An in depth explanation about MML, and the positive effects of player music.

Hello all,

On the stream, my question was mentioned about MML and bringing player music into Ashes of Creation. I thought I would go into more detail about MML, player music, why it should be brought to Ashes of Creation, and the impact it can have on the community.

Quick Tidbit about myself:
I have been barding for around over 6 years now, from Archeage, Mabinogi, Maplestory 2, and dabbled in a tiny bit of FFXIV music. Currently co-founder of a community from Archeage (Some of you might know me from there) of over 100 bards\music lovers etc across various servers. We are looking to jump into Ashes of Creation if player music comes. Our goal if it does is to start to host concerts, fill taverns with song, and add to the community by sharing our love of music.

What is MML:
MML is called Music Macro Language, it is a code which will let you program music into games an example would be: v126t100ccggaag2ffeeddc2ggffeed2ggffeed2ccggaag2ffeeddc2

What you just saw was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It is played at 126 volume with a tempo of 100. Now I know you all will be like what does this all mean? It means that by having a sheet of Music paper in-game you can paste the code you wrote there, and then be able to play it in-game for other players. You will see in the example underneath what different parts of the code represents different notes. You can do different tracks which means that multiple notes can be playing at the same time.

Example of Archage Music Paper:

Positive impact on a game community and effect it would have on Ashes of Creation::

With music, you can host player concerts which would then leave a lasting impact on the community. It would allow bard and others to do proper bands in the tavern, especially if you can do player ensembles and sync up. It can add to the RP community and its immersion. Also, would fit in well with the dice games that are coming to taverns and can lead to players doing events. In my years of making music in games for people, I have seen many people's day brightened when they have their favorite song given to them.

I can bring different stories of numerous times over the years of barding that people lives have been touched, changed, and made for the better. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing people shout in joy when you make them their favorite song. To bring that kind of positivity to any community where you can change people's lives for the better is worth doing. Music is a universal language.

Example of the Bards Christmas Concert which could be brought to Ashes of Creation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X25CR2LRYj4

Concerns:
I know some people have some concerns like, "Oh but I don't want to listen to other player's music. The solution to that is simple and that is having an option in sound where you can mute other player's instruments so you can't hear their music. Also, stops any spammers or people trying to be annoying. Therefore, the negatives that can arise could be negated.

Closing Statement:
Overall, I hope this is enlightening as to why player created music should be added to Ashes of Creation!

Thank you all for your time, and I am always open to feedback! Here's hoping this gets added in the future, to add more depth to what looks to be shaping a wonderful game!

Cheers,
Dracthas The Wandering Bard

Ps.
Yes, I know that there was talk in the past of bringing this to Ashes of Creation. But, here I thought it would be good to go more in-depth why.
Link to old post:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/17651/bring-mml-into-ashes-of-creation

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Comments

Penguinos

+1, please bring this to AoC!

Magic Man

mhm yes it'd be a cool feature to have

harue

Same as back in 2017, please add this into the game.

maouw

Hey,
there have been similar threads about this (here, here, here, etc.)

The issue isn't really whether it can be implemented or not (I would prefer something more robust than MML), but scope creep because a system like this needs a full design team to convene over things like animations, UI, scope, etc.

I can see this as something they might want to work on down the line, but imo the base systems for the game are much more important to nail at this stage.

Cerunos

I remember in GW2 when one of my guild mates kept spamming sounds as we went into battle, was annoying as, but was also fun to be apart of at the same time.

Imo it would be awesome to have this, imagine hiring a bard to create your guild battle songs or music, or guild hall, housing tunes for example.

There was a bard in DAOC that just stayed in inns in the capital and just told story's and sang songs (all txt based) and it really added to the atmosphere, so I can imagine how awesome this could be but would definately need an opt in/out option.

McShave

Please add this Intrepid, I will suck your left nut for this.

FliP

It's certainly a fun feature and nice to have, but as Jeff said yesterday: "It requires too much engineering and is not worth it at the moment."

