Expansion Soundtrack Preview & More news from the front!

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Lennart Sas in news

In today’s journal Michiel van den Bos discusses the soundtrack for the upcoming expansion, and we a small update of little bits and pieces we’ve been working on. First, the Maestro in his own words:

When starting work on this expansion, I had to keep three things in mind: Necromancer, Frostling and Tigran. Each race evokes a different mood.

  • Necromancer – Dark, brooding, evil.
  • Frostling – Cold, desolate.
  • Tigran – Wilderness, Egyptian undertones

Each of these are polar opposites when it comes to their overall tone.  I tried very hard not to fall into the trap of focusing on one specific mood.  Composing a song based on Necromancers alone would sound foreboding, perhaps even scary, which usually doesn’t make for a compelling melody. A Tigran-centric song would contain none of those traits, but would contain more ethnic drums and instruments. Instead I chose to  incorporate pretty much every element in each map song. I also  experimented heavily with instruments, blending darker atmospheric instruments with ethnic ones. The result is rather psychedelic and they have a mood that compliments all three classes without ignoring their focus.

I’ve made a small collection of clips from each of the songs in this expansion. Two of them are more uptempo, heroic songs which are the main theme and combat song. See if you can spot which of the maptunes has its focus on each of the classes. Of course small portions of songs don’t paint an accurate picture, but I think you can hear where I’m going with them.

Hope you enjoy the music.

Michiel van den Bos

Next to being a musician for computer games, Michiel is a dance producer and dj …

10443064_10152327928514563_8425609997128123522_o

… a serious metal head…

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… a guy of many styles, who’s always looking scary in photos, but in reality is a nice bloke!

Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook

PS:We hope to be able to include these tracks (along with the ones composed for Golden Realms) to the Deluxe Edition/DLC

PPS: Some misc things going on at the studio (more on these features later)

  • Updated hero recruitment
  • Overview Map Improvement
  • Sell Hero Items
  • Demand Tributes from Vassals.
  • Enemy movepoint previews on World Map
  • New trailer is nearly done and is looky spiffy.
  • An alliance of cowards consisting of  Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed  FFA PBEM games 😛

PPPS: Yes, that announcement + beta is coming soon. But not today!

PPPPS: Okay; you want some art too?  Here is a Tigran Leader.

 

Ankhnatoni Anarak DevJournal

Enjoy your weekend!

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Home › Forums › Expansion Soundtrack Preview & more news from the front!

This topic contains 82 replies, has 49 voices, and was last updated by  fenrir9 6 years, 7 months ago.

Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 83 total)
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  • Author
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  • February 27, 2015 at 17:34 #162695

    Lennart Sas
    Keymaster

    http://ageofwonders.com/expansion-soundtrack-preview-more-news-from-the-front

    February 27, 2015 at 17:40 #162696

    Smaug3
    Member

    The new music is epic! Also, I’m sorry you got beaten Lennart.

    February 27, 2015 at 17:40 #162697

    TurtleNaTree
    Member

    Loving the music. Well done.

    February 27, 2015 at 17:46 #162698

    Arno
    Keymaster

    Don’t feel sorry Smaug. Let’s say he just deserved it.. 🙂

    February 27, 2015 at 17:50 #162700

    Low_K
    Member

    Loving the new music, excellent listening. Will definitely buy the Deluxe DLC. Excellent artwork on the Tigran too.

    Bit disappointed that the pre-order button has not yet been released, nor the expansion’s name (Eternal Lords 😉 unless you changed that one).

    Hopefully we won;t have to wait for another week for being able to pre-order the thing, I want it and having a pre-order already in place makes the wait easier (actually just as hard except I can watch the preview movie a lot and know some Youtube previews will appear).

    Waiting sucks.

    But hold on; This is not a Dev Diary. So will we see a Dev Diary also today? 🙂

    Kind regards,

    Low

    February 27, 2015 at 17:51 #162701

    Ravenholme
    Member

    I’m feeling very rused 🙁

    But on the other hand, lovely new Michiel van den Bos music.

    Also, do I spy a variation on the sorcerer outfit? Goes very nicely with that Yaka style headdress. (Makes sense that the Tigrans might get a racially unique Sorcerer outfit, given there love of Yaka who is a Wizard and all)

    February 27, 2015 at 17:52 #162703

    JeanLucPicard
    Member

    The new songs are great, just as the ones from Golden realms. They fit the overall theme of the game while still having some specific undertones.

