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The Challenges of Developing for PC and Mobile. Part 1: Controls
Developing for multiple platforms can be a real challenge, especially when input type differs as much as between PC and Mobile. This in-depth article describes our process for designing good controls on mouse & keyboard, gamepad and touch screen.
Mattieu Bégin
Part 1 focuses on the design of platform-specific controls, whereas Part 2 will deal with graphical techniques and optimization.
Designing Controls
Written by Mattieu Bégin and Jonathan Guillemette.
When we first started on Leap of Fate, our original goal was to make a hardcore action game that would play equally well on PC and Mobile. We knew that many action games had failed on Mobile because of the controls, so not only did we want to avoid the same fate, but we also wanted it to establish a quality benchmark for touch controls on that platform. This lead to many interesting design decisions, some of which we're discussing here.
Shadow walking and shooting like a madman in Leap of Fate
To give you an overview, Leap of Fate is a top-down, dual-stick shooter. It is a game that requires an equal dose of quickness and precision in terms of controlling your attacks and self-positioning. As you might expect, quality of the controls is crucial to Leap of Fate's experience.
Here is the list of the combat actions available to the player.
For this type of game, the easiest platform to design for, in terms of controls, is the PC with keyboard and mouse. We immediately chose to go with the well established "dual-stick" control scheme; WASD + mouse.
The reason for this choice came from our two main gameplay influences. We wanted the direct character control that you get in The Binding of Isaac, which allows avoiding traps and projectiles precisely, and mixed that with the mouse targeting system of League of Legends, where ability targeting is decoupled from character movement and facing. We really liked how the resulting control scheme allows simultaneous attack and defense, and therefore makes the game all the more skill-based.
The other important reason for this choice was to ensure a good distribution of input load on both hands and to avoid any finger gymnastics. In fact, in Leap of Fate, your fingers never need to move from the buttons they are naturally placed over, which is also directly related to our choice of minimizing the number of player actions. All of this to make sure the player can focus on playing the game instead of thinking about the controls, and to facilitate porting to other platforms.
Touch Controls for Mobile
Although the control scheme for PC was a natural choice, our very first Leap of Fate prototype was rather on Mobile, because we knew that touch controls for a fast-paced action game would be our biggest challenge.
Indeed, anybody who's ever played an action game on Mobile has probably had many bad experiences with controls. Unresponsive input, misclicks, loss of control, the list goes on. While we set to avoid all of these pitfalls, our #1 priority was to design a control scheme which did not ever require you to look at the HUD (the in-game interface). Just like when playing on an Xbox or Play Station console, where you never need to look at your fingers, we wanted a mobile experience where the player's eyes would be on the action 100% of the time, which is crucial for a high-difficulty and fast-paced action game.
Mobile is a natural fit for dual-stick shooters. Nonetheless, you could easily argue that a large portion of such games failed to deliver good controls. So our first endeavor was to rethink the dual-stick scheme. We quickly came to the conclusion that we needed dynamic virtual sticks (sticks that are not fixed to a screen location). This was to avoid the main problem of the more typical static sticks; which is that you constantly need to look at the HUD to reposition your thumbs. According to our playtests, this problem is expressed in two ways:
During regular play, there quickly develops a small difference between where a player thinks his thumbs are relative to the sticks' centers, and where they actually are. This is what causes the feeling of "the game is not responding as it should".
In situations of in-game stress or surprise, players tend to overreact and suddenly move their thumb too far out of the stick's effect radius, which causes their input to stop registering or at least register wrongly.
Our dynamic sticks were designed to avoid these problems. They allow the player to plant their thumbs wherever feels natural to them on the screen. If for any reason, that position changes during play, the sticks follow the thumbs, and no change in input reactivity ever occurs. The player can concentrate on the game instead of on the virtual stick.
Leap of Fate's dynamic virtual stick
Interestingly, this was only possible by making the sticks extremely sensitive. In fact, it takes only about 1cm of thumb displacement to reach the point of maximum input, after which the stick's center starts following. The advantage here is that it effectively eliminates half-input and the nebulous mental tracking space it puts the player into. Moreover, it makes sure that you are never more than 2cm away from a full 180 degree turn. In other words, the most extreme input in Leap of Fate is extremely quick to perform, and can be performed from anywhere on screen, thus ensuring the high reactivity needed to play this fast-paced action game.
We now had an efficient dual-stick basis, but the inherent constraint of this control scheme is that it only lets you shoot directionally, and does not allow the pinpoint targeting we needed for this game. Adding this required several iterative steps.
First, we needed to add virtual buttons for triggering special attacks and the shadow walk. A lot of mobile games do use virtual buttons, but these typically are small and have a severe misclick problem. Our solution was to make the buttons so huge that even a blind attempt would never miss. In fact, each of our two buttons takes up around 15% of the whole screen! Of course, we made them visually unobtrusive, with just a demarcation line in the HUD. To trigger an ability, a player simply needs to tap anywhere "up", for an almost perfect input success rate, and no need to look.
Once the ability triggers, the player is then prompted to tap anywhere on the screen to choose a target. This felt perfectly natural with a touch device and matched the pinpoint targeting precision of a mouse on PC.
Activating a special ability triggers a bullet time effect
So the dual-stick portion worked well, and the targeting was easy and natural, but the remaining problem was the transition between the two. More precisely, the time required for hand repositioning made it so that yo u would often get hit during transition, in addition to risking a suboptimal hand position if you went too fast and partially lost hold of the device. Our solution was quite innovative: we added a bullet time effect (on Mobile only). Every time you activate an ability, the bullet time triggers, slowing down the game to 10% speed, including your own character. This means that once the button is hit, the player has ample time to move his hand over the device and select a target without risk of being damaged by enemies. Once the target is selected, instead of stopping the bullet time immediately, we let it go back progressively within 0.5sec, to provide time for going back to the dual-stick position.
