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Reflect - OST COMPOSING JAM 7's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #326 | 3.441 | 3.750 |
| Correlation to theme | #348 | 3.384 | 3.688 |
| Impression | #376 | 3.212 | 3.500 |
| Overall | #435 | 3.200 | 3.487 |
| Composition | #480 | 3.040 | 3.313 |
| Quality | #530 | 2.925 | 3.188 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
GAME STORY (+ song placement):
After entering a comatose state, you are plunged into your own mind, and you must defeat all the worst parts of you so that you can peacefully pass away and move on to the afterlife. The first track (Inside My World) plays both in the main menu of the game and also at the very end, as you pass away. The second track (Good Old YOU) plays as you explore the first stage of your mind, which consists mostly of good thoughts. There is an entity you meet who travels with you, claiming to be an angel sent from heaven to help guide you through your mind, and they appear to be a humanoid figure who is made of bubbles. However, there are bad thoughts leaking through. You go to destroy them, which culminates in you fighting the embodiment of all your worst desires (FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME). Upon defeating them, the angel sent to guide you absorbs the dark feelings, which they say is to help you. Then you are sent into the second, much darker stage of your mind which consists only of your worst thoughts (Is This Even YOU). Trying to find a way out, you end up needing to fight against the embodiment of your hatred (THE DEADLIEST HATE). The "angel" absorbs your hatred, becoming completely engulfed in darkness. Then they reveal that they aren't actually an angel, they're YOU. Having absorbed the darkness, they have become a reflection of all your worst parts, and they are the final thing you must defeat to move on (The YOU you WISH you WEREN'T (but you are)). Then, after they've been defeated, you can finally pass away.
LEITMOTIF EXPLANATIONS:
The first track introduces two leitmotifs, the main theme and the hate theme. The two themes show up in 3/4 here, but in 4/4 in the rest of the tracks so they are varied slightly. The main theme shows up in Inside My World, Good Old YOU, Is This Even YOU, and The YOU you WISH you WEREN'T (but you are). The hate theme shows up in Inside My World, FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME (it is the most altered in this song, so you it may not be as easy to pick up on, but it makes up most of the song), THE DEADLIEST HATE, and The YOU you WISH you WEREN'T (but you are). There is also another leitmotif, the death leitmotif. The first half of it shows up in FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME, and the second half shows up in THE DEADLIEST HATE. Then, they both come together to play the full death theme in The YOU you WISH you WEREN'T (but you are) since that is the most important battle to win in order to peacefully die. The death theme was pretty heavily influenced by Laura Palmer's theme from the show Twin Peaks, which is because the show is about uncovering how she was tragically killed, and so I thought that the theme of a dead person would be a fitting influence for the death theme.
GAMEPLAY:
I imagined this game as an RPG for the PS1, but it would play closer to the first two Fallout games than other RPGs.
Composing info:
All songs were composed in FL Studio, with the PS1 soundfont for everything but the drums, which were FPC.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
You are inside your own world, which is your mind. Also the picture represents the first stage of your mind, and it features the "angel" too (bubble guy).
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr0ttUTC1kwAzd9GSFeQzxmeWtfQvS1sV
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Is it beautiful? Yes! Epic? Yes! Is it creepy in some places? Is it......
Dynamic? Yes!!!1!
Each track has its own "style" and soul, and at the same time they are all fun!
Thanks for the COOL soundtrack)
I really like the build up over the course of the OST to that phenomenal ending of The YOU you WISH you WEREN'T!
Seeing that old school PS1 box art and hearing the sounds you chose brought me back. Nice work!
Continuing my Quest to Rate Albums With Few Submissions To Hopefully get Some In Return
Good representation of the 90s playstation sound, the only thing missing are those warped ambient pads. I like the thick bass pads (a sorta reese bass sound?) and the creepy piano.
Inside My World has a wonderful choice of pads/drones in the background - it just reeks of that late 90s/early 00s kind of sound. Spaced out with just a tiny bit of grit. Orchestration throughout this track was nice; keeps plodding along and evolving before resolving nicely.
