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Threads Like Smoke's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Impression | #2 | 4.550 | 4.550 |
| Creativity | #2 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Quality | #2 | 4.725 | 4.725 |
| Composition | #4 | 4.600 | 4.600 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.430 | 4.430 |
| Correlation to theme | #48 | 3.775 | 3.775 |
Ranked from 40 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Tracks composed in Logic Pro using sound libraries by Cinesamples, Orchestral Tools, and Strezov Sampling. Synthesizers were all made in Phase Plant and Palindrome. I also recorded some guitar and Bass for some parts. There are six tracks total, an intro cutscene, three boss themes, an npc theme, and an ending cutscene.
The world is changing, the ground shifts, trees cry out, the rocks ask for forgiveness, and the sky is regretful. Born from the disorder of human life the earth is plagued. Beasts crawl from its core, escaping from dreams, manifested by the hunger and devastation that has ravaged the land. In these moments, woven from the same fabric as time, a protector is called upon the earth. As days pass, its threads become loose and unravel, visions of a blue space with a large triangular hourglass become more frequent. But for its short life span the protector is granted incredible power by the Eye of Time.
Track 1 - Birth of an Angel: The Eye of Time appears in the clouds. It weaves this world's protector. With wings interwoven into its red silk cloak, you, the protector descend onto the earth. The clock ticks. The Eye returns beyond the sky and to its storm where it came.
Track 2 - Witch of the Skies Regret: The first foe is cunning. Humanoid in appearance, if it weren't for the thin grey veil no one would know its true identity. Some would call her a witch, others a necromancer, a monster. She lowers her veil to you revealing a sickly pale face with no eyes. Her black mouth stains like oil from ear to ear. There's no purpose in hiding from a being of time.
Track 3 - The Fountain of Faces: Not all creatures formed from the changing earth are evil. The fountain is one of these. It floats above the ground crying from its many faces adorned across its body like masks. Its tears cascade down to the earth in a trail of water. People from the near by town occasionally come to visit it and collect its tears in hopes it will cure their illnesses. The fountain appreciates a new face and is willing to talk. It seems to be aware of your limited time, the red silk that makes up your cloak is now a dirt brown, strands peeling upwards and away from each other. How long will it last?
Track 4 - Its Arms Bear Jewelry: You are traveling by water to rest your legs when danger comes from below. Seven arms twice your size all covered in gold and silver and precious stones seize your raft knocking it apart. A large squid creature emerges from the water, in the place of tentacles it has seven human-like arms. You are light on your feet and not all the wood has sunk. This will be light work for you.
Track 5 - Metal Puppet: While exploring a cave, slime on the walls begins to cluster and move down deeper. You follow the slime down and down into the cave until you reach a large hall like room submerged in water up to your knees. In the center the slime gathers around a large strange mechanical human doll suspended in the air. The slime forces its way in between the metal limbs and slime twists around inside the doll filling its crevices and testing out its new limbs before dropping down to your level with a splash. You cloak is tattered, unfurling at the seams. Your resolve is stronger than ever.
Track 6 - Unraveling: The sun rises on a new world for better or for worse. You've killed countless monstrosities and traveled far from where you were made. Your time is up. The silk in your cloak is unrecognizable. Threads slip between your fingers like smoke. Your legs become weak and collapse under the weight of your body and you see the hourglass with every blink. Someone is there waiting for you. If the world chooses to change again another will be called. You've done enough.
Cover art and concept art by NekdoNahodny
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
The main character has a limited life span because of the power given to them by the Eye of Time. I also tried to add a sense of tension into the tracks to emphasize that the main character's time is limited.