Overall, this innovative design produced a mobile experience very similar in essence to the PC version. Note that this also involved creating a distinct game balance and adding some aim-assistance to account for the inherently lower input precision on Mobile. But the end result played with extreme fluidity.
The key to our design process was that we questioned the accepted standards and were ready to innovate as required by the needs of the game. We ended up with surprisingly effective control elements such as hyper-sensitive dynamic sticks, huge buttons, and bullet time. And the results speak for themselves; many players left very positive comments concerning the controls, and said that they never thought such as fast action game could work on Mobile.
Gamepad on PC
Although Leap of Fate was not released on consoles, we ended up supporting gamepads for PC. This was not part of our initial plan, because we knew gamepads were not ideal for this type of game, but a lot of our Early Access players on Steam kept asking for it. The typical rationale was "Hey, this is a dual-stick shooter, it will naturally work super well with gamepads. Just do it!". However, what they forgot about was the pinpoint targeting. If there is one thing gamepads don't do well, it's to emulate a mouse.
This would be another design challenge for us. As you'll see, it was an exercise in eliminating unsatisfactory prototypes until we found one that worked.
Contrary to our initial expectation, implementing a pure dual-stick scheme (i.e. no buttons, only the two sticks) did not work. This is because we needed a cursor, and moving the cursor necessarily meant shooting in that direction. Since there is a variety of reasons in Leap of Fate why you'd want to be able to move the cursor without shooting, that was not a valid option for us. Consequently, we needed to use a scheme where the basic attack was controlled by a combination of the stick and a trigger button. Note that we had to add a tiny bit of aim-assistance on the basic attack, because a directional stick input is necessarily less precise than placing a mouse cursor over an enemy for perfect aiming.
Next step was to figure out how to do the targeting (target lock or target cycling did not make sense in this game, since you typically target ground positions, not enemies). Instead, targeting had to work with a cursor, but what's good in terms of cursor for the directional basic attack was not so good for the targeted special attack, and vice versa. For instance, when using the basic attack, you don't want to have to manage d istance of the cursor because that's useless, and you actually prefer to have the cursor always in view, at a comfortable distance. Moreover, when you need to suddenly switch the direction of shooting, you need that to happen immediately. On the contrary, when aiming a special attack, you prefer a free roaming cursor to reach the desired location. You also care much more about precision, and so the cursor can't move too quickly or feel nervous.
To account for those very different needs, we decided to toggle cursor modes between the two types of action. Our first try was to give each cursor its optimal behavior. But that proved not to be practical because there was too much difference between the two, which made transitions difficult to adapt to. Moreover, using a free roaming cursor for special abilities did not work so well after all, because that cursor could not possibly be precise enough for targeting while also being fast enough for switching targets on the fly. We needed a compromise.
The basic attack cursor, followed by the special attack cursor
What we ended up doing was to make the targeting cursor a modified extension of the basic attack cursor. So the basic cursor was made to rotate on a fixed radius around the character, with a minimal amount of lag relative to the physical stick's position. Then, when the special attack button is pressed, the radius increases by around 30%, and cursor speed decreases a bit. Of course, the drawback here is that this system does not allow targeting on the whole screen. However, it compensates with the following advantages;
it has good synergy with the basic attack cursor behavior
it displays the necessary cursor stability thanks to the maximum radius (since it stops moving at that point)
it is fast enough to allow switching targets
Although this solved the basic attack VS special attack problem, shadow walk targeting was still an issue. When a player gets in a bad spot during combat, the best thing to do is often to shadow walk away to safety. This is an action that you typically want to execute as fast as possible. However, the current targeting cursor system was too slow for this.
We first tried another system altogether for the shadow walk, a system in which you did not need to target. Instead, the player would immediately start shadow walking upon button press in the cursor's direction, and keep going forward until the button was released. That actually worked very well. The problem was that it worked completely differently to everything else in the game, and therefore would have required full tutorial explanation plus very clear feedback. But if someone started the game with a keyboard and mouse, and later switched to gamepad, he would never see this tutorial, and probably would not understand how to shadow walk.
Shadow walking through enemies makes them go BOOM
So we went back to the standard cursor system, and instead introduced a special case modifier. When triggering a shadow walk, the cursor gets a substantial speed boost, but only within the first 0.2 sec, and only if the stick receives full input strength. This effectively covers most cases where the player needs to make an immediate escape, and works well enough.
Overall, the result is a unique gamepad control scheme that, admittedly, requires a bit of getting used to. It represents no more, no less than our best effort at solving a difficult design problem imposed by our players. Fortunately, comments on Steam were very positive about our gamepad support, so all's good in the end.
Special Mention: Teleport Controls
This is a very small part of Leap of Fate's gameplay which, surprisingly, is a major factor in how much people enjoy our controls. At the end of each combat sequence, the player must go back to the level hub to pick another level to explore. To do that, the player must hold the teleport controls for one second, while the character charges. Most people really enjoy this interaction and associated camera zoom. Interestingly enough, this fun input is at its best on Mobile. There seems to be something really satisfying about physically pressing your two thumbs on big magical spheres to charge up the teleport.
When exploring the design space of your controls, keep an eye out for interactions that are just fun to perform. This will give a small additional edge to your game.
I'm outta here.
Developing a game across multiple platforms can be a real challenge. Nothing's worse than being told that one of your versions is "just a port". Players demand that developers design for the native constraints of their favorite platform, and that is a great way to maximize your success on that platform.
If Leap of Fate did one thing really well design-wise, we like to think it's having nailed the control scheme on all platforms. The one point to take away from this article is that you should allow yourself, as a designer, to really question the current standards. Don't be afraid to push boundaries and even introduce important gameplay differences between your versions if that allows your game to really shine on all of them.
Leap of Fate is available on Steam, the App Store, and soon on Google Play
MobileConsole


