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A jam submission

Blockbuster: Excerpts from the Original SoundtrackView project page

A needle-drop, cineast, VHS-tastic, fictituous game soundtrack!
Submitted by Goatthrone Audio — 1 hour, 22 minutes before the deadline
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Blockbuster: Excerpts from the Original Soundtrack's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity#84.3874.387
Overall#284.1154.115
Quality#414.2274.227
Impression#414.0674.067
Composition#634.0404.040
Correlation to theme#1363.8533.853

Ranked from 75 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
Things haven´t been easy since dad left. Mom has not left the couch for what feels like months, excluding visits to the licquor store. Samantha, my sister, has been taking odd jobs to feed make ends meet. Even if the landlord is not kicking in our door, we are still stuck in the worst neighbourhood in town - maybe any town.

We have a VHS player. An old, broken down unit, but it works. I find myself watching dad´s old tapes. Tales of debauchery, adventure. Tales where you can make a better life for yourself. Every day, I pick a tape and forget my worries for just 90 minutes, our kitty rupert curling up next to me. This is my world, far from the troubles of the real one.

One day, it seems Rupert is not coming home from one of his strolls. Sam helps me looking for him, but she has to work. It has been three days since Rupert has come home. I put in the tape for Space Station Eta to forget my worries and, somehow, there he is. Rupert is in in the movie. I get close to the TV screen, feeling the gentle buzz of the tube TV´s electricity. Touching the screen to make sure I am not dreaming, suddenly I feel myself being pulled away...

Blockbuster is a unique take on a metroidvania and millenial nostalgia. Collecting VHS tapes, our hero can travel to different worlds represented by classic movie settings to save his cat Rupert. Items that he finds in one world may be useful in another, or even in the real world. Save Rupert and experience the magic of movies - in 4:3!

The soundtrack takes a needle drop approach. Urban sounding tunes for the real world, inspired by music trends from the nineties such as east coast rap and trip hop,clash with lush orchestral scores representing Cowboys, Outer Space or pirates.

3 of the 6 tracks represent their respective biome. "Desperation at the Space Station" is for a space movie type setting, "Ghosts of the Railroad" represents a western movie type biome and "The Pirate Queen´s Booty" represents a pirate theme. "City Streets" and "Home. Sour Home" represent the real world, and are therefore harsher, weirder and more strongly based on musical trends of the time period. "Home Video Escapism" is a short jingle signifying a travel to the other worlds. It involves sampling from a VHS recorder and heavy delay manipulation. Tracks involve both real instruments, sample libraries, warped samples and softsynths. Their application varies from track to track.

Theme

Inside my world

How does it fit the theme?
Movies have always been a kind of escapism for me. For a while, you can escape your world and enter a better one. The soundtrack is meant to capture this feeling.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://goatthroneaudio.bandcamp.com/album/blockbuster-excerpts-from-the-original-soundtrack

Number of tracks
6

Genre

Orchestral
Classical
Experimental

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY)

Any project

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Comments

Viewing comments 15 to 1 of 55 · Previous page · First page
Submitted(+1)

First off, thank you for rating my submission. I appreciate your candor and input. Now for me to return the favor!

I absolutely LOVE the boom-bap East coast style of the real world tracks. Instantly, I thought of New York streets and the greats like Biggie and Wu Tang. Already, this has struck nostalgia for me. The jazzy subtleties, and hearty drums and bass make me want to pick up a pen and start writing bars.

Ghosts of the Railroad takes me right to the mining days of the old west. The harsh drones of the digging and mining serve as the base rhythm for the souls of those who gave their lives to dig the tunnels. Their songs showing how they help occupy the time while trapped to mine the tunnels for eternity. Not per say unhappy, but not thriving.

Desperation at the Space Station gives me "The Last Stand" vibes. It has a level of gravitas, but ultimately shows the steel nerves of the character it plays for. I can see this for facing space raiders or bandits, as well as saving a planet or ships from some form of natural/unknown calamity while staying cool under the pressure. I also like the western-spacey-noodley guitar tones.

Pirate Queens booty has awesome sea-faring vibes that automatically draw me to warm sunny beaches and vibrant open seas. Rum and sea shanties are sure to follow, as I also sense a little Pirates of the Caribbean influence (not in a bad way of course). I can see myself following the Pirate Queen to Davey Jones' Locker accompanied with music like this.

Alongside a VHS-style inspiration, I believe it all ties together nicely in concept and is an awesome idea that I would most certainly want to play as a full game

Developer(+1)

> The jazzy subtleties, and hearty drums and bass make me want to pick up a pen and start writing bars.

