mybluedream

I finally got around to making a video with some gameplay footage for Melolune… hope you enjoy it!

If anyone is interested in playing Melolune, the link to the IGF demo is here:
Melolune IGF demo

And the new theme song:
Melolune theme song

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long breaks in between entries… this month has been quite hectic! As some of you probably know, I’ve been working on an adventure rpg that I was planning on submitting to the IGF this year. After finishing the soundtrack for Plants vs. Zombies I basically allowed myself about 6 months to work full-time on it (I had been working on it part-time for probably about 2.5 years prior to that) and it’s at long last nearing completion. I’ve got about 80-90% of the linear gameplay finished… but as I’ve been told, the last 10% of the game takes the most time! At 10:40pm last night, I uploaded a demo of the game for the IGF (the submission deadline was 11:59pm PST so I barely made it)… it’s about the same length as the 2nd demo, but it’s quite different. I wanted to submit more, but George told me that it would be better to submit a portion of the game that was polished and bug-tested (I think that was good advice!).

I also changed the game’s name to “Melolune” to better reflect the central story. You play as a boy named Achaius, who comes from a land where people collect song fragments (otherwise known as “Melolune”) and put them together in order to keep their world alive. After his parents were killed in a mining accident, he becomes separated from his twin brother due to circumstances unbeknownst to you… and the rest of the game is spent following his life and figuring out the mystery behind their separation (amongst other things). As a game composer, I really wanted to include something in this game that reflected my love for composing and arranging… so I came up with a unique musical dungeon mechanic that allows players to experience combining melodies and harmonies in order to solve puzzles and progress through the world. As a child, this aspect was what fascinated me the most about video game music… there were so many complex parts (even in old NES games) that still managed to sound good together. This mechanic was basically the result of me wanting to share that with others ^_^

Anyways… I just had to update because I’m so relieved that I actually managed to meet the deadline! Hope everyone had a great Halloween, and thank-you so much to everyone who has sent me messages or emails with words of encouragement… it’s been so helpful, I really appreciate it!

Okay, so last week I made the mistake of working far too many consecutive hours on the computer in order to finish this new area in my game.  After a 13 hour stretch (the last hour being mostly devoted to setting map passabilities by repetitively clicking) my wrist really started hurting.  Given that I’d already been experiencing some fairly distracting neck pain (yay for martial arts injuries coming back to haunt me), I decided that I really needed to take a break >_<  So I took a few days rest, including a day spent at the Korean sauna, and I feel a lot better now.  But I’m back to using Workrave to remind me to take breaks so I won’t mess up my wrist.  These next few months are critical if I plan to finish my rpg by November… there’s so much left to do, but pain aside, I’m really enjoying the development process.

I also wanted to share a new song with you today!  It was an unreleased track from Plants vs. Zombies that I called “Zombotany”… It’s one of my personal favorites, but by the end of production there was so much music that we just couldn’t manage to fit it in.  So here it is, I hope you enjoy

Zombotany

Several people have asked me about PvZ sheet music… so you’ll be happy to know that Sebastian Wolff has arranged 3 different pieces from the game, and he did a wonderful job!  I’m actually a very terrible sight-reader (I play everything by ear), but these inspired me to go back and play the PvZ songs on the piano. You can find the arrangements under “Sheet Music”:

Sebastian Wolff’s website

Lastly… I’ve received hundreds of messages asking about a Plants vs. Zombies soundtrack.  And I want to let you know that I would actually love to release one… but unfortunately, I need Popcap’s permission to do so.  So if you are interested in a soundtrack, please let Popcap know… I’m all ready to assemble one, but I need their “okay” first

Okay, Workrave is telling me to take a break so I’d better do it ^_^

Hi everyone… I’ve got something for you today… I’ve been receiving a lot of requests for the lyrics to the Japanese version of the Plants vs. Zombies song (“Uraniwa ni Zombies ga!”), so I decided to post them here for you   I also wanted to try and answer some of the questions I’ve been receiving about the song since it was first released:

What came first, the Japanese or the English version?
The English version came first. I decided to make a Japanese version afterwards because I thought it would be fun, and being half-Japanese, I always look forward to the chance to represent both sides.

How did you come up with the tune for this song?
When I was composing the music for the pool level in Plants vs. Zombies, I found that I was really partial to one of the subtle background melodies… I thought it would be cool to take that melody and spin it into its own song.