should the #BTCC adopt a "showdown" format?
Plenty of top action this weekend with #IndyCar from Texas, #NASCAR out in the wilds of Pocono and #F1 on the river in Canada. Plenty of pit road speeding penalties too.
#NASCAR at Martinsville. Good to see the modern cars at one of the sport's spiritual homes. Kasey Kahne racked up pole for Hendrick, but went out with engine woes leaving the #24 and #48 to slug it out for what looked like a certain 200th win for Hendrick, but a late caution (when Rooti stopped on the track) it all went wrong on the restart with Boywer's #15 starting fast and getting a run down the inside into turn one and then the #15, #24 and #48 all spun leaving Ryan Newman and AJ to run out the last couple of laps pretty much side by side and finishing in that order. Junior got 3rd and a consolation for Hendrick.
#IndyCar from Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama with an odd looking top six shootout for pole after problems for some of the usual suspects, but round one winner Helio Castroneves picked up the pole for Penske this time out, but could only translate that into third whilst retaining the championship lead. Will Power lost last time out due to a poor strategy when starting from pole, but this time started well down the grid and won with a perfect fuel and tyre strategy. Dixon slotted in between the Penske pair for second. Rubens got into the top 10 on his second outing and looks like he might be getting the hang of things.
#F1 and it is good to see that we might be getting the French grand prix back onto the calendar. Ricard is a decent enough circuit too even if it is a bit isolated, but with a good date the weather should be cracking down South: It would be good to have it back in July so that it is adjacent to the British GP again. Our fingers will be crossed for a successful negotiation.
#NASCAR – not much to report really as one of the Ugly Brothers won and we don't like them here on these pages. The #48 came up a bit short, but had a good run and a typical chase result for JJ. Is he back?
The Petty boys did well with both in the top 10 and The Dinger managing to lead a lap. Good job guys.
Smoke dropped the ball maybe and slips to joint third in the standings.
#IndyCar – more problems here too for our favourite as Miss B gets released into his path on pit road. Exit the fastest car in the race. Not Miss B's fault; her crew should never have released her, but pit road saw more that its fair share of chaos last night. Hope those who got hurt get well soon.
Big swing in the points back in favour of Dario. One race to go.
#DTM – One to go here too, but Martin Tomczyk takes the title anyway for Audi in Valencia, the first guy to do it in an old spec car. A great series and should get better next year with BMW back to give Audi and Mercedes some competition.
#BTCC – Another series with one more weekend to run, albeit that there will be three races that day in the current BTCC format. On the Brands Hatch GP circuit two wins for Jason Plato in his Chevrolet put him in front in the title race, but success ballast and the reverse grid held him back for the third race of the day and Matt Neal took a win for Honda and takes a 5 point championship lead into the last trio of races at Silverstone.
Toggle here, standing in for TCB this weekend, so off we go first with the #NASCAR from Richmond. As regulars here will know we don't mention the name of a certain pair of brothers so we'll ignore who won, but honorable mentions for The Dinger for a good top ten in the #43 and also welcome back to the top 10 for Brian Vickers; good to see you back mate.
#IndyCar down in Brazil saw things get a bit too wet at Sao Paulo. Will Power with his 4th pole of the season so far doing well in qualy, but the damp conditions making it a bit of a wreckfest with the inevitable red flag in the race. The attempt at a re-run got another red flag and they will try and run the remaining 61 (of 75) laps tomorrow (Monday). I'll update this post with the results when we have them.
Update 2nd May – Having managed to re-start the race today, Will Power picked up a comfortable win after Takuma Sato's fuel gamble didn't pay off, and Power now leads the series by 14 points.
The Indy 500 comes up this month. One of the world's great races, even if the current generation of cars are not as spectacular as some of those we have seen in the past. Can't wait.
#BTCC. Thruxton is one of our favourite circuits and saw the tin top boys out to play today. The 'ondas doing well with a pair of wins for Messers Neal and Sheddon and with Jason Plato's Chevy taking the final win of the day.
The #DTM got under way at Hockenheim with a dominant win for Bruno Spengler's Mercedes. Fearsome cars these, and it will be good to have another manufacturer back in next year to add to the fun.
Off to Turkey next weekend in #F1 for the start of the European season. Should be interesting to see how things pan out now we're back from the Pacific rim races.


