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Lost in Space - Pixcele's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #57 | 4.072 | 4.072 |
| Creativity | #91 | 3.904 | 3.904 |
| Overall | #92 | 3.866 | 3.866 |
| Composition | #113 | 3.888 | 3.888 |
| Impression | #152 | 3.688 | 3.688 |
| Quality | #154 | 3.776 | 3.776 |
Ranked from 125 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
While its really hard to convey a longer story with just two songs, I wanted to use these songs to convey the two main points of the little story I came up with for this, so I'll give a little explanation for each track:
STUCK IN TIME - (Menu Theme)
This is the song that I would have establish our protagonist, a nice more relaxing but distinctly hollow instrumentation that starts to plant the seeds of the nature of this character, who is incredibly lonely and struggles to break out of their bubble (this song was pretty directly inspired by the inspo pic). They are happy in their little place of solitude, but the sense of lonelyness and not being enough slowly becomes more and more apparent, which is when we meet them as it finally starts to reach a tipping point where they set out on a quest to try and find a greater purpose in life. This song is supposed to embody the naivete of this character at the start of the story, a lot more visibly "happy" and doesn't fully grasp the changes in their life that have to happen to get them out of this.
THE EARTH CAN'T HOLD ME - (Final Area)
Playing more towards the emotional climax of the game, this would be the song that plays as the protagonist reaches her final destination, as in her fight to escape her loneliness she has unintentionally pushed everything away, and physically pushed herself to the furthest reaches of the earth, with the swell at 2:00 representing the steps beyond the earth's atmosphere, the danger and unknown that comes with being in space. Shes not only mentally lost and struggling, but physically lost and in danger by nature of being alone, in space, just with the thoughts that have tormented her throughout the story. Nothing about this final area is safe, nothing about it is comfortable, nothing about the protagonists' mental state is comfortable. The worst memories are on loop, the worst thoughts, and running to space hasn't fixed them. The song gets darker and more muddled as the dangers get faced head on (i kind of envision this as a pixel platformer jumping between space debris with the earth sitting in the background), before finally slowing down as the protagonist finally starts to grasp what she has to do as the looping repetitive thoughts finally start to slow down.
This was all made on Ableton Live!!
Message from the artist
Feedback is very appreciated! I've never done something like this before and would love to understand what people think of my music!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I chose to embrace the theme "inside my world" especially from the side of being stuck inside ones head, allowing "The Earth Can't Hold Me" to provide a more stark contrast to the more happy feel of "Stuck in Time" which plays off of the more relaxed feeling of the picture theme. I wanted to show both the good and the bad of being stuck in your own little world, and how that (in this story) the bad ultimately turns ugly as the protagonist's world essentially falls apart around her.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/pixcele/sets/lost-in-space-ost-composing?si=10fc5cd7e4714d09873d41d53293994f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
https://youtu.be/lPxpinzhPKc
Number of tracks2
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
I love both songs, well produced and relaxing, made me feel in space!
yayyyyy, thank you!!
this is very beautiful it resembles alot of Lena Raines style of composting and I love it!
- bumpus?
bumpus i love ur name top 2 name with beepo, and im glad it reminds u of lena!!!
Nice combination of chiptune and guitar. So cozy, warm and soft.
Second song really beautifully evolved into dark. Even guitars catch that vibe with distortion.
Great overall dynamic and tension/release. Very nice work!
Thank you!!
Nice texture and etheral song
Thank you!
Big fan of your two tracks !
Stuck in Time: I really felt the passage of time, and the lassitude felt by the main character! Very nice
The Earth can't hold Me: very nice introduction, which rises gently, then picks up in intensity, and the outro, which regains its gentleness for a resolution! Superb construction for a final stage and very pleasant to listen to, I didn't feel the 8min go by! I like it a lot
you're very talented and I can easily imagine these two compositions in a game! Makes me want to hear more from you!
Awww thank you so much! I am hoping to do more with the ideas i got from this so who knows haha
an 8 minute song for your soundtrack is nothing sort but amazing, the rising tensions and the overall build up of ambience makes it fitting to be the final area theme for your imaginary game. the slight chiptune-y aspects (the square waves and such) in your songs (especially in the first track) is a nice touch and adds a bit of charm into it. Amazing work, really gave me celeste vibes.
Thanks!! Lena has been one of my composing inspirations for years so im glad my work still reflects that in a way
Such a graceful body of work! Love the atmospheric vibes I get from these tracks. The panning of the pad in The Earth Can't Hold Me makes my brain feel so tingly in a good way. It's like a massage for the brain. Great entry, keep it up!
oh thats cool! Ive been trying to experiment more with that so im glad you like it :D
Oh if this was a real game I would sob so hard, thank you for this submission
Awwwww, thank you so much! I'm definately keeping this idea around to maybe do something with it in the future, cause i do think it has potential.
Beautifully atmospheric tracks! I love the lead synth in 'Stuck in Time', the harmonies convey a lot of feeling. Feels like Porter Robinson wrote this. The guitar sounds really nice here, and beautiful chords nearing the end.
