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Detective Through Time OST's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #19 | 4.095 | 4.095 |
| Overall | #28 | 3.943 | 3.943 |
| Creativity | #34 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
| Composition | #36 | 3.952 | 3.952 |
| Quality | #42 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Impression | #44 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I thought of a top-down RPG with investigation-detective like elements, such as finding clues and stuff...
In this (imaginary) game, you play as a detective, whose grandfather had passed away recently. One day, a delinquent breaks into your house in order to steal something very valuable, which apparently belonged to your grandfather; a time machine. Unfortunately, the culprit manages to escape with it.
The bad guy, whose identity is unknown for now, uses the stolen time machine for doing bad guy things, causing catastrophic events and changes in time! Luckily, your grandfather knew that this could happen, which is why he owned ANOTHER time machine!
Your job is to seek out the culprit through time, using this spare time machine, and stop him from causing any further disasters in time. You'll have to travel to different eras and look for hints and clues about his whereabouts in order to catch him (That's where the detective part comes in).
THE SONGS, IN ORDER:
1. Menu: I think this is pretty self-explanatory, just a slow / chill / boring track for the menu theme, it plays while on the main menu.
2. Save File Select: Small song for when you're choosing a save file to load.
3. The Center of Time: It so happens that you can't travel directly from one era to another. You'll have to stop by a place called "The Center of Time" in which you'll be able to choose what era to travel to next. This song will play while you choose.
4. Time Travelling: After you have selected an era to travel to, the time travelling process will start, and this song will play during it.
5. Clash: This is the normal battle theme, this is an RPG game after all.
6. The Culprit: This is basically the character theme for the culprit, the thief, the delinquent, the bad guy, whatever you wanna call it. It will play whenever there is an interaction with them throughout the game.
7. A Fateful Duel: This is the culprit's battle theme, the final battle theme. This is the track I spent the most time in, the one I wanted to be the best one.
I used Cakewalk as always, you can see the names of the plugins I used on the screenshots. I want to give a special shoutout to Shreddage 3 Stratus Free, who made me making this soundtrack possible.
Message from the artist:
I hope you enjoy it! Any feedback or comments you may have, as always, are welcome, and greatly appreciated.
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
I interpreted this theme as "time", so I based my imaginary game around the idea of time travel. I even added a tick tock sound to most of the songs! (I'm sure everyone did this)
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/fiumals-204391381/sets/detective-through-time-ost?si=777828dcab0a401aa20b410a029b8c6e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
that save select file song has no right going so hard. really cool stuff!
Menu: The clock effects are nice and lead into the high sparkling synth well. The pad gives a nice spacey atmosphere that kind of sounds like it may represent time passing by. I like the synth melody that is passing from ear to ear with nice panning. The piano also has a very sweet quality to it which I really like.
Save File Select: This track has some mystery behind it with the chord progression choices and the arpeggiating synth part. The syncopated beat gives this a jazzy flare that would fit a detective game.
The Center of Time: I like the idea of a central time hub and works well for game mechanics too. Very dreamlike and spacey vibe! The clock ticking speeding up at the end makes me think that is the loading sound once you have selected when you would like to go.
Time Traveling: This is a nice groovy track that I imagine accompanies warping visual effects and bright colors while you are being whisked away to whenever. I like how chill this theme is - I would probably time travel extra in the game just to jam to this track.
Clash: The ticking clock is faster! Must be time for some combat! I like how you leave some space in this track for “thinking time” which is nice because RPG battles are often turn-based and have some time to think.
The Culprit: This is a really cool theme for the bad guy. There is a whole lot of mystery surrounding this person! This track evokes vibes of dark curiosity. I also like in the second section where all the chords hit just after the downbeat which may symbolize that we are often just one step behind him throughout the game.
A Fateful Duel: I like that you brought back the Culprit theme and revised it for this track, which only makes sense. The sense of dark curiosity is still there and now it’s just higher energy for the battle we have been waiting for! The drums, especially the fills are really great in this track. I also really like the electric guitar when it comes in. My favorite moment of the track is at 3:05 with the electric guitar and the high plucky sounds! This is a long loop and is really well-made! You should definitely be proud of this!
Overall: This is a fun game with a very well-executed story-line told through the music. It feels very complete and could be ready for a real game now! Great work and thank you for sharing!
I really love how you always leave a long comment like this (I remember you leaving one on my entry on the previous jam as well). It was nice reading your thoughts on my submission, seeing you notice the little details I put in my songs, and especially the way you interpreted them and associated them with the story. Thank you so much for your words again!
Very nice basslines! Time Traveling makes me want to travel! ^_^
and A Fateful Duel is really great finale!
good work!
Well and professionally made! My favourite is Time Traveling!
And I love the game idea too! I would gladly play such a game! :)
I like how you've composed step by step for every.. step of the game 😅. The centre of Time center and Time travelling are a great example of evolution and use of previous part of the ost.
There's a great feeling of exploration and discovering that fits your story coming from the beginning of the soundtrack.
