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A jam submission

yOur WorldView project page

Orchestral Fantasy OST for an imagined action JRPG. Submission for OST Jam 7
Submitted by BodoTheSerf — 2 hours, 21 minutes before the deadline
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yOur World's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Impression#14.5104.510
Overall#34.3924.392
Composition#54.5294.529
Quality#74.5494.549
Correlation to theme#144.3144.314
Creativity#534.0594.059

Ranked from 51 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
Title: yOur World
Cover art by sleepytea

Join the Priestess Celyse and her Guardian, as they journey to the Shrine of Salvation on a quest to summon their Goddess to the mortal realm.

This is an OST for an imagined 3D Action JRPG, with music in an orchestral fantasy style.

You can experience the entire OST as one story here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diF3KnO8ch0

Or you can listen to the tracks separately on this playlist!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG112Jk1pSQ&list=PLOgLHGbaMPUGMUS-bYgR7AVYx8zHCJWRc

Story:
In an age of unrelenting strife, the world lay in ruins, torn asunder by war, pestilence, and famine. In their despair, the people of the land prayed to the heavens, pleading for deliverance from their suffering. The heavens remained silent, save for one entity, who promised salvation in return for devotion. The people proclaimed this entity as their Goddess, and she in turn carved out a sanctuary amid the chaos - a sacred land encircled by a mystical barrier. Within this sanctuary, the followers were protected and blessed, their lives infused with prosperity and magic. Yet, this haven was but the herald of a grander promise, for the Goddess has foretold a day when she will descend from the celestial realms, to finish her work and forge a perfect world for her faithful. And now, as the prophesied day draws upon us, a story begins within Her World...

Track List

1. Theme of the Goddess (Opening BGM)
2. Celyse's Theme (Character Theme)
3. The Goddess Festival (Town BGM)
4. Awakening: Guardian's Theme (Character theme)
5. Their World (Exploration Music)
6. Fight for Whom (Combat BGM)
7. Sanctuary of the Forsaken (Area BGM/Cutscene Music)
8. Her World (Final Boss BGM)
9. My World is You (Ending Theme)

[Track 1] Theme of the Goddess
- This is one of the main themes which recurs throughout the soundtrack. This particular track plays during the opening cutscene which depicts how the Goddess created this world protected by a mystical barrier. I used this theme in the other tracks as a way to convey how the people view the Goddess and her world, and in this rendition, I kept it sounding holy, neutral, and with a hint of ominousness.

[Track 2] Celyse's Theme
- Celyse, a priestess of the Goddess, serves as one of the protagonists of the story. She fully believes in the Goddess, seeing her as the benevolent savior of her people, as reflected by her warm and loving rendition of the Goddess's theme. Celyse's signature instrument is the harp.

[Track 3] The Goddess Festival
- It's time for the annual Goddess Festival, and the townspeople are ready to celebrate and give their thanks! Similar to Celyse, the townsfolk also love their Goddess, and happily play out a jaunty rendition of the Goddess's theme as they have the time of their lives. I purposefully took out a lot of the audio effects that are present in the other tracks, and messed around with note timings to make this track sound more 'human' and 'imperfect', compared to the other tracks.

[Track 4] Awakening: Guardian's Theme
- As the festival draws to a close, Celyse suddenly receives a divine vision from the Goddess. She is to be the Oracle for the Goddess, and journey to the Shrine of Salvation to undertake the ritual required to bring the Goddess into this world. To aid Celyse in her journey, the Goddess imparts part of her Divine Essence into an ancient set of armor, and commands this newly raised being to become Celyse's Guardian. The music begins with melodic fragments sung by the vocals, which slowly coalesce into one melody, the Guardian's Theme, played by the Cello, the Guardian's signature instrument.

[Track 5] Their World
- Celyse and the Guardian set off, and Celyse is happy to show her beloved world to the Guardian. This music details their journeys through the lush fields, enchanting forests, and soaring mountains of this realm. I had originally planned to make a few overworld BGMs, but instead decided to combine all of the musical ideas I had for those into this narrative piece to better convey what this world is like in a concise and better scoped style. It portrays the wonder and excitement Celyse feels about exploring the world, and the joy she feels from being able to share her love for it with another person/being. For Celyse, the words, 'My World' points to the place she belongs to, the place she calls home.

