CastleStorm Review

Game Reviews, Games

CastleStorm - gameplay - 2013-05-25 04-48-48

As a gamer, it’s nice to have developers that you can count on for creating great games and content.  Quite often, developers become known for a certain game series or genre.  And so it becomes easy to think of DICE as “the Battlefield guys”, or Bethesda as “the action/adventure RPG guys”.  Likewise, it would have been easy to think of Zen Studios as “the pinball guys”.  And sure, their most notable work, at least the most prolific, has been Pinball FX and it’s spawn.  But today, Zen Studios carves a new notch into its development record with 2D physics-destruction tower defense action game (it’s hard to put this one into a specific genre) CastleStorm.

CastleStorm has several modes of play including Versus multiplayer and Co-op modes.  I suggest playing through the campaign first as a sort of tutorial and to unlock other modes and features.

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An interview with video game music composer Waterflame (CastleStorm, Castle Crashers)

Games, Music

Waterflame logo

Video games, like movies, rely on many parts to make up the whole. These parts can be categorized by what you see and what you hear. As a good flim director knows, the music/sound effects can make or break a scene or even an entire movie. Unlike movies though, video game music is often called to be dynamic and evolving, based on the location and current situation of the player character. Whereas movies are entirely scripted, a video games pacing is determined largely by the player.

Because of this dynamism, video games require a music composer who is adept at setting the stage and can marry sound with an intended visual.

Christian M. Krogsvold, AKA Waterflame, is a composer from Norway, has been involved in several indie game projects, had his music featured in the very popular Castle Crashers, and been the recipient of Newgrounds’ “Musician of the Year” award.  He also provided the music for Zen Studio’s upcoming game CastleStorm.

Waterflame has released over 200 songs, many of which can be downloaded for free. His music spans many genres and moods. Some songs evoke a dreamy feeling of relaxation, or perhaps flying through space, exploring distant planets. Others feel like a fight for survival against a seemingly unbeatable foe. From ambient textures to exciting adventurous romps through an enchanted forest, Waterflame has the ability to capture the scene and the setting in audio form.

As an avid gamer and musician, it’s an honor to be able to interview a master of his craft who works simultaneously in two exciting industries, Games and Music.

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