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Under a Twisted Sky's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #2 | 4.413 | 4.413 |
| Overall | #5 | 4.361 | 4.361 |
| Quality | #5 | 4.587 | 4.587 |
| Impression | #8 | 4.283 | 4.283 |
| Composition | #13 | 4.348 | 4.348 |
| Correlation to theme | #16 | 4.174 | 4.174 |
Ranked from 46 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Cover art is by Acid Burritos
I made all the tracks in Logic Pro X. I made all my own sounds using synths like Phase Plant, Vital, Polygon 2, and Palindrome. I used both Orchestral Tools and Spitfire Audio Libraries for some of the Orchestral bits. Some notable gear I used: An old barely functioning 70s Lowrey Organ, a Handmade Human Resistance synthesizer (not as cool as it sounds), a Venezuelan Cuatro, and a Tascam Portastudio 414 for interesting resampling.
You play as a girl who is forced to run away from her home in the midst of a cataclysmic event. Her village finds itself in the center of a bizarre anomaly but no one does anything about it as if they can't even tell that it's there. There are no evacuations and the people live their lives as they would in any normal situation. But this is no normal situation. A few days after the anomaly appears change is evident. Rain begins falling up from the soil instead of falling from the sky, structures of salt and glass form from the old townsfolk, and the air became warm and moist like the breath of an animal. Eventually, the anomaly destroys the town in one night. The only things left are the odd salt and glass structures of what used to be townsfolk, the main character, and a baby who the main character decides to take care of since there are no other survivors. You explore different areas of a world that is falling apart at it's seams, searching for a new home and an answer to what is going on.
Track 1 - Comfort of Solitude: You find no traces of anybody. Your only company is a baby who isn't old enough to even speak. You still, somehow, are able to find comfort in this world. It's peaceful, there are still forests, there are still mountains, rivers, lakes, and meadows. All is not lost, there is still beauty in this world.
Track 2 - The Seaside Watchers: You come across the ocean. It's vastness is almost intimidating. You enjoy yourself watching the baby play in with the sand until something catches your eye. Three almost human-like beings in the distance floating high in the air above the water. They don't seem to be a threat but their uncanny presence is enough to prompt your departure.
Track 3 - It Writhes: (boss encounter) While walking in the woods the air suddenly becomes heavy. The baby starts to cry. Shadows creep in and the moon disappears leaving you in a dark void. A massive ground-bound creature begins pulling itself towards you. Every time you get a glimpse of it's head you see a different face of someone you knew. It's numerous arms that were scattered around it's torso dragged a long, twisting, fleshy, scale-less, snake-like body along the ground. Voices and screams come in from all sides. Some warn you, some beckon for you to come closer, all you want is to get out.
Track 4 - They Touch the Skies: You and the baby take a long deserved break. You find a nice patch of grass and relax. You become startled when the patch of grass begins rising into the air. Unknowingly, you sat on an animal you've never seen before. It continues to rise up and up until it reaches the clouds. You look around and see several other tall thin creatures with big heads that are covered in grass. Eventually the animal finds a new place to settle down and lowers itself back to the ground, you take the opportunity to get off the creature and on to steady ground. From now on you takes rests on rocks.
Track 5 - Plains to Cross: You arrive at what seems to be an endless sea of grass. Unsure of what direction to go in you ask the baby. The baby says nothing. You decide just follow the sun and hope for the best.
Track 6 - I Saw Him in a Nightmare: You reach the end of the plains and reach a small settlement. You find a place to stay for the night and drift off to sleep and begin dreaming. The dream quickly turns into a nightmare. You see everyone in the settlement dead. The ground is covered in blood. Suddenly you're in an flat open space that's covered by a thin layer of water. The sun is setting coating everything in a deep reddish orange. There is nothing but water and sky as far as the eye can see, but you notice something. A man standing at a distance. As soon as you notice him he runs up to you and grabs your face. You suddenly see visions of pillars of salt and glass, land splitting in half, water and fire consuming the earth, and finally, a vision of you falling. The dream ends abruptly and throws you into a panic. You run outside only to see the same anomaly that plagued your town floating gently above the settlement. You rush around town trying to warn people about the anomaly but they all look at you like you're crazy. None of them can see it. You realize that you can't stay in this small town anymore as it isn't safe. You and the baby leave the town and go back into the wilderness to hopefully find a way to put an end to all this chaos or ignore it and let it eat away at the world while you hide behind your own fear.
