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A jam submission

Floating Above The BelowView project page

Spoopy Soundtrack for a Spoopy Sailing Simulator
Submitted by Frib — 1 hour, 11 minutes before the deadline
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Floating Above The Below's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity#64.2604.400
Correlation to theme#413.9384.067
Overall#463.6413.760
Impression#483.5503.667
Quality#703.3573.467
Composition#863.0983.200

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
https://soundcloud.com/frib-364015074/sets/floating-above-the-below

What starts as a totally normal adventurous sailing simulator game, turns into a nightmare fueled eldritch abomination horror explorer.

This soundtrack contains 5 tracks:

1 - Set Sail: An enthousiastic adventuring track where you are highly motivated to go sail and explore beyond the horizon

2 - Endless Horizon: You've been sailing for a while, and it's getting a bit lonely and melancholic. You try to lift your spirits. But are you really alone? This is the first step into madness.

3 - Gaze Upon Madness: Your first encounter with an eldritch abomination. Just try to keep your boat afloat while not staring too much at that thing and its hypnotizing gaze.

4 - Let It Pass: You encounter another monstrosity. But it does not seem to care about you. It gets closer and closer. You are ready for action, but hold your ground (or rather, water). What happens next? Will it pass? Will it attack? Tension fills the air.

5 - Beyond Comprehension: Your brain cannot comprehend what your eyes think they see.

I used Cubase as my DAW with various VSTs, mostly from Steinberg (Halion etc). Didn't really create my own sounds this time, most of them are premade instruments.

Message from the artist:
<3

Theme:

Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
Just imagine the moon in the picture be a giant eye of an eldritch abomination. The gap is the pupil.

Why are you even sailing there?

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/frib-364015074/sets/floating-above-the-below

Soundtrack use permission

No

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Wow, what an intro track to set the tone! Also, a very unique take on the Theme, a lot more dark than most but still very well done!

Developer

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

Really like the strings clashing with the electronical/ambient-like elements, creating a distinction between you (the normal) and ... whatever those things are. O_O And it just gets worse and worse (in a good way). These tracks really get the imagination going, making them a very immersive listen, even without seeing the would-be game! 

Very creative soundtrack, with some extremely cool ambient tracks. ^^

Also high-five for the jig at the start! Love them jigs.   

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Set Sail: This track has such an awesome full sound. I love the two strings against each other. The ambient choir subtly in the background adds a lot to the overall atmosphere of tension and possible dread. This is my favorite of your tracks!

Endless Horizon: I think it was a creative and stylistic choice to fade the music into monstrous noises - this definitely exemplifies heading toward chaos or madness. These are some impressive scary noises you were able to create!

Gaze Upon Madness: Since I know it was your goal, I think you should know I felt uneasy listening to this. I can tell that your OST is only going more in the direction of creepy based on your description and I think it’s awesome, but I’m also nervous for what’s to come…

Let It Pass: The strings alone are ominous, but the addition of the scraping noise sends this over the top! My favorite part of this track is the end with the reverberated strings by themselves fading off slowly into nothing.

Beyond Comprehension: I appreciate how this track is reminiscent of your previous track Endless Horizon, though very distorted and extra creepy. You nailed what you were going for! This was definitely an unsettling story and soundtrack, thank you for sharing! Now it’s time to listen to something happy until I stop shaking. :)

Developer

Thank you for listening and your thoughts on each track! I hope you recovered quickly after being tormented by this :D

Submitted(+1)

Oh wow, that intro jig is amazing! Instantly sets a sailing/piratey feel. What a mood setter! Really well developed tracks. I love the reverb work and background sfx, paints a very detailed picture in a dark and creepy/menacing way, exactly what you were going for in the story. Excellent work!

Developer

Thanks! Happy to hear that the tracks match the mood that I had in mind :D

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Amazing sound design on the second track! Keeping a reminder of the opening track in the melody which was the sailing theme and so, the main theme of your game while adding these sound effects transforms the experience of the player. It really gives shivers and implies madness coming, you can feel something's sneaking around you, and it's not good... 