The texture in 'The Earth Can't Hold Me' feels really immersive, also the contrast is really nice. A lot of feeling layered with a kind of chaos. It feels like you have pockets of all these clashing feelings, it sounds perfect for the description you gave! Lot of variety in 9 minutes, and a wonderful structure.
Awesome work ^^!
awww thank you so much!!!
Very nice use of textured sounds and arrangement to make the song feel wide and lush!
Personally, I feel the mix and master didn't keep up with the composition of the song. Percussive elements like hihats were a bit too soft and the bass was hard to hear. It might've even been fighting with the pads. These are all things you'll eventually learn to solve, but I think taking some time to balance (especially pads and bass together!) can help these kinds of songs to become absolute galaxies of sounds. Also, adding a limiter to bump up the volume overall would help too. Great job and good luck!
Cool! Ill be sure to experiment with all that, im working on fixing the mixing issues in the song and am hoping to rerelease it at some point post jam, and feedback like this helps me a lot. Thanks!
this a vibe
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Big fan of the synth sound in the first track and the synths in general. Something about chippy sounds just has an inherent nostalgia. Otherwise, I think you achieved your goal of telling a story in two tracks _ there is enough contrast between the two that the two story beats are noticeable immediately. I also really like the slow development of the second track.
Thank you!! The contrast wasn't even something I consciously thought of, so its cool to see how it impacted you!
Contrast is super underrated with composers, even if they know it exists. So good you have an inherent knack for it!
So good! Both pieces sound great! Second one especially grabbed me at how well it would fit in the game you described. Admire having the guts to go for a 9 minute track in a jam setting and having it work out so well!
Like people have said, a little quiet, but that's a super minor nitpick for something like this!
Great work!
Honestly when I do long tracks it just kind of happens and then I look at the timeline and think "well shit thats about 4 minutes longer then I was planning to make" so im really happy its been sticking with people.
Hi there! Wow, I loved your tracks, the first one feels very bittersweet for me, I don't know why it reminds of nintendo ds ost such as Ace attorney or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for the loneliness vibe! Really liked the theme.
The second track is also very interesting in its development, and I liked reading your intentions. This time it reminds me of Celeste's OST! The amabience is really great, you did a really good job.
Thank you for your submission!
"Stuck in time" has a really great happy and peaceful, yet somewhat lonely feeling that I think perfectly captures the story. "The Earth Can't Hold Me" sound great. The buildup and atmosphere is great and reflects the story well. I especially like the bassline. It gives a very ominous and ethereal feeling. I only wish it was a bit louder, as it becomes very hard to hear once other stuff is layered over. As others have said, the only glaring issue is the volume balance and mixing. Despite that, all of the ideas are good, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening. Good work!
Thank you so much!!
The work is very interesting—I like it! Certainly, regarding the mix, you need to raise the dB quite a bit because it sounds really low: I understand it’s not mastered, but at least keep the mix between -18 dB (for good dynamics) and -6 dB FS. It’s also true that the second track reaches higher dB levels, but using a clipper (like Standard Clip, for example) would help manage excessive dynamics. Just use it cautiously, as overuse could result in the opposite effect, making it too compressed. Anyway, for a platformer game, this type of music fits really well: relaxing, with the right pauses and textures! Beyond the low volume, I think it’s a great piece of work!
Thanks for the detailed feedback, very new to this side of things ao anything specific helps a lot! Ive been revisiting the project and working on all the things people suggest so direct feedback like this gives me a more specific guide to work on, and for that i thank you!
You're welcome, it's a pleasure!
The mix is too quiet, but other than that this is a nice and enjoyable listen.
Thanks!!!!
Well hahah, I always look for music like this in the indie games I play, I got some gaming memories even though I never played a game with these songs. Can't find anything I really dislike about these songs, only think must be the mastering between the two, make them more of the same volume levels would be better
The fact that I effortlessly went thru entier 8 minute song is a surprise for me. You're great at making people listen to your creations :>
Second track gives me a lot of Empire Ants by Gorillaz vibes. Maybe not by the sound strictly but by the build up and climax. I think it's refreshing to be hearing all these thoughts of anxiety not by agresive mumbling but by actual instruments. At least to me refreshing.
It's actually pretty dark. Like, you were your entier life in that bubble, knowing you should leave it for your own good becouse loneliless won't disapear and eventually will get you killed, but when you left that bubble, it turned out that you should stay in there. You were right, your thoughts were right. Now you can only regret your actions, knowing that your anxiety was telling you the truth this time.
I'm absolutely loving your interpretation of this, I'm glad you connected with the more dark and anxious parts of The Earth Can't Hold Me, as I wasn't entirely sure how that would translate
While the music is way too quiet, after turning up my volume, it's really nice to listen to. Good work!
Haha yeah, I've learnt a lot about mixing and making everything a good volume over this. Definitely something I did not think about enough, thanks for the feedback!