[Track 6] Fight for Whom
- Of course, the world is not without its dangers. This is the combat BGM for the battles in this action game, where you can switch between the Guardian, a tanky melee fighter, and Celyse, the fast-moving magic user. The piece is largely split into two parts, the first half having a somber melody based on the Guardian's Theme from earlier. Part way through the BGM, I pivot on an E major to switch to Celyse's version of the combat BGM, based on her Theme from earlier. To convey their different fighting styles, I made the Guardian's half of the BGM sound heavier, with longer melodic lines and slower harmonic movement, to match their careful, defensive fighting style. Meanwhile, in Celyse's half of the BGM, I use a variety of flourishes, much more active harmonic movement, and more digital sounds to convey her faster, magic oriented combat style.

[Track 7] Sanctuary of the Forsaken
- During their journeys, Celyse and the Guardian discover a ruined Shrine serving as a refuge for the Forsaken, those who have been cast aside by the Goddess, or willingly renounced her. The player can choose to do quests for them, and help rebuild the Shrine to its former glory. The first half of the BGM is meant to be an interactive looping BGM, where the music becomes more and more grand based on how much of the Shrine you've managed to restore. The music feels quite lost and weak, but not fully broken, and amidst this music that struggles to rise up, there's an unrelenting bass line, the Goddess's Theme, always playing, always looming over these people. Once you fully restore the building, the Elder of the Forsaken tells you a story about what the world was like before the Goddess, where people may have struggled, but were also free to choose their own destinies. The music to accompany this cutscene is the second half of the BGM, where the time signature switches to a more willful 4/4, and the melody has a much more defined structure and stronger cadences.

[Track 8] Her World
- Having finally reached the Shrine of Salvation, Celyse prepares to undergo the ritual to summon the Goddess. As the great descension begins, the Theme of the Goddess is unleashed in its full glory, and the fate of the world now lies in your controller. This tracks portrays domination, awe-inspiring, incomprehensible power, and the twisted love and obsession the Goddess has for what she considers 'My World'.

[Track 9] My World is You
- After a cataclysmic battle, the Guardian and Celyse finally manage to banish the Goddess from the mortal realm, but at a great cost, for Celyse has been both mentally and physically broken by the fight. With the power of the Goddess now severed from this world, there is no source of magic or miracles the Guardian can use to heal Celyse...except for one... the divine spark imparted into the Guardian at the beginning of this journey. The piece starts with Celyse's theme, now shifted to minor, and no longer being sung. Although this melody almost fades away, the Guardian now cuts in with their theme, and after a long climb, manages to bring back Celyse's voice. The two play her theme one last time together, now with a more hopeful resolution, before the Guardian fades away, having given their all to save the one person that matters to them most, what they considered, 'My World'.

I knew I wanted to try and make a 'complete' sounding OST, so I spent the first few days of the jam really planning out the story beats, then how I could most efficiently hit those story beats with the least amount of BGMs. I then wrote out all of the themes, and planned how I could incorporate them throughout the OST. Coming up with the themes beforehand let me cut down a ton on the time I usually spend blindly looking for good melodies, which helped me finish everything on time. (Though I did still have to pull one all-nighter (^^;) )

Message from the artist
I hope you guys enjoyed the music!
I can't wait to listen to all of your music as well.

Huge thanks to sleepytea for the awesome art!

Music all made in Cubase 12, with some sound design done in Reaper.

Theme

Inside my world

How does it fit the theme?
Aside from trying to portray a fantastical world through my music, I also tried to incorporated the theme "Inside my world" into this OST by exploring the two following things:

1. How the experience of 'Being Inside Someone's World' can vary greatly for different people
2. How the phrase 'My World' can mean different things to different people

First, I examined how the experience of being inside the same world can be perceived very differently based on a person’s identity and perspective. I did this through the recurring Goddess's Theme, which appears throughout my submission in various forms. For characters like the Goddess's followers and Celyse, the Goddess's world is a paradise, and their rendition of the theme is joyous and warm, as heard in the Goddess Festival and Celyse's Theme. Conversely, for the Forsaken, the theme transforms into an ominous bass line, ever-present and looming like a dark cloud.

Additionally, I went into the various interpretations of the words "My World." For some like the Goddess, this means a world they own and dominate; for others like Celyse, 'My World' points to the place they belong to, a place they are happy to share and enjoy with others. And in some cases, someone's world can be just a single person, the one being they care about the most.

