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OST Composing Jam #6 Submission's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #64 | 3.571 | 3.571 |
| Creativity | #84 | 3.464 | 3.464 |
| Overall | #103 | 3.321 | 3.321 |
| Composition | #106 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Impression | #116 | 3.107 | 3.107 |
| Quality | #117 | 3.214 | 3.214 |
Ranked from 28 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I composed this in the style of an SNES soundtrack. The idea was for an adventure game/platformed with unique boss battles that played out like mini games.
Message from the artist:
Synopsis:
Soundtrack for "A Matter of Time" - an adventure game where the God of Time's apprentice must find the fragments of the Master's Timepiece; a shattered clock that once controlled the flow of time itself. The Master of Time has disappeared, and the Master's most trusted apprentice, Ormud, has set out to find him and restore the clock as well as the flow of time. The Master has several apprentices; Ormud will interact with them and rally some of them to his cause. Throughout his journey, he will also meet, assist or do battle with characters inspired by various mythologies as he traverses the ancient City of the Gods; a diverse realm of assorted settings and climates where all different kinds of myths and legends reside. Ormud must restore the flow of time before the rising tide of the Nu consumes all of creation.
Gameplay:
The flow of time has been shattered; the time of day is randomized with each passing hour. The Master's Apprentice can see where each number of the clock is hidden only during the hour that it correlates with. Ex: The first level, 3am, would be where the "3" on the clock is found. After the 3 is found, a new level opens up for a different number - the second level would be for the "8" on the clock. Eventually, the apprentice would collect all of the time pieces and find the villain responsible would be revealed - could it be the Master himself?
Composition:
Title Theme - The main theme of the game that is used throughout most of the tracks.
3am - The theme song for the very first stage.
7pm - Another stage's theme.
A Moment of Rest - This theme would play in the Master's Workshop - a place that Ormud would travel to between stages for upgrades, NPC interaction, shopping, etc.
Memories of a Better Time - Dialogue music, for a scene where Ormud remembers fondly his training from the Master of Time.
Keeping Time - A boss theme that would be used multiple times for when Ormud must complete some sort of unique challenge or minigame to progress a pivotal point in the story.
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All instruments used are from chipsynth SFC, which emulates SNES quality sounds. The one exception is the guitar I used - which is Shreddage Hydra on the "9-bit guitar" setting (which got me pretty close to an SNES sound while still having a little bit of flair to it!)
I wanted to do different time signatures for each level based on the number that's found in that level. The track for 3am is mostly in 3/4 and the track for 7pm is mostly in 7/8. I had originally intended to do 9/8 and 6/4 as well, but working a 60+ hr/wk day job unfortunately got in the way of that! That said, I'm happy with the tracks that I have here and really pleased with the idea of the game as a whole. I did a lot more lore building for it than was necessary and that I am mostly unable to share due to it still being in the "brain images only" format. Regardless, this was a ton of fun to do, and I loved the opportunity and challenge to do it. :)
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
The game revolves around restoring the flow of time. Each stage relates to a number on a clock, the corresponding track for that stage would be in a time signature relating to that number (3/4, 7/8 were the ones I completed)
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ2zZC18mAX3d0_6gZhnvZbl8euQP7g2g
https://soundcloud.com/albitrary/sets/a-matter-of-time-soundtrack
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
I get that SNES vibe a lot, good job on the guitar that works really well with the overall atmosphere of this soundtrack! I feel like there are a ton of good compositional ideas and I hope you'll keep practicing. There could be some improvements to enhance some tracks like the boss battle for example, giving it more impact, but some others tracks already works wonders like that Title Theme or Dark Times ahead :)
I love the SNES sounds. "Keeping Time" and "Memories of a Better Time" were my favorite, particularly the section at 1:00. Well done!
I loved the retro vibes of this & the basslines were especially good! My favorite song was "Keeping Time", I loved the bouncy feel of these songs & their time-themed titles!
Nostalgic tunes! "Keeping Time" was especially groovy, and 7pm's theme had a cool rhythmic quality. My other favourite was "A Moment of Rest" with its playful yet chill vibe. Good job!
Title Theme: I like this main melody that you’ve written. The SNES timpani sound is a great touch to give this a more epic feel to it. I like the chord progression at the end as you gave it some finality and made it feel like the end of the title movie scene.
3am - Dark Times Ahead: The swelling pads give this track a somewhat spooky feeling, but the glockenspiel helped keep the mood elevated along with the plucky string notes. This has a sound the makes me think of exploring a cave, but also works for the isolation of what being awake in the early morning feels like.
7pm - No Time to Waste: I think the 7/8 time signature and is quirks are used well in this track that feels kind of like a spy scene. I really like the space you leave after the intro before the meat of the music comes in at 0:22.
A Moment of Rest (The Master’s Workshop): The sparseness of the instruments in the accompaniment of this track keeps a light-hearted feel which is great for a workshop/rest area theme. I really like the pitch bending you used in the melody. The final chords of the loop also are really cool and made me want to listen to this one again!
Memories of a Better Time: Memory themes are best served when there isn’t really a lot of harmonic motion and you are able to just float in the moment - you have done a great job of that here!
Keeping Time (Boss Theme): That intro is so groovy! The moving bass line is so great and I think it deserves to be more forward in the mix. The drums are also well-made here too. This is a cool boss theme and gets me ready for a SNES style battle! Overall this is a fun soundtrack with many creative elements that work around the SNES limitations. Great work and thank you for sharing!
