one of the Shadowscale quests I've got planned...like 'Righteous (Full or Lead)', for example.

There are other bits I like such as 'Sadness and Relief' and 'Suspence' but I'm not intending to stick them in there just for the sake of it and I'll only stick to one mix if I use them. The same goes for 'Righteous'.

I'd like to use your own custom-made stuff for most of the standard music...some of these will mainly come in for Imperial and non-Argonian-related themes...like the missionaries of Stormhold... =)
Cunning Linguist (Writer and Voice Actor - Lost Spires, St and many, many more.)
Lizard King - Leader of the Black Marsh mod
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07-30-2009, 06:35 PM,
#9
 
IG, did you see that part of the Hammerite Imperium was released over at TTLG recently? It wasn't the original team (as you well know), and that does seem to be the only bit of the project that will be released, but from what I've read, it's rather impressive.
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07-30-2009, 10:20 PM,
#10
 
Yes, I am aware of it...unfortunately. I can't seem to get Thief 2 to play on my system anymore. There's some sort of bug that prevents XP users from installing it properly. I've tried a number of different fixes and dropped by my old haunt on the TTLG forums for help but nothing seems to do any good.

I originally tried to fix it when I downloaded 'Cosas: Mission X' in which I played 'Agent Rubber'. That one sounded like a fantastic mod too (it was certainly a long time coming) but the same happened with HI. Maybe I should have another go....
Cunning Linguist (Writer and Voice Actor - Lost Spires, St and many, many more.)
Lizard King - Leader of the Black Marsh mod
[Image: Buserbar.jpg]
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