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Q: Ultra stable 5V supply For a project where I'm using (very expensive) LED matrix, I need to power them with a 5V 1A power supply. At the moment I'm using a cheap wall plug switching supply, but I already know those things are jittery and I would like to know if you got any better suggestion to ensure the well being of my matrices.

A: Computer power supplies are cheap, and generally put out a nice clean 5vDC.

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Business Wire – Citrix Systems, Inc. today announced that executives will attend three upcoming investor conferences.
10-Q for Citrix Systems, Inc.


'You know that feeling when an old friend walks through the door? They're familiar and new all at once? Well today our dear friend Califone has released the beloved record Roomsound as a deluxe reissue. And boy are we excited to share it with you. Initially released 15 years ago, Roomsound began as a Red Red Meat record. But a stolen car, a few lost notebooks, and a particularly brutal Chicago winter later - it became Califone's first proper album.' (Dead Oceans, October 2016).
Any friend of Califone, I consider a friend of mine. While awaiting a new album following the brilliant, phenomenal Stitches (2013), I'll go 'revisit' the reissue of Califone's first album proper, Roomsound (originally released on Califone's own label Perishable Records, 2001). As there seems to be a 3 to 4 year cycle between every new album release by Tim Rutili's (and Ben Massarella's) Califone band, I'd say there might be a chance for a new album by the end of this year but we'll probably have to wait until 2018. Last year's Insect Courage EP was a mini of sketch-like songs - but: Hey, they were good, though.
Roomsound was an album made when Red Red Meat turned Califone. It's got some of the sand-dusted blues-rock sound that we've used to know as the Califone sound, obviously. But Califone came to refine this, their sound, over the years, throughout their albums. Improving the songwriting and their sound. Always getting better. The sound of sadness. The sound of the deserted, yet picturesque scenery of some rough wasteland. The audio-visual 'views' from the oustskirts of town, prensenting some rural, rustic twang. The speed of the sound of loneliness, or rather: the sound of the speed of loneliness. Califone's musical capsules are meant to last for years and years, I believe. They've been written to last forever. Rootys rock, not Americana (mind you) for eternity. Folk songs from the the dizzying, criss-crossing patterns from the blurred map of indie rock, or different rock, or art-alternative rock. Who else covers Psychic TV, name their songs "Buñuel, "Black Metal Valentine", "Rattlesnakes Smell Like Split Cucumber", or "Moonbath.Brainsalt.A.Holy.Fool". You immediatly sense, or know this is a band flirting with avant-rock and surrealism.
The original Roomsound held ten songs. This new, deluxe (double LP) editon has got five extra tracks added on it. Rarities and obscurities. Among the bonus tracks, there's a couple of 4-track versions: One is an 'alternate' version of "Wade in The Water", while the other is "Mittens" - originally from the Quicksand/Cradlesnakes album (2003). "Silver & Gold" was also included on the the Japanese edition of the Quicksand/Cradlesnakes record, but the song also appeared on two different split 7" singles - one with the fine act Sea and Cake (Numero Group, 2003), the other along with fab NZ band The Bats (Social Music Records, 2010). The other rare tracks are: "Cluck Old Hen" - originally from the V/A record Shanti Project Collection 3 (featuring Arab Strap, The Black Heart Procession, Kinski, and Sigur Rós) and the obscure "Stanza VIIITrout", of which I don't know nothing about (origin, appearances, etc.).
The dry, rasping vocals of Rutili makes me at times think of J Mascis. "Wade in The Water" is a bit different from the 4-track version, but they're not that far apart from each other. The mood is the same. When hearing the songs of Roomsound, I come to think of tumbleweed and dusty air. It's almost like my mouth dries and my eyes start dripping, aching only by listening to these songs. Like I said, Califone's songs (and albums) are getting better and better. Roomsound is an interesting listen, especially with the additional tracks. The album is somewhat varied but the album as a whole isn't a classic or a great album. It's fine, but it can't compete with the Califone albums to come over the next dedcade. I still believe there is magic in the Califone universe for future releases. I'm certainly up for a new album soon. Don't think I can wait till next year. Well, while waiting I'll put on Roots & Crowns (2006), All My Friends Are Funeral Singers (2009), and Stitches for some new rounds on the stereo. Never goes wrong.
You may also want to check out our Califone articles/reviews: Deceleration One, Insect Courage EP, Stitches.


