Still Alive
This article is about the song. For the game, see Portal: Still Alive. |
| |
| Still Alive | |
|---|---|
| Release |
October 10, 2007 |
| Genre | |
| Length |
2:56 |
| Singer | |
| Writer | |
| Featured on | |
"Still Alive"[1] is a song featured in Portal. It is sung from the perspective of GLaDOS and used as the song that runs over the game's end credits. It was written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS.[2]
Contents
Overview[edit]
While the song is played, the lyrics are displayed on the left of the screen as a letter written by GLaDOS to Chell, with other words not featured in the song, the words being written at the same time they are sung. On the right of the screen, the game credits roll, and under it logos of words related to the song lyrics displayed in ASCII art follow each other, such as the Aperture Science logo, the Black Mesa logo, a fire or a piece of cake. The lyrics consists of "Forms" similar to the ones used for the Enrichment Center Test Subject Application Process on ApertureScience.com: the first verse is titled "FORM-29827281-12: Test Assessment Report" ("Want You Gone" from Portal 2 is "FORM-29827281-12-2"), the second verse is titled "FORM-55551-5: Personnel File Addendum", and the bridge / third verse is titled "FORM-55551-6: Personnel File Addendum Addendum". The postscripts do not belong to a form.
Although her physical form was comprehensively destroyed by Chell at the end of Portal, "Still Alive" suggests that GLaDOS is still functional, is "not even angry" at Chell for what she has done, and considers the monitoring of her performance through the Test Chambers a "huge success" for those who are "still alive". This is confirmed in Portal 2, where GLaDOS is indeed still "alive" and forces Chell to resume her tests.
History and recording[edit]
The idea of having a song in Portal during the credits was inspired by God Hand, one of Erik Wolpaw's all time favorite games.[3]
Jonathan Coulton got involved with Valve after two developers approached him following a concert in Seattle. They asked him if he would like to write music for the company, and due to his fandom for the Half-Life series, he immediately accepted. After discussing what they should do, he and the developers settled on working on Portal. He stated that GLaDOS' passive-aggressive nature, which he shared, made it difficult to get her voice out of his head. When asked why more video games do not end in song, he stated that while movies are easier to convey with a story, it is more difficult to do in video games. As a result, GLaDOS singing after the player has grown accustomed to her, and appears very natural.[4] Kim Swift explained that they chose to play "Still Alive" during the ending so that players would leave the game happy.[5]
Reception[edit]
The song received significant praise for its humor and the quality of its performance. The Rice Thresher editor Joe Dwyer called the song "hilarious".[6] IGN editor Ryan Geddes called it the best game-ending song of all time.[7] Ellen McLain felt that Jonathan Coulton did a good job capturing GLaDOS with the song.[8]
In 2008, Coulton performed the song alongside Felicia Day at the Penny Arcade Expo, because he "knew it was one of those things that would just make people's heads explode". The song was also performed at the 2009 Press Start -Symphony of Games-, a yearly Japanese concert event to showcase the musical works of video games. "Still Alive" is the first Western song to be performed at the show, which included a Japanese translation by Kazushige Nojima, writer for several Final Fantasy games, and arrangement for the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Given the minimal exposure of Portal in Japan, Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Nintendo's Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, demonstrated the game to the audience prior to the performance.[9][10]
Versions[edit]
"Still Alive" is featured on the Portal soundtrack and The Orange Box Original Soundtrack. The latter contains both the original version and the version sung by Coulton himself on the same instrumental track.[11] The latter version is included on Coulton's 2011 album Artificial Heart, along with his rendition of "Want You Gone".
An upbeat, instrumental easy listening / Latin instrumental version of Still Alive can be heard on 85.2 FM on the radios dotting the Enrichment Center. The in-game closed captions describes the track as "[Peppy Music]". In the early stages of the game's production (2005), the stock merengue instrumental "Mirame" was used as a placeholder. It was first used by Valve in the Counter-Strike: Source map Inferno, and is also featured in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Its other appearances include Aperture Hand Lab and Valve's promotional video "Steam Remote Play Together".