For the picture theme, the main character sees visions of a blue space with a triangular hourglass that get more frequent as their death nears. The last time there's some one there.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
Youtube Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoZq5D0TNLrAdUeTvXmWgiF-l_kmQcK9I
Bandcamp Link: TBA
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Truly a masterpiece. Mind blowing transitions, soaring synths and gritty distortion, it's great! Thank you for this!
i finally get to officially review this one!
i was absolutely blown away by this entry. the contrast between the somber and angelic strings with the distorted synth basses creates a very strange atmosphere, but one that fits perfectly with the setting you describe! each song fits subject immaculately as well. "Birth of an Angel" feels triumphant yet tense for the creation of our MC. "The Fountain of Faces" feels alien and scary, but with the major chords in the back, feels safe and warm at the same time. and the sound design in "Metal Puppet" perfectly sets the stage for the battle between it and the MC.
i listened to this initially, as i saw that it was the most rated at the time, and was super impressed! coming back to it now to properly review it, i've noticed things i didn't notice before, and am entirely in awe of it once again!!! you've created something truly incredible here, and i SINCERELY HOPE that your music either wins, or gets a place on the compilation album. you've seriously earned it :)))
Thank you! These are very kind words, I’m glad you like it! Thank you for listening
Birth of An Angel: The tremolo strings at the beginning definitely give it an “in the beginning…” vibe. The story that you set up is a very creative take on the theme and this first track tells me that this game is probably going to get dark and epic! The low bass growls do a good job of representing the Eye of Time (and I imagine that there are large pulses coming from the sky as it is creating the protector. The gentle piano and harp toward the end give some optimism as it represents the angel. On my second listen through, I noticed very faint whispering-like noises at the end which feel like the sound of smoke to me. Great opening track!
Witch of the Skies Regret: The strings and drums immediately set up an epic combat scene. The buzzy synth and female choral elements are great at creating the musical characteristics of the witch using the contrast between the humanistic features and the completely otherworldly details. I really like the large brassy wall of sound after the halfway point. The fear and intensity seems to almost turn to sadness at the end which may be what I would feel too if I just had to battle this creature!
The Fountain of Faces: The crying noises are absolutely chilling! This scene in my mind that you have created is so creepy yet serene. The melody in the strings that is so reverby is such a perfect way to musically describe this sad deformed character. The big bass pulses feel so cinematic, I would absolutely love to watch this scene in a big movie theater as my seat shakes beneath me from that noise.
Its Arms Bear Jewelry: I am really impressed by these Lovecraftian creature designs you are coming up with. The music also does such a good job of adding further character to each one. The mallets give a sense of a water-based creature, and the voice and whispering sound effects are so eerie and add another element of fear to this creature. The glockenspiel also seems to add sparkling-like effects to the jewels. When the siren-like melody emerges, I imagine the large squid crashing out of the water and an epic fight scene enfolding afterward.
Metal Puppet: There is such good sound design and effects at the beginning of this. This track is ready as is to be in a AAA game. I have nothing to add that your music doesn’t convey as self-evident, except that I’m shaking!
Unraveling: I love a good cinematic cello solo and you certainly do not disappoint. The melody is poignant, somber, contemplative, and conveys a sense of finality to this masterpiece of a soundtrack. Absolutely well done. I don’t find myself often giving out all 5s, but I believe Threads Like Smoke has earned it. Excellent work and thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you! This means a lot to me. You pretty much nailed my intents behind elements in the soundtrack, Low bass growls representing the Eye of Time/creation of the protector, optimism, female choir for the witch, glockenspiel for jewels, etc.. I am flattered you believe this deserves all fives, I worked really hard on this but even after submitting I wasn't very confident on how many of my ideas landed, I am very grateful. Thank you for listening!
Really nice orchestral arrangements that are well done and really emotional. The use of (IMHO) very "synthy" electonical instruments creates a very unique soundscape. Aome of the tracks have a more chaotic feel to them, which would make for a nice addition to the gameplay if used in the right way. All in all a very interesting OST, beautiful yet thought provoking and also a bit "challenging" - great job!
Thank you!
Huge, cinematic, atmospheric... On top of that the concept art. Fear is pouring from this music like water from ruptured dam. Love it! Combination of the eye on the sky and your music makes me remember Into the Radius game.
Thanks for the ride!
Thank you! I've never heard of Into the Radius before, looking at some images online the antigravity stuff looks VERY cool. Might have to check it out one day.
The unique atmosphere you created and the quality of the tracks are amazing! You can really feel the tension of the world falling apart. I really wish I could play a game with this soundtrack, I'm sure it would feel epic.
