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María - Official OST's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #5 | 4.414 | 4.414 |
| Composition | #20 | 4.310 | 4.310 |
| Overall | #27 | 4.124 | 4.124 |
| Impression | #70 | 3.931 | 3.931 |
| Creativity | #74 | 3.966 | 3.966 |
| Quality | #86 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I wanted to keep a very real sound to the soundtrak, so I went with an orchestral feel.
I imagine "María" to be a platformer RPG, set underwater.
The story is set in this massive underwater dome structure with many branching paths, that lead María to everyone's personal world, encapsulated inside other domes that expand ad infinitum.
Places of wonder, thriving with life, or at least before Midas attacks.
Midas is a human that wasn't satisfied with his world, He seeks more, so he will take more.
María is tasked with stopping Midas from taking over more worlds.
María, even though not revealed, is related to Midas, and this is the most important thing I wanted to convey with the music.
Which, I'll talk about now.
Midas, being older, and having a clear goal and purpose, has a theme, a theme that invokes war, a battle theme.
His theme has 3 leitmotifs: Midas' world; which is explored in the song with the same name. Golden touch; which is explored in the song named "María's Golden Touch". And finally Parent; which is explored in both "María's Music Box" and "María's Vision"
That is the biggest correlation between all of them, but there is one more leitmotif I want to talk about.
In the song "María's Golden Touch" which is set to happen AFTER fighting Midas, Midas and María have a heart to heart talk, that is pretty much one sided and only Midas is talking, but María is also having some input, not by speaking, but in the song:
The Leitmotif "This World's Will" plays, which is shared between "Inside my world", title theme of the game, and said song, this leitmotif represents the relationship between María and the sake of the world, and it is only played when María's goal is accomplished.
The only song separated from any links, is "Walking Through The Waterway" as this is a song meant for everyone's world-way, hence the name, So it lacks any leitmotifs
Whew! That out of the way, I used FL Studio 21 to make every single track, and for the most part I used kontakt libraries like Noire Pure, String Selection 2, and other orchestral libraries.
And that's pretty much it about the making of this OST!
Message from the artist
I'm gonna keep it short, I don't know how I finished this on time.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Alrighty, so, I went with both the picture and the text themes, the picture is a bit obvious, the main character of the game "María" is pretty much the one showed in the picture, I loved the design but I didn't want to use the picture theme as my cover art, so I asked a friend of mine (enoi on most socials) if he could draw me a cover art and he gladly did so, you can check it out in my submission :)
Music wise the picture theme gave me the idea to make most tracks sound as if they were underwater, adding lots of reverb, equalizing it a bit, you know the drill.
As for the text theme I actually based the story around that, the fact that the text was "Inside my world" meant, for me at least, that everyone had a world, and I loved that concept, a universe where everyone lived happily in the world THEY created.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://on.soundcloud.com/xSj1rKbkUKhKTUGj8
Number of tracks7
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Inside My World is an incredibly beautiful, albeit simple, but atmospheric beginning of our journey...
Maria's Music Box - I feel childhood...
Maria's Vision - I really feel like I'm starting to look at this world with different eyes... And are those eyes crying?
Maria's Golden Touch - Exciting, soothing and... water? I can literally hear the sun trying to make its way through the water surface
Midas' World is MAGIC! The perfect combination of instruments, a groovy melody and a magnificent piano! I love this track! It's full of energy, life and dynamics! By the way... I can hear slightly noticeable synthesizers... Cool!
Walking Through The Waterway is a wonderful conclusion...
overall... does it make sense to sum up the results? I think it's clear that you've made a great soundtrack!
Good stuff, composition and arrangement are nice. Midas is obviously the stand out of the album its really different from all the other tracks. I just think most of the tracks except Midas needs some bump in volume for the mix it is very quiet, you have enough headroom to give it a notch without any distortion at all. Good job !
a very very solid submission you completely represented the theme through the inflections you added in within the ost
VEry BaSed!
-BUMPUS
Pretty much thankful SoundCloud brought me here. The sheer number of entries is overwhelming and hard to find the next good entry. But there you are. Very beautifully written tracks that are minimalistic in choice of instruments but then also executed very well for building that heartwarming atmosphere like being home. Though I feel some songs could use some additional length I really liked listening to them. Particularly “Maria’s Vision” resonated the most with me. But also Midas is a very strong entry by itself.
"Midas" stands out as being a really cool track by itself, but the correlation between that song and his theme is very well done.You obviously know what you are doing from a music production standpoint; the sound design is clean, the melodies are strong, the composition is clever. The piano lead shifts from soft and flowing to punchy and driving as needed from track to track, and the flourishes and overall composition are fun to listen to while showing off some talent. "Walking Through the Waterway" provides a bit of variety to the soundtrack that was very welcome as a lot of the earlier songs were a bit slow in comparison. That, along with "Midas" were definitely my favorites, but overall the entire album was solid. Great work!
Inside My World: The quiet high piano is great for underwater melodies. I like your harmonic choices!
Maria’s Music Box: This has a very nice lullaby quality to it. The use of the mixolydian mode feels quite magical.
Maria’s Vision: I notice that you like to use the bVI chord in each of your tracks, but it feels like it’s used in unique ways each time. I enjoyed the use of pizzicato strings over legato swells to convey a sense of super-reality.
Maria’s Golden Touch: Great use of leitmotif. The blue notes used throughout add emotional depth to this track. The reverb creates an ambience that works really well with the underwater theme and feel. The subtle strings toward the end is a really nice touch! I also appreciate your chord choices where it feels like the progression is over, but then you turn back into the progression with a I-III-IV (I think?) move that seems to say “But wait, there’s one more thing…”
Midas’ World: The use of more synthetic-sounding instruments tell me that something is different here from the previous tracks. There is a sad and distressed but sweet quality to this track.