Why do the English and Japanese lyrics have slightly different meanings?
When I set out to make the Japanese version, my goal was to try as best I could to maintain the original melody and meaning behind the lyrics in the English version, but give it its own flavor as well. For those of you who speak both English and Japanese, you know that one sentence in Japanese is quite a bit longer than its English equivalent (which is one of the reasons those old Godzilla dubs are so hilarious). So I worked with my Dad to come up with lyrics that fit a more “children’s song” style… that way the song felt like its own song (rather than just a translation), and it really matched the sunflower. It also solved the problem of matching the melody despite the disparity in sentence length (but as such, the meanings of some of the sentences were changed).

Who is voicing the Japanese zombies, and why do they not sound like typical zombies?
My Dad is the voice of the Japanese zombies (George is the voice of the English ones). Originally we were going to have the Japanese zombies just sound like regular zombies… but as I was reading through the lyrics, as a joke I started reading them as if I were one of those highly energetic Japanese gameshow hosts. It was such a weird combination that we all started laughing and decided to have my Dad use this kind of voice instead. I thought it was so hilarious, because you’re expecting growling-zombies, but instead you hear a voice like a Japanese gameshow host saying things like, “oh, please let me have your tricycle” which is so weird and awesome.

Are you the sunflower in both versions?
Yes

Can you please post the lyrics to the Japanese version?
No problem… here they are. Enjoy!

“Uraniwa ni Zombies ga!”
by Laura Shigihara

Himawari

(chorus)
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie wa dete ita

(verse 1)
Zombie wa kowai gaikotsu
Hanabira zenbu o toritagaru
Sono ato atama wo tabetagaru
Tadano Himawari
Dakedo watashi wa tsuyoi!
Noumiso ga suki
Zombie wa kirai

(pre-chorus 1)
Softball de asonda yo!
Helmetto wo kabutta zo!
Screen door wo motta zo!
Oretachi Zombie, Zombie, Zombie da!

(chorus)
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie wa dete ita

(verse 2)
Uraniwa de asobitai
Atama wo taberu no yamenasai
Noumiso niwa cholesterol ga ippai
Shinda node kankei nai kedo
Solar power de tatakau yo
Shokubutsu wo mamoru tame

(pre-chorus 2)
Sono sanrinsha choudai
Atama ni butter ga kuttsui jata
Noumiso taberu zo!
Oretachi Zombie, Zombie, Zombie da!

(chorus)
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie ga yatte kita
Zombie wa dete ita

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for all of the wonderful comments and messages I’ve received lately, I really appreciate it… you are all awesome These past few weeks I’ve been devoting a lot of time to working on my game, and recording some new music in the studio. I’ll try to post more details about that soon…

But for today I’m going to talk about my most recent affliction: I like to call it “Clumsy May.” Normally, I’m not a clumsy person; I think I’m fairly dainty and can complete tasks that require precision with ease… but this month my ridiculous acts of clumsiness could easily outnumber all clumsy things I’ve done in the past year combined. It worries me. It really does. Here are a few examples just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Exhibit A: The Laundry Room Volcano
A while back I purchased a really large jug of vinegar and a huge box of baking soda from Smart & Final for laundry purposes. I’ve found that adding a cup of vinegar to the laundry is quite effective at getting everything super clean without being as harsh as bleach, and baking soda is great for removing mud. So one day I go to start my laundry, and I pour about a cup of vinegar into a measuring cup and set it down on the dryer. I then set the laundry basket on the dryer and begin loading the washer, only to inadvertently knock over the cup of vinegar right next to the giant box of baking soda. And I’m sure you’ve probably all seen the 4th grade volcano experiement in some capacity… but usually that experiment uses but a few spoons of baking soda, and a small amount of vinegar. My unintended laundry room experiment included a giant, economy sized box of baking soda and an entire cup of vinegar, and it was on top of my dryer.

Exhibit B: Why I needed baking soda to remove mud
So one day I decided to take a walk near this estuary to clear my mind. It had just rained the week before so all the birds were out and about, and it was quite a sight to see… there were herons, cranes, Canadian geese, sand pipers, ducks… it was really lovely. Being that it was such a nice day, and I was feeling a bit adventurous, I decided to go off the path so I could get a closer look at the wildlife. I think I was really distracted by my surroundings, because I walked for a good hour before finally realizing that I was in some seriously muddy territory. I was wearing running shoes, and it was getting to the point where with every step I took, I’d be lifting a good 4-5 pound chunk of mud per foot. This of course made it incredibly difficult to walk; the more mud I was carrying, the more I would stick to the ground. It then occurred to me that I couldn’t even get back to the original path because the estuary was now in between me and that path, and there were fences blocking me from the bridges. I tried climbing said fences, and the results were muddy. Very muddy. Is that clumsiness? Absent-mindedness? I don’t know, but I felt that it was a good example of my recent affliction.