(Also, after checking another comment, I looked at some of the names of the instruments and loved them. Did you manage to get the lemons in the end?)
Thank you! Yes I did get the lemons haha, I had to drive back to get them though....
ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᶜᵃʳᵉᵈ
This is awesome!!! I loved every second of it, music and sound design equally. The acoustic sound elements along with the voice patch that occasionally shows up really adds to the atmosphere, and the aggressive bass-thingy seals the deal. I feel so unprepared for the monstrosities I'm going to be facing in this game. Amazing job!!
Also I love how you name your instruments in the DAW lol
Thank you! I never know when people look at screenshots so I always try and leave interesting things in there on the off chance someone does haha (I'm also just bad at coming up with names)
Birth of an Angel: These are some cool strings, and I wasn't expecting the synths till the next track haha. They sit really well over the strings. Beautiful.
Witch of the Skies Regret: That synth at the start is so cool. This is an amazing combination of textures, the choirs + strings + synths... Epic.
The Fountain of Faces: One hell of an atmosphere here. Very eerie. Love the Phrygian Dominant sound here.
Its Arms Bear Jewelry: I really like the guitar line, it reminds me of Nuclear Throne. All the percussion together at 1:35 is a really cool sound. And then the vocal samples that follow help build a creepy atmosphere. Damn, this synth swell... Too good.
Metal Puppet: Boss battle time! Very villainous swells around 0:30. I'm loving this bass rhythm. Everything is going hard after 1:40, love it.
Unraveling: Sounds like a mildly tragic conclusion, very effective end to the OST. I love the solo strings choice.
Overall this OST gives me post-apocalyptic vibes. Fantastic work as always, this was a treat to listen to.
Oh waw... once again super impressed by the epicness and the scale of your soundtrack, it really feels like the entire world rests on your shoulder. I really enjoyed the fact that you went out of your confort zone and tried a bit more of an orchestral approach but always with your characteristic sound design identity (the sound design of the mechanical puppet in particular is absolutely perfect, I could imagine the scene in my head before even reading the description).
I think you really found a very interesting blend of organic and synthetic, and this soundtrack in particular has a massive Kevin Penkin vibe and I'm all for it! The heavily distorted synth at the end of "Its Arms Bear Jewelry" actually sounds a lot like the synth in "Juroimoh Mutation" and I would be super interested to know how you made it (I find it hard to recreate synthetic sounds by ear)!
All in all, this was a blast to listen to, it's truly impressive to see your progress with each entry. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Yeah Kevin Penkin was a big influence for this. I've been thinking about Made in Abyss and it's OST a lot lately so it definitely worked it's way in there.
I wasn't intentionally copying the Juroimoh Mutation synth but now that I think about it there definitely is some resemblance haha. I used Phase Plant (could probably send you the patch if you want it) and some external effects for more distortion. It's a saw wave then outside of the envelope in the generator section there's three oscillators being used for FM. A saw wave, a square wave, then another saw wave. These three oscillators are all pitched down -60 semitones and FMing each other in order before FMing the main saw wave that makes sound. Attack is 1.7 seconds, release is 389ms. Polyphony is set to 1, glide to 66ms and legato. There's a nonlinear filter (digital setting) cutoff at 879hz, Q at 1, drive at 85%. This filter is being modulated by an envelope that's roughly following the main envelope in the generator section. Then there's a notch filter at 620hz gain at 2db following the same envelope as the previous filter. Three random modulators are changing the volume of the three silent oscillators used for FM make sure they're different speeds for a more organic effect. There's a distortion in the patch but I used two instances of Rift by Minimal Audio to get the distortion sound. For external effects I used a formant filter that's using an lfo to move around vowels (I used The Orb by Audio thing but you could also use the formant filter snapin) it makes it sound more vocal especially with the distortion added. Then there's the first instance of Rift that's distorting use growl and teeth distortion modes and adding a little bit of delay that's having it's delay time and spread modulated a little bit by separate lfos, the mix is 18% , feedback is 0%, so it's not a lot. Then there's a very small bit of bitcrusher at ~3% mix. Then there's another instance of Rift with an edited Toasted Circuit preset (it's adding more distortion/waveshaping and some additional fast delay ~30ms). Then there's an eq to cut out low frequencies and tame the high end.