In Rock Band[edit]
In 2008, "Still Alive" was featured as a free downloadable song in multiple games in the Rock Band series for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, including Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band Unplugged[12][13][14] to thank players for supporting the series.[15] After complaints about Rock Band Unplugged's version not being free, this was rectified and anyone who paid for it had their money refunded.[16] The Rock Band version is performed by Jonathan Coulton and three others.[17]
Trivia[edit]
- During the song, GLaDOS' formant is higher than it usually is, sounding at around the same formant as a Sentry Turret.
- In Team Fortress 2, "Still Alive" is one of the possible names for a bot.
- Black Mesa is mentioned by GLaDOS during this song.
Lyrics[edit]
The following lyrics are displayed as in the Portal credits, with the same text and background colors, and a similar font. The additional, unsung quotes are brighter; the lyrics not appearing on screen are darker.
|
Forms FORM-29827281-12: |
ASCII art[edit]
The following is all ASCII art that appears in the bottom right of the credits, in order of first appearance. There are also various pieces of ASCII art that go unused in the credits.txt and, by proxy, in the ending credits' ASCII art section.
Aperture logo[edit]
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Radiation[edit]
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Broken heart[edit]
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Black Mesa logo[edit]
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Cake[edit]
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GLaDOS[edit]
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Radio (Unused)[edit]
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Companion Cube (Unused)[edit]
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Lightbulb (Unused)[edit]
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Mech Arm (Unused)[edit]
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Personality Sphere (Unused)[edit]
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Gallery[edit]
Screenshot of the Portal end credits, featuring the credits, the "Still Alive" lyrics and related images, here with a nuclear symbol.
Ditto, with a heart symbol, also featured in the icon of the "Heartbreaker" Achievement.
Ditto, with a fire symbol.
Ditto, again with a science symbol.
Ditto, with the Black Mesa logo.
Ditto, with a piece of cake, also featured in the icon of the "Vanilla Crazy Cake" Achievement.
Ditto, with GLaDOS' "head".
Ditto, again with a nuclear symbol.
Ditto, with an explosion symbol.
Postscripts, with a reversed Aperture Science logo.
Thanks, again with a reversed Aperture Science logo.
References[edit]
- ↑ Portal credits
- ↑ Game Music Showdown: Mirror's Edge Vs. Portal. IGN (2008-10-22). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Chell Almost Married A Turret In Portal 2 on Game Informer (September 1, 2012) (archived)
- ↑ Portal: Thank you for the Music. Computer and Video Games (2007-12-28). Retrieved on 2009-08-24.
- ↑ Best Of GDC: The Secrets Of Portal's Huge Success. Gamasutra (2008-02-27). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Mirror's Edge remix a good listen. The Rice Thresher (2008-11-14). Retrieved on 2009-08-24.
- ↑ On the DLC: A Man Named Angus. IGN (2008-04-04). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ GLaDOS Speaks. IGN (2007-10-31). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Jeriaska (2009-09-02). Interview: Jonathan Coulton On 'Still Alive', PAX Style. Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2009-09-02.
- ↑ Jeriaska (2009-08-10). Sound Current: 2009 Press Start Symphony of Games Concert Report. Game Set Watch. Retrieved on 2009-08-10.
- ↑ The Orange Box Original Soundtrack released on Steam. Music 4 Games (2007-12-24). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ PSN Update (04.17.08). IGN (2008-04-17). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Classics from Bowie, The Police, and Others Launch in Wii Rock Band Music Store. IGN (2009-05-26). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Rock Band Unplugged DLC Showdown (07.02.09). IGN (2009-07-02). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Portal Song 'Still Alive' Coming to Rock Band. IGN (20098-03-31). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Rock Band Unplugged Refund. IGN (2009-07-16). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Jonathan Coulton performs "Still Alive" in Rock Band. Ars Technica (2008-02-25). Retrieved on 2009-08-25.
External links[edit]
Portal end credits video on YouTube- Jonathan Coulton Sings "Still Alive" on YouTube
- "Still Alive" at JoCopedia, the Jonathan Coulton wiki
- "Still Alive" (Live) at Jonathan Coulton's SoundCloud
