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Vaelen Star's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #8 | 4.469 | 4.469 |
| Overall | #16 | 4.031 | 4.031 |
| Impression | #21 | 3.844 | 3.844 |
| Creativity | #25 | 3.875 | 3.875 |
| Correlation to theme | #25 | 4.125 | 4.125 |
| Quality | #36 | 3.844 | 3.844 |
Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
This story is set in a fantasy kingdom, under the sacred Vaelen Star, which imbues the realm with magic, and offers protection from evil. It is rumored that the Vaelen Star grants wishes to the worthy and virtuous.
Vaelen Village - Main theme, the opening scene takes place in the home village of our hero, a sleepy town under the perpetual shine of the Vaelen Star
Adventure Begins - Our hero embarks on a journey to find fallen fragments of the Vaelen Star, magical artifacts that hold not only useful powers, but the story to the hero's family history.
Vaelen Castle - Our hero is invited to an audience at the castle, with the interim steward of the realm. (Vaelen has not had a king in generations, as no candidate has passed he test and been deemed worthy by the Vaelen Star). The castle theme plays when roaming through the resplendent castle halls.
Vaelen Woods - This is a large expanse of forests, bustling with jolly and playful magical creatures of all sorts. The magical lifeforms draw their vitality from the Vaelen Star.
Dark Tidings - The Sages have identified a corrupting force that seems to diminish the brightness and power of the Vaelen Star. As the people and magical creatures of Vaelen are struck by a strange illness and a host of other misfortunes, the Sages urge our hero to redouble his efforts to find the lost star fragments. Time is of the essence!
Vaelen Crown - Long story short, our hero succeeds in recovering the star fragments and restoring power to the Vaelen Strar. He gains the Star's blessing, and people of Vaelen name him king. This is the ending scene / staff roll showing the the coronation and a realm restored to glory.
Message from the artist:
For the Wish upon a Star theme, I felt inspired to compose a soundtrack to a classic RPG story, using all the clichés. To challenge myself, I attempted to write orchestral arrangements, which I haven't really done ever. Time allowed for six tracks. I made an effort to reuse the main theme throughout.
Instruments here are mainly taken from the (free) BBC Symphony Orchestra by Spitfire. Made in FL Studio.
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
The Vaelen Star theme (Main Theme) is used in one form or another in all tracks. This is a musical adaptation of the Star's magic that touches all parts of the realm.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
Soundcloud Link:
https://soundcloud.com/michael-meier-597140037/sets/vaelen-star/s-BluiQxv3gNO?si=8636e749dc95409cb0c9807ffccb9763&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Great melodies, harmonies and composition overall! Every track felt unique but still connected to the same space and complemented each other really well to build upon the fantasy word you were trying to create! Great entry!
Glad it worked so well. Thanks!
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
You really nailed the vibe you were going for, this was awesome to listen to!
Thanks!
Your compositions always blow me away in how the chord progressions and melodies are incredibly familiar sounding and stir up all kinds of memories. "Adventure Begins" sent me back to Hyrule Field and Vaelen Crown made me feel like the end of a Final Fantasy game. Also Vaelen Village opens with such a perfect fairy-tale quality to it.
Great job diving into orchestration. I'm surprised its new to you because I think you nailed it - really lets your compositional skills shine!
Thanks for the kind feedback. Means a lot to me! Classic RPGs are definitely my favorite genre music wise.
Nicely done, with great use of the orchestration! My favourite was the swells in Dark Tidings - perfectly chosen.
Glad you liked it. Thanks!
I love the story and the soundtrack is beautiful. If this is your first orchestral arrangement, I can only imagine what you'd be able to do with more experience (not that the music is lacking in any way). Amazing work!
I took much inspiration from other orchestral composers in this community for this one. There are some true wizards here. I do love what orchestras have to offer. Will have to figure out percussion and such next. I'm definitely having a blast! Thanks for listening.
This was some good stuff! Your compositions are great, and the rounded orchestral sound creates a pretty great and easily recognizable vibe. Obviously the nature of VST's sampling real instruments means that a lot of sounds are gonna feel a bit unnatural, but if this were to be played by a real orchestra I feel like it would be magical.
I agree. It is my ultimate dream to hear some of this performed one day. Thanks for listening!
Cool jrpg-like soundtrack! Specially reminded me of the dragon quest games music. This really screams to me "classic rpg set in a kingdom", you did pretty well in achieving that sound seeing as this was your objective from the start. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback!
Classic RPG vibes right off the bat! Love the use of BBCSO. Great composition, especially in Vaelen Castle. Loving the harmonies throughout. Great work!
I honestly wouldn't know what to do without BBCSO. Truly awesome for a free product! Thanks for listening!
The old classic Rpg game is definitely here, awesome job on catching that mood!
Besides, there is some really strong composition work, some tracks have hidden gems for ears, so far I couldn't find a favorite because evey piece has something special to offer.
It's late and I'm a bit tired, I'd like to make a more detailed comment but there still a lot of submissions to listen to. But you can be sure I'll give yours another go before the end!
Thanks a lot for sharing this lively work! And congratulations!
Thanks for listening!
I can really see old school rpg game with this soundtrack! You say clichés but i hear it as a portrait of the era really well illustrated. Very solid melody and harmonies, congrats!!!
Old school RPGs are my favorite. I'm glad I hit the right feel. Thanks!
The pieces made me imagine a game without reading anything that you wrote. They are all spot on! Nice job mate.
Thanks!
Ohh I love this! I really like JRPGs and and you did very well in the genre. I like the fact that it's fantasy and it's orchestrated but it's not "epic" - not that there's anything wrong with epic orchestrations, but I find what you did more original and harder to pull off. I wouldn't have suspected that you don't usually do orchestral arrangements, frankly, if you hadn't mentioned it. Great entry!
I still have to learn how to create an "epic" orchestral work. Will probably require percussion and such. Challenge for next time! I'm glad you liked this.
Yeah that's definitely a 5 in composition ! Really nails the good old JRPG aesthetic
Thanks for the feedback! Means a lot!
Great work on this! You've crafted some really nice melodies that definitely reflect the classic RPG. Nice!
I'm happy that some of the melodies stick. Thanks for the feedback!
Oh wow this is incredible , my favourite track is adventure begins. Well done!
Thanks for listening!
Beautiful songs, beautiful work! Brings me back to the old RPGs, I can absolutely imagine that this game was released in the 80s/90s and this soundtrack is a real orchestra making a tribute! Subtle changes in melody and harmony really spice up the things. Very clever work, great great job!
P.S.: BBC Orchestra is GOAT
Yep, old RPGs are my favorite, and so is BBCSO! Thanks for listening!
I love your use of orchestral sounds to add more depth and feeling to the songs in your OST, especially in "Dark Tidings," the deep strings give the song an imposing feel, and everything just comes together and really pulls at the emotions. Vaelen Village was also a favorite of mine, it feels really comforting and nostalgic, gives me Mother 2 Home Sweet Home vibes. I could totally imagine letting that song play for hours!
Thanks for listening!
You have composed a beautiful and catchy soundtrack. I can tell a lot of effort was put into each piece. 5/5 for composition! P.S. BBC Symphony Orchestra is a blessing, I used it too...XD.
I'm glad the melodies are somewhat sticky. took me a while to bend them to my liking. Thanks for listening!
I really enjoyed how you leaned into the classic RPG feel — absolutely took me back those days. There's a particular whimsical motif, well supported by the orchestral instrumentation, that graces each song and ties it all together. Really good work!
Classic RPG is totally one of my favorite genres! Thanks for the comment!