Message from the artist:
Had a lot of fun trying to wrangle my ideas into something
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
The character is a forced runaway, they had to flee their home because it was destroyed by a life threatening anomaly. I took inspiration from the picture theme to set "It Writhes" in a dark forest and have the main character be traveling with a baby.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/twitchywhalez-247822379/sets/under-a-twisted-sky-ost?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoZq5D0TNLrAqkc1Cf5gSKQxm173usQPM
Bandcamp: https://twitchywhalez.bandcamp.com/album/under-a-twisted-sky
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Comments
Here's the late, late review ^^ (sorry I'm in the wilderness, in a campsite with awful signal haha). Well, all I can say is that I got sucked both by the story you told about these salt statues, and this beautiful blend of digital ambient with an orchestral twist ! You seem to enjoy using white noise as both a component and diegetic element of your composition style, which is neat. An inspiring work, maybe even my fave so far.
Thank you, I definitely like white noise (however I need to start thinking of some ways of spicing it up so it doesn't get stale, I don't want to over use it too much). I hope you have a great time in the wilderness!
I really love this submission; It's probably one of my favourites. You've really conveyed a wonderful ambiance with these tracks. It has such a vividly sorrowful but hauntingly beautiful atmosphere. Some of these pieces genuinely gave me chills.
I think the track "They Touch The Skies" was my favourite. I can't really describe it, but it struck a chord with me and I found it really moving.
Well done!
Thank you so much!
You're welcome! Thank you for sharing your music!
Very impressive work with sounds and ambient - especially with "weighty" sounds. I like the "weird" atmosphere you've created along with the story. My Favorite is the "Plains to Cross", very soothing.
Btw, were you inspired by Death Stranding regarding the story? :) Maybe just a coincidence, but I'm seeing a lot of similarities.
Thank you! I think that it was probably a coincidence but now that I think about it I do see a similarity between the Seaside Watchers description and one of the Death Stranding trailers but that’s all that I can think of. That track description was mostly inspired by a Jack Stauber animation but there’s a good chance there was some subconscious influence from Death Stranding as well.
Wow! This is beautiful! The story is very intriguing, and the set-pieces described are incredibly varied and evocative. And the music to go with it is amazing! They all fit perfectly with the scenarios (the names are really cool as well). My favorite is “It Writhes.” The image created from both the music and the description is terrifying in the best way!
Thank you!
I'm so impressed that you've made all the synths yourself! Love the tracks too, great contrasts and very dramatic. Nice work!
Thank you, I had a lot of fun making them!
I like those inserts where the synths grow to a crescendo. Reminds me of Stranger Things. Definitely gives a great kick to the otherwise background-y sound. I Saw Him in a Nightmare is very creepy with those whispering voices. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for listening!
Comfort of solitude has a great explosion at 1:11, I love it! It feels a bit like Interstellar's soundtrack, in a good way of course. Nice combination of sounds! I could hear some tape saturation or noise in the first track that created a strong atmosphere.
Thank you! I love Interstellar’s soundtrack
This is by far your best creation in my opinion, it really is crazy how you've improved, your skill with taming saturation, delay and reverb really is impressive and something I'm definitely walking towards. But more than just a beautiful sound design soundtrack, this was just an amazing composition experience and it was so pleasant to listen to! Not even mentioning all the story you developed around this which really make this whole thing feel alive.
And always with that same inspiration from Disasterpeace (you see it especially in "Plains to Cross) but you've made it your own, and that godamn sprinkler sound (yes that's what I call the tremolo effect on white noise) really is your signature on all your tracks I love it haha
Special mention to "They Touch the Sky" which gave me absolute shivers, and "Comfort of Solitude" which for me is your new "Magician's theme" meaning my new favorite track of yours.
