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Ocean of Dreams's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #16 | 4.250 | 4.250 |
| Creativity | #17 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #17 | 4.025 | 4.025 |
| Composition | #19 | 4.125 | 4.125 |
| Quality | #27 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Impression | #28 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
This is an orchestral soundtrack for a game called "Ocean of Dreams".
Ocean of dreams is a 3rd person adventure game, in a way of a crossover between Assassin's Creed 4: Black flag and Sea of Thieves, with the stylistic choices and otherworldliness of Sea of Thieves, and the more advanced ship mechanics of Assassin's Creed.
Story and tracklist:
Starfall: You are Brim. As you're slouching by a ducks, you see a shooting star in the distance. You are going to make a wish, but then you get an idea. What if the star landed somewhere on the other side of the ocean? If you find it there, will ALL your wishes come true, and not just one?
In hope of making all of your dreams true, you set out to assemble the crew the will help you sail to the other side of the ocean. You put out posters and chant on the street in the hopes that someone will come with you on your journey.
Assembling The Epic Crew Of... wait, what: They're on their way! This will be a dangerous trip, you're certain only the strongest will brave the ocean with you. Ah, the door is opening, they're finally he-... huh?
Misfits: Who are these people? Your crew? Not what you expected are they? And now they're making a ruckus! Hey, stop that!
Setting Sail: Oh well, maybe it's an insane journey, that only a bunch of misfits with no success in life, and nothing to lose, would be willing to embark upon. And what does that make you? Never mind that, onwards to adventure!
Waves, Pirates & Sea Monsters: Okay, maybe this wasn't such a great idea! The ocean is even scarier than you would have imagine, but you must press on. Load the cannons, rid the deck of water, secure yourselves to the mast and stay onboard!
Don't Lose Hope: It's been a rough journey, and everyone is down on their luck. But we've gotten so far! We must press on.
All Of Your Dreams Will Come True: With hope restored, the braves misfits charge onwards towards their dreams! Nothing is unsurmountable in face of our dreams.
Land At The Other Side Of The Ocean: Finally arriving at the other side, the crew will find...
Message from the artist:
Spent a lot of time, but some tracks suffered from running out (or all of them really), regardless, I am happy to have participated!
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
I wanted to tell a more up beat, and often times happy tale with my music, about people with nothing left, chasing their dreams and finding hope. Their goal is to find the crashed star, thinking it will make all their dreams into reality. But perhaps in going on a grueling journey to get there, and surviving, they realize they can reach their dreams by themselves.
I still felt it important to have a few ups and downs along the way, to balance the good vibes, because dreams don't come without hurdles.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/the-winking-fox/sets/ocean-of-dreams?si=30ec125bcc4145319ce2b6169cd6f582&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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Comments
Your second track got me good hahaha But honestly this was fantastic! The variety of tracks you've managed to pull off is quite impressive. And everything feels connected, you really are embarked in the journey you're telling in your story. Really great composition and impact on your hype moments! I would say be careful with percussions and how they react to reverb so that they feel in the same space as the other instruments and don't clip, I have a lot of trouble mixing percussions as well ^^. This really nitpicking and other than that things felts really cohesive. I particularly enjoyed your sound choices, melodies and song structures (everything actually lol)
All in all I had a blast listening to your OST so great job!
Hahah, unintentional (sort of) jump scare in second track is 2-0 in other words?
Thanks for the feedback! I actually added quite reverberant booms in the percussion sections on purpose (see those sound clips in the playlist to the right? Yeah...). There is a balance I suppose, between those extra booms, and not letting them bleed into the mix too much, or for too long. Maybe they would be better used if the track gets to breathe a bit after the biggest of booms, so that the tail has ample time to fizzle out. With orchestration that really is one of the big hurdles, isn't it? Trying to have these detailed, big pieces, while avoiding chaos and mud. I'll keep it in mind next time for sure.