Re: the SNES sound engine, Mario Paint taught me that it's hard to use. While technically less powerful, I find the Yamaha YM2612 chip (Sega Genesis) a lot easier to wrap my head around. So I appreciate making the effort to try and wrangle these sounds into a coherent soundtrack. I would have liked to have seen some of the more interesting compositions like "7pm - No Time To Waste" further forward in the soundtrack, I think it would have helped get me invested more quickly. As it was I had to dig a few tracks in before it really grabbed me.
Hah, these sounds bring me to my childhood! :D
I always wonder how one does write music for 8bit of SNES sounds with all the limitations they have...
Great job!
They say limitation breeds creativity! I don't know if that was the case here, but I'll take credit for it regardless ahaha
Thanks for the listen, I really appreciate it!
this is a really cool take on the theme. id say my favorite track is Memories of a Better Time. i love how calming and reflective it is.
i really like how you mixed the project as a whole. all the filter synths and sounds just sound so well together. great work on that.
im typically not a fan of this style of music but i really liked what you did with it. so ig its growing on me now haha.
great work overall albitrary!
Tbh, I'm more of a metal head than someone who listens to chiptunes actively, but SNES music just comes together so easily for me. I guess it's that nostalgic part of my brain ahaha
Thanks for listening, I really appreciate it!
Pretty cool! It's very daring to take additional challenges for one jam (using only an SNES sounds and the different time signatures for the stages, though you didn't get to fulfill the 2nd one to the fullest), but i'd say you did pretty well!
I like how you set down a groove and then develop on top of it before going to other places, because it gives a very nice structure to the tracks, and it makes the return to the groove oh so satisfying.
I'm personally not always very fond of the SNES quality of sound, but i think you took it and leaned into the sound and it's charm, and made it work pretty well.
Very nice!
For context: I am a perfectionist to a fault; giving myself more confines such as using SNES sounds allowed me to work more quickly without getting lost in details - something I feel I would have done had I used only modern day samples and synths (even though I am probably more comfortable using them.)
Basically, I feel like I have to focus less on the mixing since the samples are already of a certain quality and sound that isn't going to change much - if that makes sense.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to listen!
Ohhh, that's actually a cool idea! Maybe i should try that sometime, since i tend to get lost in details too.
Just reading the description of your fictional game made me want to play it.
As far as the music is concerned, you've managed to give your OST an SNES feel.
I really like the pitch bend at 3am and the Memories of a Better Time ambience, especially when the strings arrive at 40" and the dramatic change at 1'00".
Sometimes your panning is a little too extreme for my taste (the glockenspiel on 3am or the hihat on the Boss Theme). I say that when it's not balanced by another sound on the other side.
Because at the start of the Boss Theme, you've got the full guitar on the left and the brass on the right playing the same melody, and that's super effective, the sound is wide and much more engaging.
PS: in your Youtube list, your tracks are not in the right order.
Even with years of experience making music, pannning is still one of those things that throws me for a loop sometimes. Thanks for the feedback!
About the playlist - this whole submission was a mess compared to many of the others; a lot of things I had never done before and many I see now I should have done differenrly. It was a good learning experience, I'll get it right for next time ahahaha
Nice pleasent music, good work!
Thanks for the listen!
Simple and nice! I like it a lot!
Thanks for listening!
The SNES sounds are such a lovely throwback, and I love your attention to detail; the panning in Keeping Time, that dissonant note in Memories of a Better Time (around 1:30), the pitch bend in A Moment of Rest (0:58)… Plus your time signatures concept is really creative! 3am is my favorite track, something about that bending synth pad makes it sound so dreamy and mysterious. Great work :)
3am was the first track I made for this and the one I spent the most time on by far (most of the tracks were only one session ~5 hours or so a piece) and I think it's a bit more polished as a result. Thanks for listening and the kind words!
That's a really fun retro sound! I appreciate the creativity in using different time signatures to match the different hours. The pitch bends in 3AM add a lot of character. That's a great world you created! Thanks for making and sharing.
I was a little iffy on if I liked the pitch bends at first, but they seemed to translate really well! Thanks for listening!
really liked these! i'm a sucker for the SNES soundfont, and you really did it justice. each track has it's own unique personality that fits perfectly with the settings you describe, so every song stands out from the rest! i personally really liked "7pm" (i'm a sucker for cool time signatures), and i loved hearing the callbacks to the title theme you put in "A Moment of Rest".
really nicely done my friend :))))
I had a ton of fun with 7pm, I'm already wanting to go back and re-make it with modern guitars and samples ahaha. Thanks for listening, glad you liked it!
The idea of pairing the time on the clock to the time signature is cool. It would be interesting to see how it affects the player (like I hear this signature and I know what time it is).
Nice OST :D
P.S. I wanted to listen on soundcloud, but your playlist only contains the boss track, maybe check that :)
Oops. Thanks for the heads up on the playlist, it's fixed now!
And yeah, the time signatures pairing with the clock was the main idea I had for this OST. I will probably revisit the concept later and make some more stage themes just for fun. Thanks for the listen!
Very very nice writing and vision with the soundtrack. Had to listen to Keeping Time like three times. Whatever muted guitar bass synth thingy in the left ear goes so hard.
Thank you! Keeping Time is definitely my favorite. "Boss Theme" is my favorite pseudo-genre ahaha