Congratz on blowing us away again 👏
Thank you for listening to my music as long as you have! I’m always afraid of overusing the sprinkler effect (I might start calling it that too) so it’s nice to know that it’s appreciated haha. Thanks again, I’m glad you like the soundtrack
One of my favorite so far, really liked the overall tone, texture and ambience you created, super cinematic, very brassy. Well done.
Thank you, I’m glad you like it!
Holy good, these gears and you have a Tascam 8 track. I am 100% percent sure you are professional. :D
Then I started your first track. Well, well done. I really love the depth of the story that you created. I really love it. That cover art brilliant choice!
Track one: I really love the saturated sound of the whole sound. That phaser effect top on that sounds really interesting. Well done with the mix. I have not quite the best listening station to check out the quieter part.
Track two: Oh god I love this synth so much. Please tell me how you did it. This sounds exactly the same like in the Hyper Light Drifter. Oh God, I love that game so muuuuuuch! How could be this synth so rich sounded? Layering? My guess is unison and some kinda saturation. Nope, is it an analog synth with some oscillator pitch trick? I love that noise in the background. This track is huge, I love the depth of it! Those folies in the end are cool!
Track three: Is it a voice that pitched down? Oh god, my ears have an orgasm! :D I love these noise synths, I love the motion of the bass, that sometimes just gets bigger. The motion of this track is amazing. I love how a sound gets from the background and then goes back. These simple poly rythm like melodies are perfect. I am so sad it is ended so soon. But, it makes it more important feel.
Track four: I hear your Venezuelan Cuatro. I love this lofi taste. That sub synth is still amazing. Okay I have to stop just be amazed by your sound design. Just, perfect. That mixing trick is pure gold to get everything compressed. Hell yeah.
Track five: Did you write the music of hyper light drifter? and not :D this track is a pure delight too. What are you using for noise? My guess is bandpassed pink noise, maybe?
Track six: Very incredible piano melody. Oh boy this vibe to the end, is stunning.
My first idea was to type down every idea, and feeling about your work, but I couldn't. These tracks caught me so much. These are really really deep. I am shocked at how amazing this album is. I cannot believe you did this in a week. This takes, I don't know, a month or more. These sounds design, this gear porn. Amazing. I love that fact, you put this album to Bandcamp. My favorite track is "It Writhes".
The last thing, could you give me advice, on how did you create these amazing sounds in the "It Writhes" and "The Seaside watches"?
Thank you for listening and your insightful comment! I’m flattered that you think I’m a professional. Right now music and sound design is just a hobby, I just have a lot of free time and I’m lucky at tag sales. Though turning this into a profession would be a dream. Hyper Light Drifter is my favorite video game soundtrack so I’m glad that you think that I compare at all to it’s soundtrack, Disasterpeace is a big inspiration for me. The noise in track 5 is probably pink noise, I like to use pink/white noise a lot to create textures. I’m currently away from my computer but I’ll try to describe how I made the sounds in The Seaside Watchers and It Writhes.
The main synth in The Seaside Watchers is a patch I originally made in Vital but moved over to Phase Plant. The synth has 3 oscillators that are slightly detuned from each other by a few cents, a saw wave +7 cents, a pulse width -5 cents, sine wave +5 cents, and some really quiet white noise just for extra texture and grit when the synth is distorted. There is an envelope with a long attack, medium decay/sustain and long release that modulates the PW of the pulse width and two filters, one regular filter, and one ladder/analog filter that is cutting off less high end (it’s important to make sure that both filters are removing some high end at all times). There’s also slow random LFOs modulating the pitch of each individual oscillator very very very slightly. After all that just slap on some light ping pong delay for some extra movement and a big reverb (I used Valhalla Supermassive for the big reverb).
