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A jam submission

HARUKAView project page

Soundtrack for an imaginary game "HARUKA"
Submitted by tommy.max.brian — 1 hour, 20 minutes before the deadline
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HARUKA's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Composition#134.3894.389
Overall#384.0564.056
Impression#464.0284.028
Creativity#823.9443.944
Quality#864.0004.000
Correlation to theme#1093.9173.917

Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
The Game:

Imagine the worlds from Hayao Miyazaki's anime, but in the form of a game. The main character, a girl named Haruka, finds herself in such a world.

The game will take her through several main locations (spirit forest, sea, mountains, cloud kingdom). In each location, she will have to complete several quests in order to pass on.

The gameplay and graphics are similar to games like Genshin Impact and Sky: Children of the Light.

The game is mostly linear.
_____________________________


Music:

I was mostly inspired by anime`s and some game`s (Genshin Impact and Sky: Children of the Light) music. To make it sound more "japaneese", I used some traditional instruments, such as koto, taiko and flute.
Most of the soundtracks are orchestral. During this project I used Abletone Live 12.

1. "Haruka`s Waltz"
The game has just begun. Haruka finds herself in a large flower meadow and explores the place. One of the main themes of the game sounds.

2. "Dark Ceremony"
Night. Haruka enters the Forest of Spirits and witnesses a mysterious ceremony. The girl has to free a dragon that has become a prisoner of the spirits, without being seen by anyone.
Inspired by traditional japaneese music.

3. "Catching Rabbits"
At the edge of the forest, Haruka meets a rabbit mother whose rabbit children have run away. Haruka decides to help her catch and bring them back home. In a limited time the player has to collect all the rabbits :)
The track was made in the last 4 hours of the Jam... Really wanted to include it.

4. "Playful Waves"
After the forest, Haruka comes to the sea, where she has to learn how to swim and catch a big magical but harmful carp to go further.
With the music, I tried to capture the waves of the sea as best as I could, playing with the rhythm patterns. Here I was inspired by the picture theme of the Jam.

5. "Temple"
The girl's path lies through the mountains. She stumbles upon an abandoned temple where she needs to solve puzzles to find her way further.

6. "Up To The Clouds"
Haruka climbs higher and higher and as the fog clears, the girl sees the Cloud Kingdom.
The theme of clouds plays (second part of the track)

7. "First Fly"
The girl's goal in the Cloud Kingdom is to learn to fly. I tried to write music that sounds like flying.
As in the "Playful Waves", I experimented with a rhythm, which reminds me a wind`s blowing.

8. "Escape To Reality"
Haruka realizes that she is being sucked into this world and needs to get out of it as soon as possible. The player needs to control the girl's flight to get back. This track accompanies this process.
Here you can notice that the main themes of the different locations are played in reverse order, as we move towards the beginning of our journey. First the clouds theme is played, then, the sea. Here (planned cutscene) Haruka starts to fall, but at the last moment she is picked up by the dragon she saved in the forest and carried forward (the triumphant theme from the waltz sounds).

9. "Kakusei" ( eng. "Awakening" )
Haruka wakes up in a school classroom. Her teacher comes up to her and says (in Japanese):
- Haruka! Are you sleeping in class again? Wake up!
The girl realizes that it was all a dream, in which she was traveling through worlds from her fantasies.

This is the end of the game.

Message from the artist
Many thanks for opportunity to participate, it was really fun and I have good experience. I wish you good luck and thanks to everyone who listens to my work! Would appreciate any feedback from you, guys!

Theme

Inside my world
Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
At the end of the game, Haruka wakes up at school. It turned out that it was all a dream, and the world she was in was her own, inner fantasy world.
The picture theme is not the main theme of the whole game, but it inspired me to create the track "Playful Waves".

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/tommy_max_brian/sets/haruka?si=aeae6dc3da4f4c87ba134ef556879ec7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Number of tracks
9

Genre

Orchestral
World/Ethnic

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project

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Comments

Viewing comments 28 to 21 of 28 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

I know that this is a bit late... But Haruka's Waltz is by far my favorite song to come out of this jam.

Developer

Hey! Thank you anyways ;) 

Submitted(+1)

Amazing orchestration ! :0 Playful Waves was a delightful moment of Joy! 

There are tone of great harmonies in these songs. I liked the interaction of the two flutes in Temple, super cool sound! :D

In First Fly I really like how you used rythm, as two waves of melody, to convey the idea of wind blowing. Great musical imagerie on that one I thinkbit worked very well here. :)

Escape to Reality is such a climat in the ost!! Impressive composition :0

And haha that "ring bell" at the beginning, it made me smile. Yet it was powerful, with the light sound design and voice it really brings you back to reality sweetly.

The more I dived into this soundtrack the more I was hooked and admirative.

Superb Ost all along greaat job !!!

Developer(+1)

A huge huge huge thank you for your words. Was smiling joyfully for 5 mins after reading it ))
Really glad, that you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

Super high quality all around and fantastic!

Excellent job!

Developer

Yoo Jofes, nice to see u here!
Thank you for your words!

Submitted(+1)

Heavy inspiration from the work of Hisaishi. This really could fit within a Ghibli film. I noticed a bit of a shift in Up to the Clouds. Beautiful piano work here. I appreciate how subtle the strings are. 

Escape to Reality is so beautiful. That big moment at 1:23 is impactful! Great use of motif in this track. 

The entire soundtrack is one massive journey and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Developer

Thank you, Bakuda! I`m glad, that I conveyed the mood I wanted, Your comment really touches my soul :)

Submitted(+1)

This is an amazing soundtrack!! I'm amaze for the high quality of your compositions.

Temple definitely my favorite one! It was lovely journey to go along the whole OST while reading the story.


Wonderful!!

Developer

thank you very much!!!

Submitted (1 edit)

No idea how you did all that in just one week, hats off !! I also love the artwork !

Developer

thank you very much! 

Submitted(+1)

Super vibrant score!! Lot of elements that make it come alive, and definitely nails the Japanese anime vibe. I love your harp writing on 'Playful Waves'!! My favorite is 'Escape to Reality', really amazig climax and build. Super impressive entry, can't wait to see the anime they write for this ^^

Developer(+2)

maaany thanks! happy to read this!!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This was an AMAZING listen front to back. So many cinematic pieces to choose from that were all executed damn near perfectly for the context you gave them. I'll have to pick UpTo The Clouds and First Fly as my favorites. Incredible work man!

Developer

thank you very much! glad that everything sounds like it should be, that was the my main goal🖤

Viewing comments 28 to 21 of 28 · Next page · Last page