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A jam submission

A Water MachineView project page

Submitted by oysterdream — 45 minutes, 8 seconds before the deadline
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A Water Machine's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Correlation to theme#314.0674.200
Creativity#413.7443.867
Quality#563.5503.667
Overall#573.5243.640
Composition#773.1633.267
Impression#773.0983.200

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

Description
A Water Machine is an exploring/crafting game in which you are an AI who is in charge of a boat. Your captain and only passenger, an old retired man in his 70s, fell in the water last night during a storm. He had the only wish of being buried on a small Pacific island, and that was also what he programmed in you as your main purpose as a boat AI. You visit the waterworld alone, going through immense plateaus of still water and giant waves, encountering fishes and creatures and trying to craft yourself into a submarine using the scrap parts of boats and ships that you encounter during your roaming, in the hope of retrieving the body whose GPS tracker is still blinking and, by doing so, fulfilling both your purpose and your master's last wish.

Theme:

Wish upon a star
Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
The main game's objective is to fulfill the wish of the AI's captain. The main character is a boat.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/oysterdream/sets/a-water-machine

Soundtrack use permission

No

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Comments

Submitted

These synths are so pretty. Loving the harmonies in Sailing with You, and that rhythm is so trippy. The gradual buildup in A Storm Is Coming was so immersive. Cool ambiences in the third and fourth tracks. The Shipscrapers is another incredibly cool rhythm, very creative mix of sounds. Those vocals in The Dive on top of those crunchy synths and the ambience is one great atmosphere. Great work!

Developer

Thank you! I really appreciate it!

Submitted

Sailing WIth You: The opening ambience is like waking up from a deep dream and would be an excellent start to your game. The melody is rather unpredictable which makes this a difficult piece to get stuck in my head, but I think as a background theme, it captures the unpredictability of the sea well. The ambient water sounds at the end envelope me and make me feel like I’m actually on the ocean.

A Storm is Coming: The long fade-in is a creative way to musically convey that something is coming, and the sense of danger comes from the ominous sound of the noises that are faded in. The danger sound seems to come in quite abruptly in the middle and sounds like the interruption of a foghorn on the ship warning of the potential imminent threat. Wow, the storm sounds like a monster at the end, which I imagine is likely to represent the way the sea feels when it pulls people overboard like that!

After the Storm: The warmth of the sound in the first track seems to disappear with this track which is a great way of musically conveying the ruins after a natural disaster like this storm.

The Great Plateaus: This is a dreamy ambient piece that would accompany exploratory gameplay well. The held synth tones seem to convey awe and stillness amidst large natural structures.

The Shipscrapers: I like the use of metallic-sounding instruments to represent the corresponding story in this track. The percussion is so fun when it comes in! This grows and grows to help convey the enormity of what the music is describing, but I also like the stylistic choice of fading out at the end to maybe convey moving away from the structures and watching them disappear on the horizon.

The Sky is Falling Apart: There is a solemn and sad tone to this track, but I think the chords selected are really beautiful which conveys many different emotions that may be present toward this ending part of the game.

The Dive - The Ocean’s Floor: My favorite part of this last piece is the growling bass synth and the voices used early. The “lah” voice when it’s by itself felt unsettling to me, as if you are slowly approaching the ocean floor in the pitch darkness. The gentle theme at the end is really at representing the final goal of burying the master’s body. I love the fade out echo of the wood block (?). There were many great pieces in your soundtrack and I enjoyed listening. Good work and thank you for sharing!

Developer

Well this is a very impressive comment since I did not provide any description for the tracks, you pretty much nailed everything, even the shipscrapers ending which was exactly what I had in mind. The only thing that makes me wonder is the first track, many people described it as unpredictable which I find really interesting because to me it sounds peaceful and playful :) I don't know. Anyway,  thank you so much for this analysis and for listening to my tracks!. 

Submitted

Very creative story you're telling! Also very nice sound choice and melodies, it works wonderfully with what you're trying to tell. In particular, I love the woodwinds in the background of all the synth sounds you chose in your first track. And very interesting soundscapes for your more sound design focused tracks, very nice atmosphere you've managed to create. Great entry!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted

I loved the unpredictability of the first track!! As uncertain as sailing can be ^^ The great Plateaus sent me on discovering unknown wonderful places, very pleasant atmospheric track! Then in the Shipscrapers, that beat was so unexpected! I love how it enhanced the track, it reminds me of some lo-fi artist I don't remember the name I used to listen to years ago :). The final Oceans floor was hypnotic and did well closing the story you wrote about that AI looking for its capitaine. 

Overall, very creative sountrack that I enjoyed, thanks for sharing! 

Developer

Thank you very much

Submitted

Wow! Way to go! This whole submission is very well done! I really loved the vibe of After the Storm. Overall, each track did a great job creating a specific vibe that still felt grounded to the theme of your game idea!

Developer

Thanks that was my goal so I'm glad you liked it! 

Submitted

All of it is so wonderful! I really liked, The Sky is Falling A part, it set such a lovely mood, somber and reflective. Great work!

Developer

Thank you! I'm kind of proud of that track :), it's the one that represented the  scene depicted in the jam artwork

Submitted

Some very neat musical storytelling here. I liked that menacing buildup in A Storm is Coming, with those creepy noises in the end. Makes me think it is more than a regular storm. Very nice contrast in After the storm. I can imagine calm waters with flotsam. That sonar beep-beep in The Dive is also very cool. Nice job!

Developer

Thanks! In the storm track I didn't really know how to represent the death of the boat captain without being too dramatic, so I made  a long buildup instead. I'm glad you liked it.

Submitted

This was pretty good!  I liked the sound design throughout, a lot of really striking stuff, especially the lead in the shipscrapers and the voices in the dive.

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Submitted

Each track fits together to make a complete solid OST here, I love the different instruments/sounds in some of these, like a storm is coming, shipscrapers, and and the dive.

Developer

Thanks! I really tried to build a cohesive sound but with tracks different enough that they maintain each their own identity...  

Submitted

I reallly like this ost. Sounds similar to the one of In other Waters, which was also an AI travelling an ocean world, so I might be a bit biased, but I think this is reallly cool!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! I checked In Other Waters, its great