In It Writhes, the drones/background textures are orchestral clusters and sometimes breathing samples that I pitch shifted up and down with the mix knob around 30% so that some of the dry signal still comes through. The clusters are also running through a distortion, sometimes ring mod at a low frequency, and sometimes filters with a high resonance being modulated by a ramp down LFO that’s going at a speed of somewhere between 20-50 hz to make it sound watery. I’m not sure how I made the bass but I think it is a monophonic saw wave and a sine wave with legato and glide with a medium attack. The bass is heavily distorted and is automated to get more distorted at certain points. I also put a reverb on a bus and almost every sound is going through the reverb bus. The reverb bus is then side-chained to a sub boom/kick so that every now and then you get moments where suddenly everything gets quiet as the reverb disappears and then the reverb slowly comes back creating a cool breathing reverb effect.
When it comes to sound design, experimenting and messing around in a synthesizer that you are comfortable with is a great way to learn what works and what doesn’t and gain experience. Having a synth that you know your way around is like having a secret weapon.
Finally, I had the time to check and recreate your suggestions. I've never tried to mix up noise oscillators with each other. It's so much fun! That orchestra atmo/drone is amazing. A really good idea to check it out later.
I tried to recreate the bass too, but I think I need more practice because it didn't sound okay. :D I have a Korg Opsix and I am trying to learn more of it, and it's so challenging but super fun!
Thank you for your super detailed description! It's good to hear you have time for your hobby. :) I never checked actually the person behind the Hyper Light Drifter OST, but I did, and this guy is really kind and has really great ideas on his youtube page.
Have a great day, take care!
Impressive OST! Reminds me kinda creepy version of Blade Runner OST.
Thank you, I really need to watch Blade Runner
I really enjoyed your soundtrack! Very good work!
Thank you!
(Very envious of your cover... it's why I hesitated to check your stuff out for a bit. Plenty of people are going to check out this clean, polished, piece of work. And it's clean & polished in all the right ways.)
The whispers I hear in "It Writhes" 'is done so well. I wasn't sure I heard them at first... It's unsettling to this brain, unintelligible whispers. Then there's the hint of speech in "I Saw Him In a Nightmare" ...I want to know what they're saying! It must mean something! Something pretty similar to what our brave hero must also be asking herself. I do finally hear "Wake up! Wake up!" still as a whisper... Just love that little piece of character.
A great story you put so much thought in. Picturing the whole setting and how that gets portrayed in Video Game language has me very excited. Like what does that actually look like on a screen!?
Thank you for listening! Adding the little whispers was fun, since it’s barely audible (in most cases at least) I could be reading Dr. Seuss books or the Wikipedia page for the spatula and no one would know.
Even though you already have so many ratings I just had to listen to another Twitcheywhalez original and I'm glad I did. The first song was massive! Back at it again with the Hyperlight Drifter energy. And the second song had some really fun synth design. Kinda reminded me of Floating Points, a great electronic artist. And oh boy then you turn up the fright dial in the next song and in the last song. Really great job telling the story you wrote I felt like I could watch it happening as I read along to the music. Really solid entry!
Thank you so much! Hyper Light Drifter’s influence will probably follow me around in my ambient music unless I try out a different style like jazz or orchestral (that actually might be fun to try, I’ll probably have to invest in some libraries though). I’ll be sure to check out Floating Points I’m always down for learning about artists I’ve never heard of before. Thanks again, I’m glad you liked my entry!
I very much enjoyed the whole OST. Had some very cool Lo-Fi feelings to it that I loved. Your overall perspective of your story telling through music is amazing. Great job!
Thank you!
Such nice synths and sound design throughout! Enjoyed reading the story for each theme as I listened. Love how menacing I Saw Him in a Nightmare got towards the end. That one was especially immersive to me! Brilliant OST altogether.
Thank you! I Saw Him in a Nightmare was a lot of fun to work on
What an amazing soundtrack you made. Beautiful sound design and great auditory storytelling.
The opening track is already sets the stage for an amazing journey. From the intimate piano with apprehensive feeling at the start to a great crescendo that made me not only realize that something unusual was going to happen, but really feel it. Amazing.
The seaside watchers really invoked the sea. I like how the synth here feels like it's rolling in in waves, just like the ocean is. Again, great storytelling. Once again, the tune rolls into a peak that feels like it refers back to the crescendo in the opening. Is that the anomaly?
