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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
It seems I left your submission without commenting or rating which is weird because I distinctly remember having listened to all of it. Her Shadow ‘s touch is my favorite but really the whole OST is incredibly creative and I really enjoyed it! Thank you for the nice time!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much for the listen!
Really fun vibes on these, especially paired with the story for the game. Could easily see this as a fun 3D cat adventure game!
This is so fun! The story is incredibly cute and quirky, and a lot of fun to follow along to!
The music here is really nice! I liked your reuse of themes and instruments, always a great way to make everything more cohesive. The production here is pretty solid too!
The sheer cuteness and creativity of this submission is enough to give it a great score, and the music being pretty good too is icing on the cake!
Looks like you had a lot of fun making this, and I had a lot of fun indulging in it! Great job!
Thank you, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Ngl I felt like I was (unintentionally) pandering a little by throwing a bunch of pictures and videos of my cats around, but also... just look at her. I should get a tax credit for taking care of this adorable creature, I'm obviously doing the world a service.
Oh yeah i def agree
5s all around except impression was a 4
Kudos for the unique interpretation of the theme--stepping into the animal's world and making an imaginary story out of that is excellent.
Thanks for the listen, glad you enjoyed it!
I don't know how you did it, but the mix of creative sounds, energetic beats and rhythms, and the overall unique vibe of the OST really made it feel like I was on an adventure with a cat through a house. Great job!
I did it by Marnie channeling her inner spirit directly into Reaper. Here's a rare image of Marnie working her hardest:
This soundtrack is beautiful... But the cats made it gorgeous and perfect
There is nothing more perfect than cats. Cats are the ideal
meow
Cool cat.
That'll be all, esteemed composers.
Before I say anything else, you've already earned massive respect for the JoJo's reference!
And as for the music, I love how diverse it is, while at the same time, everything feels tied together. The tracks also go really well with the story, which I liked as well!
Nice variety in your synths and intrumentation! It allows you to create different ambiances throughout the whole submission. Great work!
I found my cat in the landing gear of an airplane at the museum I volunteer at.
I named her Kira because she is obsessed with getting pet and would chase my hands in order to be pet so I named her Kira after Yoshikage Kira and her love of hands.
Please tell your cat that I love her, and that she is truly a Killer Queen
That was indeed a Bizarre whole album. Really follows your idea, you have some really weird idea (in a good way) that I would not think at all while listening. The only thing I would watch and drums mix is muddy most of the times, with a bit more of crispyness from time to time that would help the with the dynamics. Good job !
Let’s go cat rock, had a blast listening to this one
What a fun soundtrack and idea! I did enjoy how each track evolved over time with new instruments, it kept things fresh. The connection between Sophie's and Puff's themes was a nice touch as well.
One suggestion I have is some reverb/panning to place instruments in the sound stage better. To me, it sounds like the guitar stuff is far away and everything else is really close up.
EDIT: Also the cover art for the boss theme is hilarious.
Good work!
Good feedback, I honestly forgot to pan pretty much everything except some of the percussive sounds and the guitars (which were multi-tracked) lmao
Thanks for the listen, and I'm glad you enjoyed my extremely high-effort photoshop of Leo eating a churu. Here's the original picture (he has to stand for them so he can get some exercise, he's on a diet)
Extremely detailed story, and the music suits the game very well. Bizarre, but fascinating.
Thanks for the listen!
Nice tunes- great track names.
I especially liked how on the title track, you've got a nice rock tone going which I'd normally expect in the harder side of the 80s, while keeping the song still sounding cheery
Also- I LOVE YOUR CATS!
Thank you! They were very good inspiration. :)
Day 2 of Rating Submissions with Few Ratings to Hopefully Get Some In Return
First off, hats off to you for the sheer amount of coherent tunes you managed to put out. I could have maybe cancelled some evening events to bang out some more, but I would have never managed to make 23 minutes of stylistically similar, yet different tunes like you did. Also, I enjoy that, unlike many othenrs (potentially mine) this does not sound like an EP or musical album, but actually does sound like a game OST. I can tell thought and effort went into it.
Musically, I enjoy a lot of it, too. The compositions have a 90s Rare feeling to it, which is one of my primo influences as well. The funkier tunes at times sound like David Wise, but with your own spin. At first I believed you were using a real guitar and violin, so again hats off for knowing your way around sampled instruments so well that it appeared natural.
I think some more production could have improved this. Some of the aggressive tunes lack a little oomp, I feel. I couldn´t imagine doing indepth mixes for 23 minutes of music in the timeframe we had. Fun submission.
Also, impressive that the hero was able to accomplish so much with her one braincell. Bonus points for paying the cat tax. My cats Kuro and Moya say hi!
Haha I like that you're honest with your title
The grind never ends, friend.
Thank you so much for the kind words! Tell your cats I love them please
Wow, that's a lot of supporting text.
There's a lot of passion here, and while I don't necessarily dig the music, I can tell the sound design is in there and remains consistant; I can tell that there's some kind of complete set of music for a game and story.
If I could imagine the kind of game this would be, I'd love to say Cave Story based on the music and sound, but I am not sure.
Overall - really solid work, here.
Thank you! I was so wrapped up into the story that I forgot to put what kind of game it was. I was thinking something action/adventure-esque; a Metroidvania like Cave Story would feel right at home!
This was so good and clearly had lots of love and passion for your cat! Minions of the Ceiling Fan was my favourite but the whole thing was super well done.
Thanks for the listen! Minions of the Ceiling Fan was probably the most fun I've had working on music in awhile. :)
dang this one good, fire emoji
This whole soundtrack is a testament to your passion for this. I can see how much work you put into this project, and it most definitely paid off! I love how creative and interesting each track is, and how you reuse motifs in interesting ways. My favorite track personally was “Out of Hiding” because it takes that awesome melody and pairs it with pounding bass and a good beat! If I had any advice to give, it would be on the track “Out of Hiding”. I noticed that the virtual violin had a “startup” period before the note is heard, so it results in a delay when playing. My advice would be to start the note a little earlier than the beat so that the notes line up with the beat. Overall though, awesome soundtrack!
Thanks for the listen! Good catch on the violin, I definitely hear it now that you mention that. I burned through these tracks so fast that I definitely missed some details ahahaha