I actually got a lot of the inspiration for the story from the theme image, from worlds stuck in magical bubbles, to an otherworldly figure guiding a human.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
Full OST presented as a story: https://youtu.be/diF3KnO8ch0

OST Playlist on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG112Jk1pSQ&list=PLOgLHGbaMPUGMUS-bYgR7AVYx8zHCJWRc

Number of tracks
9

Genre

Orchestral
Classical
World/Ethnic
Folk/Acoustic

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project

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Comments

Viewing comments 40 to 21 of 41 · Next page · Previous page · First page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

The voice leading in the first track is phenomenal! I really like your use of adding interesting harmonies through leading voice lines in general. And overall very strong vision and execution. Track 8 (Her World) is also both really beautiful and really strongly forceful/energetic. The organ + perc + vocals is such a good combo. I could 100% see all of these tracks in an anime.

Developer

Thanks so much for the comment! Ever since I listened to music from Nier, I've always wanted to make a soundtrack that made heavy use of vocals to add more color and depth to my music, and I'm really glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

Phenomenal work, absolute beautiful score. And the youtube version with the story and visuals really went the extra mile! Fantastic job!
Also I love those vocal samples; I'll have to go hunting for those hahaha

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for the kind comment! The solo vocals are from Ethera Gold Atlantis 3, I highly recommend it!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Memorable stuff! Like other people mentioned, I can feel the Yoko Shimomura and Keiichi Okabe influences (+ some of Hamauzu's FF13 on Fight For Whom ). How you can make almost 20 minutes of music with great arrangements and memorable melodies in 2 weeks, I don't know, but really great job on these!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for the comment! It's kind of funny, those 3 composers you mentioned (+ Evan Call from the anime Frieren) are exactly who I listened to and studied to make this OST, you've got an amazing ear!

Submitted (1 edit)

Oh yea! Totally get the Frieren inspiration now that you mentioned it, its got a great soundtrack.

Submitted(+1)

AMAZING soundtrack!!!! Love, love, love the world building you've done through both the description and, well, your straight up awesome music writing. Definitely one of my favorites for this jam. Thanks for taking me on an adventure through your music!! Cover art is great as well!!

Developer(+1)

Really glad to hear you liked the OST! I spent a lot of time trying to get the story and the music to both make sense and fit together well, so this comment really made my day! Thanks so much! 

Submitted(+1)

Loved the video presentation - it's simple in appearance, but with a deceptive amount of little details such as the confetti around the castle during "The Goddess Festival," the shifts in colors in the background, and the slight changes to the art. 

The vocals in "Theme of the Goddess" are ethereal and deliver that hint of ominousness you called out extremely well.  "Their World" picks up really nicely and has great progression, the power and impact of the song swells and fades perfectly as it is needed throughout.

The transition into Celyse's part of "Fight for Whom" is wonderful, and really gave this track the punch that I had originally thought it was lacking.  The payoff is huge here, and easily tosses aside any misgivings I had up to that point. Pure ear candy.

"Her World" is another banger, and really brings forward the weight of this climactic battle and the struggles up to this point. The classic organ/choir combination works really well here.

The conclusion in "My World is You" is powerful and masterfully done. Your take on the theme throughout this soundtrack was really inspired and woven into the story incredibly well. Overall, this soundtrack was very high quality, well-composed and cohesive. I can definitely see the effort that you put into this entire production, turning this into one of the most polished looking and sounding submissions in this jam. Excellent work!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you so much for the thorough feedback, I really appreciate it! I'm also very happy that you picked up on the little details in the video, I'm not much of a video editor so I totally underestimated the time needed to do such things. I'm really glad all of that coffee and sleep deprivation didn't go to waste!

Submitted(+1)

A beautiful soundtrack that builds itself up as it goes. It starts simple but with each track I feel it going deeper and getting more and more exciting. I love how hard Her World hits! So good! The cello and harp in My World is You is simply breathtaking! 

Developer

Really happy to hear you liked the music! The cello phrasing in 'My World is You' took forever, so I'm very glad it hit the mark hahaha

Submitted(+1)

OMG Your music is absolutely fantastic! so freaking beautiful! It gave me those NIER feels (one of my favorite OSTs btw). You did an amazing job :) !!!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much! As a huge Nier fan, I'm super happy to hear my submission reminded you of it!

