Kai Rosenkranz - New Kickstarter Album

If you're a fan of Kai Rosenkranz who made the music for Gothic, and Risen the following kickstarter should interest you. He is asking for $20,000 to make a new album.

Hi, I'm Kai Rosenkranz. I'm a passionate musician, and now I'm excited to be on Kickstarter to make a new album!

I've started making music when I was a kid, and I got a job in the games industry at the age of 17. I wrote music for the "Gothic" series and "Risen" by German RPG studio Piranha Bytes. After 12 years, I took a break from game music to found my own company Nevigo and create development tools for the games industry. I still do that, and it's a lot of fun. But music as a way of creative expression plays an important part in my life, and now, after 5 years, I really want to make music again.

With your help, my heart's desire could actually become true, and I'll be so happy to write new music and share it with you.

Thank you all!

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He also has three new updates posted already, and has earned $13,157.

Thank You Pladio for the links.

More information.

I made a pledge. Actually it's my first non-game crowdfunding donation. If I remember the atmosphere of Gothic 1-2-3 and Risen 1 fondly today, this guy has considerable contribution in this with his beautiful musical pieces.

His music was great and one of the things that made Gothic and Risen special games. If Piranha will ever make a new Gothic I hope they can get to an agreement so that he contributes with his music again.

I'll probably pledge.

Some credit should also go to BrianOConnell for posting the kickstarter originally:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25341

All the best to Kai for this sweet project; it'll be great to read more as it develops.

Pessimeister said:

Some credit should also go to BrianOConnell for posting the kickstarter originally:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25341

All the best to Kai for this sweet project; it'll be great to read more as it develops.

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Well I didn't see that post as Pladio sent me the links

So thank you also BrianOConnell.

Thank y'all for your interest! We're now at the $16,000, so $4,000 left to reach the funding goal. I'd really love to do that album, it's a matter of the heart for me.

If you have any questions, just drop them here. I'll check in frequently over the next few days.

Cheers,
-Kai

Thank you for stopping by at the Watch, Kai!

Good Luck with your Kickstarter project.

Fantastic - the music for those games remains some of my favorite video game music, and I keep a few themes on my iPod. Definitely going to back this!

KaiRosenkranz said:

Thank y'all for your interest!

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You are welcome, Mr. Rosenkranz. Some of us like good game music and your music for Gothics and Risen is definitely good. So Id like to thank you for your effort.
Risen 3 was released recently, but I think that the best themes for this serie are from Risen 1. Especially tracks Beach and Island. You can feel mystery of unknown island, solitude of the hero and his long journey ahead, sadness that beauty of the world may be soon lost because of titans… and even hope. The music feels rich and personal. For example part 2:35-3:17 in track Beach is just excellent. Im listening to official Risen 3 OST CD and I have to say that Risen lost big part of its musical soul when you left. I admit that the action music is better but the rest is clearly worse. No personal journey, no feelings (almost), no soul. Location music is just average ambient with slight exotic touch. I dont know if the budget for music was low, or Piranha Bytes aimed for more ambient or dark stuff…

Question - so Id like to ask you if it was your personal goal from the start to make Risen music more personal, not just accompaniment for locations? Or did Piranha Bytes demanded it for the first game? Because simple ambient is pretty common nowadays while music with a soul like Beach/Island is not.

Farflame said:

Question - so Id like to ask you if it was your personal goal from the start to make Risen music more personal, not just accompaniment for locations? Or did Piranha Bytes demanded it for the first game? Because simple ambient is pretty common nowadays while music with a soul like Beach/Island is not.

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Thanks, Farflame. So kind of you to say that. I feel like the purpose of the music is to add an emotional layer to the game that is hard to reach through the other aspects. Music just goes straight to the heart, so I consider myself the messenger of mood and emotion. That's why I start with an emotional goal whenever I write music. What do I want the player to feel?

You said in your original posting that the fight themes in Risen 2 & 3 were better than mine, and I completely agree. I just feel more home in the area of providing musical undertones for the exploration of locations. Action cues require a slightly different skill set that I'm not really good at.

YIIEEHA! We reached the funding goal .
Here's a little video message I recorded: http://youtu.be/VmmzcGCafyw.

Thank you!

txa1265 said:

Fantastic - the music for those games remains some of my favorite video game music, and I keep a few themes on my iPod. Definitely going to back this!

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Thanks, I appreciate your support and your kind words.

