Description
"Inside My World" stemmed straight from the beautiful theme art provided. I have always been in love with game music and this jam sounded perfect for my summer before graduate school.

I imagined this game as a 3D platforming adventure game focused on an art style similar to that of Studio Ghibli with mostly hand-drawn objects and assets. Overall, I wanted to convey the simple story I had in mind with plenty of character, while leaving a lot on the table for later in the game.

All tracks were created in Musescore 4 or Cubase 11.

Track 1: "Inside My World"
(Main Menu Music)

I tried to capture the mystery of the ocean and the quaint setting the game would begin in. I sought after a more intimate setting than the later tracks and laid the groundwork of using mostly acoustic string and percussion instruments since that is what I am most familiar with. I wrote a short theme in the cello that could easily have counterpoint added to it, and ran with it.

Track 2: "Tide Pools"
(Cutscene Music)

A short cutscene backing track, meaning to allude to the wonder Lila would feel exploring the tide pools and ocean near her home.

Track 3: "Dr. Kelp"
(Character Theme)

Lila meets a goofy, clumsy little crab who turns out to be an older gentleman. He is a marine biologist just like Lila's father.

Track 4: Ebbing Tide
(Area Theme)

Lila follows Dr. Kelp in the surface-level ocean through short tutorial-style levels where he instructs her on the basic mechanics of the game. I chose to begin to introduce the general vibe of the game more and more throughout this track and the next.

Using real percussion, string, and electric instruments, as well as a mix of electronic sounds to aid in the atmosphere, it created a groovy environment that had me dancing in my desk chair :)

Track 5: City Atlarin
(Area Theme)

Lila arrives in the first major area of the game, the beautiful "City Atlarin", a massive fish city inhabited by sea creatures of all shapes and sizes.

I returned the theme from the title track, this time with new counterpoint and a new background behind it. I continued with the groovy environment I had created before, with nearly the same instrumentation and just began to find more and more sounds and instrument combinations that added to the ocean atmosphere such as the steel hand pan. I love the groove and homey feeling it all became while being quite emotional at the same time.

So much of the kid in me wants to finish an entire soundtrack for this "game" I imagined. If it weren't for the 7-day time limit, I would have flooded this with so many more tracks.

This was a blast.

Message from the artist
I could not have had more fun writing this short portion of an OST. Thank you guys so much for hosting it, this was the most fun I have had writing music in years.

Proof of ownership of the contents is within the video linked in the comments of my project on my profile.


Disclaimer: I've been approached by a few other users regarding the use of AI artwork. I understand the implications of using AI art in a context such as this one, and why it is frowned upon. This was my first jam, and I forgot about artwork until the final few hours I had to work on this. I have learned from my mistake and will be contacting an artist for every jam in the future :)

Disclaimer 2: I have since added a few tracks to the album that are NOT included in what I finished in the 7-day limit. Tracks 1-5 are what I had done at the time of submission.

Thanks,
Owen

Theme

Inside my world

Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
"Inside My World" is a game that I imagined straight from the provided image. I created a character, Lila, that fits the same description as the girl pictured.

Within the details of the project I attached, I wrote a short description of the game I imagined, and how it would develop throughout.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTtLpEM4r_9WzVGcfkOrgCJxwluSMzzn1&si=zrfvn22mVgcuqO1Q

Number of tracks
5

Genre

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY)

Any project