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Home » Longplay Music Albums & CDs » Composers » Bach » Genres & Styles » Organ Music » Chamber Music » Mendelssohn
Organ Gloriosa · In honour of the Prince of Homburg
Organ Gloriosa
In honour of the Prince of Homburg
Ulrike Northoff presents
the Great Buergy-Organ in the Bad Homburg Castle Church
with Johann S. Bach: Fantasia et Fuga "The Great",
Georg Muffat: Passacaglia for Organ,
Carl Ph.E. Bach: Sonata No. IV,
Christian H. Rinck: Flute Concerto for Organ Op. 55,
Felix Mendelssohn: Organ Sonata No. IV, Op. 65
Recorded in the Castle Church Bad Homburg
HD Recording · DDD · c. 56 Minutes
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Work(s) & Performance
rgan Gloriosa, a concert in honour of the Prince of Homburg - our first production involving the Great Buergy Organ in the Bad Homburg Castle Church is dedicated to him. During the recordings, the sound of the organ penetrated into the depths of the Landgrave family crypt, thus transforming the famous Prince along with his ancestors and descendants into an illustrious audience for this recital. May their goodwill go with this series of concerts and recording productions.
Just imagine - a church full of shadows, a hard pew, gazing at the altar out there in front, waiting for the sound of the organ to come from far away, from heaven ... The popular way of listening to an organ concert. Yet I ask myself - what about the masters of an instrument like this? Composers like Bach and Mendelssohn - what were their feelings? What was the decisive factor that triggered their magnificent and profound compositions?
Have you ever sat at a church organ? Staring at the manuals, in front of you the keys and the stops - and, stretching away behind you, the noble nave and transept of the church. Then, looking upwards, you see the mighty bass pipes that seem to tower over you, reaching up and up before losing themselves in the half-light of the vaulted ceiling... And now, the first hesitant touch of the keyboard, a resonant booming that uplifts the soul - and you immerse yourself in the sound of the organ, which has indeed rightly been christened the "Magic Horn of God".
This is the approach we are taking with this presentation of the Buergy Organ. coming to you from the Bad Homburg Castle Church and featuring our virtuoso, Ulrike Northoff. We want to bring home to you the wonderful and powerful tones of this instrument - exactly as it sounded in the days of the old masters, when they sat at the keyboard of an organ and devised these compositions in honour of the Creator.
Josef-Stefan Kindler
he Great Buergy Organ of 1787 in Bad Homburg Castle Church dates back to those eventful times at the end of the 18th century. At that time, there lived in the little town of Homburg, seat of the Landgraves, a superb organ maker from Switzerland by the name of Johann Conrad Buergy (1721 - 1792). He received a commission from the Protestant-Lutheran Church Convent to build what was to be his greatest masterpiece. With 38 stops distributed over three manuals and pedals, this organ is a magnificent example of Central German organ building in the style documented as being preferred by Johann Sebastian Bach because of its distinctive sound. The effulgence of the organ takes on something of the Northern German tradition without neglecting the tonic keynotes found in Southern German organ building.
With its many registers, the organ offers a wide variety of wonderfully different sounds, ranging from exquisite solo voices of remarkable colour to a majestic tutti with striking bass tones. It is therefore equally suited to interpreting Baroque or Pre-Baroque works, classical compositions or selected pieces from the Romantic era, or indeed, even modern music. An unusual feature of the organ is its echo chamber: the wind chests and the pipes of this section of the instrument are hidden in the lower part of the organ housing, so that the tones are not directed straight into the church, but diverted though various byways, thus sounding remote and almost echo-like - an effect very popular in Baroque music, which was later continued with the remote consoles of Romantic organs.
The impressive sound is accompanied by opulent visuals: the artistic back-drop of pipes, which fills the entire rear space above the first gallery right up to under the church ceiling, forms a striking counterpart to the choir section facing it, framed by two rows of windows. These bathe the interior of the church in a warm glow of light that was nearly lost in the course of the changing history of the castle. For, with the dwindling influence of the Landgraves, the organ rapidly fell into disrepair. After only 90 years, its use was discontinued and it was later dismantled. All that remained were the housing and the bellows and - for a short time - the tin flue pipes, until these were melted down during the 1st World War. However, 200 years after its commemoration, two lucky coincidences made it possible to restore the organ to its original glory: Johann Conrad Buergy had a journeyman by the name of Johann Georg Foerster, who was to become one of the founders of Foerster & Nicolaus, the world-renowned and respected Hesse firm of organ builders. Buergy's knowledge of the art of organ making has been handed down in this company until today. In the 1980s, the devoted citizens of Bad Homburg who were members of the Board of Trustees of the Bad Homburg Castle Church succeeded in having not just the church building restored to its original splendour, but the Great Buergy Organ of 1789 as well. And what could have been more natural than to entrust this demanding task to Foerster & Nicolaus, who duly completed it in 1989?
Today you can admire the organ in all its glory - as one of the few remaining testimonies to the style of organ building in the classical era. Its distinctive sound and remarkably broad range have been captured fully on this CD for the very first time.
View more releases with works by
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
lrike Northoff, the internationally active concert organist, received her training at the School for Church Music in Esslingen near Stuttgart. After being awarded her diploma in church music, she continued her music education by specialising in organ studies at the Heidelberg School for Church Music. At the same time, she was actively participating in numerous master classes held by prominent organists (Prof. Bossert, Prof. Radulescu, Prof. Ruebsam). Since then, she has taken up an active concert career, performing on historical and modern organs in major churches all over Europe. She has given solo recitals in places such as the Marien-Cathedral in Riga, where she performed on the biggest Romantic organ in the world - the famous Walcker Organ. She has also played several times in Meissen Cathedral, one of the most important historical monuments in Germany. She is a regular guest at celebrated international organ festivals in, for example, the Polish city of Krakow or at Brno in the Czech Republic and Vilnius in Lithuania. Ulrike Northoff has given organ recitals in famous churches in Basel, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg as well as at important concert venues in Germany, including the Solitude Palace outside Stuttgart, the Stiftskirche in Tuebingen and several times at the Hoechster Orgelsommer festival in Frankfurt. Reviewers stress her 'palpable joy in playing' (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). She brings a 'rare freshness and vibrancy to the organ' (Stuttgarter Nachrichten). In addition to her solo concerts, Ulrike Northoff regularly appears in 'Organ Plus' programmes with musicians from the Hesse Radio Orchestra as well as with other soloists from Germany and elsewhere, winning acclaim for her 'delicate and adaptable accompaniment' (Frankfurter Rundschau). After several years as full-time cantor and music director in Bad Homburg, in 2001 Ulrike Northoff became the artistic director of the concert series 'Musik im Schloss' ('Music in the Castle'). Since 2006, as part of this series, she started the international Bad Homburg festival, 'Orgelsommer im Schloss' ('Summer with the Organ in the Castle').
