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soulOS: memories not found's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1 | 4.650 | 4.650 |
| Impression | #10 | 4.250 | 4.250 |
| Overall | #14 | 4.242 | 4.242 |
| Quality | #22 | 4.338 | 4.338 |
| Correlation to theme | #65 | 4.037 | 4.037 |
| Composition | #90 | 3.938 | 3.938 |
Ranked from 80 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Game Description:
soulOS: memories not found is a Zach-like puzzle game with visual novel elements about repairing old, worn down computers, long since out of date, eaten by bit rot.
Each client brought to the shop has its own story to tell, as do the computers they bring.
Music Description:
For this EP, we chose to make a mixed-electronica soundtrack, blending between glitchy and natural textures as a way to bridge the conceptual gap between the digital and physical.
01 - Power On: Main menu theme.
02 - Booting Up: BGM for the first cutscene at the start of the game, showing the start of the player's career, and introducing the first customer's computer.
03 - /dev/null: One example BGM for the puzzle solving section of the game.
04 - In My World: BGM for the cutscene that plays after solving the first computer. Represents the way memories can be hard to access after a period of time, and may need some coaxing to remember.
05 - Freed Memory: BGM for the resolution to the first customer's story, after the player is able to restore the customer's computer, finding old photos of them with their mother at the beach.
Software:
We used a variety of DAWs, VSTs, and other bits of software to create this. The non-exhaustive list includes: FL Studio, Ableton, Reaper, Bitwig, MuseScore, Pitchmap, LOVE, Valhalla Room, Valhalla Shimmer, Emergence, Disperser, Kontakt (various libraries), and more.
Process and Inspirations:
After seeing the image, we started brainstorming various ideas, and decided on a botanica-like vibe. We recorded and found water/ocean samples based on the aesthetics of the image, and drafted a motif to work with. As we worked through the jam, we were inspired by a few videos that we saw to move towards our final conceptual game idea, which really helped tie the entire EP together.
Message from the artist
This was a really enjoyable experience for both of us, and we can't wait to get your feedback!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
We used both the image and text prompt as inspiration. The outlined female figure in the picture juxtaposed with the full color child made us think of themes of memory and forgetting, especially with the child being the only thing depicted in full detail. Additionally, we interpreted the text prompt as getting an introduction to a character's inner thoughts and emotions, peering within them to see a view "inside their world".
We chose to make the game concept revolve around computer restoration, as often nowadays, so much of who we are is stored on our computers and phones through digital photos, text messages, and the documents we leave behind. As such, restoring computers seemed to be a good conceptual fit for the way time decays the accuracy of memory, and the ways one can peer into another's inner world.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/isopyrum/sets/ostjam-7-soulos-memories-not
Number of tracks5
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Wow definitely this is one of my favorite submissions for the moment, really unique and with lots of personality, creative use of sounds and rythm, well mixed and captative. Also it fits really good with your vision!
I really love electronic music, "In my world" hit me hard.
Congratulations! Really good job!
Ooooo /dev/null was such a great one to listen to! Really enjoyed the dynamics of this soundtrack!
The style is very innovative, combining elements of the old with a retro-punk feel.
Great sound design and well designed ambience, some ear candies love that ^^
Some spectral or concrete music in it and its so unique! Great variety in style !
Loved the dubstep in 4th and walking bass / bossa nova in 5th track ;)
Good job ^^
Power On: Loving that glitchy vibe. Great atmosphere.
Booting Up: Great SFX.
/dev/null: This rhythm is addictive.
In My World: JEEZ that's hard. Caught me off guard in a good way. That might be the hardest V chord I ever heard at 2:01 lmao.
Freed Memory: Pretty satisfying conclusion! Love the bossa nova vibe.
Great work!
Really impressive that this fits so well with the image but also with the narrative and type of game you described in this description.
Fantastic sound design throughout and great use of the computer sound & other field recordings.
Also love the way you then got all that to fit so well with more traditional instruments.
Great variety of different moods and sounds that all feel very cohesive with each other.
The bossa nova influenced track at the end also a great addition.
Genuinely fantastic variety of genres in this - kudos on keeping it sounding so cohesive! Those first two tracks in particular almost gave me Gamecube-era nostalgia. The beginning of In My World is wonderfully down-tempo and chill (with a slight unease to it) before kicking hard into the electronic section. Caught me off guard, in a good way!
I really like how a lot of the pieces have some form of sound design and foley worked into them - really keeps things feeling fresh. Big shoutout to Freed Memory too, cannot beat a jazzy bossa section! Fantastic work with these, I could see it going the full way.
Definitely one of the more intricate sound design submissions, I love the blend between inharmonic and harmonic elements in the earlier tracks! I also loved how you use your textures and idm percussion, and also the color/botanica granular sound design in the first track and other tidbits. It's a really nice OST, very digitally modern in it's design!
wow this is one of my favorite entries!! i love the digital world theme you chose to with for this, and the sound design with simultaneous watery/glitchy fx works sooo well. great job on this, no critiques, just a great ost for a game that i wish was real
This was a nice immersive experience! Each track had its own part to play but my favorite was definitely In My World with it's wide and hard hitting synths! You also did a good job mixing and arranging these tracks. Thanks for sharing!
Power on - has that lovely oscillation stuff going on with the clippy percussion. Booting up is next level how the synth hits are system-dings and the percussion clicking is someone performing keystrokes getting started. Devnull's like driving pound is one of these tracks i would be playlisting in 'good SFX trip i found' on repost exchange because i'm an ignorant goober and i don't bother with the formal name of 'glitch' or whatever the proper genre name is. In my world - before it got heavy and sounded more like dubstep toward the end, the first part's strumming made me fondly think of the older versions of Dwarf Fortress's music when it starts. Freed memory - superb light jazz, a significant chunk of my releases on soundcloud are like that (although not always gentle).
Overall I seriously enjoyed this submission and was pleased to be able to rate it. Quite happy with it!
Digging this! Nice work :)
I've been listening to Fantasias for Violin & Guitar, a collab by Maarja Nuut and Sun Araw. Reminded me of this.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLabF3oBnOjYeYHdO2JCxmqrkXcQc8cJV6
I love botanica type things, this hits the nail on the head. "Booting Up" was my favorite, great mixing.
I am in love with your sound design. Booting Up: BGM has no right to slap this hard, and of course, In My World gave me goosebumps. You did such an amazing job making your tracks uncanny and sentimental at the same time. This might be one of my favourite submissions tbh
Well, this is an exemple of the masterpieces sound design can make. I just don't have the word
The production here is INSANE. When "In My World" dropped, I was like "FLUX PAVILION'S IN DAH HOUSE, BABEY." Every song on here has a great vibe and I love how grainy "Power On" sounds. My critique would be that "/dev/null" is too hot of a beat for the player to focus on solving puzzles. If it were me, I'd be too busy rapping a diss at that Microsoft CrowdStrike crash god damn don't let DashieGames hear this HEAT. 🔥🔥🔥
genuinely top notch sound design, that kind of work never ceases to amaze me. truly don't know how you can just come up with that stuff!
a lot of people are talking about the incredible drop in "in my world"; to me, it's the quiet moments across the rest of the soundtrack that stand out to me which demonstrate so much attention to detail. enamored by this work, fantastic job.
Hey look guys, it’s the winner of the jam :pray:
I laughed, I Cried, I rode the ride. Truly an OST for a generation yet to come.
GOAT tier.