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Stay Afloat (OST Composing Jam 7)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #82 | 3.988 | 3.988 |
| Impression | #106 | 3.817 | 3.817 |
| Overall | #119 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
| Composition | #137 | 3.817 | 3.817 |
| Quality | #139 | 3.817 | 3.817 |
| Creativity | #239 | 3.610 | 3.610 |
Ranked from 82 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- You have a great grasp on a very cinematic style of writing that lets the musical medium achieve what it does best— adding a layer of emotional/personal depth to non-musical forms (like games). The music always unfolds with a really touching elegance that I found very affecting. I suspect you’ll find a lot of game devs that are searching for this exact quality in the music. A good example of this is around the 1:00 mark of “Mind at Sea”, where you bring in some really lovely percussive elements that I like very much. The piece instantly expands and incurs a quality of “vastness” and emotional depth. Its reoccurrence in other tracks serves you well, helping tie the whole thing together nicely. If I could offer some critique on this set of tracks it would be to pay as much attention to the endings of your tracks as you do the rest— at times (notably on “Mind at Sea”), it feels like the tracks kind of just stop rather than actually wrapping up and ending— I would encourage you to spend some time seeing if you can “land the plane” a little more gracefully. Additionally, I’m personally not really a fan of including non-musical elements in tracks (like the water sound effects)— your lovely writing stands on its own two feet well enough without it! You have a very good sense of drama and emotion that I think serves the music very well. Your choices of harmonic movement are very cinematic and effective, and something that I think will serve you well going forward. There is an expansive, deeply-felt quality to your writing that is wonderful to hear. Beautiful, moving work.
Description
This OST follows the mental personification of our protagonist, sailing peacefully through the waters of life throughout "Mind At Sea". As the weight of pressure starts to build up in the real world, the ship sails into some "Rough Waters", violently shaking and stirring until a strike of lightning sends everything into chaos. Desperately trying to "Stay Afloat" as everything crumbles around them, the protagonist eventually can't keep her head above the waves and surrenders to the sea, falling into the cold embrace of hopelessness as the currents drag her deeper, just like the souls who travel down the "River Styx" to their eternal damnation. Nothing but a flickering heartbeat remains, until a brief moment of reflection gives a chance to simply "Breathe", and find the determination to swim back up from the depths, push against the current, and as the music begins to swell in a triumphant fashion, they are finally able to "Resurface". Their mind is at peace once more.
I composed this soundtrack in Ableton Live 11 Suite, using various instruments and effects from third-party plugins, primarily from Native Instruments. If you have any specific questions about my composition process or the instruments I used, feel free to ask me in a comment, and I'll do my best to respond!
Message from the artist
This jam was an absolute blast for me to participate in, I put my full effort into composing my own tracks, as well as discussing ideas and sharing feedback with the rest of the composers. In the end, I feel like I've composed and produced some amazing tracks that I feel represents the best of what I can offer right now. And hey, for being 16 years old and barely out of high school with only two years of composition experience, I think I did pretty well. I'm looking forward to feedback from both the incredible panel of judges and the other participants, and I truly hope you enjoy listening to my submission! :D
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I tried to draw inspiration from both themes and create my own interpretation, in the description you can see that the game is about the mental personification of our protagonist, as they sail through an oceanic world of their own creation, doing their best not to sink under the pressures of the real world.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://ihoist.itch.io/stay-afloat
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Track 4 is really foreboding in a compelling way. Also the opening of track 6 is super cool? Feels like being underwater and the delayed piano (?) is haunting. Great job!
Awesome soundtrack! It was really emotional. I loved the use of water sound effects, it really helps to ground the music inside the story. Resurface was probably my favourite. The only criticism I have is like someone else already pointed out, there are many ostinatos used throughout the tracks that can get a bit repetitive in a game, but still it's an incredible OST
Absolutely magnificent, so much expression in this masterpiece! I really liked the harmonies and colors you brought in. To listen again an again. Thank you for sharing ! =)
This has been really well produced, with a clear narrative in relation to the theme. Stay Afloat is particularly impressive in the way it builds and develops, and I especially enjoyed the Resurface track. Nice work!
"Mind at Sea" and "River Styx" are my favorite tracks ^_^
Each song fit the theme so well & a great story to go along with it!
From my point of view, you're a good composer! :D
Great storytelling with sound design and beautiful music! Quality of the mix is also great. Mesmerizing work :)
Really great composition and sound quality! And the tracks are super cohesive - it just works!
I love how emotionally driven these tracks are. The string resonance creates a really nice dissonant sound in River Styx. Personally the water effects were a bit too loud.
Such a great and solid experience, very clean, relaxing and epic. Really well done job, keep going!
Very relaxing soundtrack! One of the only submissions that I've noticeably heard a leitmotif, so big ups to that. Great work :D
Beautiful leitmotif set up in the first track! Love how the track builds and leads into Rough Waters, upping the ante in the energy. Big fan of the SFX you've included throughout - it does a great job at reinforcing the story! The darker colours of Stay Afloat are a beautiful contrast while still retaining the leitmotif! Incredible compositions here! Well done!
yo! very cinematic and epic, dude! i thought that your ost really evokes this "on a ship at sea" feeling. especially with your use of rain and thunder sfx in certain tracks. i also thought that the muddled effect you use (sounds like eqing) in tracks like resurface sound nice too. my only complaint is that the lead feels a bit monotonous at times, since the main lead is virtually a violin in every track. i think that the tracks would benefit from some change in that respect. it would make things more interesting, and give the track some more movement. i also think that a use of a countermelody in certain songs like river styx would do quite nice. but i still must say that you have pretty nice composition skills. good stuff all around!!
Epic melodies, clean sound, felt like listening to my favourite game Heroes
Very solid. The spirit of your music is quite palpable - which is what I always like to hear. It sounds to me like you're really composing from your heart more than just trying to write something for a competition, especially with the first track.
Constructive feedback:
I would focus more on the dynamics of the instruments/mix. Some of it got a little midi-ish.
Composing wise, it has that sound of music that was composed in a midi editor. I don't know why, but it always has a sound and I can hear it with my own work when I write music that way. My method of breaking out of this was just to improvise, and improvise and improvise. If you get some sort of midi controller, it'll really help with this. Instead of scoring stuff out, you can instead just record to a metronome. It'll then have more human dynamics and timing, and velocity. And, you can write much faster.
I really liked the vibe you had though, so I hope my feedback helps you realize that spirit more fully. It is already a very strong entry. :)
In all the submissions that chose the water theme route, I think it's the first time I'm hearing actual wave sounds and I like it so much. Great use of real world sounds for ambience in the other tracks as well. Very nautical, on point with your interpretation. Those strings on Stay Afloat with the thunder in the background really brought the tension and the song to life. Resurface was an epic finale. Great work!
Great tracks! Repetitivenes of same melody in one track feels bit tiring, some variations will improve situation alot. But overall great sounding, dynamic and cohesiveness!
You took me aboard this nice trip, really loved the story told! "Stay Afloat" captured very well the distress of being in a storm, liked your choice of sound design. Nice variations and story telling through the tracks, a very well led submission!
Started out very strong for the first track and kept the momentum throughout. The strings, which carried the soundtrack for me, sounded fantastic and made the leitmotif pop. All six songs worked together to form a coherent story.
[Sees "River Styx"]
My Hades Brainrot:
very very beautiful bruv
This told a great story overall! I think the tracks flow super well together and all are cohesive both musically and aesthetically. Could do with some variation in the tracks to spice it up, but you clearly have a great ear for composition!