Play forgotten soundtrack
CURRENT OST (Complete + Lost Song) (Dreamcast, 2000)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #16 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
| Correlation to theme | #24 | 4.260 | 4.260 |
| Overall | #50 | 4.028 | 4.028 |
| Quality | #86 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Composition | #128 | 3.840 | 3.840 |
| Impression | #137 | 3.740 | 3.740 |
Ranked from 50 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Genre: Ambient
Runtime: 25:14
Software: Ableton Live 12 Suite, Miro, Drawpile, Krita, Blender
Description: CURRENT was an often forgotten experimental explorative MMO from the Dreamcast era with a small but sentimental and dedicated fanbase. With 5 songs on the disc, the soundtrack was well preserved even past the online servers shutting down. The final song, considered lost media for a long time, played via streaming during an event prior to the game's closure. It has only recently been found via recording.
For more information, why not check out the game's Wikipedia page?
Here's the link: https://zclappj.itch.io/current-ost
Message from the artist
Thank you for hosting this jam. It has been a great experience to work on and we were very passionate about what we made.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
We felt an aquatic world seen from the eyes of a child fit the essence of the image well. We interpreted "inside my world" as an MMO, because those offer a form of virtual escapism. Despite it being multiplayer, it's still your world on your console, others are just there to take in the sights alongside you.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEJPSg9EaPA
https://soundcloud.com/cheyennix/sets/current-ost
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
Leave a comment
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Comments
Wow, what a fun soundtrack to listen to! You do a great job of representing each layer of the ocean through your tracks and I can easily see them within this game you've described. I especially liked the ambience you set with Shallows and Ectosymbiosis, but this entire soundtrack is quality. I also love how much effort was put into crafting the world for this game. You mentioned how your team was very passionate about this project and it very clearly shows. Congrats!
I think from a creative and concept standpoint you completely nailed this, everything felt stylistically on point and meshed really well with your story, which is pretty commendable for such a specific time reference! My one point is that some of the tracks in some parts felt a bit one note, you had very cool ideas but let them play out maybe a tad bit longer then they could have, while introducing some new ideas, adding some more push and pull in terms of dynamic, or making runtime shorter might help. This is just my opinion though and this could totally be me just missing that there is a loop or something, regardless this was super nice to listen to. You should be proud!
this was such a fun ost! the story you made was sooo inseresting, and it just fit the theme very well! my personal favorite was biolumenesca!
Amazing and the whole "Lost Media" lore is super good! Great concept from start to finish, and the music would fit well in that era too. Thanks for the flashbacks <3
What a pleasure to listen to the whole soundtrack! I think i was transported into your universe, and the whole project.. the wikipedia project page, the dreamcast game illustrations, and also the lost media with Wash Away are great ideas! You can see all the love for this era and your dedication with your projet. good job !
What an amazing concept, I would love to see something like an MMO that is more focused on solving puzzles and exploring together. Imagine spending days to uncover a deep layer of the ocean, makes you feel like a group of virtual scientists!
Could definitely hear the Gymnopédies by Satie in "Biolumenesca" and loved how you gave it your own spin.
Also a great idea to put the noise and background into the rediscovered "Wash Away".
I agree with others that "Ectosymbiosis" is one of the coolest tracks on the album - good job!
I was looking forward to seeing what you thought! I'm happy that a few people seem to like Ectosymbiosis so much. I find that it is the song I end up thinking about the most. It was my first song made for the jam and I initially started it with the intention of it being the Shallows music. Somewhere along the way early on, it made the transition into fitting perfectly for the second layer of the ocean's depths rather than the first, so we tried to lean into that more as we worked on the song together. I am particularly happy with the bass-line. It always gives me vivid imagery of sharks swimming overhead with a dimmer, yet still present sun visible on the surface above, casting their shadows deeper the ocean below. It ended up having a nice balance of low, mid, and high-end frequencies, which is just perfect for the wide variety of life that lives in that respective area of the ocean.
This is so clever! I love the idea of making your itch page a Wikipedia page for the game, and making disc art. The aesthetic of the tracks fits so well with the art. Super creative! Ectosymbiosis is my favorite track
Really love the little bits of ear candy you put throughout the EP! It really helped tie everything together, and keep a sense of movement throughout everything, that I feel can be lacking from some long pieces. So far, I've been enjoying Deepest Known the most, you've layered a ton of interesting drones and textures in it!
I'm glad you enjoyed Deepest Known, as I found that song really fun to work on (well, the whole thing was, but I'd say Deepest Known and Biolumenesca were particularly enjoyable for me.). We wanted the very bottom of the sea floor to feel large and imposing, but maybe not so scary if you look at it with the right angle. We wanted it to remain still, but not feel lifeless. After all, as inhospitable as such an environment might be to most creatures, it's still got plenty of it's own life adapted to it.
