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Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby wkduffy » Fri May 11, 2012 6:32 am

Apologies in advance for the epic post.

Here's something nobody asked for: An alternate soundtrack for "Operation Matriarchy" (2005). Link is below.

Those who are aware of the game probably know how it was released in a semi-finished state, without a soundtrack of its own.
You probably also know of the Devisraad mod (2007) which added a complete in-game music score and enhanced sound effects,
as well as rewritten in-game text that attempts to make narrative sense of the entire mess. A Herculean feat for a game that
(Devisraad and I both agree) most people consider a piece of sh**.

As of 2012, the Devisraad mod is being hosted here: http://www.devisraad.com/op-m/

The music used for the Devisraad mod was borrowed, with proper credit, from the (also obscure) game "Shadowgrounds" (2005).
The original score for "Shadowgrounds" was written by Ari Pulkkinen. It is a fast, hard, loud,
aggressive electro-rock score very well suited to the goofy, arcade-heavy action in "Operation Matriarchy."

Even though the borrowed "Shadowgrounds" soundtrack used in the Devisraad mod works extremely well for OM, to date the poor
game has not had a soundtrack to call its own. So I decided to make one. My other impetus for creating a new soundtrack
is because the in-yer-face Pulkkinen tracks from "Shadowgrounds" just aren't my style; as someone who has been making music
for about 20 years, I personally find them a little too demanding on my aging ears (though again, very appropriate for OM).

This alternate soundtrack, which took about 2 weeks to toss together, is of course very different in nature. Most of them
are low-key, polyrhythmic, minimalist electronic pieces, just to provide some atmosphere. They are also considerably lower
in volume as to not dominate over the in-game sound effects. (By necessity, the Devisraad mod does not allow individual control
of music volume versus effects volume--it is all tied together and controlled by one slider.) If you are looking for the
high-powered, in-your-face OM experience, this alternative soundtrack is not for you--stick with the music in the Devisraad mod instead.
However, if you are looking for a less aggressive, less demanding musical score that vaguely suggests the alien world of Velian
in a mid-2000, synthy, retro-kinda-way, then this may fit the bill. That is, if you are willing to wade into this mess at all.

My soundtrack requires the Devisraad mod to be installed first.

Scaryfun: Don't feel obligated to link to this. If you want to, that's fine, but I can keep it up on my faculty webspace
indefintely. Cheers!

"Operation Matriarchy" soundtrack link:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/w/k ... _MUSIC.rar
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Re: Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby Kessler » Fri May 11, 2012 12:21 pm

wkduffy wrote:Most of them are low-key, polyrhythmic, minimalist electronic pieces, just to provide some atmosphere. They are also considerably lower
in volume as to not dominate over the in-game sound effects.


Thanks for that!

I tried that other sound mod for Operation Matriarchy and was annoyed by the music blaring full volume the whole time. I normally play games with the music volume lowered or sometimes even with music switched off completely, because for me the ambient sound scape and other sound design of a game is more important for the atmosphere.

The main problem with Operation Matriarchy IMO is not mssing music, but the unfinished sound design. For example, you don't notice when a monster appears behind you and starts shooting you, because there are no "alert" screams the monsters make, and no firing sounds either.

Just downloading your mod now...
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Re: Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby wkduffy » Fri May 11, 2012 3:02 pm

Yeah, I'm really sensitive to overwhelming soundtrack music too. I usually kill the soundtrack completely before starting most games. The one problem I did ultimately encounter here though is that the game has an auto-leveling feature in it (as far as I can tell), so regardless of how low I recorded the tracks, the game-in-action elevates the volume anyway (almost to the point of blotting out environmental sounds)--the best I could do is try and make music that was less "full" I guess, more "space" in it, while still trying to keep it "driving" in some way? But to be absolutely honest, I think I might enjoy simply playing it without music at all by deleting the files...yeah, even after having spent the time on this! Oh well. It's still an alternative, I guess.

EDIT: I've not tried it myelf yet on OM (I am going to later, and I have used it with other games), but you might give Realtek's "3DSoundBack" a try. I have a feeling it might boost the environmental background sounds a bit more, making a nicer balance? It seems to work well with older games running on newer OS that no longer support EAX (which is basically what it fixes). You can get it at:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dow ... Down=false
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Re: Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby Kessler » Sun May 13, 2012 9:33 am

I just checked some OM savegames with your new music installed. It's really good! Fits the scifi B-movie atmosphere of the game really well!
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Re: Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby wkduffy » Sun May 13, 2012 4:48 pm

Glad you enjoyed it. At some point in the future, I might attempt a similar feat with "Bloodline" (2004) whose music is atrocious, sounding to me like lifted bits and pieces of soundtrack music from various cruddy 1980s horror flicks (seriously, just with some delay and reverberation added). The game could use a lot of improvement in the sound department, but the game is so obscure and unloved, I'm not sure it would matter, really. But anything's possible...
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Re: Operation Matriarchy (2005) New Soundtrack

Postby oldman » Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:49 pm

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS GAME!!
yes,i know it had faults ,but i had many happy hours playing it through the night!
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