It writhes sounds exactly as advertised on the box. I can just hear that pad sound writhe like it's either under, or, exerting some immense pressure. Also really nice how the arp at the start rolls into that kick. That was a goosebumps moment for me. And at the end, again ... it feels like there's the anomaly again. Amazing storytelling in these.
They touch the skies sounds like a pivotal story moment. Like, it starts fairly mellow, but then suddenly becomes quite ominous.
Plains To Cross seems relaxing. It indeed sounds like the world is shattered. I like how this is punctuated by the strongly modulated sounds.
I Saw Him In A Nightmare feels like this nightmare is being transmitted to me through a television set, or some sort of radio device. Some really cool sound design in here with all the electronic and water-y sounds. Also that sub is very unsettling.
... from the music it seems like it was not a happy ending? ;_;
Cool cover art too.
Stellar submission. My favorite track was probably It Writhes, because of that feeling of sounds under pressure and that dark detuned arp. They Touch The Skies is a close second for me.
Thank you! I’m really glad you like “It Writhes”, I went through a roller coaster of emotions trying to make it (which probably helped it become better in the end). For around two days after I had the first draft done I didn’t like it, I wrote it in a weird mixed meter (6/8, 4/4, 7/8, 4/4, repeat) and I was really unsure if the melody/arp I made sounded any good, it took a few days for me to polish it and get the mix to a point where I liked it. “It Writhes” might be one of my favorites too now that I think about it
It's really an amazing track. It just sounds so raw. There's really something terrifying about the whole experience.
And those subtle voices that pop in and out. Beautiful.
So many details to listen to. Every time I notice new things.
Oh man... really good.
They Touch the Skies gave me goosebumps…
The entire soundtrack is a gem, all of the tracks are full of emotion and convey a story in it self, and the mixing is very well done as well. I’m always anticipating what you’ll be creating this time because of your unique style, and you’ve delivered it above and beyond. Really impressed!
You’ve been in the top 5 in almost every single jam apart from your first, but never really got that top spot yet, maybe this time you will ;)
my god this is absolutely incredible. some of the climactic parts of these tracks had me actually saying "oh my god" out loud. every single track is amazing and i love how powerful and ominous most of it feels, and i also love how u incorporated some more acoustic instruments to contrast with all the insane electronic sounds. u managed to blend these elements together so seamlessly. the quieter portions are so atmospheric and the "drop" portions r so powerful and huge and whatever other words
i went into this expecting something really good as i rlly enjoyed ur previous submissions to previous ost jams but this still completely shattered my expectations. idk if this is just my style or what but this hit so hard. the arrangement and composition was very great but jesus christ the sound design is just so good. i loved all the weird sounds and also just the synths. please teach me ur ways how do u make these sounds
finally, i also rlly liked the story u made for this whole thing, quite surreal and a bit scary. very unique and fitting for the soundtrack
11/10 honestly incredible, very very well done
Thank you for your comment! I feel like I get sucked into a self-critical spiral with my music so it’s always wild to hear that people like my music.
When it comes to sound design, as long as you know the basics, experimentation and getting your hands dirty will usually will go a long way. Even if the sounds you make are bad you are learning what doesn’t work (though honestly there can be a place for everything). A trick I use when making synths is to try to give each one its own unique character and purpose. It’s easy to get trapped in a loop of creating synths that sound the same if you aren’t careful. You can add character by subtly using white noise, slightly detuning oscillators, automation random parameters with an envelope or lfo, adding drastic effects with a low the mix knob turned low, and purposefully adding imperfections (bitcrusher with a low downsample and bit rate is good for this as well as ring modulation and FM and tape effects that change pitch). Also don’t underestimate low pass filters, they are great for adding subtle timbre changes and when modulated by a fast lfo 14-100 hz and a high filter resonance they can create a wet sounding texture. There’s much much more to it than that but that’s pretty much a general overview
thanks for the tips
Amazing and original, honestly this would fit more in an amazing hand draw animated series, it's so easy to imagine the world you created and the sounds you used are just fantastic.
I can definitely see it being a hand drawn animation as well. Thank you for listening!