Series & Edition
Music that is new, pieces worth listening to and well worth conserving, little treasures from the traditional and the avantgarde - music that is unimaginable anywhere else but in the hotbed of Europe - we capture these in our Castle Concerts Series of recordings in their original settings in cooperation with Volker Northoff.
Andreas Otto Grimminger & Josef-Stefan Kindler, K&K Verlagsanstalt
View more releases:
Music Periods » Early Music [500-1750] » Baroque [1600-1750]
Music Periods » Romanticism [1780-1910]
A fine compilation
This fine compilation of show stopping organ works is done full justice by the imposing Bad Homburg Church Organ played with relish and gusto by Ulrike Northoff. Starting off with Bach, appropriately enough, she gives a titanic interpretation of the 'Great' Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542.
The rarely heard Sonata by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel also comes across quite nicely as does an interesting discovery by Christian Rinck, a rather obscure name whose Concerto for organ (originally for flute) certainly warrants some attention. We finally conclude with some Mendelssohn, his fourth sonata which comes across very well played indeed. K&K's presentation is quite excellent with expansive notes and some very striking photographs. The sound is very vivid and immediate although some boom is also detected due to the large, cavernous acoustic.
Gerald Fenech on Classical Net
Awarded by Qobuz with the HI-RES AUDIO
Genres & Styles:
Genres & Gattungen:
Genres: Classical Music Instrumental Concertos, Sonatas & Serenades Chamber Music Organ Music Baroque Music (c.1600-1750) Romantic Era (c.1780-1910)
Longplay Music Albums & CDs:
Longplay-Musikalben & CDs:
Catalog: Bach Longplay Music Albums & CDs Organ Music Chamber Music Mendelssohn
Performers, Series & Composers:
Künstler, Reihen & Komponisten:
ArtistsSeriesComposers: Authentic Classical Concerts BACH, J.S. BACH, C.P.E. Castle Concerts Ulrike Northoff MENDELSSOHN
Periods, Specials & Formats:
Epochen, Specials & Formate:
Genres_Specials: Early Music [500-1750] Awarded by Qobuz Early Music » Baroque [1600-1750] Music from the Romantic Period [1780-1910] Releases available in Hi-Res/HD Audio Releases available in Apple Digital Master
Release Type: CDs Longplay Music Albums
Write a new review
13. September 2017 - 18:47 — kuk-art.com
A fine compilation...
25. February 2016 - 16:12 — kuk-art.com
The rarely heard Sonata by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel also comes across quite nicely as does an interesting discovery by Christian Rinck, a rather obscure name whose Concerto for organ (originally for flute) certainly warrants some attention. We finally conclude with some Mendelssohn, his fourth sonata which comes across very well played indeed.
K&K's presentation is quite excellent with expansive notes and some very striking photographs. The sound is very vivid and immediate although some boom is also detected due to the large, cavernous acoustic.
Copyright of all content by Josef-Stefan Kindler & Andreas Otto Grimminger, K&K Verlagsanstalt Germany. All rights are reserved.
Images, themes and file downloads are for private use only. Please contact us, if you wish to publish our content via other sources.
Das Copyright für alle Inhalte liegt bei Josef-Stefan Kindler & Andreas Otto Grimminger, K&K Verlagsanstalt. Alle Rechte sind vorbehalten.
Bilder und Downloads sind nur für private Zwecke vorgesehen. Schreiben Sie uns bitte, wenn Sie Inhalte dieser Seiten verwenden oder auf anderen Plattformen verbreiten wollen.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Home featured madalasa sharma hot punjabi film patiala dreams punjabi-film-2014 punjabi-film-articles sardar-sohi-films sarwar ahuja Why Patiala Dreamz is a must watch and Why not?
Why Patiala Dreamz is a must watch and Why not?
It has new star cast, actually they are not Punjabi at all, what kind of Punjabi they will speak. Even I can't digest the dialogues of Neeru Bajwa or Surween Chawla and many others. Ashmit Patel was terrible. Minisha Lamba haye rabb ji!!!
From promos it looks like that film is shot on some old school technology. It can be said for every other Punjabi film, except few big budget Punjabi films.
Music is not so catchy that it can hook me up to cinema.
First the storyline, it is not the same formula stand up comedy show on silver screen. It feels like I will be going to watch a story not the star faces who look and do exactly same in their each and every film.
After long time a suspense thriller film has come up in Punjabi cinema. If I am not wrong Sukhminder Dhanjal's Lagda Ishq Ho Gya staring Roshan Prince was the first in this genre in new era of Punjabi Cinema.
Though star cast is new for Punjabi cinema but they are already established actors of Hindi television, cinema and south films. Moreover they have tried their best to get into Punjabi character. They have learned the language to deliver perfectly but I think perfection is not a one take shot. I feel they have done enough as first timers.
And for your kind information Madalasa Sharma has promised to learn Punjabi till her next Punjabi film in a television interview. You love Katrina from the very first day when even she can't utter a single Hindi sound. Thus I think Madalasa deserves the same courtesy.
My khabari has poked in my ear that Sarwar was inquiring about Punjabi theater groups, I feel he is seriously thinking to learn Punjabi language as well as how Punjabis act, oh!!! I mean actually live, so that he can portray their characters well.
Biggest thing they are ACTORS Punjabiyo!!! Not singers who slipped in to actors' shoes after waking up from a nightmare. This should be the biggest reason if you really want to see more actors coming into Punjabi cinema.
Moreover what you think about our Punjabi girls working in south films? Are they speaking perfect Punjabi? Let's welcome this exchange. Punjabi Girls in Southern cinema and a southern starlet in Punjabi cinema. What an 'exchange-ful' idea sir ji!!! Even our Rahul Dev and Sonu Sood are star villains there.
The last and the most trust worthy feather in my cap is Sardar Sohi. Who will like to miss this anaconda performance by the finest actor? He blows the mind when he says 'sapolia hun naag bann chukkeya'. Hollywood can feel jealous that we have our own real anaconda in Punjabi cinema, the anaconda of acting.
It might have more loopholes and much more positive things which you and me can find out only after watching it. But for the time being, these nosy and hearty ideas are boggling my mind from many days. Please help me to decide before Patiala Dreams go away. Tell me if you have watched it or going to watch it. Do tell me, even if you are not thinking about Patiala Dreams at all. I know you won't tell me.