HiddenX said:

Thank you for stopping by at the Watch, Kai!

Good Luck with your Kickstarter project.

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Thanks, great to be here!

Congratulations!

KaiRosenkranz said:

I feel like the purpose of the music is to add an emotional layer to the game that is hard to reach through the other aspects. Music just goes straight to the heart, so I consider myself the messenger of mood and emotion. That's why I start with an emotional goal whenever I write music. What do I want the player to feel?

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I see. I think thats the right approach. And (some) players notice that. Music can be little subdued (or on the contrary more epic) if developers asks for it but this approach shouldnt be thrown away because… the industry trends or whatever.

KaiRosenkranz said:

Action cues require a slightly different skill set that I'm not really good at.

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Well, there is always some room for improvement…
When I think about that, there is some similarity. Im not composer but I can say from my rich listening experience that the best action music actually brings emotions too. Like in exploration music. Yes, basic elements are different - rhythm, dynamics, drums… But really great action cues have these melodies and themes above the basic stuff that gives it a soul like in your Beach/Island tracks - that feel of determination, sadness, fear, fatefulness, fortitude etc. They are similar "messengers of emotions" like you describe it, just different kind. Well, that is my experience and opinion.

KaiRosenkranz said:

YIIEEHA! We reached the funding goal .
Here's a little video message I recorded: http://youtu.be/VmmzcGCafyw

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Great! Congratulations. It seems you will spend whole evening composing.

I just want to say that as a fellow musician, I think your music is fantastic and very inspiring. Your themes in both Gothic 1 and Risen 1 were remarkable and really set the mood very well. Congratulations on getting funded and I will definitely keeps my eyes and ears open for future music by you!

Allow me to say congratulations also Mr.Rosenkranz.

I also covered the album on two other threads, but no one commented on them.

Nicely managed campaign in my opinion. Well done!

Just a small reminder: There's only a few days left of the campaign now, in case anyone feels like upping their pledge, or maybe they forgot to in the first place. Some of the stretch goals are fairly interesting, so it would be nice to get a little boost in the final days.

Hey all!

Couchpotato said:

Allow me to say congratulations also Mr.Rosenkranz. I also covered the album on two other threads, but no one commented on them.

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Thank you very much, I appreciate your support. And no worries, I have experienced the same. It depends on where you post and how big the overlap with the Gothic / Risen fan base is, I guess

Farflame said:

... But really great action cues have these melodies and themes above the basic stuff that gives it a soul like in your Beach/Island tracks - that feel of determination, sadness, fear, fatefulness, fortitude etc. They are similar "messengers of emotions" like you describe it, just different kind. Well, that is my experience and opinion.

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Yes, I agree. I wouldn't say an action cue needs less emotion, but it needs a more sophisticated use of rhythm and patterns, and slightly more complex arrangements. Which makes them more challenging for me.

Maylander said:

Nicely managed campaign in my opinion. Well done!

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Thank you, Maylander!

_________________
@all

My Kickstarter has entered the final phase (the funding goal was reached, now it's time to unlock the stretch goals ), and I have some news for you:

++ You can now vote for your favorite Gothic themes, and I'll revisit those in a new medley for my album "Journey Home".

++ The Risen rewards have been announced. Including fancy RPG underwear.

++ My Thunderclap will fire in 2 days (September 18th). Please support me with your network, so that we can reach more last-minute backers.

++ And, last not least, if you haven't yet backed my Kickstarter but would like to do so, here's the link. Thank y'all.

Have a great week everyone!
-Kai

To all who heed the call,
Kai Rosenkranz’ last Kickstarter hours are on their way. There are only less then 35 hours for the campaign and it already collected more than 30, 000 USD. Let’s reach the 36, 000 USD goal for vocals and why not the 40, 000 USD for the FULL orchestra that participated in the gothic soundtrack creation.
LIVE Twitch broadcast is coming soon with Kai! Don’t miss it.

For details see this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9N7_4GM5qo

To support the Kickstarter see this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mustardmuffin/kai-rosenkranz-is-making-a-new-album-journey-home
Best regards, Kris

I've already upped my pledge to $75, and since I don't have the time to go camping in Germany, that's as much as I can put into it. Getting the orchestra from Gothic would be pretty sweet tho, so keep it up.

The kickstarter ended at $43.309, which means every single stretch goal was achieved. Excellent news, looking forward to the result!