Midas: This track is very different from the rest and has a lot of energy in it! I think the thing that makes it stand out is the fullness of the string pulse that supports the anchor points of the piano melody. The addition of electronic sounds is good musical representation of the two different characters. I think it’s also worth noting that one nuanced detail I appreciated is the sound of your snare sounds a little deeper and darker which I think works really well to help convey more of an underwater sound.
Walking Through The Waterways: Your use of a waltzy piano track for water tunnels between worlds is something I really enjoyed. After all, Koji Kondo set the standard for water levels being in 3/4 and it just feels right! This track is probably my favorite out of all of them!
Overall: You have a very delicate and fine-tuned compositional style which allows for nuanced emotions and moments to be conveyed with ease. I appreciate that you set up themes early and then revisited them to help tell your story musically. Very well done! And thank you for sharing!
As I've promised, here I am!
WOAH. I love the composition in these tracks, especially the chord progressions! This is some seriously great stuff, you did a wonderful job with these tracks! I think I can agree with quite a few people here when I say that "Midas" is probably my favorite track. The energy and use of instruments is phenomenal! That's not to say the other tracks aren't good tho, all of them have such great compositions and I especially love the chord progression of "Inside My World." Although some of the tracks can be considered somewhat short, they still hold so much emotional weight and are a great listen (I shouldn't be the one to talk tho, a lot of my tracks are also pretty short lol).
Overall you've made such a wonderful OST with amazing composition. Your use of motifs is also greatly appreciated! Definitely up there as one of my favorite submissions purely for the amazingly done composition and sound design, outstanding work!
That's all I have to say really, have a wonderful day! :D
Very VERY good composing work! Midas has the most distinct sounds and what made it stand out to me particularly was that it was the most clear and blunt. Absolutely loved Walking Through The Waterway, probably my favorite track out of all. I really appreciate the effort to actually have connections through the usage of leifmotifs, which I found a lot of submissions lack. o(*^▽^*)┛
I have nothing to say everything is impressive, but Midas is a damn masterpiece.
I'm sharing your stuff as much as possible, it's crazy good!
Beautiful minimalistic entry =) Midas is quite unexpecting track, but very energetic and nicely done!
Walking Through The Waterway is so catchy theme, love it)
This was a super enjoyable listen, I really liked your use of the different character motifs spread throughout as it did help create a beautiful story! I had pretty high expectations coming into this for Midas because it had been hyped up to me a lot, and i have to say you met all of them! It reminded me a lot of deltarune, Excellent work.
Inside my world: Absolute beautiful piano solo. Well done
Maria's Golden Touch: The Final Fantasy is strong with this one. Love the deep, calm nature of this track.
Maria's Music Box: Simple yet sublime!
Maria's Vision: Wow the Pizzicato on those strings with a slow string hums creeping in really brought that tension.
Midas: Ok my favorite one so far! This is an awesome battle theme! Love how that piano starts and it revs up and them BAM! Nice variation on the each phrase and love how you brought in the mix of 8 bit and orchestral instruments by the end. Great job
Midas's World: Love that slow, melancholy guitar solo. I'd love to know which vst you used for that.
Walking through the Waterway: Great waltz. I adore the melody you gave the piano, the instrument itself sounds like something you'd here in a ps1, early ps2 game. Probably my second favorite in this track!
Overall Amazing job. There is storytelling in every track and the way you combined both themes worked flawlessly.
Wow, this is a strong entry. Some very rich compositions here, especially in the piano tracks and midas. Midas is a showstopper for sure and one of the best battle themes I've heard so far. The first track is so familiar yet i can't place it. Excellent work! Thanks for making and sharing.
Really good orchestration! I particularly like "Midas" that is really good but also the subtil piano of "Inside My World" and the valse at the end is soooo good! A very good submission!
Midas Was FANTASTIC!
It is by far my favorite track I have heard in the entire Jam so far and I have rated 180 of the entries so Great Job!
Fascinating idea. The soundtrack is very whimsical and mesmerizing. My favorites tracks are "Inside My World" and "Maria's Golden Touch".
Really enjoyed this soundtrack, really nicely put together! Loved the Music Box track - captured the sound perfectly, and there's excellent energy in "Midas" - thrilling music! The use of a waltz for "walking through the waterway" is lovely too.
Only criticism is how some of the early, smooth tracks just feel like they're cut off sharply, without any space or indication that they can be repeated.
Totally true on that behalf, while making the soundtrack I didn't know if I should leave the end with a cut or a conclusive ending.
While it is true that all songs do perfect loop, I totally understand that it sounds cut off, thanks for the criticism, glad you liked it :)
Cooking this much great stuff in a week is an achievement on itself! Midas is a banger of a battle theme.
everything here is really lovely work, but Midas goes crazy hard in particular. bravo!
Your use of leitmotifs is well-thought-out here! The composition really shines and I LOVEEE all the interesting chord progressions thrown in throughout. "Maria's Golden Touch" and "Walking Through" are my favorites in that regard. They're so well-make and moody. "Midas" is pure banger from beginning to end and it having many phases is super fun. My critique is minor but I just thought that the piano in "Midas" could use a bit more reverb, esp in the early reflections. It being played at such high intensity but without reverb felt a bit unnatural to me but that could just be me being used to other styles.
This is an amazing entry!
Just tried it out on FL, You are absolutely right, although it does sound weird at first with reverb if it doesn't cut off, adding a simple automation to the reverb makes the lil piano sections so much better, thank you for the feedback, glad you liked it ^^