I´ll render you a longer version if you so desire, just saying...collabs are cool

Submitted

That sounds awesome! I liked it so much, I added/mixed home sour home at the end to lengthen the song and give me a tempo change. But I would love to have an extended City streets track! Discord user is shadowgaiden for further discussion :

Submitted(+1)

You sport an impressive variety of styles here while keeping them part of a cohesive narrative. Well done! I personally liked City Streets and Home Sour Home the most, only complaint being they weren't longer, because I was vibing so hard lol

Developer

Hi Ro8OT,

Glad you enjoyed it. I did consider making the urban tracks longer, but I felt like extending them for the sake of extending them felt like cheating. Home. Sour Home is just a short loop because it's supposed to be the song that plays in the room where the drunken mom sleep, so I didn't think it should extend much longer. I have however gotten the feedback that those two are among the strongest from some, so maybe I should have committed harder to them 

Submitted(+1)

I love the vibe each track has. City Streets has to be my favorite. The soundscape is really, good, I really feel transported to the movie world. 

Developer

Thank you Martin. The story isn't completely autobiographical, but I did watch a lot of movies as a coping mechanism so I do know what to hone in on haha

Submitted(+1)

Really solid execution!  Love all the genres packed into this OST, think you crafted a unique experience and can definitely see this being fully developed with your narrative.

Great work!

Submitted(+1)

Really cool atmosphere with the story text added on- really feels like each song is it's own "movie"


Also- 10/10 kickass goat imagery on your site

Developer

Thanks dude. Branding is everything! 

Submitted(+1)

Super cool concept! Very indie game-y and I love it!

The different tracks and genres all work really well alone and together, and the production on all of them is pretty great!

Good job!

Submitted(+1)

What an imaginative concept! Combining millennial nostalgia with metroidvania gameplay is genius idea. The blend of urban and orchestral soundtracks perfectly captures the game's dual worlds. Can't wait to dive into "Blockbuster" and save Rupert!

Developer

Thank you Joey! Despite being so needle drop oriented and so varied in style, this project does reflect a lot of me personally - the millenial angst haha. I assure you Rupert will be fine!

Submitted(+1)

Really unique submission, loved discovering it ! The pirate's queen booty is my favorite.

Mhhhh, it sounded less weird in my head

Developer

Thank you, Pyöveli! The track title is admittedly an intentional double entendre.

Submitted(+1)

Couldn't wait to dive into this one when I read the description. I'm a sucker for VHS resampled material and generation loss.

I could ride the vibes listening to City Streets & Home Sour Home for hours. Those drums and that brass? Tasty. Similar feeling with the guitar in Desperation at the Space Station.

Shout out too to Home Video Escapism. I'd hate for this neat sounding track to get overlooked for it's length. Really cool interlude, and I'm ready to jump on in with them and explore some worlds on film.

Got to echo what other folks have said, it's very cool how coherent and connected the soundtrack feels while taking a trip through those different styles.

Great stuff!

Submitted(+1)

Very cool sound you've got with this OST! City Streets in particular gave me that old feeling of watching VHS tapes with my Dad lol.

Excellent job!

Submitted(+1)

Very creative work! The composition is made very beautifully and each track conveys its atmosphere well!

City Streets - I love drums)

Desperation at the Space Station - The guitar solo is very... Cool! Orchestral music perfectly complements everything)

Home Video Escapism - ooooooooo teleport

Ghosts of the Railroad - Tarantino moment... Perfectly!

Home. Sour Home. - Funky)

The Pirate Queens Booty - Yohoho and a bottle of rum!

I love this!
Developer(+1)

Can't shake being a guitarist, I suppose! Thank you, Vanna. 

Submitted(+1)

The fact that you were able to capture so many moods, styles and textures and still made this feel cohesive is a marvel. It felt so warm and analog. When it needs to be grounded, you ground it. When it needs to go over the top, you do it well. This entry stands out to me more than so many others.

Developer(+1)

Stop, you're making me tear up! That was indeed my goal, I am glad it is translating to the listener. 

Submitted(+2)

Probably the most creative submission I've heard yet, good job!

Developer

Thank you! I tried hard to find a unique angle for the theme. 

Submitted(+1)

The drums on the first track sounds so crisp I could eat them.

I liked the pads and the chord progression on the second track, the high pitched notes at the beginning were a bit to deconcentrating though.
"Ghosts of the railroad" felt quite western, nice beat.

I like the hip hop style of Home, short but good. 

I didn't expect to hear a pirate sounding theme as a final track lol 

Nice work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for your kind words.

I tried to portray a broad range of styles, so I am glad you seem to like most of them! The second track was challenging on a production and writing level. The repeating notes were supposed to represent the vastness and stillness of space, similar to how Hans Zimmer did it for Interstellar, but it is possible that I went a bit too hard on it in the beginning! The mixture of real and synthetic instruments on that track was also a particular challenge - the pads are indeed a brass section, violins, a heavily processed church organ and a subrtactive synth. Glad it seems it turned out in a listenable fashion haha

Submitted(+1)

es buenisimo

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you Arian!

Viewing comments 15 to 1 of 55 · Previous page · First page