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far away from the surface's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #43 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Overall | #59 | 3.986 | 3.986 |
| Impression | #71 | 3.929 | 3.929 |
| Quality | #78 | 4.036 | 4.036 |
| Composition | #81 | 3.964 | 3.964 |
| Creativity | #104 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
Ranked from 28 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
1 - welcome to the deep
This is a loopable track for a main menu screen. In the background, a young version of the protagonist swims around calmly in a deep blue aquatic paradise, with bubbles rising up around her.
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2 - the plunge
This track is for a story cutscene in which a young woman chances upon a strange underwater world.
While strolling along the lake near her childhood home, the young woman reminisces about her youth. She remembers and yearns for the times in which everything felt so new, and each moment was one of discovery.
Taking a break, she goes to the edge of the lake and stops to gaze into the gentle ripples. Somehow, the water here seems far deeper than she remembers. Noticing her reflection, she realizes something even more bizarre: the person looking back is her child self. As she leans forward to take a closer look, she is suddenly compelled forward and falls down into the water. All turns dark.
Upon waking, she finds herself drifting slowly downwards in the expansive underwater landscape. As aquatic life starts to surround her, she begins falling faster and faster. Bubbles appear from the deep, zooming upwards in a flurry of activity and growing in size. She notices fish swimming toward some of the larger bubbles and entering inside. Upon doing so, the bubble collapses in on itself and the creature disappears entirely from view.
Looking around at the bubbles that are large enough to accommodate herself, she feels the urge to do the same…
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some inspirations: Celeste (Lena Raine), Kirby Triple Deluxe and Kirby's Return to Dreamland (Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa)
made in Ableton Live 12
Message from the artist
This was my first composing jam, and I had an absolute blast working on it! In the process, I was able to add so many new skills to my musical toolkit. Looking forward to more ways to challenge myself like this in the future, and I hope you enjoy!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I interpreted the picture and phrase together as a cohesive theme to inspire this music. The underwater scene gave me an impression of wonder and discovery, and I drew an overarching theme of introspection from "Inside my world".
In the melodies and harmonies, the music enters into non-diatonic tones now and then to convey a sense of mystery and wonder.
The reversed piano and harp sounds represent bubbles (and memories) swelling up from the depths, towards the surface.
The electronic elements represent the underwater environment and the dreamlike landscape of the protagonist's inner mind.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIb7HocOobENZgN6wGw0Fe3HgP-SqmkqQ
https://soundcloud.com/ninevoltlab/sets/ost-composing-jam-7
Number of tracks2
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
Really high quality tracks! It sounds super professional, and I can easily imagine it in a beloved indie game or something haha
The use of chromaticism here definitely creates the mysterious vibe, like you said, and the story here is told very well! Great job!
These tracks are so pretty! The first track was super sweet and relaxing. I also really liked the journey that second track took me on- so many different ideas and moods that worked so seamlessly with each other. This is all quality stuff here. This is a fantastic submission!
Excellent job! I can clearly hear your Lena Raine inspirations here, specially in the last part of the second track, I loved it. Very good sound in both tracks, the reverse sounds in the first track fit perfectly the theme and your game idea. Great atmosphere you created.
Wonderful sounds throughout and loved how the 2nd track seamlessly went through different genre and mood shifts and it all worked together very well! Awesome job!
Absolutely appropriate and evocative stuff. It's got a ton of charm and sweetness to it as well. Really nice, well done!
Reverse piano my beloved. I really liked these tracks, they very well composed and the instrument choice was perfect. Great work!
I also heard the Lena Raine influence, definitely felt like The Plunge's dark harmonic shift was similar to the musical changes when Dark Madeline came out in Celeste.
I thought your production and mixing was great, and it was a joy to listen to! Thanks for sharing :)
thanks a lot!!
I was quietly enjoying your music and suddenly it reached 0:55 (The Plunge) and I thought ok, a different ending than what I expected and then...wow...That was AMAZING!!
Also, great arrangement and mix!
Great work!!
glad you enjoyed that shift! thanks so much!
As someone who loves Lena Raine I could absolutely see the influence here - your melodic writing especially was super captivating and the use of the reversed piano was also super fun to listen too! I loved the tone shift in The Plunge as well, I think you built up that tension super well and kept it interesting while basing it around such a simple idea. Good stuff!
thanks so much!! Lena Raine fans 🤝
Good compo, mix is great, arrangement is nice. The Plunge is actually 2 songs, the second part is really cool, the build up and anticipation is nice, I event wanted more, I think you got more but didn't have the time to do it. Good job !
tysm!! yes i would have loved to do more but time wasn't on my side that week unfortunately. thanks for listening!
sounds beautiful! very well structured! 🐢
much appreciated! :)
This is top notch. I don't have any critical feedback to give. Excellent work.
thanks so much!! :D
Absolutely loved the reversed instruments. “welcome to the deep” took me back to playing Super Mario Galaxy for the first time.
Great storytelling in the music. Compositionally was awesome. Just fantastic all around.
Awesome job, definitely one of my favorites so far out of nearly two hundred submissions.
so glad you enjoyed it! i hadn't even realized the super mario galaxy resemblance, but you're completely right! thanks for sharing that :)
HONK
Okay, the first track is both happy and positive sounding, but it's also very disturbing at the same time
the plunge is a VERY disturbing composition... It's simultaneously happy, then sad, anxious and tense. It's like a very important culmination of someone's story (Heartbeat emphasizes it perfectly).
I loved it!
HONK
also thank you!!
The beginning part of the plunge reminded me of maplestory
let's goooo!
Great sound design with lots of oozing atmosphere. You've really nailed the unsettling beauty of the deep see. Very well structures soundtrack with a grat suspence really had some goosebumps when we got deeper in the plunge.
These were excellent! Very well done. Loved the change in instrumentation in the underwater section of the second track!
Loved these tracks, really pretty.
wow how beautiful and all those details. Just perfect.
Wow! I love the piano in both the pieces, but the thematic shift in The Plunge gave me goosebumps! I immediately could see the scene you described in my head. Great work!!
really glad the scene came across! thanks a lot!!