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Downside-Up: Marnie's Bizarre Adventure's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #37 | 4.129 | 4.129 |
| Overall | #144 | 3.742 | 3.742 |
| Correlation to theme | #153 | 3.806 | 3.806 |
| Composition | #184 | 3.710 | 3.710 |
| Impression | #233 | 3.516 | 3.516 |
| Quality | #276 | 3.548 | 3.548 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Welcome to Marnie's Bizarre Adventure! This is a game about my one-eyed little orange cat, Marnie, as well as a tribute to two of the furry members of my family that are no longer with us.
Please see the project page for the full description and accompanying story. The tracks are in order of the story and are each linked to a specific chapter. Below is additional information specifically related to my vision, composition, sound design, etc.
This soundtrack was made with Reaper, using only MIDI that has been (in most cases, time-permitting) meticulously adjusted to enhance realism. I was going for an overall sound blended a Modern Rock/Metal-inspired sort of vibe with a lot of heavy synth instruments and just a little bit of strings to top it off. Many songs go back and forth between "real" drums and electronic ones throughout the songs.
-----Themes and Story tie-in----
There are a few consistent themes that were used throughout the soundtrack:
A) The most obvious is the two mirrored tracks "Her Light's Embrace" and "Her Shadow's Touch." These are character themes for two very polar opposite characters. "Her Light's Embrace" is the original version of the theme, "Her Shadow's Touch" uses vinyl record style distortion, detunes some of the instruments and changes the key in some parts of the song to create an anxious feeling and contrast the warmth of the original song. (Honestly, I may have overdone it a bit in trying to make the song sound dark ahaha.)
B) The theme from "Under the Bed" is re-used in "Out of Hiding," which shows Marnie's growth from the beginning of her adventure where she often scared and anxious into the courageous adventurer that she has become by the end of her story. Whereas "Under the Bed" has an anxious feeling to it, "Out of Hiding" is triumphant; playing as she traverses the final level to face off against the evil ceiling fan.
C) The instruments should feel familiar throughout the soundtrack, with some of the synths or pads even repeating similar sounds from previous songs to create cohesion. The title theme's opening riff is repeated in "Where the Wild Worms Are." The title theme's guitar breakdown was originally intended to be revisited in the ending theme, "Safe & Sound," but that track was cut due to time constraints.
---Music Creation---
VST instruments used: A ton of Serum, Shreddage Hydra, Shreddage Jupiter, Stroh Violin, various Kontakt libraries, Battery, Shreddage Drums, etc.
For mixing/mastering/etc, I used mainly Ozone with a few of Reaper's built in plug-ins (Reacomp, ReaEQ, ReaDelay, etc.)
Message from the artist
---Credits and thanks---
A) Special thanks to my wife for the cover image, the missing poster, and the her drawing of an evil wiggly worm with ominous ceiling fans looming in the background. She also makes cute perlers and stickers, you can check out her art here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9MBJqNRmEA
B) All of the music and the rest of the art are done by me, albitrary.
C) The camera photos are mostly of Marnie (3y/o), but also include her stoic companion Leo (4y/o) and old man Izzy (17y/o.) There are a couple old photos of the late Puff and Sophie included for reference, who left us in 2020 and 2022, respectively. If you squint, you can also see my dog Willow in one of the pictures, who is probably like 100 years old or something (no one really knows, veeeeery spooky)
D) Thank you to Lone Rabbit for this jam, I spent months looking forward to it and even planned my vacation around it. Honestly, I put WAY too much effort into this, but I had a ton of fun and got a lot of fulfillment from doing it. Also a very big thanks to them for allowing me to submit my entry a little late, after NOT ONLY losing my entire finished story script the night before, but then thinking the submission deadline was actually 12 midnight EST on Sunday night, not 12 noon.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Marnie's Bizarre Adventure shows the world through Marnie's point of view. Her world is full of wonder and anxiety, and it's also just kinda silly.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://on.soundcloud.com/XfuFJ8o5Ba9FJxfXA
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ2zZC18mAX3bO2Exw1s6-IyPFIAGnwjN
Number of tracks9
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
I really enjoyed this soundtrack! I really appreciate how there was variety in the themes which make it easy to envision moving from stage to stage and each of those stages having their own unique visual quality. I feel there are some areas where the drums are a touch too prominent in the mix, but the compositions are well conceived and filled with creative diversity. Well done!
