The Next Special Update (January/February 2020)

[Maelstrom]

Maelstrom - do you want that to count as your suggestion?

Sure.

I'm gonna second Maelstrom's thing, like music that's written in a specific musical genre or says a genre its name.

Not really this. My suggestion is that it either has a distinctly musical term in the song title, or, a song that is the game. That is, the game relies directly on the song itself for game mechanics. Examples include the character special themes from Bravely Default, which give a buff as long as the song plays in-game, or a song written for a rhythm game, like the Rhythm Heaven, where the gameplay revolves around the song itself. 

[NineLives]

I was thinking about a theme of the unlikely heroes/protagonists. Basically, this would feature games with outlandish characters that may or may not suit the world they inhabit or the story they take part in. For example, games like ToeJam & Earl, Chibi-Robo!, The Lost Vikings, Leisure Suit Larry, Dandy Dungeon, Earthworm Jim, games like that with characters moving away from the sort of mainstream heroes like Mario, Link, Master Chief, Kratos, Sonic, and so on. I'm mostly thinking of the more underrated titles of gaming history. I'm hoping this is broad enough to spark some arrangements that can introduce people to a game, series, or at least some music that they've never played/heard before.

[AwesomeYears]

I was going to think of a unique theme, but in the end, I'm just gonna endorse the BOSS THEMES idea, as I'm in the middle of transcribing two boss themes myself, makes my life a bit easier wink wink.

[thatoneguy]

"Borrowing" an idea from Latios212: Aquatic

To clarify, aquatic themes don't mean only underwater songs/levels. Underwater themes are fine, but this could include songs from a port/water-themed town or a beach. If there's a special theme for a water boss, I would say it counts.

I [personally] think that saying underwater just puts this "unconscious" idea that it's got to be from an underwater level. That's why I'm saying aquatic instead.

Although, this probably isn't the right time or seasonal "mood" to do an aquatic themed update, but just a thought for right now.

[PokeMaestro]

A project about "nostalgic video game music" would be cool ... and nostalgic! ^^

[Libera]

Hi everyone, we've now had a week for people to submit potential candidates for the next project.  The time for submitting those is now officially over, and it is time for the voting to begin!  How will this work?  All you have to do is PM me (over the forums preferably, but if you can't for some reason then you can use discord) your order of preference for the potential themes.  It's important that you rank all of the options, not leaving any out.  Any votes that are submitted without giving a full ranking will not be counted.

Example vote PM

"My vote/ranking is:
1-  Travel
2- First main area themes of open world-esque games
3- Unlikely heroes/protagonists
4- Boss battles
5- Final boss battles
6- Credits themes
7- Arcade games of the 80s & 90s
8- Food/cooking
9- Themes that use acoustic instruments
10- Opening/title themes
11- Music about music
12- Aquatic
13- Nostalgic"


This theoretical person's favourite option is 'Travel', and their least favourite is 'Nostalgic'.  (And just to make it clear, these aren't my preferences, I just picked this order randomly as an example). 

[close]

After the deadline (see below), I will then collate all of these votes and use a simple STV (Single-transferable-vote) system to determine the winner.  This means that I will tally up all of the first preference votes to see if there is an overall majority.  If there isn't, the least popular option will be eliminated and any people who had that option as their first preference will have their votes moved to their second preference.  This process continues until a majority emerges, which it has to (unless we get seriously unlucky).  Also, note that since it will be the arrangers of the site who will be actually taking part, their votes count for double.  (For the purposes of this vote, an arranger is anyone who has a sheet currently on-site.)

The deadline for sending me your votes is exactly one week after this post.  I'll then post the results sometime shortly after that, (however long it takes me to tally everything up) and then the project will begin!

For reference, here are all of the themes you can vote for:
- "Final boss battles"
- "Boss battles"
- "First main area themes of open world-esque games"
- "Food/cooking"
- "Themes that use acoustic instruments"
- "Arcade games of the 80s & 90s"
- "Travel"
- "Credits themes"
- "Opening/title themes"
- "Music about music"
- "Unlikely heroes/protagonists"
- "Aquatic"
- "Nostalgic"

[mikey]

Why do we have to rank all of them?  Wouldn't it be more streamlined to just pick x that you're okay with?

[Libera]

Why do we have to rank all of them?  Wouldn't it be more streamlined to just pick x that you're okay with?

It's to make it (almost) impossible for there to be a tie.  If there's only a few you care about, then feel free to just put down the rest arbitrarily (although it's to your own benefit for you to put them down in an actual full order of preference).

[Libera]

Voting is now closed.  I'll announce the result shortly, along with starting the new project thread.  Hold tight!

[Libera]

Voting has now finished for the theme of our next update, and after counting up all of the votes it is time to announce...

The Results! (In reverse order.)

13. Nostalgic
12. First Main Area Themes
11. Arcade Games of the 80's/90's
10. Credit Themes
9. Unlikely Heroes
8. Music about music
7. Aquatic
6. Boss Battles
5. Opening/Title Themes
4. Travel
3. Acoustic Instruments
2. Final Boss Themes

Which means that the winner is...

1. Food/Cooking!


A big thank you to everyone that voted, and I look forward to seeing you all (and, perhaps more importantly, your sheets) in the project thread which will be up momentarily!