Arnold Nesis (Capricia) Doron Frankenberg (Capricia) and Mihael Galperin (Solstice Coli) are working together and have launched a fund raising campaign through indiegogo for a new project this project is called the birdcage, which is a new concept both for world of music and the gaming community.
What they are intending to do is strikingly simple, still yet untried, they are going to record a concept metal album, a really good one, then they are going to create a video game for it. The album will not be a soundtrack for the game, and the game will not be a casual click around game. The two will be a truly integrated product. Think of it as a very complicated, very smart, interactive and expensive music video clip which you control throughout the whole album.
Why would they do something like this?
You see, the music industry has hit a serious bump in the form of the internet revolution, and the changes in portable music format just made it worse. While the market is saturated with labels and independent artists, they, instead of facing the problem, keep on doing the same thing they are used to doing, release CD’s, while few of the potential audience, younger people in many cases, even own a CD player nowadays. Low quality ripped off digital albums rule the realm because there is no alternative.
According to Nesis and Galperin;
We don’t want to fight our audience, we want to come and meet you wherever you’re at – Your smartphones, your PC, your gaming consoles. We would like to create a game that will be playable on those platforms, and act as a carrier for our musical adventure.
Naturally, this will greatly enhance costs, but that is the case with the existing practice of promoting music by producing video clips as well. Alas, today, giving in to the internet, television is limiting the airplay for music videos, and those, being thus a marketing motor with no rails to run on, end up on Youtube, where they might become viral, but are not likely to become an everyday companion of the listener as records used to.
We are looking to improve upon that and are turning to the most relevant medium in our opinion and the fastest growing industry in the world, the video game, as a replacement for the music video. And while we do believe that this kind of cross-media integration will enable us to reach a greater market and the audience to create a tighter bond with the album, we also think there is a great artistic opportunity at hand, and want to create an atmospheric game, significant to the storytelling and engaging the player/listener in the plot events, that will enhance the musical experience.
We are looking to exploit the existing abundance of digital application distribution platforms to make this new and unique product available for instant download to both mobile and PC, and assumable other devices, depending on budget excesses.
It is important to stress out that the music itself will be available in a pure audio format as part of the purchase on any of the platforms, so that the customer will preserve the traditional listening experience without any additional cost.
The music of the birdcage will be a synergy of Progressive Rock/Metal, Symphonic Orchestra and music for video games. It will be of a dark, twisted and melancholic, yet modern atmosphere. The Birdcage will feature musicians from both previous and current members of: Ruud Jolie: Guitar (Within Temptation), Rocky Grey: Guitars (Evanesence), Arjen Lucassen: Keyboard (Ayreon), Lisa Middelhauve: Vocals (Xandria), Casey Grillo: Drums (Kamelot), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal: Guitars (Guns N’Roses), Arnold Nesis: Guitars (Capricia, Path of Exile, Small World 2), Doron Frankenberg Composer and Keyboards (Capricia), Mihael Galperin: Producer and Bass (Solstice Coil), Derek Sherinian: Keyboards (Alice Cooper, Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen), Snowy Shaw: Vocals (Therion, Sabaton, King Diamond, Dream Evil) among others.
We believe that in this case, the music should support the story, and be composed thematically – with the same philosophy as when composing music for a film or a game, but without the restrictions those mediums force on the composer. A soundtrack (Imagine Mihael screaming “It’s not a soundtrack!!!”) which, for a change, is the main focus.
This will not be an “easy listening” bundle of tunes, just like it is not an easy story. Arnold’s musical belief is that “Music should express what words alone simply cannot”, and he has been putting it into action in all of his projects, so you are in for a world of interpretive rocking.
To make sure that our artistic schemes will meet proper execution, we have assembled not only an all-star team of musicians, which we’ve already introduced, but also some of the world’s greatest post-production engineers;
John Rodd – Music Recording, Mixing, Mastering (World of Warcraft, Assasin’s creed, The Last Samuri, X-Men, Matrix, Kill Bill and pretty much every other movie/game you ever played/saw) will mix this hot stew.
Maor Appelbaum (Megadeth, Sepeltura, Yewing Malmsteen, Halford, Edgend, and many others) will be handling the mastering duties.
You just don’t start a revolution if you don’t have big enough guns.
About the Video Game:
Since we are not game designers ourselves, we decided to work with a known and experienced developer for the game. Over the past year we have talked to hundreds of companies ranging from small indie studios to huge AAA publishers in order to find the perfect developer for The Birdcage. And we have.
However, at this point we are prevented from revealing the developer who will be handling the game itself. We will reveal the developer shortly after the campaign ends and we are willing to bet you are going to be surprised and very happy with our choice. For now, you’ll have to trust us that the gaming industry is a world we are deeply familiar with and that the developer we chose is perfect for us and chances are you already know them and some of their previous work.
We do however welcome you to take a look at our trailer (below) and get the general sense of the atmosphere, environment and game-play of “The Birdcage”.
The game will be a limited space open box exploration quest, set in the ever-changing prison in which Gitta is kept. The POV will shift between Gitta and Bres, as the atmosphere and appearance of the game area changes to reflect the developments in the twisted relationship between the two. You are to explore the abandoned industrial compound, fulfilling tasks and minigames. Multiple points in the music timeline are triggers for events in the game, rushing the players into the changes dictated by the plot. As this is the case, the game obviously has limited game-play time. To overcome this constraint, the game will be filled with mini-games, easter eggs and surprising side quests, to keep you coming for more. Making sure the game has a high re-play value is a huge priority for us, and also one of the biggest challenges we face.
The game is all about atmosphere and mood, and as it progresses, the design and looks of both the environment and the characters will change to convey the dynamics between our protagonists. This is really the strength point of this new media that we want you to allow us to create – via the combination of the music, the lyrics and the game, controlled by you, we will be able to involve you in the relationship and the psychological universe of the heroes in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Once again, we would like to point out that while “The Birdcage” album and video game are one, you will be able to enjoy the album in pure audio format as part of the basic deal and listen to it on any of your portable music players, to preserve the musical experience you are used to.
For more information about this project please visit:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-birdcage