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The One Who Swims in the Stars's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Impression | #53 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Composition | #72 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #106 | 3.837 | 3.837 |
| Creativity | #123 | 3.813 | 3.813 |
| Quality | #177 | 3.719 | 3.719 |
| Correlation to theme | #215 | 3.656 | 3.656 |
Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
https://on.soundcloud.com/oUpPGBWQF3Bhr9vv7
The type of game I had in my head while composing was some sort of "HD-2D" type aesthetic since there's a lot of blending of traditional SNES-era sounds as well as more complex virtual instruments. I draw a lot of inspiration from traditional RPGs and I figured this would be a similar kind of game, but in space.
I composed The One Who Swims in the Stars first since I was coming up with a ton of ideas and thought it would work well as a sort of "title sequence" type piece. The other two pieces took themes from the original piece as a starting point to try to flesh out a new situation or environment.
For Meteor Shower, the working idea was "battle theme", but it eventually, after adding more twinkly arpeggios, it started bringing up mental images of traveling quickly through a meteor shower. The piece isn't all stressful though; I tried to convey the mix of emotions someone might feel as they surf through the meteors- dangerous but beautiful.
For Moonlight, I used the first melody of The One Who Swims in the Stars to create a slower, more reflective piece.
DAW: Logic Pro X
Message from the artist
This was my first ever jam and it was a blast!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The image feels very off-world to me, something aquatic, mesmerizing, sometimes dangerous, and not too far removed from open space.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/jaray/sets/ost-composing-jam-7
Number of tracks3
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Heh... I don't even know what to say...
I loved the beauty of your work! Amazing work with all the elements of music that end up building one big and beautiful picture!
Thank you)
"Moonlight" is an amazing piece of music that feels like a perfect ending for the whole game. The other two tracks, with their retro style, are also impressive and remind me of Kirby (lol).
Moonlight is such a beautiful piece. I loved what you've done with the percussive sounds there, they add a nice whimsical effect to the track.
Wonderful OST!!!
Yooo, the composition is super solid and you nailed the HD-2D aesthetic perfectly!
The climaxes in the first track were super cool!
great tracks! I liked in particular the first one (the one who swim in the stars) I loved the bass so much!
Thanks! I was trying to model my bass to sound similar to Virt/Jake Kaufman (particularly his FX4 album) because they're so neat. Check that album out if you haven't heard of it :D
Wow, everything about this soundtrack is doing it for me. The older soundfonts mixed with the more modern instrumentation, the mixing, the overall feel/mood; it's all quality stuff. I like how you pivoted your idea of Meteor Shower as it developed. Sometimes our tracks outgrow our original vision and that's perfectly fine! Anyways I had a blast with this soundtrack, great entry!
The opening track is amazing to listen to, with the right amount of dynamics and tension. It helped lead into the rest of the tracks. Meteor Shower is a great intermission piece with an awesome beat. Moonlight's vocals could have been improved a little, but I really enjoyed all of the tracks!
I gave my rating yesterday but I forgot to write my comment. I think you captured the HD-2D aesthetic very well, it's a pretty blend of both the old and new. It never gets too modern and polished, there's always a certain level of retroness that is always kept at the center stage. The soundtrack has a good diversity in styles and emotions conveyed. I really enjoyed the opening track, some of those pitch bends were beautiful. Overall a strong submission, great work!
The One Who Swims in the Stars - Incredibly epic intro, and genuinely somewhat emotional and heartbreaking. The modern production mixed with SNES soundfonts works so well here. I also love the interpolation of the prelude of the Final Fantasy series
Meteor Shower - For a battle theme/chase theme/panicking scenario, it lacks impact in the mix. But the melodies are fantastic
Moonlight - The lack of impact in the percussion is style an issue, but the vocal samples are gorgeous <3
Thanks so much for the feedback! I’m still very new at mixing (so much so that I’m not exaaactly sure what I’m supposed to do), but I feel like this jam has definitely given me a lot of really useful information to grow from, and I really appreciate the specific details you gave about the mix.
Also, of course, thanks a lot for the kind words as well :)
OH MY GOD THIS SLAPS!! i love mixing retro stuff with modern sounds a lot! plus the chords were great, and the sound used fit very well, while still sounding unique! like ive said before, im a sucker for snes sounding music, so this is a win for me!
Eh mid at best... is what i would say if I had no ears. Your entry is so so so good, great job!
The first track is epic and then really subtle, really like this work on the nuances and contrasts!
"Meteor Shower" is so dynamic, really liked it too!
Really nice submission!
As someone who loves a good bit of chiptune mixed with other mediums, this scratched my brain in a very good way, I love how much movement you had in meteor shower, and in general how much you manipulated then synths to bend and warp them exactly how you wanted it to sound, really well done!!!
Awesome submission! "The One Who Swims in the Stars" sounds like a really good title sequence, it gives a really nice adventurous and expectant feeling. The twinkly sounds in "Meteor Shower" sound great and kind of reminds me of some Kirby music. You definitely nailed the meteor shower vibe. "Moonlight" was also a really fun listen. The more acoustic sounds surprised me, but they worked really well and gave the track an ethereal feel.
Oh beautiful blending of acoustic and electronic elements, harmony is beautiful, enjoyed a lot^^
Some Funky vibe in 2nd track ;)Got crushed by meteors ^^Would make a great JRPG battle song
You crushed my hearth with moonlight because l love aswell use electronic voices into my compositions ^^
Great OST!
This is such a fun submission! Loved listening to it, it flows really well and reminds me a lot of games I played on the DS when I was a kid. Great work! My favorite track was Meteor Shower, but it was a close call! :D
Excellent deep sound! Reminds me of FF6 music. Glides without sounding repetitive, great mix of different types of synths and instruments
Thanks!! I have been meaning to play FF6 specifically because of the music, but I've been working my way up through the first one and I'm just now at FF4. One day! :D
That was awesome! I absolutely loved the chiptune and the melody in Meteor Shower, I could listen to that track for quite a long time.
Thanks so much!
I love your composition style, especially on the eponymous title. Very interesting orchestration, and very pleasent blend between chiptune and orchestral things. Meteor Show is great too, I love the energy and I'm jealous of your chord progressions haha
Moonlight has a very specific vibe I really like with those very artificial choirs. I'm too young to have known the SNES but it reminds me of Nintendo DS era Soundfonts which is always pleasant
Great job!!
Thanks!! It is always such an interesting decision of whether to embrace artificiality or a more realistic sounding instrument since I'm trying to blend old and new kinds of sounds. The vocal instrument was originally a placeholder but I ended up liking it so much by the end, it made the cut haha. I do love some DS soundfonts- I should download some for the next jam! Meteor Shower has some wild progressions, I'm so glad it translates well!