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Countdown to Murder's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #25 | 4.048 | 4.048 |
| Overall | #42 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
| Composition | #43 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
| Impression | #50 | 3.762 | 3.762 |
| Quality | #54 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
| Creativity | #72 | 3.524 | 3.524 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I wanted to go with an ambient-electronic sound with organic instruments.
With Logic Pro I went with creating and manipulating the samples of an acoustic piano and Sub Bass for the initial beat and chord progression.
I intentionally kept the clipped sound to incorporate it as part of the rhythm for the upper frequencies.
I can almost imagine this score to be part of either an RPG or Point and Click adventure perhaps. Some type of game that can best handle detective based stories.
For the main theme I decided to give a sense of the clock ticking away ominously to indicate time slowly running out for our main character with a harp intensely plucking an arpeggio. You can almost hear the narration, "My name is _____ and I'm about to die..."
For the second track. I almost envision it as the introductory to our hero's bureau... either that or a tutorial phase. I also added the Sax just to give it a bit of a Film-Noir genre.
The final track, is kind of the final countdown giving both a heroic but foreboding feel as if the protagonist fails she will die but there's still some hope left.
Message from the artist:
Thanks for listening! I kinda ran out of time but I hope you enjoy what I've written so far!
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
Each track incorporates a ticking clock to indicate the time slowly ticking away.
For the main theme I manipulated some of the samples by reversing the sound of the pianos and harps as a story plot that this event in the hero's life can be reversed and prevented.
The protagonist will have to use her detective skills to trace the evidence that will lead to her murder. She will be travelling through time.
Through out the tracks as well to give a sense of foreboding I tried to develop a variation on the classic Dies Irae motif with harp and piano to give a sense of there's a time crunch that we need to solve this as soon as possible.
If I decide to expand the soundtrack I'd probably add a bit more to the story and characters involved.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/emodate/sets/countdown-to-murder-a-rpg-adventure?si=8ff9dcc07d6b45589b9056854fcbb4e1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Soundtrack use permission
For game jams only
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Comments
Your tracks have good and your selection of instruments compliment each other well. The harp returning in "Erase the Past" is a nice callback, provides a bit of pressure to the song and gives the album as a whole a bit more cohesion. The muted brass in "Welcome to the Bureau" fits the detective theme really well, and that last bar repeating the harp's notes from the title theme was a really nice touch. Overall, well composed and enjoyable listen. Nice work!
Time’s Up: This has a really nice sound. I like the percussion with the glitchy effect while the pads soar overhead like electricity. The clock ticking is used well.
Welcome to the Bureau: The reversed clock sounds work well with the beat. I’m bobbing my head to this and could definitely see this being a tutorial level where you learn the mechanics of the game and your story.
Erase the Past to Save Your Future: This is a cool adaptation of the main theme. The beat change at 1:14 with the short pulsing strings adds a lot of tension and is probably my favorite part of the entire OST! Overall these are cool tracks with a tense but chill (if that makes sense?) groove that fits your game idea well. Great work and thank you for sharing!
Thanks for listening! I'm glad you enjoyed it! (^_^)
Oh, this is dope! The clipping and time glitching reminds a bit of Trifonic. Great job!
lol Thanks! I was actually been influenced by the collab between Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto (RIP) Check out the track Berlin or Logic Moon
The time glitches an clipping gives your music it's originality and I like it! Erase the Past to Save Your Future is my favourite, most emotional from the OST...
Time's Up: I'm loving that subbass. This is a vibe. The reverse samples and clock help cement the theme.
Welcome To The Bureau: Very pretty. I'm loving the Dorian mode borrows here and there. My favorite of this ost!
Erase The Past To Save Your Future: starts off with a tense, final area sort of feel. I love those glitchy sounds.
Great work!
Chill and cool, you nailed the aesthetics. I liked your use of the tick tocks.
I love the reversed sample in Time's up and your OST in general but there are some clics I could hear.
In "Time's Up" on the right and in "Erase the Past" on the left. I think is the way you chopped the sample. Do you hear the same ?
Otherwise, I like the way you use the same ostinato in track 1 and 3. Especially in "Erase" to build up the tension.
Oh yeah the clicks are intentional to give it a more percussive sound. By leaving the clicks in the samples, it subconsciously adds to the tension do to how unnatural it sound, while keeping the tone fairly mellow. It's especially effective when using dissonant chordal structures.
That's great! Very good for some kind of visual novel or RPG.
VERY much feels like an RPG. the tension in each track is palpable, and you can definitely feel the emotion of the main character in each of the tracks :))
Really nice OST, and I'm really curious about game now... sounds like cool story for adventure / visual novel style.
The ostinato really adds something to the time theme: like a tension that can't resolve - it has to keep going. And the violin solo in Erase The Past To Save Your Future was beautiful. Great work!
The reversed and chopped samples add so much to the atmosphere! I like how you incorporate the harp motif in all the tracks. Well done! The concept behind it sounds interesting it'd make for a cool game.
Aww thanks! Honestly I thought it was a fairly vague idea so I'm glad you liked the concept!
Hey I really like the tracks lovely composition and pacing, especially "Erase the past" . It just had something missing in the 300hz range which made it feel a bit thin to my ear. So I hope its ok, but I did a quick remaster (just EQ and a little comp, but no limiting or levelling) to bring it up a bit and balance the highs out, hope thats ok
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3nlj8mahh8psmki/Erase%20the%20Past%20Master.wav?dl=0
No worries. I didn't really get much time to focus on mixing and mastering the track at all! Thanks for the feedback!
(^_^)
Lovely soundscape and also a really nice theme/leitmotif. Also like the somewhat different "style" for the last track - feels like an end title kind of theme. Good work!
It's a very thrilling soundtrack. I like how the leitmotif set the atmosphere at the start, and in the last track it exploded near the end. That moment felt big
Thanks I figured it needed to have a sense of high stakes but still have that connected throughline! I definitely would love to expand it further later on!
Thanks for the comment! (^_^)