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Necro Swarm - IGA June Game Jam's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Music | #5 | 3.276 | 3.714 |
| Creativity | #7 | 3.150 | 3.571 |
| Overall | #8 | 2.929 | 3.321 |
| Overall SFX | #9 | 2.646 | 3.000 |
| Fun | #11 | 2.646 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- Can't play anything from a .rar :( Hope to hear this at the closing ceremony, I'm sure it was great!
- Music - Good opening, the groove works well also. Timpani is a good instrument for the danger. A bit more CC automation would help, the repeated strokes sound like the same sample being retriggered which takes us out a bit. I think all of the figuration on the hand drum (doumbek/darbuka?) help reinforce the many numbers of creatures in the swarm. Overall the track lays in the cut a bit, I think a bit faster could help that, or an additional consistent element driving things forward a bit. At 1:56 it feels like we're about to start moving forward to an apex, which is welcome - but we don't quite reach the apex. Maybe go a bit farther before starting to remove elements? SFX - I think tonally the SFX and Music really feel like they're in the same world. The vinyl crackling is a good touch on the Den. Wall Crumbling is good, I imagine in-game this would be split into multiple impact sounds triggered randomly, but the vibe is right. It doesn't feel like "missile hit building and it collapses" it feels like "horde overruns building" Thanks!
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Comments
Super necromancery! This really captures the tone of the game, I think. It's also super cinematic and well orchestrated.
Awesome work! I really like the Necromancer's Den. That was my favorite, however, there were a lot of auditory pops and clicks within the sound. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was there! The ambiance, though, felt spot on and similar to the feel I was also going for with this challenge (dark and gritty).
The spellcast SFX was a bit too long for what I would typically think a cast would be (in terms of the tail). And the wall crumbling had a much lower fidelity (i.e. quality) compared to the other two and there was A LOT of reverb. I guess it depends on the setting cause it could definitely work in a cave setting! Awesome stuff overall :)
For some reason my computer cannot open .rar files! Could you upload .wav or .mp3 files so I can rate your submission? Sorry for the trouble.
i'm not sure I can upload files still, but I'll give it a try. Thanks for your patience!
I got it to work! Thank you for trying to figure it out for me, haha. Here is my feedback:
Your music has such a good evil and foreboding feel. I love the use of the drums and the choir vocals in the background! The layering is very good, I would just recommend doing the layer transitions a little sooner and waiting in each section for a shorter amount of time. For instance, I began to get a little lost in the drums in the beginning / it got a little stagnant. Introducing the later layers earlier would be great, and then we can get to that fantastic chime-like section sooner.
Now for the SFX. Necromancer's den was delightfully haunting. I worry however that this is more so environmental ambience than SFX, since it is not an effect that occurs with an action by the player or AI? I do not know a ton about the terminology however, so I may be wrong. The spellcasting was really cool too, but sounded a bit like a laser blast. I love the wall crumbling SFX and can picture castle fortifications falling in battle. I would recommend perhaps shortening it or cutting out the lower reverberating layers (it sounds a bit like thunder, which can be really cool if that is what you are going for).
Great work on this!
The SFX were all really long.
I would use the wall crumbling in some sort of cutscene after a fight but I couldn't imagine it coming up multiple times during combat.
The spell cast sounded very metallic and in-your-face. It would really depend on how frequently the sound is used in the game. If the player was casting spells every second or two it would need to be toned down.
The Den was good ambient background sounds to replace the music in a menu or something. There were a few pops that I wasn't sure was intentional.
Music: Your strings chords in the intro invokes Lord Of The Rings sound track vibes. I liked the buzzy synth At first it sounds like it didn't quite fit, but then I think it goes a good way to being representative of the evil magic. The shakey harmonica is just perfect- someone trying to make themselves feel better but is too scared to play it strongly. Only complaint is that I would have liked it to be able to loop (maybe it would if you chopped off the 45 second intro). This would be good music for voice acted dialogue to be on top of.
The music is great! I really liked how the piece evolved, constant motion but changing just enough to keep it from becoming monotonous, which is perfect for a game like necro swarm. For me I want a melody to hum to at some point, I felt like the melody was put into the timpani and for me this is ok, it would have been nice for it to be passed to another instrument at some point. The addition of the theremin-like synth really helped sell the spooky vibes of the game! For the sound effects, the Necromancers den really stood out to me as a great ambience. The wall crumbling was a bit too low-passed for my taste, and maybe lasted a bit long. Overall very nice work!
My thoughts --
I feel that this befits a much darker experience overall. As I said before, this gives AOE, but darker, which is a good thing in my book. Well done, and all the very best!
This is my submission. Three SFX and my vision for the Main Theme. I hope you all enjoy!
EDIT: sorry everyone! I didn't realise you could upload loose files!