Strangely, I felt like there was too much reverb at the beginning, but I lost that impression in the middle of the album so... Who knows maybe it's me but I wanted to let you know. 

Even if you used pre-made sounds, you did it well. Listening to the last track just confirms that you can create amazing atmospheres, I'm almost lacking words to describe that last one, and that feels very Lovecraft/ "eldritch"? (Google that as I didn't know the word). This one is terribly cool! 

Overall, very innovative and cinematic soundtrack, such an ambiance you've created! Keep going :) 

Developer

Thank you! Interesting point about the reverb, it's not something i consciously considered except that it sounds nice and fitting. Maybe it's because the general atmosphere is quite different from other soundtracks (that I've listened to so far), and because of that it's more noticeable at first? Regardless, I'm glad that the reverb didn't overstay its welcome :D

Submitted(+1)

Great work! Love the ominous and foreboding sound world you built, lots of great sound design too. Nice job!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Very ominous take on the theme, this was a great experience and I really loved it! I think it works super well with the aesthetic you chose for the moon (the boundaries of the moon are hard to define just like the danger ever present in your album). The sound design in "Endless Horizon" especially was crazy good and felt VERY menacing. It reminded me a lot of the Destiny soundtrack for the Hive which has a very great mix of instrumental and sound design elements.

For the instruments I would suggest a bit more use of the dynamics wheel and velocity in general but other than that I think this was a great entry. 

Great job, looking forward to your next entry! 

Developer

Thanks, glad you liked it! I agree with your feedback, it's something that I'm too lazy I still need to tinker with some more

Submitted(+1)

I really like the vibe of the Set Sailing really matching the vibe you're describing. I think the choir kinda suggests gently what will happen later in the game. Very nice sound design in Endless Horizon, while keeping the sailing ternary rythme.  Sick atmosphere in Gaze Upon Madness! Surprising to see violin again in Let It Pass, as it reminds the sailing from the 1st track, combined with the soundscape of Madness. Then, Beyond Comprehension arrives in a very coherent way although i couldn't hear any trace from the 1st track. This is such a good way to develop the story(and you went far!) by music. Great job!

Developer

Thank you! It's very interesting to read your journey through my music :D glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

Your sound design in endless horizon is terrifying!!! (in a good way haha) I love how unsettling Gaze upon Madness is and Beyond Comprehension has some intense sounding percussion that really adds to the atmospheric horror. I really love the direction you took your soundtrack though, very unique and well thought out! 

Developer(+1)

Thank you! I'm quite happy with the result. Even though it was a bit rushed, it's great to see that the atmosphere and vibe I had in mind came through :D

Submitted(+1)

These tracks are sooo cool!! What an atmosphere you were able to compose with these tracks. I'd love to see what type of game and art direction it would take if it were ever to be made.

Developer

Maybe one day those AI image generators are so advanced that it can create a game based on a music prompt lol

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

OMG! *_* "Beyond Comprehension" is my type of vibe, bro.  For me, all the OST are cool and fit the theme! Well done :D

Developer

Thank you! :D

Submitted(+1)

Stunning atmosphere, I love the sounds used and the sound design. Really cool stuff! I think my only wish would be that beyond comprehension went harder, it has a build up, but I feel like one could squeeze more out of it, maybe a bit more metal, doom style stuff. But otherwise wow, what an entry.

Developer(+1)

In the first weekend of the jam, my goal was to make basic ambient loops for a few tracks, and then in the second weekend to expand them and also create more action oriented tracks and perhaps a few bossfight variants. So yeah, a second follow-up track would've been great but I only had a few hours in the second weekend to just get the basic ambient tracks done :D

Regardless, I'm glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the atmosphere you created. I love eldritch horror so your tracks and the descriptions had me hooked. Endless Horizon was my favorite track

Developer

Thanks! I'm glad you got hooked in my ocean of eldritch torment :D