text:
namespace Poco {
namespace XML {

class Locator;
class Attributes;

class XML_API ContentHandler
	/// Receive notification of the logical content of a document.
	///
	/// This is the main interface that most SAX applications implement: if the
	/// application needs to be informed of basic parsing events, it implements
	/// this interface and registers an instance with the SAX parser using the setContentHandler
	/// method. The parser uses the instance to report basic document-related events
	/// like the start and end of elements and character data.
	///
	/// The order of events in this interface is very important, and mirrors the
	/// order of information in the document itself. For example, all of an element's
	/// content (character data, processing instructions, and/or subelements) will
	/// appear, in order, between the startElement event and the corresponding endElement
	/// event.
	///
	/// This interface is similar to the now-deprecated SAX 1.0 DocumentHandler
	/// interface, but it adds support for Namespaces and for reporting skipped
	/// entities (in non-validating XML processors).
	/// Receive notification of the logical content of a document.
{
public:
	virtual void setDocumentLocator(const Locator* loc) = 0;
		/// Receive an object for locating the origin of SAX document events.
		///
		/// SAX parsers are strongly encouraged (though not absolutely required) to
		/// supply a locator: if it does so, it must supply the locator to the application
		/// by invoking this method before invoking any of the other methods in the
		/// ContentHandler interface.
		///
		/// The locator allows the application to determine the end position of any
		/// document-related event, even if the parser is not reporting an error. Typically,
		/// the application will use this information for reporting its own errors (such
		/// as character content that does not match an application's business rules).
		/// The information returned by the locator is probably not sufficient for use
		/// with a search engine.
		///
		/// Note that the locator will return correct information only during the invocation
		/// SAX event callbacks after startDocument returns and before endDocument is
		/// called. The application should not attempt to use it at any other time.

	virtual void startDocument() = 0;
		/// Receive notification of the beginning of a document.
		///
		/// The SAX parser calls this function one time before calling all other
		/// functions of this class (except SetDocumentLocator).

	virtual void endDocument() = 0;
		/// Receive notification of the end of a document.
		///
		/// The SAX parser will invoke this method only once, and it will be the last
		/// method invoked during the parse. The parser shall not invoke this method
		/// until it has either abandoned parsing (because of an unrecoverable error)
		/// or reached the end of input.

	virtual void startElement(const XMLString& uri, const XMLString& localName, const XMLString& qname, const Attributes& attrList) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of the beginning of an element.
		///
		/// The Parser will invoke this method at the beginning of every element in
		/// the XML document; there will be a corresponding endElement event for every
		/// startElement event (even when the element is empty). All of the element's
		/// content will be reported, in order, before the corresponding endElement
		/// event.
		///
		/// This event allows up to three name components for each element:
		///    1. the Namespace URI;
		///    2. the local name; and
		///    3. the qualified (prefixed) name.
		///
		/// Any or all of these may be provided, depending on the values of the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces
		/// and the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes properties:
		///     * the Namespace URI and local name are required when the namespaces
		///       property is true (the default), and are optional when the namespaces property
		///       is false (if one is specified, both must be);
		///     * the qualified name is required when the namespace-prefixes property
		///       is true, and is optional when the namespace-prefixes property is false (the
		///       default).
		///
		/// Note that the attribute list provided will contain only attributes with
		/// explicit values (specified or defaulted): #IMPLIED attributes will be omitted.
		/// The attribute list will contain attributes used for Namespace declarations
		/// (xmlns* attributes) only if the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes
		/// property is true (it is false by default, and support for a true value is
		/// optional).
		///
		/// Like characters(), attribute values may have characters that need more than
		/// one char value.

	virtual void endElement(const XMLString& uri, const XMLString& localName, const XMLString& qname) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of the end of an element.
		///
		/// The SAX parser will invoke this method at the end of every element in the
		/// XML document; there will be a corresponding startElement event for every
		/// endElement event (even when the element is empty).
		///
		/// For information on the names, see startElement.

	virtual void characters(const XMLChar ch[], int start, int length) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of character data.
		///
		/// The Parser will call this method to report each chunk of character data.
		/// SAX parsers may return all contiguous character data in a single chunk,
		/// or they may split it into several chunks; however, all of the characters
		/// in any single event must come from the same external entity so that the
		/// Locator provides useful information.
		///
		/// The application must not attempt to read from the array outside of the specified
		/// range.
		///
		/// Individual characters may consist of more than one XMLChar value. There
		/// are three important cases where this happens, because characters can't be
		/// represented in just sixteen bits. In one case, characters are represented
		/// in a Surrogate Pair, using two special Unicode values. Such characters are
		/// in the so-called "Astral Planes", with a code point above U+FFFF. A second
		/// case involves composite characters, such as a base character combining with
		/// one or more accent characters. And most important, if XMLChar is a plain
		/// char, characters are encoded in UTF-8.
		///
		/// Your code should not assume that algorithms using char-at-a-time idioms
		/// will be working in character units; in some cases they will split characters.
		/// This is relevant wherever XML permits arbitrary characters, such as attribute
		/// values, processing instruction data, and comments as well as in data reported
		/// from this method. It's also generally relevant whenever C++ code manipulates
		/// internationalized text; the issue isn't unique to XML.
		///
		/// Note that some parsers will report whitespace in element content using the
		/// ignorableWhitespace method rather than this one (validating parsers must
		/// do so).

	virtual void ignorableWhitespace(const XMLChar ch[], int start, int length) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of ignorable whitespace in element content.
		///
		/// Validating Parsers must use this method to report each chunk of whitespace
		/// in element content (see the W3C XML 1.0 recommendation, section 2.10): non-validating
		/// parsers may also use this method if they are capable of parsing and using
		/// content models.
		///
		/// SAX parsers may return all contiguous whitespace in a single chunk, or they
		/// may split it into several chunks; however, all of the characters in any
		/// single event must come from the same external entity, so that the Locator
		/// provides useful information.
		///
		/// The application must not attempt to read from the array outside of the specified
		/// range.