Thanks for the listen, glad you enjoyed it!
Marnie’s Bizarre Adventure: This opening track feels like the start of a grand adventure! But then the second section has a dismayed vibe. Then when the drums and electric guitar return, there is a sense of determination that tells me Marnie is ready for the rest of the adventure to unfold!
Under the Bed: I like the use of synths to convey a sense of mystery and feeling of loss. This track feels like a debriefing track which fits with your description that this is where we get the backstory for the evil ceiling fan.
Where the Wild Worms Are: The beat is really fun and sets up a nice first-boss battle theme. I really enjoy your use of electric guitar - the quality is really great and fits with the energy needed for the story.
Whispers from the Dark: Your story for this part of the soundtrack is really funny. This feels like the prelude to stepping into the Colosseum.
Her Light’s Embrace: The gentle melody in a major key gives this track a sweet sound conveying the holiness you describe.
Her Shadow’s Touch: The sound is now more ominous and dissonant to show direct contrast from the previous track. I like the record stopping sound effect!
When I Was Younger: The pizzicato strings combined with the electric guitar chords and the electronic drum kit gave this track a really fun feel that had me bobbing my head the whole time.
Minions of the Ceiling Fan: This is a really fun battle theme! I really like the fast moving lines. The long melodies feel very epic over the stadium drum pattern. The violin melody also is really cool. This is a very fun track!
Out of Hiding: The violin 16th notes are super cool in this track! This has a final level intensity to it for sure! The progression of energy is very nicely crafted here. What a fun resolution to your great story about Marnie!
Overall: This was a very creative story that navigated so many emotional themes and many compositional styles. I think your strength lies in the epic/hard rock combo style with the orchestral strings. The last three tracks stood out to me as my favorites. Very nicely done - thank you for sharing!
Thank you for the listen and the kind words!
I added the record spindown to the middle of "Her Shadow's Touch" because I felt the vinyl/record effects on the violin weren't coming across clearly - it just sounded like the VST for the violin wasn't playing correctly. Originally, the song was just a mirror image of the original with a lot of pitch effects and "warbling," but the dissonance was pretty heavy handed and it just didn't feel great to listen to. I think I spent more time on this one than any other track, and I almost left it out of the submission entirely, but it turned out more or less OK. If anything, it was good practice in experimenting with the unknown!
You can probably tell from your comment about my strengths (and that was spot on,) but Minions of the Ceiling Fan was definitely my fave track. Fast-paced battle themes are my comfort zone. :)
Thanks again for the listen, I always love to see feedback from experienced and talented composers!
Kudos on managing 9 tracks in the time-frame, that's impressive! And the cat videos are a great way of showing off the soundtrack, too. 😄
Really nice selection of tracks all in all, well orchestrated throughout and with a nice use of various articulations as well. Enjoyed the guitar work where present - mixed well and does a good job of bolstering the mix as a whole. I have to say that the percussion throughout was on point - varied and befitting of each track with a lot of different styles and cool grooves. The mix of more standard electronic beats and the rock/metal rhythms was really nice - I'm particularly partial to the latter so Whispers in the Dark and Marnie's Bizarre Adventure were right up my alley.
That being said, I think my overall favorite is probably Under the Bed - I love the vibes you've captured in this one, and it really reminds me of a particular game I can't quite place the moment. Great use of orchestration and electronic drums to set the tone - the little flairs of delayed elements do a great job of spacing out the arrangement as a whole. Choice of synths and voicings is nice too, and the piano in it is really clean - nice and moody with a touch of reverb.
Great work, this was solid! Made for a fun and varied listen - a lot of different styles happening here, but it works well as a whole.
Thank you so much for the detailed response, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Marnie can't read (AFAIK) but I keep telling her how popular she is! She (probably) doesn't speak English either, but she likes the attention.
Here she is with her "weird looking cat" friend, Willow, who was uninterested in her bizarre adventures.