    Looks like Dark Lord Lennart was beaten by the Last Alliance of Boks and Arnomen despite massive cheating. Sic semper Lennartis. 😛

    February 27, 2015 at 17:58 #162704

    Jakob.717
    Member

    I cant wait for the expansion!!!!

    February 27, 2015 at 17:59 #162705

    esvath
    Member

    Wow, nice music! They are even better than the previous tracks!

    An alliance of cowards consisting of Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed FFA PBEM games 😛

    Proof! Release the vid or it never happened! 😀

    February 27, 2015 at 18:00 #162706

    Kubera
    Member

    Sell Hero Items

    Common Market? That is, you can put a lot at auction?

    An alliance of cowards consisting of Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed FFA PBEM games

    What combination of race \ class?

    February 27, 2015 at 18:04 #162709

    Rhaeg
    Member

    Very awesome music as always. Please do include these with the dlc for download!

    Very cool to hear that final song in the sample from the original game. I remember this is the tune that started the level in which you need to rescue the Deepmir survivors after Melenis collapsed their tunnels. Something with “Mountain” I believe… anyone here who remembers the full name?

    February 27, 2015 at 18:07 #162711

    greyclouds
    Member
    Rhaeg wrote:

    Very awesome music as always. Please do include these with the dlc for download!

    Very cool to hear that final song in the sample from the original game. I remember this is the tune that started the level in which you need to rescue the Deepmir survivors after Melenis collapsed their tunnels. Something with “Mountain” I believe… anyone here who remembers the full name?

    It was “Mountain” — you were right!

    I got chills when I heard that tune as that was my favorite track from the original game. Great selection of music!

    February 27, 2015 at 18:09 #162712

    Rhaeg
    Member
    greyclouds wrote:

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Rhaeg wrote:</div>
    Very awesome music as always. Please do include these with the dlc for download!

    Very cool to hear that final song in the sample from the original game. I remember this is the tune that started the level in which you need to rescue the Deepmir survivors after Melenis collapsed their tunnels. Something with “Mountain” I believe… anyone here who remembers the full name?

    It was “Mountain” — you were right!

    I got chills when I heard that tune as that was my favorite track from the original game. Great selection of music!

    + Song even 😉

    Found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuSzWcloE4E

    February 27, 2015 at 18:12 #162713

    nvc_for_the_soul
    Member

    Good to see new music of Michiel added! I esp. enjoyed the song starting in the middle.

    And nice to see new features being added! Like Sell Hero Items.
    I was wondering what Updated hero recruitment exactly is. I hope it adds to the uniqueness of heroes somehow. From all the things that could be improved (apart from the already announced new features), this & spicing up the underground are the most important imo.

    An alliance of cowards consisting of Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed FFA PBEM games :P

    I am wondering on which map you played; was it a pre-made scenario that is not released yet? Just curious.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:15 #162715

    Ravenholme
    Member
    nvc_for_the_soul wrote:

    Good to see new music of Michiel added! I esp. enjoyed the song starting in the middle.

    And nice to see new features being added! Like Sell Hero Items.<br>
    I was wondering what Updated hero recruitment exactly is. I hope it adds to the uniqueness of heroes somehow. From all the things that could be improved (apart from the already announced new features), this & spicing up the underground are the most important imo.

    An alliance of cowards consisting of Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed FFA PBEM games :P

    I am wondering on which map you played; was it a pre-made scenario that is not released yet? Just curious.

    I’m guessing it has to do with how you recruit heroes, rather than the actual heroes and their skills. You know, going by what they wrote.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:19 #162717

    Lennart Sas
    Keymaster

    @jeanlucpicard Cheating by the Arno the lead coder of course. Its a bit strange the whole world including AI turns on me. 😉

    February 27, 2015 at 18:27 #162723

    iblis86
    Member

    No real Dev Journal this friday? Sad, I was so eager to finally see the rest of the tigran units.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:28 #162724

    terrahero
    Member

    Wow, so much different news.

    The music from Michiel sounds great and certainly sets the mood. I hope it gets added to the soundtrack because i’d love to add it to the aow playlist.

    Updated hero recruitment
    Overview Map Improvement
    Sell Hero Items
    Demand Tributes from Vassals.
    Enemy movepoint previews on World Map
    New trailer is nearly done and is looky spiffy.
    An alliance of cowards consisting of Arno, Arnout, Sikbok and an AI player finally managed to beat the heroic empire of Lennart in one of the first completed FFA PBEM games

    All of this sounds great!

