A Look back at Stargunner

[Joe Siegler]

A new article by me written today looking back at the music from Stargunner. Also includes a new release that has never come out before today.

http://joe.siegler.net/2012/10/stargunner-music/

[KO Gilligan]

In 1997 Lucas Arts used the Jedi Engine to create a silly western shooter called Outlaws.
It has some really incredible western theme music on CD tracks on the game disks -
I still listen to the game disks in my home CD player, so I made a copy for my car.

From Wikipedia:
Music from the game was scored by composer Clint Bajakian. An orchestra was used with authentic instruments which was not commonplace at that time. In total, the gaming CDs contained 15 different audio tracks which were suitable for play back on a regular CD-player. It is noteworthy that the crystal case of the game's original release had a tracklist printed on its back side as it is the case with most normal audio CDs.

[Joe Siegler]

Uh, OK. Not sure I understand the point in posting that.

[KO Gilligan]

Stargunner was released the end of 1996. The following was from your blog:

Stargunner was one of those games where the soundtrack was on the CD, and you could listen to it through the game that way. Given the way game music was back then, this made for a vastly improved listening experience when playing the game.

For a few short years, on a few games (and only during those years), you could experience your music on CD-playable audio tracks.
The tracks on Stargunner were actually CD audio format. Not sure if the Stargunner CD was playable in a standard player, but many of the "CD AUDIO TRACKS" games (mixed mode) were. These were not MP3 tracks.
The first track was typically game data, and your Car/Home audio would start the disk at the audio tracks. The game integrated the music files into the game (this was 15 years ago - for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, and those who consider me off topic).

My post was about a similar situation on another game (1997) in which I actually like the music.
I did spell it out for those who don't remember the midi music or compressed crap that most people had to listen to in their games.

...An orchestra was used with authentic instruments which was not commonplace at that time. In total, the gaming CDs contained 15 different audio tracks which were suitable for play back on a regular CD-player...

[Joe Siegler]

Ah. No, it was CD audio on those games, and the game played those tracks.

[IceColdDuke]

I like the intro, but than it gets kinda to "technoie" for me.

As a side note Joe:
Do you have any new never before seen wacky wheels stuff?

[KO Gilligan]

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

Ah. No, it was CD audio on those games, and the game played those tracks.

... and according to shack news, it was one of those CD playable disks, just like Outlaws.

STARGUNNER CD-AUDIO TRACKS
Stargunner is (c)1996/2004 Apogee Software, Ltd.

Originally when released, the Stargunner CD had CD audio on it which could be played in a regular CD player, or the game could read said audio tracks in the game. We are releasing the music in mp3 format for you to enjoy.

As I recall, the "mixed-mode" CDs also provided a bit of copy protection since CD writers don't do well trying to copy the 2 different types of media on one disk.

Nonetheless, there is some increadibly good music production in games - in the past as well as the present. - and the previously unreleased Cornholio song was done professionally too, albeit a bit odd.

Anyway, I went back and gabbed those Stargunner mp3 tracks.
Just listening to his music - really cool, but I'd prefer the non-lossy, CD-Audio version of those tracks. I'll have to pick up an old CD off of ebay or something. I'm quite a snob about mp3. I never understood why non-lossy compression never made it to the mainstream (like FLAC or .shn). I suppose most audio players will play non-compressed formats. It's just not popular. I honestly don't listen to mp3s much at all. There's a consequence when that file size is crunched down to nothing.

[Joe Siegler]

I'm playing loose with the terms, but I know exactly what the disc was. I was the guy who made the CD masters for Apogee/3DR back then.

[KO Gilligan]

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

I'm playing loose with the terms, but I know exactly what the disc was. I was the guy who made the CD masters for Apogee/3DR back then.

I should have known, but I'm a newb around here in the relative sense.

You must have been the Master of Multi-tasking in that studio.

[Jeffpiatt]

it was an excellent way to do copy protection and allowed you to have better audio in the game the music was redbook audio the music cd format and most cd burning software at that point only could only read data discs so an copy would only be track1.

[Mikko_P]

Stargunner, eh?

I've never heard of that game before