Thanks for your really kind comment, and also the feedback! I haven't forgotten what you wrote in discord about giving feedback, *cough, cough*. 8) I'll just shut up, thanks again. :)
I see! I'm don't really know what to do when I mix drums en tend to send less of it in the reverb and sometimes tame the harsh high ends depending on the effect I'm going for. At the end of the day it comes down to taste I suppose. I have no clue how they manage to have those huge sounding booms in epic music lol But yeah definitely mud and sometimes long echoes can mess with the impact and energy I tend to think. And hooray for feedback am I right! x)
Hahah, orchestration is a hell of a thing, lots of the "mix" happens in there, I've come to learn. If you orchestrate well, the rest comes a lot easier. Definitely want to dig deeper into how to orchestrate my music, to get those really clean compositions that the true pros are so good at accomplishing.
Starfall: This is a beautifully crafted main theme. I love the female voice you used and the solo string instrument sounds so full and raw. The accelerando with the crescendo feels so epic and cinematic. This is a really cool first track and is making me more excited to listen to the rest of your soundtrack now!
Assembling the Epic Crew of… Wait, What?: This track reminds me of the Colosseum theme from Kingdom Hearts and feels brave and heroic. I found your ending with the door opening sound and the crowd noise quite funny!
Misfits: This is another funny song with the playful instrumentation and the chromatic wandering melody. The building energy seems to carry a lot of uncertainty with it as the main character’s expectations continue to be unmet.
Setting Sail: Great transition back to the epic adventure sound. Your percussion and brass feel particularly big and powerful. Are these default instruments in your DAW or are they from sound libraries?
Waves, Pirates, and Sea Monsters: The tension is building and this trailer-like song brings the energy needed for all of these conflicts. I really like the ending section with just the horn and the percussion that makes me imagine all the sounds of the crew bustling around the deck trying to survive and stay afloat.
Don’t Lose Hope: I absolutely love this echoey voice you use. Would you mind sharing what you used to make that sound? This track carries so much emotion, which is probably why this one stood out to me as my favorite track.
All Your Dreams Will Come True: This is such a uplifting and hopeful theme. The overall energy of your soundtrack continues to build which is great overarching story-telling that is advanced from a single track by track approach. The jig-like melody makes this one even more fun to listen to.
Land at the Other Side of the Ocean: I really like the brave, heroic, and hopeful buildup that the French horns bring to this song. This is a really beautiful orchestral soundtrack that I thoroughly enjoyed all the way through. I really appreciate your sense of humor which adds a lot to your story and makes the resolution that much sweeter. Excellent work and thank you for sharing!
Very glad you enjoyed "Don’t Lose Hope"! It was the last track I decided on (almost didn't happen), and the second to last track I made, I only had a few hours to spend on it while being very tired (last jam day crunch, woohoo!), so I am glad it was worth it. :)
The voice I use is "Elven true legato" from Zero.G Atlantis 2. I recommend the Zero.G vocal libraries overall, superb quality, SO much content, and very affordable (and they're on sale quite regularly as well). I very barely touched the tip of the possibilities you can do with those libraries for my tracks.
Brass used is in Spitfire's BBC Core. I use the long cuirve articulation for those big powerful sections (which is most of the brass in these tracks). I also use long SFZ for shorts, since they have a very powerful attack, before fading out into a silent long. These make them useful as more powerful staccato's (no round robins though, so less effective in repetition).
Percussion is a mix of sound files for some extra big booms, spitfire originals cinematic percussion for more reverberant booms, and Hammers (another spitfire library) is the brunt of it! I also use the percussion in BBC Core for certain tracks (especially in the second track where it's mostly BBC perc).
I hope that helps, thank you so very much for the nice comment!
Wow! Thank you so much for all this information! I haven't bought any libraries yet because I want to get the right sounds, and I love the sound of your soundtrack so these may need to be my first!
Big congratulations on number 1, well deserved!
Haven't bought any libraries, I see! Really goes to show that you don't buy expensive libraries, and all of a sudden you're good (if anyone even thought that), you have used the tools you have (which sounds great as well) really well, and bam, you get some amazing music.