Add MML right now? No.
In the future (during or after beta stages)? Why not

Kuldjux

I'm all for being able to play instruments in game, and not just limited to bards either. I have done in other games and really enjoyed it (using ABC notation rather than MML, but that's just a minor detail). Personally I would prioritise this over fishing, but people seem to enjoy fishing and I don't expect them to change the roadmap this late into development. Hopefully we will see it in a future update though.

Noaani

A feature like this seems to me to be something that could (should) ne added as a DLC pack.

We know the developers intend to have free DLC fairly often, and if they opt to apply a theme to each DLC, then a music themed one would be great.

daveywavey

Kuldjux wrote: »

I'm all for being able to play instruments in game, and not just limited to bards either. I have done in other games and really enjoyed it (using ABC notation rather than MML, but that's just a minor detail). Personally I would prioritise this over fishing, but people seem to enjoy fishing and I don't expect them to change the roadmap this late into development. Hopefully we will see it in a future update though.

Really? Fishing is a Gathering profession and so will be a part of the economy. Having additional music to that already in place can't be more important that that surely?

Kuldjux

daveywavey wrote: »

Kuldjux wrote: »

I'm all for being able to play instruments in game, and not just limited to bards either. I have done in other games and really enjoyed it (using ABC notation rather than MML, but that's just a minor detail). Personally I would prioritise this over fishing, but people seem to enjoy fishing and I don't expect them to change the roadmap this late into development. Hopefully we will see it in a future update though.

Really? Fishing is a Gathering profession and so will be a part of the economy. Having additional music to that already in place can't be more important that that surely?

Yeah fair point. I was thinking more of an elaborate trophy fishing system with different sized fish etc, rather than just resource gathering. But this probably isn't on the cards yet either. Fishing for resources is definitely more important.

bloodprophet

Never tried this system or played an MMO that had it. Sounds very interesting.
Personally I turn the music off as one of the very first things I do when launching a new game. I am sure Bear will do an amazing job but I would rather hear the ambient sounds of the game.
If they add this I hope they limit it's use to taverns and such. I don't want to be in the world and some one runs by playing Here comes Santa Clause because he can. Or at least make it so other people can toggle it off so others aren't forced to hear random noise in dungeons and raids.
Over all I am for it but it shouldn't take resources that would be better applied elsewhere to complete the main project. Scope creep gets out of hand fast.

Fuppo Headhunter

Thanks Dracthas for the positive look at how this is done in other games... Is a very constructive post!

Vhaeyne

Square Enix: "Don't use this cool new toy to play non final fantasy music in our game please."
Me walking around town: "Boy, I sure am getting sick of hearing "what is love" all day"

Personally I really like these systems. I hope to see it eventually. I am not sure if it is something they should focus on having right out the gate. I would worry that this type of feature creep could hurt the game in the long run. Look at all of the amazing features Wildstar had a launch that did not mean anything in the long run because they focused on small features and 40 man content. The game was extremely polished, but the game died very fast. A star that burns twice as bright dies twice as fast. Wildstar truly was a wild star in that since, it burned like 5 times as fast. Would hate to see AOC be a overly polished game without the core functionally to establish a long term player base.

nihilist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOVQdNyl4dk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8rOD7IS61M

my music in archeage

Michael

I don't see a reason why this shouldn't be a thing in game, assuming they can find the time to make the addition!

Noaani

Michael wrote: »

I don't see a reason why this shouldn't be a thing in game, assuming they can find the time to make the addition!

That last part is the reason why I think it should be in a DLC pack rather than a part of the base game.

Other than the time to implement it, there are no real downsides. But the time taken to implement it could be (should be) spent on getting the game released first.

OnlyOne

I've never experienced such a thing before, so this is very interesting. I'm all for anything that would increase immersion. I can definitely see this as a DLC in the future.

Botagar

I absolutely believe player made music should be a thing.
I would not expect it for release though. AoC already has a large scope for release.
It's not DDR or Beat Sabre where tunes are the core of the game.

Atama

It was fun in LotRO.

I used to play “Enter Sandman”, “Staying Alive”, and “Don’t Fear the Reaper” on a lute during downtime in group content. I liked coming up with the music and how it turned out.

It also didn’t sound as out-of-place as you’d think. Even though they were modern day tunes, when played on a single old-fashioned instrument they sounded like they fit the world.

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