Choice of instrumentation throughout Good Old YOU really reminds me of some mid-90s RPG, bordering on some MIDI music you'd find on PC in games like Theme Hospital. Absolutely adore the vibes in this one, brought me back to simpler times, haha. Nice lead melody here with some good use of bends throughout.
From the Deepest Desires Often Come is a change of mood, and then later pace. The drums here work really well in giving a driving force to the track. Kudos on varying the beat and changing the groove to provide some texture to the track. The accompaniment is arranged well and feels somewhat urgent without being panicked.
Is this Even You once again leans heavily into that core PSX sound; big pads, sparkly patches and moody ambience. The minimal percussion in this is nice to give enough of a heartbeat and let the atmosphere take over. That swelling saw in the background is great - reminds me of a track from Axiom Verge which had a similar kind of pulse to it that really added this ominous layer.
I was wondering when guitars would show up, and The Deadliest Hate delivers! Feels somewhat akin to early 90s with how this progresses. I'd be lying if I said I didn't hear some Doom elements here. Great bass work, solid choice of instrumentation and melodies. The almost-breakbeat drums toward the end go really hard (have a soft-spot for that genre) and it really works well here.
Finally, the YOU you WISH you WEREN'T, is a great track to end on. Off the bat it is ominous and almost oppressive but not quite. The softer lead synths here do a good job of keeping it from becoming too laden down but then the mood changes altogether. Once the track properly kicks in it brings me back, again, to the late 90s with both the choice of voicings and progressions. The bit-crushed drum beat is fantastic for adding texture and a little extra oomph.
All in all, super solid submission. Tightly executed and gave me nostalgia for a game that I've never played, and for one that doesn't exist! Great work. :)
Great job! Love the ps1 sounds. Excellent work on the drums overall. The Deadliest Hate was my favorite, that guitar riff was also really cool :D
I liked how fast the last track got it was a cool change of pace!
I like the idea of a ps1 game and the music fit with it! Nice work!
"FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME" was simply awesome. Had my head bobbing!
Very creative idea for the game. I think you did a great job evoking the feelings of the parts of the game each track would play in.
I enjoyed the music. It gives me early PS1/late SNES RPG vibes with a little Mega-Man. The description and placement of the songs is a wonderful addition to accompany the music. Wonderful submission :)
Thank you so much! Part of the reason it sounds like a SNES RPG is because that's the style of soundtrack I usually write haha, so I'm glad you picked up on that!
FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME - Cool idea! I think to match the intensity of the track, it would have been nice to have had some crunch in there with maybe a distorted synth or guitar patch. The bells at the start could have come down a little in volume as I think it was a touch harsh. Some kind of driving bassline would have suited the drums perfectly too as they sounded great.
Good Old YOU - The sax patch for chords/pad would really work if it had a bit more of a different texture to the lead instrument, so maybe an organ or something? I particularly like the second section on this one.
Inside My World - This one gives me big Earthbound vibes - unless it's an integral part of the whole soundtrack, I could have heard this one without drums maybe? Would be interesting to hear what it sounds like without them.
Is This Even YOU - As I'm listening while leaving this comment, this one is my favourite so far. Very creepy and I love the descending part in the intro. For the main melody, I think it needed a couple of "wrong" notes just to keep it sounding creepy and not just happy.
THE DEADLIEST HATE - Yeah this one's great, no notes
The YOU you WISH you were - Love the bitcrush effect on the drums on this one! I'd love to hear more of that across the whole soundtrack.
Thanks so much for the feedback, this is all great! As I read your feedback I agreed with everything you said, I wish I had more time to go back and implement all this (especially the organ suggestion for Good Old YOU, that was brilliant)! If I ever end up using these songs again in the future, I'll be sure to make all the changes you were talking about, since I think that could definitely make these songs just that much better. Thanks again! :)
My favorite was "FROM THE DEEPEST DESIRES OFTEN COME", I really liked the drums and the mixing was really clean. The leitmotifs were a bit on the nose but they still added a lot of enjoyability on the first listen. Good job overall :D