Episode 38: Chiptunes

Hi, and welcome to the Open Licensed Music Podcast, the show where we highlight music from artists who let you share their music.  I'm Ralph Wacksworth, and today's episode is featuring chiptunes.

Press Start (0:52 @ 0:10)
130 Chiptune Lead A (0:07 @ 1:01)
Continue 2 (1:19 @ 1:09)
16 (1:16 @ 2:26)
Close To You (edited) (1:33 @ 3:42)
Boss (1:07 @ 5:11)
Tasty (3:36 @ 6:16)
Snegurochka's Gameboy (0:50 @ 9:51)
One Hour Compo: Mechanized Whalesong [Famitracker Chiptune] (2:08 @ 10:41)

That was Press Start by Andrey Avkhimovich, which is available from Jamendo.  After that was 130 Chiptune Lead A by Rave.Vic Sample Pool, Continue 2 by 8-BITchin'tendo, 16 by bobbobowitz, a slightly edited version of Close To You by Killer Katana, Boss by 8-BITchin'tendo, Tasty by lightsoda, Snegurochka's Gameboy by Brettstuff, and finishing up was One Hour Compo: Mechanized Whalesong [Famitracker Chiptune] by Patashu, all eight of which are available from SoundCloud.  All nine songs in this set are licensed under an Attribution license.

This week's another Attribution music week, partially because I love the permissiveness of the license and partially because due to that I'd love to see someone use some of this music to make some more open source games.  There are a ton of games already that run on Linux, but open licensed songs are a great way to push a game idea forward without it being quite as difficult.

And on that note, I'd like to mention OpenGameArt again.  They have all kinds of open licensed resources for making games, including graphics, sound effects, music, and 3D models.  If you're interested more in programming or level design than drawing sprites, or even if you just want some stand-in graphics to prototype your game with, this site is a great resource.  Check it out at opengameart.org

So, with that, let's get back to listening to music.

Spiff Tune - Jungle Relics (2:52 @ 14:09)
Chiptune Playground (edited) (0:44 @ 16:59)
Retro (0:44 @ 17:12)
Like a Ghost (8Bit Chiptune) (0:51 @ 17:57)
Tokyo Escapade (1:37 @ 18:48)
Sandra Rosa Madalena - NES Chiptune (2:20 @ 20:22)
Nights of Mischief ( 8-Bit Chiptune ) (1:04 @ 22:43)
12 04 29 Arms (1:32 @ 23:47)
Chance (1:35 @ 25:19)
Spiff Tune - The Beach (1:46 @ 26:47)
Wot (0:34 @ 28:30)
The soundtrack to my happiness last summer (2:40 @ 29:05)

That was Spiff Tune - Jungle Relics by Spiff Tune and an edited version of Chiptune Playground by Malyatrax, which are both available from SoundCloud and are licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was Retro by Jensan, which is available from OpenGameArt and is licensed under the CC0 license.  Then we had Like a Ghost (8Bit Chiptune) by Holms, Tokyo Escapade by __twc, Sandra Rosa Madalena - NES Chiptune by Sacola Man, Nights of Mischief ( 8-Bit Chiptune ) by MajesticMastermind, 12 04 29 Arms by LestatV3, Chance by bobbobowitz, Spiff Tune - The Beach by Spiff Tune, Wot by Kandit, and finishing up was The soundtrack to my happiness last summer by kinkinkijkin, all nine of which are available from SoundCloud and are licensed under an Attribution license.

Today's app-of-the-day is Numpty Physics, a game where you draw doodles to try to get a ball from its starting point to the star at the end of the level.  Everything in the level is driven by a physics simulator, so when you draw a line, it can anchored to something to keep it more solid or not anchored if you want it to fall.  So, for example, if you need to get the ball from a high point to a lower point, you might draw a ramp.  If you want to launch the ball somewhere, you might draw a seesaw by drawing a triangle for a fulcrum, drawing a lever above it, then drawing a heavy scribble above it to drop on the other end of the lever.  It's a cool game concept that's been done multiple times before, but this one happens to be open source.  It's available for Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris and OpenIndiana, Maemo, MeeGo, Sony PSP, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Windows Mobile.  Check it out today at numptyphysics.garage.maemo.org

Now for a short noncommercial break from one of our nonsponsors followed by more music.

Librivox
Morningsteak (2:44 @ 33:49)
Chipswing (1:31 @ 36:34)
The End (1:09 @ 38:05)
Baby's First Chiptune (1:35 @ 39:11)
Song 4 (5:06 @ 40:46)
Saw Adventure (3:41 @ 45:47)
Never Stop Running (8-Bit) (edited) (4:00 @ 49:27)
BETA31 (0:17 @ 51:44)
You Win (0:52 @ 52:01)
Sega Street (0:39 @ 52:54)
Boarding in Green Valley (1:59 @ 53:33)

That was Morningsteak by tozo, Chipswing by bobbobowitz, The End by 8-BITchin'tendo, Baby's First Chiptune by AndrewFM, and Song 4 by Aeko_, all five of which are available from SoundCloud.  After that was Saw Adventure by Andrey Avkhimovich, which is available from Jamendo.  Then we had an edited version of Never Stop Running (8-Bit) by FoxSynergy, which is available from OpenGameArt.  Next up was BETA31 by Cosmos Computer Music, You Win by 8-BITchin'tendo, Sega Street by Brettstuff, and finishing up was Boarding in Green Valley by Killer Katana, all four of which are available from SoundCloud.  All eleven songs in this set are licensed under an Attribution license.

So, that's all for today.  Remember - piracy of commercial music only proves your dependence on that model and justifies further censorship and restriction.  So don't pirate it - replace it with something better.  Listen to open licensed music, donate to the artists behind it, go to concerts, and buy music from artists whose record labels don't see you as their enemies.  Support artists where your support actually counts.

This episode was made using Gentoo Linux, Xubuntu Linux, Audacity, Audacious for organizing playlists, and Leafpad for notes, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license.  Feel free to give it to your friends, or if you didn't like it, your enemies.  Links to the songs in this podcast are available on the website.  Listen in next time for some electronic music.  See 'ya!

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Episode 38: Chiptunes by Ralph Wacksworth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.