	virtual void processingInstruction(const XMLString& target, const XMLString& data) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of a processing instruction.
		///
		/// The Parser will invoke this method once for each processing instruction
		/// found: note that processing instructions may occur before or after the main
		/// document element.
		///
		/// A SAX parser must never report an XML declaration (XML 1.0, section 2.8)
		/// or a text declaration (XML 1.0, section 4.3.1) using this method.
		///
		/// Like characters(), processing instruction data may have characters that
		/// need more than one char value.

	virtual void startPrefixMapping(const XMLString& prefix, const XMLString& uri) = 0;
		/// Begin the scope of a prefix-URI Namespace mapping.
		///
		/// The information from this event is not necessary for normal Namespace processing:
		/// the SAX XML reader will automatically replace prefixes for element and attribute
		/// names when the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces feature is true (the
		/// default).
		///
		/// There are cases, however, when applications need to use prefixes in character
		/// data or in attribute values, where they cannot safely be expanded automatically;
		/// the start/endPrefixMapping event supplies the information to the application
		/// to expand prefixes in those contexts itself, if necessary.
		///
		/// Note that start/endPrefixMapping events are not guaranteed to be properly
		/// nested relative to each other: all startPrefixMapping events will occur
		/// immediately before the corresponding startElement event, and all endPrefixMapping
		/// events will occur immediately after the corresponding endElement event,
		/// but their order is not otherwise guaranteed.
		///
		/// There should never be start/endPrefixMapping events for the "xml" prefix,
		/// since it is predeclared and immutable.

	virtual void endPrefixMapping(const XMLString& prefix) = 0;
		/// End the scope of a prefix-URI mapping.
		///
		/// See startPrefixMapping for details. These events will always occur immediately
		/// after the corresponding endElement event, but the order of endPrefixMapping
		/// events is not otherwise guaranteed.

	virtual void skippedEntity(const XMLString& name) = 0;
		/// Receive notification of a skipped entity. This is not called for entity
		/// references within markup constructs such as element start tags or markup
		/// declarations. (The XML recommendation requires reporting skipped external
		/// entities. SAX also reports internal entity expansion/non-expansion, except
		/// within markup constructs.)
		///
		/// The Parser will invoke this method each time the entity is skipped. Non-validating
		/// processors may skip entities if they have not seen the declarations (because,
		/// for example, the entity was declared in an external DTD subset). All processors
		/// may skip external entities, depending on the values of the http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities
		/// and the http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities properties.

protected:
	virtual ~ContentHandler();
};

} } // namespace Poco::XML

#endif // SAX_ContentHandler_INCLUDED

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home Compass | Go and Do Photography exhibit on display through July
Photography exhibit on display through July
By CONTRIBUTED
Sally Paulson will exhibit original works from her "Impressions of Provence" series in the St. Johns Cultural Council's next Art in Public Places exhibit.
The show will be in the Rotunda Gallery at the St. Johns County Administration Building through July 22.
Paulson grew up in Pennsylvania but has spent most of her life at the beaches in Florida. She was given her first camera by her grandmother, an artist and a teacher, who encouraged her to have fun taking photos, and also helped her explore many different forms of visual art.
Since 2003, Paulson has spent considerable time every summer in the south of France, which has inspired her to look at everyday life and to share her impressions through her photography. She is an Artist Member of The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach.
The "Impressions of Provence" exhibition features 38 photographic works taken in many of the small villages and surrounding areas in the south of France. The photos show everyday life such as the vegetable markets, the cafés, the interesting doors and windows, and especially the lavender and sunflower fields — all seen in summer. The photos have been slightly manipulated digitally, adding layers and texture to create a "painterly" look.
Located at 500 San Sebastian View off of U.S. 1 North, the St. Johns County Administration Building is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday–Friday.
The Art in Public Places project is made possible, in part, through support by the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners.
The St. Johns Cultural Council is funded in part by a grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the State of the Arts License Plate funds and with the support of The St. Johns County Tourist Development Council and through the support of stakeholders.
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EL GALEÓN & NAO VICTORIA IN ST. AUGUSTINE


Whether you are planning a corporate event, private event or a group visit, Fox Meadow Winery has the venue that provides a "Country Elegant Location" for your special occasion.
The winery is located on top of Blue Mountain and overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains. It provides a perfect backdrop for enjoying the exceptional combination of a vineyard setting with a facility that is warm, gracious and romantic.
There are several areas that can be reserved to provide your party a special wine experience. For all of our rental space you will have an incredible 40 to 50 mile vista to enjoy while visiting the winery.
o Rental of entire facility for an 8 hour period of time.


(Reuters) - Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and U.S. Open this year, was nominated for the PGA Tour Player of the Year award on Monday along with Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Francesco Molinari.
The 28-year-old Koepka, who in June became the first U.S. Open champion in 29 years to retain his title and held off Tiger Woods in August to claim the PGA, will be a strong contender to win his first Player of the Year award.
The American faces competition from Englishman Rose, who on Sunday clinched the FedExCup and won two of the 18 events he entered this year.
World number one Johnson had three wins in 20 events with 12 top-10 finishes and 19 made cuts to earn the nomination for the award he won in 2016.
Last year's Player of the Year Thomas won three of the 23 events he entered this season and recorded 10 top-10 finishes among 21 made cuts.
DeChambeau, who won three events and had nine top-10 finishes and Italian Molinari, who won two events and had five top-10 finishes, are also in the mix for the award.
Voting for the honor, known as the Jack Nicklaus Award, will close on Oct. 1, with the winners announced that week.
Austin Cook, Japan's Satoshi Kodaira, Keith Mitchell, Chile's Joaquin Niemann and Aaron Wise were the five nominees for the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award.
Both awards are determined by a vote among PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official money events during the 2017-18 season eligible to participate.