What we ended up with was a track in Locrian (for maximum darkness) as well as writing the base of the song in 1/1. However, for each new layer of the song added, we increment that layer's meter up a step. So it begins by adding a layer of 2/2 over top of the 1/1 base, then 3/4 over all that, then 4/4, 5/4, etc... Ultimately culminating in a ten time signature poly-meter once the final 10/4 percussion is established. Zoe compared this to the pressure of the deep ocean growing more and more.
None of the layers have more than a single bar long phrase on their own, and thus cannot progress the song in a natural way like typical songs would, which serves to keep the musical progression feeling still.
But throughout all of this, we really didn't want it to be boring to listen to, which was a fear I had while initially thinking about the song. So we added in the poly-meters and tried our best to make sure that each layer felt distinct enough & filled out their own role in the song. The bass-line likes to mimic the most recently introduced pattern and steals it's time signature each time after listening to it for a bit, which Zoe mentioned was inspired by Cuttlefish and other mimicry-based ocean animals, which I find to be really cute concept.
In the end, I'd describe the song's progression as more of a rhythmic and groove-based one rather than a more traditional melodically-based progression, which I ultimately think is fitting, as it allows the song to progress in it's own different, more alien way, much like one might think of the kinds of animals that reside at such insane depths as the hadopelagic zone of the ocean, so different from anything most other life on Earth is used to.
Making the song really made me appreciate how great poly-meters are at creating natural variations between bars since their phrases never end up lining up with each-other the same way every time they play alongside each-other. Anyways, I kind of went on a tangent here! Ultimately, I'm glad you enjoyed the soundtrack and I appreciate your comment a lot. Thanks!
Nice work on the lore, I almost thought this was a real game! Love the water FX and I really dig the drums.
Nice job for the composition, fits very well all together, I would watch the mix of the drums in general, it can pop way better than it is and will enhanced your tracks a lot !
"Precambrian (Avatar Creation)" sounds very playful.
The bongos rhythm in "Shallows(Epipelagic)" is nice and I like the synth lead and pan flute melodies. The high pads and bells add a nice soft texture.
In "Ectosymbiosis (Mesopelagic)", the pads and buzzes give the song a nice electric vibe, while the chimes and bells keep it playful. Nice bass melody at 1:45
"Biolumenesca (Abyssopelagic)" is very laid back, though the dissonance adds some tension.
"Deepest Known (Hadopelagic)" obviously nails the creepy vibe at the start, though starts to get a bit playful as the bass followed by the mallets come in. Very nice and effective.
"Wash Away (Closure) (Rediscovered)" works as an ending/credits song.
Wonderful OST, excellent job! "Shallows" is my fav. ^_^
Haha you guys went crazy with the wiki page ! It feels real 😅
Thanks for the effort and for sharing !
What an eclectic mix! I think my personal favorite is Ectosymbiosis (Mesopelagic) - the choice of instrumentation throughout the album is cohesive but I found myself coming back to this one. Reminds me loosely of something that Zircon would do - the glass/bell-like tones half-way through, supported by subtle bass-lines and panned percussive mixes. Great synth work toward the end as well - the gradual fadeout and choice of timbre reminds me of waves on a beach coming and out. Definitely nailed the Dreamcast-era vibes!
The vibes are strong. I can definitely see this soundtrack playing with the theoretical game that’s been described. Love the Wikipedia styled project page too :)
First off, what a unique concept for the backstory of this. The earnest way you presented all that info almost convinced me it was true tbh 😂 Looove the play on Satie in Bioluminesca, very calming tracks. Across all the tracks I really appreciated the mix of ambience and motivically driven sections, although one critique I have was that the material could have been developed a bit more throughout. That being said, I loved the moments of darkness brought in by the chromatic stings and little interjections, and the sameness definitely went away for the last two track. I especially loved Deepest Known, the material could have been bright and angelic but you took it to an almost hypnotically unsettling place. Great work with this soundtrack!
Thank you for your kind words and constructive feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the play on Satie in Bioluminesca, it's probably one of my favorite parts of the project. I wanted to capture the feeling of an angler fish in the abyss, with it deceiving its prey with a bright, comforting, familiar light. By building up the intro to Gymnopédie No 1, I like to imagine I'm putting the listener in that same state, where they're comfortable and know what to expect. But the song then gradually deviates and subverts that expectation with something far more sinister. Your comment is very appreciated, I really enjoyed your submission and I'm glad to hear that the feeling is mutual!
Totally, you definitely achieved that!
This is very well thought out, definitely immersed me in this imaginary game and it's history. Good stuff
Glad you think so! Making an elaborate game concept with a credible history was really important to us. I'd say "well thought out" is one of the best compliments we could receive, thank you very much!
Nicely done! It really made me remember the games I used to play in that era of gaming! :D
I love the atmosphere your tracks create! Really great job, you've put a lot of effort in it and it shows
Hi! Highly recommend you look at the main itch page (https://zclappj.itch.io/current-ost).
We put a lot into this project and there's quite a lot more to see on the main page if you're interested.