Contributing a Soundtrack

[mqtracks]

Hello everyone, I discovered freeciv recently and I'd like to contribute a complete soundtrack to the game (with any license you wish, with original compositions made specifically for this game). I have uploaded a few samples of what I could do at: https://soundcloud.com/mqtx. What do you people think about it? It's a lot of work and I'm willing to adapt myself to what the game needs but I'd like to know first if there are good chances that you include it in the next releases and if there is any programmer out there who is willing to help me integrate this work with fade-ins, fade-outs, setting up the playlist and so forth... Any thoughts?

[cazfi]

I have some plans to rewrite code related to playing music for freeciv-2.6. Currently the only music support (not considering possibility to use music instad of sound effects) is for pregame menus. I'll keep you informed when I have time to work on this.

All material part of freeciv itself needs to be GPLv2+ licensed. For example the separately available freesounds soundset is not.

[mqtracks]

It wouldn't be a problem to publish the music with GPLv2 if credit is given to me from freeciv. Just let me know when you are ready to include music then.

[cazfi]

It wouldn't be a problem to publish the music with GPLv2 if credit is given to me from freeciv.

We give credits to artists in .soundspec file, and in http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/People, but any derivative work (as allowed by GPL) is free not to specify the artists.

As for the code implementation, my current idea is to have music to work like citystyles in that the "musicstyle" changes upon invention of certain techs, to provide different music for different ages. The other axis is something I currently call "mood" of the nation. There would be at least two moods: peaceful development, and active battles. The mood would not be directly determined from the official diplomatic states, but even if you don't have officially signed peace treaty with everyone, lack of any actual battles over several turns would be considered as sign that the war is not active. The "musicstyle" selection would be controlled by the ruleset, but moods would be hardcoded.
In addition there's of course the existing main menu music, and another one would be added to game over (or even multiple ones depending on whether you won or lost).

Does it sound sensible system?

[mqtracks]

It wouldn't be a problem to publish the music with GPLv2 if credit is given to me from freeciv.

We give credits to artists in .soundspec file, and in http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/People, but any derivative work (as allowed by GPL) is free not to specify the artists.

That's alright. Personally, I'd prefer a Creative Commons Attribution kind of license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) if you were able to license artistic contents apart but if this is not possible at the moment, it's OK.

As for the code implementation, my current idea is to have music to work like citystyles in that the "musicstyle" changes upon invention of certain techs, to provide different music for different ages. The other axis is something I currently call "mood" of the nation. There would be at least two moods: peaceful development, and active battles. The mood would not be directly determined from the official diplomatic states, but even if you don't have officially signed peace treaty with everyone, lack of any actual battles over several turns would be considered as sign that the war is not active. The "musicstyle" selection would be controlled by the ruleset, but moods would be hardcoded.
In addition there's of course the existing main menu music, and another one would be added to game over (or even multiple ones depending on whether you won or lost).

Does it sound sensible system?

Sounds good. Maybe I would add different music for different civilization depending on which culture you are playing with. However, I'd suggest to use a system that allows you to use the same track for multiple purposes (e.g. it's going to take time to produce good music for each invention, each age, each civilization and each mood). In terms of audio, it would be nice to have some flexibility for the transitions from one track to the other (fade-ins, fade-outs, mixing volumes, a 3d location that relates to the music source in the map? (sfml allows that)) and an automatic compressor will be handy to avoid clips when you mix different sounds (soundtrack+sound effects). Finally in terms of the menu and game over music, it would be nice to have some 3D animations at the background that go along with the music + sound effects when you select options. This is probably a lot of work but it may be useful to code it in a basic way which can be expanded in the future.

[cazfi]

Implementation of the new system is now tracked in patch #4487. I'm already testing first patch of the series.

However, I'd suggest to use a system that allows you to use the same track for multiple purposes (e.g. it's going to take time to produce good music for each invention, each age, each civilization and each mood).

That's exactly how our tags system works. The server side ruleset defines which tag is used in each situation, and client side maps the tag to an actual music file. Depending on the situation either server side can assign same tag for many situations, or client can map many tags to the same music file (.ogg).
That's why I'm also going to make menu music selection more granular than just one menu music. Most soundsets (or musicsets, if we decide to have the two separate) will map "music_start", "music_victory", and "music_loss" to the same .ogg, but that makes it decision of the artist, not something forced upon you. Some musicsets may implement all separately.

What OS you are using? Do you rely on others to build freeciv for you, or can you build development versions to test yourself?

If you haven't already, it might be a good idea to install freesounds soundset to test what kind of audio support we currently have.

[mqtracks]

Hi, good to see that this is moving!

Most soundsets (or musicsets, if we decide to have the two separate)

I think it is a good idea to have them separate. Rarely the same person will work on both.

What OS you are using? Do you rely on others to build freeciv for you, or can you build development versions to test yourself?

I'm using Windows 7 to produce music. If you give me detailed instructions, I'll do it...

If you haven't already, it might be a good idea to install freesounds soundset to test what kind of audio support we currently have.

I just did. I think that there is some latency in the transition from menu to game, a slow "fade out" (imho). There is no game soundtrack there yet right?

[cazfi]

can you build development versions to test yourself?

If you give me detailed instructions, I'll do it...

Well, writing instructions for people to get windows installer packets created should have been written long ago. With this additional pressure I will find time for it in the following days.

If you haven't already, it might be a good idea to install freesounds soundset to test what kind of audio support we currently have.

I just did. I think that there is some latency in the transition from menu to game, a slow "fade out" (imho). There is no game soundtrack there yet right?[/quote]
No, the "music_start" tag is the only music even supported by current freeciv. Freeciv distribution doesn't have even that (the only soundset shipping is stdsounds). We cannot include anything from freesounds due to unresolved license issues.

Yes, once music is stopped, there's fade out, but with my current patch to make in-game music possible there's no handling of wait between stopping (starting to fade) one music and starting another. So music gets replaced with new one before it has time to fade. Fixing this have to wait a bit longer that I get the basic code structures in place first.

[mqtracks]

Yes, once music is stopped, there's fade out, but with my current patch to make in-game music possible there's no handling of wait between stopping (starting to fade) one music and starting another. So music gets replaced with new one before it has time to fade. Fixing this have to wait a bit longer that I get the basic code structures in place first.

Sounds fair. Step by step. By the way, it would be nice to have a special soundtrack for new games when they start (would that be a special tag?). I think that the music must be more quiet for these ones (most of the screen is black).

[cazfi]

Are these instructions detailed enough: http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Windows_I ... t_Creation