Submitted(+1)

Really beautiful submission, loved the ambiences and the themes you created, it reminded me a lot of Kevin Penkin's work (my favourite composer). My favourite track is "Awakening: Guargian's Theme" with the voice singing!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the kind comment! I actually didn't know about Kevin Penkin until this comment, and after listening to his stuff, it's amazing! Really happy to hear my work reminded you of his music.

Submitted(+1)

His work is amazing but what he did the best is the third album soundtrack of Made in Abyss, it is absolutely awesome!!

Submitted(+1)

There is so much goodness to this??? Astounding work all around, story and score combined!

Developer

Thanks so much! Really glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

As always Bodo this is gorgeous. The highest of quality.

My favorite track was definitely The Goddess Festival. I can't get enough of fun high energy songs! The others were all amazing they just weren't my style y'know?

I didn't let that bias interfere with my judgement of course because this is a highest quality entry if I ever did see one!

Developer

Thanks Jofes! I had a feeling you'd like The Goddess Festival hahaha. Really appreciate the kind words!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This is gorgeous.

My main critique would just be that some of the tracks didn't have as high of a quality as the others, and that some of the time for the sake of this jam might have been better spent focusing on the places where you're already very very strong, especially that first track. I was sold on that first track, where it has that sort of Baroque sound to it. I would have just made that a 5 minute long piece and called it a jam, that one really slaps. If you don't listen to a lot of Baroque music, you really should, especially things like Cantatas.

So, being a lover of that style of music, I'm going to offer a more high level critique, where the work you did is already very good. This part of the track really calls for some development because it is very good.

What I really want to hear out of the development in this track is like at 0:28, I would do a build up, and then come in an octave higher with more development and harmony, and keep building the track up to a climax.

Another thing I'm working on doing is getting into partimenti. This is a method of Baroque improvisation. I'm not far along in this process, but I can absolutely tell you that if you can manage to study this, it will complement your style incredibly well. It's essentially an improvisation framework that has positions, rather than progressions.

Here's some more inspiration:


There's a lot going on here for sure.

Very awesome work overall.

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for the feedback! I considered just making one really high-quality track, but opted to go for a larger OST to test myself and see if I could come up with a 'complete' sounding OST in a limited timeframe. Regarding the first track, yeah I could definitely see it being expanded. I'm a huge fan of Bach's Preludes and Fugues, and building upon the foundation I have with a multi-voice composition could be really cool, as you mentioned. I didn't know much about partimenti, so thanks for bringing it up! Do you know any good textbooks or databases I could use to learn more about it?

Submitted(+1)

Just completely outstanding and stunning soundtrack here. What a job. Along with the story, and story version on YouTube, such stunning! Great job. I love all the songs. Wow, I can't believe you had time to write so many songs! Great orchestration. Fits the theme very well. 

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks so much for your kind words! Really glad you enjoyed the music!

Submitted(+1)

this is so nice! the first track gives me a Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword vibe, and the rest of the sound track is very Yoko Shimomura-esque. reminds me of Legend of Mana a bit, mixed with some of the later Final Fantasy Games composed by Nobuo Uematsu. each progression is amazing, the melodies are super nostalgic sounding, and just overall is an amazing entry!

Developer

Thanks so much! I'm a huge fan of all of the games and composers you mentioned, so this comment really made my day!

Submitted(+1)

Really nice percussion writing in "Their World". It really adds a nice bit of depth without being overwhelming. The vocal lines in the track also really helped this entry stand out to me compared to the rest, haven't seen more than a handful with that.

Developer

Thanks so much for the comment! The percussion in 'Their World' was pretty tricky since I wanted some nice energy from them, but going too hard with it could result in the sections sounding a bit too disparate. Glad it sounded good to you!

Submitted(+1)

Reminds me of Yoko Shimomura. An amazing soundtrack, one of my favorites!

Developer

As a life-long fan of Shimomura-san, I'm super happy to hear that this OST reminded you of her work! Thanks so much!

Submitted(+1)

Theme of the Goddess: Very nice women’s chamber arrangement. What vocal instrument do you use?

Celyse’s Theme: Again, I love the solo vocals! The soft and lullaby-esque track conveys gentleness and goodness for this character.