Clash was very cool! My fav maybe 🎶
The culprit is a very good theme for an antagonist I think :)
Then again same great deviation of this theme for the Fateful Duel 👌. It's long and very well developed! Congrats on this one!
Nice job on these 7 tracks!
I like the overall OST, but Fateful Duel is sooooo good. I see you wanted it the best one, and it is for sure. Great job!
I love how characterful The Culprit is - it has a cocky, off-kilter swagger, and it's clever how that same rhythm carries on sped up into A Fateful Duel. Really nice attention to detail there. Great work! :)
really cool how the songs seamlessly flow into each other! "Time Travelling" was a super cool track, it felt like the instrumental to a hit indie rock song! and of course, the ticking sound in most of the songs really pulled the whole thing together. really nicely done :)))))
Menu: While the ticking clock has been used by maaany of the composers here (me included, in nearly every track...) I like how yours sounds ripped right off an SNES... this is a very cool opening track, and the blend of 16-bit sounding synths with piano, bass, guitar, etc. is very nice!
Save File Select: smart use of the clock here! You've taken the same ticking rhythm and utilized it in a completely different vibe. This track is fantastic-- pure retro vibes here. There's just something about File Select music. It has a certain vibe... teetering the line between chill elevator music and brace-yourself-for-adventure-music. You nailed it.
The Center of Time: very cool effect here with the fading synths-- and the clock effect at the end, leading into the next track? Spot-on.
Time Travelling: it's super smart to repurpose existing material in a new light, and that's just what you've done with the Center of Time chord progression! Now it's upbeat. It was also smart to add a little tag: the same chords repeating again and again can get boring to the ear, so having some new chords after 3 repeats was a good way to keep the music fresh.
Clash: quintessential retro battle music goodness. I can see that you have a good ability to keep the music fresh: while chords do repeat a lot in each given section, you change them enough that things don't get too repetitive.
The Culprit: the way the beat is not quite aligned with the ticking of the clock is so clever! Conveying character through music can be a challenge, and through the little off-beat rhythm, we learn that this culprit doesn't quite obey the rules.
Fateful Duel: another solid track! The synth runs at 1:10 are my favorite bit.
In all, this soundtrack is wonderfully cohesive, with plenty of diverse sounds, and an almost post-retro feel with the synths + traditional instrument combo. Are any of these instruments played live? The guitar sounds like it could be.
Fantastic work, and keep writing!
Hi, thanks for your words! None of these instruments were recorded, it's all midi. I used Shreddage 3 Stratus free library for kontakt for the guitar, it's probably the best free guitar I've ever used, I love it. Also you might find this interesting: the ticking sound isn't even a clock sound, I used the "guitar cut noise" from the cakewalk tts plugin! It worked surprisingly well for this.
Top tracks for me were 4, 5, 7 - I love the idea of an RPG with aggressively upbeat power pop playing throughout. I thought of those three, track 4 made me the most interested to check out the game. Track 7 was the most sonically varied but it also read very SMT/Persona, and I'm not the biggest fan of those games so that may have put me off a bit. Still, I'm about halfway through my listen (80 soundtracks) and so far I haven't heard anyone else dipping their toes into this genre, so I appreciate you bringing that flavor in.
I knoww right, as I was making track 7 I was thinking "hmm... this sounds a lot like a certain persona song", and I DID play the persona games after all, so that most likely influenced me while making this soundtrack. I appreciate you keeping it real, I'll still take that comment as a compliment though. Thanks for your feedback!
All tracks are super cool! Fateful Duel is my personal favorite I'd legit just sit around doing nothing (if it's a turn-based RPG) only to listen to the theme U^U
Menu is so cool, and the ticking fits in very naturally. Save File Select is a banger, and somehow I could also see it working as a battle theme. Pretty ambience in The Center of Time. Time Travelling is a pretty cool build up using the chords of the previous track. Very groovy! Clash is an instant banger, and I love the 1-b3-2-b2 progression, its a very cool one to me that works great for battle themes. This battle theme make random encounters much more interesting lol. Culprit sounds dark in a way that perfectly fits the description you gave. Fateful Duel builds upon the ideas of Culprit while adding a brighter section to contrast, climbing up to that sweet dominant resolution. Great work, was an absolute treat to listen to!
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Sincerely, perfect! Man, I loved the clock ticking transition and specially the build-up transitions. Bass and drums relationship has no flaws! Congratulations!
I think I screwed up the transitions on soundcloud a bit, so I'm glad to hear you noticed them! Thank you for your words!
THE PRODUCTION QUALITY OF THIS IS SO HIGH??? literally sounds professional, everything is so clean!!!
I really like the clock sound you selected, the texture of it plays really well with the open, atmospheric feel of the soundtrack. Time Traveling is such a bop, the bass makes it really bouncy and groovy! The way you write drums is also awesome
Fateful Duel really is awesome. I love the high chip/synth sounds that give it a floaty, interdimensional feel. 1:43, where the ticking was allowed a "solo" literally gave me chills
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IKR!!!
I think this is the first time someone has told me that my work sounds professional, reading this made my day. Thank you for the kind words!!