But if you're feeling like you want some more expansive libraries, this would be a good time perhaps, as they will give you more power to express yourself further, I'd say you're at a good level to really get use out of them. So look at videos, walkthroughs, find out if they're really for you, and wait for sales! There's also a student discount on Spitfire, if that applies to you.
Be well Lava. :)
Thank you! And thank you so much for your advice. What websites do you go to find sales? Are they directly from the vendors or are there third party sites I should be looking at? Appreciate it!
About the libraries from Spitfire Audio: Spitfire don't really sell their stuff on third party sites, so their own website (spitfireaudio.com) is where you got to go. Unfortunately the 40% on everything sale ended like... a few days ago, so that's a bummer. Unfortunately it could be a while before the next one. One thing you could do is make an account on their website, and wish list the items you're interested in, as sometimes they do a special wish list sale. Meanwhile, if you haven't, you can get BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover for free. It is the free version of BBC Symphony Orchestra Core, the library I used for the brass (and strings etc). You won't get the sound I have, because those articulations don't exist in the free version. But it does still give you an idea of the sound, interface and which instruments are available (a few less in the free version, but most are there).
About the libraries from Zero.G: These can be found on several third party sites, way too many for me to list, don't know much beyond that. So you got to look around, but it's not too uncommon to find a sale on Zero.G's own website.
I hope that helps. I'll try to ping you, if I ever see a sale. :)
Once again, thank you! I do use Spitfire's free VSTs and the BBC Discovery orchestra (which is such a phenomenal free resource), but I think you're right that upgrading gives more freedom and versatility. I'm not really in any rush and could definitely use discounts if it's an option so I'll browse around and wait for a good deal. :) Thank you!
Best of luck in your search, and be careful! Once you start buying libraries, it can become very, VERY addicting. ;)
I love that your tracks are telling a story -- an underdog story about a group of misfortunate people working to turn their life around. The tracks together are cohesive in their storytelling. Well done!
It could be a cute story, maybe I should actually make the game. ^^
Thank you for the kind words!
The opening is marvelous! With that emphasis at the end, perfect opening. And then hahaha hearing that door and people being like "huh!?" after reading it was so funny!! x) Then comes Misfits, man this one is one of the few posted on discord that I kept because I was like : that's too rare, funny and on point, it feels so dumb while it's refined, it's a gem!
The story you came up with is touching and funny and the audio for it is just perfect! Each song has it's own thing to say to develop the imaginaire, you were very good at telling a story with that OST, I'm looking forward to hear other stuff from you! :) Impressive job!
Hahaha, hurray for silliness! Definitely knew I had to get that track in there somewhere, and yes, it is really a challenge to make goofiness not come at the cost of a track that just sounds weird and incoherent in the end. There's a fine balance. It was the first time I made a track like this, so it was a very interesting experience. You even saved it in the discord chat, full flex. 8)
I was indeed aiming for making up a story with many ups and downs, so making the tracks distinct was important. Hope to see you around for more jams, thank you very much for your nice words!
I love the personality between tracks, some are really serious and some are more playful, depending on the point of the story, and it still fits together, really well done!
I am glad the music and story welds together well, I had to sort of go with the first decent sounding thing when I made this soundtrack, no time to waste and all of that, since I had quite many tracks in mind! Glad it didn't mean getting a jumbled and incohesive soundtrack in the end.
Thank you for the nice comment!
The swell in the first track was huge, simultaneously epic and pretty. This is a strong orchestral OST. The scare chord in the second track got me haha. Waves is huge, and Don't Lose Hope is beautiful. All Your Dreams Will Come True is so damn cool, that beat under the strings is so nice. Great work!
Hahaha, actually didn't intend for it to be a jump scare, but it did turn out very loud, so I understand completely. Might just add to the impact of the supposed scene it depicts. ;)
Thank you very much for your kinds words!