The Goddess Festival: This renaissance theme is fun and jovial and I like how you used period-appropriate instruments. The claps are a very nice touch to give the sense of community and that there are lots of people there.

Awakening: Guardian’s Theme: That opening drum is very epic. The idea of vocals and cello representing the main characters is super interesting and adds a lot to your story-telling for the rest of your OST.

Their World: The idea of combining the ideas for different areas was absolutely the right choice! This sounds adventurous, heroic, and tells the story on its own like an adventure montage almost. I really enjoyed this track in particular!

Fight for Whom: You used the cello in a sort of slow and sad melodic way to convey the guardian’s personality in combat which is really cool. Then the switch was seamless. Marvelous combat writing!

Sanctuary of the Forsaken: I think that you have a major skill in keeping the entire scope of your OST in mind while composing. The flow from the first half into the second half is so smooth and makes so much sense. Good job with that!

Her World: The use of organs in the background really set the “grand villain/boss” vibes up well for the entire track. Very nice epic sound.

My World is You: What a great way to end the whole story. Beautiful interplay between the character themes and bringing back Celyse’s voice.

Overall: Wow. I am beyond amazed at the musical storytelling, the quality of the compositions, and your ability to keep the entire scope in sight. This is one of my favorite soundtracks that I’ve listened to so far. Excellent work and thank you for sharing!

Developer

Wow, I truly do appreciate the in-depth feedback! I was honestly blown away by your submission, so learning that you enjoyed my music really made my day! Thanks so much for your kind words!

Developer (1 edit)

P.S I forgot to answer your question about the vocal VST, my bad! I used Ethera Gold Atlantis III for the solo vocals, and Audio Imperia's Chorus Lite for the ensembles. Hope this helps!

Submitted(+1)

ATTENTION TO ALL PEOPLE: LISTEN/WATCH THE PRESENTED AS STORY VERSION OF THIS ON YOUTUBE! IT MAKES THE EXPERIENCE 234.5% BETTER!

Aright now that I’ve got that out of the way, this soundtrack is AMAZING! This whole thing gives off medieval, ancient vibes, and would be very well at home as some background music for a D&D Campaign! This is far and away one of the best orchestral soundtracks in the competition, too! The songs invoke such a scale, and really make the world of the game feel alive. You appear to have put in such an effort into this soundtrack that my 3 remaining brain cells are running around in circles, because they simply cannot comprehend the work that goes into a soundtrack of this scale. This OST is just beautiful, and is one of the best in the competition. Amazing work!

Developer

Thanks so much for the kind comment! As a huge fantasy genre fan, hearing that the music would be perfect for a D&D campaign makes me so happy!

Submitted(+1)

WOW! First of all, congratulations on the graphics on YouTube and the interactive audio-video writing! Did you do everything yourself? It’s definitely one of the most advanced stories, both in terms of plot and music. You’ve managed to compose a lot of music that represents different moments of the game, and the animation on YouTube highlights this even more. The orchestral writing is advanced and impressive, and the choice of more medieval-style instruments works really well for the type of game you wanted to describe (including the mix and meticulously crafted details). For a week’s work, I genuinely applaud you and I’m starting to follow your work. I’d love to collaborate with you!

Developer

Hey, thanks so much for your kind words! I truly appreciate it! For this project, the artwork was provided by a friend of mine, and I did the music and the video editing. The video was kind of a last minute thing that happened because the cover art was way more awesome than I expected it to be, so the night before the deadline, I tried to make a video that did justice to all of the hard work put in by my friend. I'd be happy to collaborate on a project! Feel free to message me anytime on Discord, my ID is bodotheserf. I'm always excited to work with and learn from other composers!

Submitted(+1)

Awesome music! I really like the fantasy tone and really everything about this, the vocals are great and those solo female vocalists sound amazing! Beautiful composition, incredible work!

Developer

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!

Submitted(+1)

Wow, this level of detail in such a short time is an unfathomable feat, yet it's one you accomplished perfectly. The quality of the music is really strong, both compositionally and in production quality. But the real amazing feat here is how you weaved these tracks into a meaningful story through your descriptions and well-produced video. Some of my favorite tracks were "Their World" and "Fight for Whom". Amazing job! :D

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for the kind comment! Really happy that you liked those two tracks, they were probably the trickiest ones for me to write!

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