Thanks for listening! I hope the description of the synth isn't too nonsensical, I'm writing this very late at night haha
Thanks a lot for your super detailed answer, it's really nice of you! Seeing it written really helps with understanding how would one go about creating such a complex patch so it's definitely great guidance. Will be trying it out in my next mingling session 🙂
From the intro it already sounds epic, and on Witch of the Skies it gets even more epic. The quality is very high, the composition too, it's hard to find any criticism here and say things then were not already said. So, just congratulations for the amazing work
Your soundtrack is EPIC. Insane level of quality, sound design skill, and tremendously cool orchestration. Reading your imaginative, surreal story concept while listening to these tracks just boosted my appreciation of them. Your songs have such a unique style, ever-shifting and evolving, bringing surprises every step of the way.
"Witch of the Skies Regret" was a standout for me - it reminded me of Nier: Automata (which has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time). My absolute number #1 out of your tracks though was "Metal Puppet" - fascinating beginning (had no idea where it was going to take me), suspenseful buildup, and then when that catchy beat kicked in at around the 1-minute mark, I was like, DANG.
Just all-round fantastic.
Wow! 😳 A lot has been said already. So apart from the astounding sound quality (truly amazing) I have to say that you impress me with the globality of this ost. From the very engaging storytelling (I loved those "you" moments) to the emergency feeling you manage to impose... I almost forgot about the theme until the narration for the 6th track. And wow, what a journey, so many pictures and life/gaming moments I went through in only 6 tracks! 🤯 And the art that emphasize all of this! 👌
Btw that last track and story part was perfect letting you (the Protector) exhausted with that fight against time, and being conscious that it was just.. a moment somewhere like, something will happen again and you've done you part, it's over.
Complete artistic fulfillment! Thank you very much
Amazing work as always dude, this has big terraria calamity mod energy
This is simply incredible. I'm in awe. *_*
Very cool! I love the choir. Probably not much I can say about this that hasn’t already been said, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed it a lot.
Incredible. Imaginative. Hypnotic. A very powerful cinematic music with enchanting sounds.
Amazing quality. You created a whole new world that you transported me to. Also it gave me so many goosebumps... Félicitations.
I'm really impressed! Very professionally made music! I can say it beacause I create orchestral themes myself, and I can create such an impressive work only when working with references, you are really gifted composer!
The sound design is so insane.
The music and sound design is out of this world. I want to add that I really admire the storytelling. The world and the story are terrifying and compelling. And your artist did a tremendous job. Top notch all around.
Thank you! I'll be sure to tell him you liked his art
I was looking forward to hearing your submission and wow you really blew it out of the park with this one!! This is what I wrote while I was listening to each track (warning: enthusiasm):
1 - The strings make my heart flutter, the bass around 30 seconds completely pulls me in, and the piano adds such a magical touch to it all. VERY STRONG OPENING TRACK!
2 - I love the Celeste-y synth, and my brain is confused with how it fuses so well with the orchestral sounds, it works so well! And the layering (mixing?) is so good?? How?? I don’t know what I am feeling but I am feeling feelings!
3 - Eerie start, and oooh the strings are too good here, it’s so ominous I love it! The strings seem to echo just the perfect amount. This is my favorite so far!
4 - Right off the bat I feel the excitement of what this song is building up to, and the voices/whispers are freaking me out so much lol. [then, around 2:16] OMG I KNEW IT WAS BUILDING UP TO SOMETHING I AM ASCENDING WHOA! (I am literally crying right now what have you done to me) This one is my favorite now!!
5 - ohhh no these sounds make me want to run, I am very scared, this is so intense. The strings joining around 1:40 are really majestic!
6 - At this point I have no words.
This OST may have left me in real awe cause my heart does not have the words to describe what it’s feeling right now lol, such amazing music! How is it even possible to make things like this?! I hope this comment doesn’t sound too fan-y (I am a fan!)