Exhibit C: Lunchables-Related Neck Strain
I strained my neck in the most retarded way possible. I was in the grocery store and I reached for the last pizza Lunchables, but I reached a little too far resulting in a strong pain in my neck and the area between my shoulder blades.

Exhibit D: I just keep dropping things and knocking things over
2 Coke Zeros, a pizza from the aforementioned Lunchables SAUCE-SIDE DOWN, boxes, microphones…

The other weird thing, is that I’ve been talking to other folks who have experienced similar things this past month. One of my friends dislocated their pinky and strained their neck reaching for shampoo in the shower. Another friend sprained their ankle. Another ran right into a glass window. What is going on?? Has anyone else out there experienced an unexplained increase in incidents of clumsiness this past month? Please let me know. And here’s to hoping we’ll be back to normal come June >_<

P.S. Maybe it’s because someone ate my brains when I was in Seattle…

PvZ team from left to right: George Fan (designer), me (music), Zombie Temp Worker, Tod Semple (programmer), Rich Werner (artist)

I’ve been really busy this year with a few different projects, one of which (PopCap’s “Plants vs. Zombies”) is just about complete and set for release in May.  I had a lot of fun working on this project because the game itself is so creative and funny that it proved to be a unique challenge coming up with music that actually matched the theme.  You’re basically defending your home from waves of awesomely ridiculous zombies using an arsenal of plants that each have their own flavor and personality.  It’s a tower defense game with elements of real-time strategy, so it appeals both to casual players and Starcraft-fans like myself.  And of course, George made it, so you know it’s gonna be awesome.  So about two months ago, after finishing all the in-game music and SFX, I decided that I wanted to make a funny theme song… I thought it would be awesome if the song was basically a dialogue between the Sunflower (the plant I’m holding in this picture) and the Zombies.  Once I was finished, I showed George and he said, “hey, let’s make a funny flash video to go along with it!”  So Rich flew down for a week, and everyone worked to put that together… it all felt pretty spontaneous, but I’d like to think that the result was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  A couple weeks ago, the marketing team suggested we make a Japanese version as well, and being that I’m half Japanese, I decided I should represent.  So I translated the lyrics, and got help from my Dad to refine them… originally I was going to leave the Zombie lyrics (sung by George) in English.  But as I was going through the Japanese lyrics, I started mumbling them in angry-zealous Japanese and thought, “this is really funny… I bet my Dad could do this.”  So he came over and we recorded that while my mom played Twilight Princess downstairs… (and yes, she’s plays WoW and Animal Crossing).  I have one more quick story: I had to come up with a sound effect for butter hitting a head, so I made a bowl of oatmeal and recorded the sound of throwing a stick of butter into the oatmeal.  I wasn’t pleased with the result, and I thought, “this would be so much better if I had a real head to throw the butter at.”  So I asked George if I could borrow his head.  He knelt down by the microphone, and I threw the stick of butter at his head about 20 or 30 times… let me tell you… that is the best “butter hitting head” sound you’ll find anywhere!  And apparently, butter doesn’t wash off very easily.  So if you plan to do this, make sure you have plenty of time to shower afterwards.

Just in case, here is the English mp3 of the song:

Zombies On Your Lawn

Here is the Japanese mp3:

Uraniwa ni Zombies ga!

And here is the music video… Enjoy!

Stray Durian
George and I were in the produce section at the grocery store when we noticed a bin of durians. He remembered my story about sneaking random bags of kitty litter and giant pink balls into peoples’ carts at Alberton’s and said “hey, what if we put a DURIAN into someone’s cart?” So then he grabs one, and sneaks it into the cart of this totally unassuming middle-aged lady who was preoccupied with her cel phone conversation. Upon realizing she had a stray durian in her cart, she promptly removed it and asked everyone around her if it belonged to them… when she found no takers, she snuck it into an unmanned cart behind her!

So then I said “we should totally put another one in her cart!” I went and grabbed another durian from the bin, and waited until she left the cart to grab some vegetables before dropping it in. We waited at the frozen foods section for her reaction… upon seeing yet another stray durian, bearing a very confused “how the hell did this get here” look on her face, she resolutely picked it up and put it back in its bin. I wanted to go for a third… but she was now quite vigilant, so we thought it best to leave it at 2.