    Updated hero recruitment, selling unused items! Glorious. Enemy movepoint previews sounds awesome as well, it’s always a bit of a hassle to try and figure out if the enemy is within range or not, i’ll reserve further questions till this gets covered.

    A new trailer sounds great as well. Are we going to get some more Tombles? It sure has been a while.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:28 #162725

    Ravenholme
    Member
    iblis86 wrote:

    No real Dev Journal this friday? Sad, I was so eager to finally see the rest of the tigran units.

    I’m pretty sure that the music part actually does count as a Dev Journal, you know, as it is about something being developed for the expansion.

    Just off the top of my head, the Grey Guard/Keeper specialisation Dev Journal did not have the “Dev Journal:” part in front of it, for example.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:40 #162728

    haloloki
    Member
    iblis86 wrote:

    No real Dev Journal this friday? Sad, I was so eager to finally see the rest of the tigran units.

    New trailer is nearly done and is looky spiffy.

    maybe theres a connection there being we will see the new units in the trailer =)

    February 27, 2015 at 18:42 #162729

    dimitriusborges
    Member

    One of the main reasons why the first AoW was so remarkable in my life (side note, I was kind of young in that time) was the soundtrack. Every time I hear those songs, I got chills and a really good vibe. And, I must say, you guys totally still have that mojo, and it is becoming even better with this new DLC/Expansion Pack. Congrats my fellas! You are doing a great job!

    February 27, 2015 at 18:44 #162730

    UltraDD
    Member

    Do these amazing songs play in random maps? The game has a lot of music that you can’t hear outside of campaign :P.

    February 27, 2015 at 18:51 #162733

    Thariorn
    Member

    N0ice.
    I’m really loving Michiel’s songs and the inspiration/basis of the first AoW isn’t too strong whle still retaining the ‘mojo’ (My word of the day, thx dimitriusborges)

    We’ll finally be able tos ell junk? YUSS
    Capitalism ftw ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    February 27, 2015 at 18:52 #162734

    UltraDD
    Member

    Obligatory “Haha thought there would be a gigantic patch note today”.

    February 27, 2015 at 19:06 #162738

    Antiscamp
    Member

    This game has some awesome music.

    February 27, 2015 at 19:13 #162743

    Taykor
    Member
    UltraDD wrote:

    Do these amazing songs play in random maps? The game has a lot of music that you can’t hear outside of campaign 😛 .

    O_o I don’t know a single song like this. It seems to me that all music is played in all types of games.

    February 27, 2015 at 19:15 #162744

    Ravenholme
    Member
    Taykor wrote:

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>UltraDD wrote:</div>
    Do these amazing songs play in random maps? The game has a lot of music that you can’t hear outside of campaign :P .

    O_o I don’t know a single song like this. It seems to me that all music is played in all types of games.

    Yep, every song used in the campaigns appears in the Random Maps, iirc. Certainly, I can’t think of a song from the soundtrack that I haven’t heard in my RMG games. Apart from the Bonus tracks and “Mission Outro”/”Campaign Voiceover” and others that are labelled for very specific parts of the game (Title theme etc)

    February 27, 2015 at 19:18 #162745

    Pothead Pixie
    Member

    Seeing I’m not the only one here! 🙂 I’m having fond memories of the old AoW music as well. Always used the same favorite playlist on a home made XL map (I spent ages on playing -> balancing it).

    Wasn’t there a song called “Fire and Ice” or something like that? Haven’t played it for years and can still remember the title – and remember some of the tunes. There was one that had a short, 3-tone pulsating brass/bass loop with a louder up-tempo violin section producing continuous short notes – that was simply EXCITING. I think I heard echoes of it in the AoW3 soundtrack.

    February 27, 2015 at 19:25 #162746

    Pothead Pixie
    Member

    Oh, and psychedelic is good.

    February 27, 2015 at 19:36 #162748

    DragonWolf87
    Member

    Oh shucks, wanted a bit more… But still, we got a lot (new music rocks! but I’m yet to hear another “Snowscapes”). Finally we’ll be able to sell artifacts!

    I wonder what kind of class dat badass Egypto-Tigran represents. Theocrat or Sorcerer maybe?

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