Your musical themes are delightful and you do such a good job exploring them in the tracks. Love the production style as well! You have a lot of energy going on but it never seems like too much, especially based on the description of the story. You convey your story so well in the tracks and have a very nice balance between emotion and playfulness.
The tempo change in the first track totally also slaps!
Overall, such cool stuff! Nice job!!
Thank you, fellow duck of Song & Harmony!
I had a lot of fun making the tracks, especially the bombastic and happy ones :D I use the tempo changes a lot actually, they are great, but unfortunately, whether a plugin in FL, or my laptop just not keeping up at this point, I can't even test the tempo changes in the DAW anymore, unless they are just a quick bump, and not automated overtime. The crackling in lag is horrendous. I had to export the tracks to hear how it would sound every now and then, which is a painful process, haha. Glad it was worth it!
Excellent variety! The tracks match the story you're telling and they would fit perfectly within a game!
My favourite is Waves, Pirates & Sea Monsters, I love the building suspense and the action in it
Thank you! I am glad that track came out well, as I had very little time left to make it, and my brain was destroyed at that point. x)
Great work! These tracks are a lot of fun and go along with your story nicely. Love the sounds you used as well.
Thank you! Last OST composing jam inspired me to sprinkle some sounds in there. :)
I'm really impressed by the tracks. I love how it's arranged and how it goes up and down.
Just one concern, they sounds more like tracks for movies instead of a game.
Movie vs game, your comment made me think about that, and I have my own thoughts on why you are getting that impression listening to this soundtrack. I definitely structed the tracks more for the listening experience in isolation, than how they would be functioning in the game. If you want to share your own reasoning in more detail, please feel free! I think it could be useful, or at the very least interesting. :)
Regardless, thank very much for your kind comment!
For most of the tracks, I cannot imagine how they can be looped. The difference between music sections is so large. I'm not sure how they feel in a real game
"Setting Sail" for example. the first 2/3 is in an epic sound, The brass and percussion really make it good. But suddenly, it goes quiet. I'm not sure why they differ so much and how a game scene could use it.
Maybe you're making a sound for the cutscene or the player is programmed to reach a certain point at exactly the time when the music changed.
Maybe you've combined two tracks into one. "Waves, Pirates & Sea Monsters" for example, I will cut it into two tracks, one is "Waves, Pirates & Sea Monsters (Loop)" and a "Waves, Pirates & Sea Monsters (End)" so the developers can use them more easier.
I think my concerns are more in "how the developers are going to use them". They are not loopable. Neither is the music structure nor the music design. That's why I said, "they sound more like tracks for movies instead of a game".
Making music is completely different from making an OST.
The better the game is, the less dominating the music should be. Back to the SMB age, the game is simple and the composer can use attractive melodies to boost the playing experience. But in BoTW, the soundtracks are more like decorations. The usage of BGM is, well, just to add some ambient sound so the game is not that quiet. And the player may focus more on the gameplay.
I tend to not use brass and heavy percussion in soundtracks. At least not playing them for a long section. They are so attractive. It will distract the player from playing. And, sadly, if play it for a bit longer, it would be even more annoying. "Hades" for example, uses electric guitar a lot in its tracks. However, it lowers the loudness so it won't distract the player.
I completely agree that your tracks are well-made. They are emotional, they are well organized and I like the sounds you picked. I'm just a bit concerned about how they work in a game.
Thank you very much for sharing, just the thoughts I were asking for! :)
Be well Colin!
I like the diversity of this soundtrack, both gentle and strong, whimsical and grand. Creative use of sound effects! I am most impressed with the percussion work, especially in Waves, Pirates and Sea Monsters. Something I am trying to learn (but don't know where to start). Nice job creating unique tracks! All Your Dreams Will Come True is my favorite.
Thank you for your comment! "All Your Dreams Will Come True" was my favorite track to make. I needed went for diversity, I tried to capture a wider range of emotions for something of a complete feel to the soundtrack.