One time I filled out this thing where you were supposed to list 10 weird things about yourself.  I think when I was writing it, I had a really tough time narrowing it down.  And ever since then, I’ve been noticing even more weird things I do that could very well fit on that list.

Take for example: I hate getting the hiccups (I mean I really really hate it, it throws me off so much that I can’t even form coherent sentences because I’m so annoyed by the disruption), so I invented this game to play with myself that would serve the dual purpose of getting rid of the hiccups and distracting me enough that I wouldn’t be annoyed.  I use the lap timer on my cel phone to have a breath holding contest with myself.  I used to think I was a really good breath holder.  In high school I could hold my breath for 1:30… that was longer than all my swimmer/water polo friends, so I thought “I must be good.” 

So most of the time when I play this game, I shoot for 1:30.  I don’t see myself getting much further than that, because I heard that you pass out after about 3 minutes anyway, and I don’t want to be doing that.  But then I found this website on extreme diving and I learned that some nutheads hold their breath in excess of 5 minutes.  It sounds horrible though; he talks all about how at around 3 minutes you start having convulsions and you have to use all your brain power to control them… ugh.  He also participated in some neurological study that showed that brain cells don’t die as a result of holding your breath because your body basically saves all its oxygen for the brain (you’d basically have to pass out and die in order to suffer brain damage). 

Which all makes me feel a lot better about my game, because let’s face it, I really like this game.  I like it so much that I don’t even lament over the onset of hiccups anymore, I just pull out my cel phone and get ready to race the clock.  And yesterday, I broke new ground…

George and I were driving to central CA so we could go zip lining, and the hiccups caught me somewhere on the San Mateo bridge.  I was listening to music and looking at the ocean, so I wasn’t thinking about the timer the way I normally do.  Suddenly I look down and see “1:00″ and I’m like, “1 minute already?  But I’m not even tired yet!”  Now that I’m aware of it, my heart starts beating a little faster and I tell myself to calm down.  I’m at 1:30 now, and I’m thinking “oh my gosh, I could keep going if I wanted to… I’ll just listen to George’s weird Norwegian music and stare out the window…”  Then it was 1:50 and I was like “can I make it to 2??  I’ll hold out til 2 if I can!  But no more than that, I’m not a trained extreme diver!” 

So now I am officially the longest breath holder I know in person: 2 minutes.

I know I said I was going to write more about GDC, but I got really tired as the week went on and kind of stopped. I do want to say a few things about it though.

1.) We went to a seminar where 3 well-known game designers were given the challenge to design a game that could be played with another species. One of the contestants was Alexy Pajitnov (creator of Tetris). He is very funny. His game idea, entitled “Dolphin Ride,” included people riding around on dolphins controlling their direction with electric shocks, and shooting paintballs at targets and other dolphins. When asked about the danger of using electricity under water he replied “it’s low voltage”… and when asked about whether or not shooting paintball guns at dolphins was cruel he said “it’s underwater… it doesn’t go that fast!” Hahaha… the best part was when he pretended to ride a dolphin and shoot during the voting portion of the talk.

2.) Men in kilts. I kept asking “why are there so many men wearing kilts here? Are they repping Scotland or something?” Then I found out that it was probably people from CCP, the Icelandic company that makes EVE online. I also found out through their website that 80% of Icelanders believe in the existence of elves. I don’t know about you, but that’s like a reason in and of itself to move to Iceland.

3.) I participated in a demo derby which was pretty fun. We submitted a 60 second demo reel to be reviewed by people in the industry. It was kind of like American Idol but without winners or Simons. The panelists were very nice actually, and managed to fit all the musicians in.

4.) George and I had been watching this BBC nature series called “Blue Planet” and one episode (quite randomly) really made me want to drink a mojito. I know that sounds stupid, but I will explain: After a long dive in the musky warm Amazon River in an attempt to film a special kind of shark, the crew celebrated on this boat by drinking these really awesome looking, refreshing, frosty, limey mojitos. So anyways, we had dinner with some PopCap people on the Thursday of GDC and after a long long day I finally got my mojito. Felt stupid ordering it at an Italian restuarant, but boy did it hit the spot. Felt even stupider when George referenced how after drinking that mojito I started preaching about the honor of Blood Elves in response to John Vechey called them the snotty bourgeoisie.