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Discovery - Synlyfe's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #55 | 3.998 | 3.998 |
| Composition | #57 | 4.062 | 4.062 |
| Impression | #60 | 3.991 | 3.991 |
| Correlation to theme | #69 | 4.018 | 4.018 |
| Creativity | #85 | 3.929 | 3.929 |
| Quality | #96 | 3.991 | 3.991 |
Ranked from 113 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- I'm sorry to hear about your ear injury! Here's hoping that you're recovering well and are going to keep making music. This submission has a lot of promise and some quite interesting textural blending that I think is very effective. The use of sharkuhachi flute I think works in its brief appearance, adding a new, breathy layer to the soundscape that fills it out. In that moment, I really found that everything you had been building to kind of snapped together, which was lovely to hear. I'm sure due to the nature of your shortened preparation time, the track as a whole feels a bit disconnected from itself in that it doesn't seem to quite build toward a target, even as the textures that I do hear are very nicely put together. Structurally I think it just needs more of a sense of direction, where the listener can know that they are being taken on a journey-- told a story-- that's clear and concise. Even though in games we know our music is going to get sliced up and recombined in implementation, having a clear journey from the get go makes a huge difference. Given that you had such a short time to prepare I think the result here is admirable!
Description
Genre: Ambient, electronic.
Purpose: Theme; could function as a title, credits or a lore-driven level theme.
More info available below in "How does it fit the theme"
DAW: FL Studio 21 + Native Instruments, Heavyocity, Serum and stock plugins.
I wanted the track to be driven primarily by piano and strings and then use woodwinds and synths to buff out the composition. Composed in a minor key, but not inherently spending too much time on the defining minor notes - tried to strike a balance between sombre tones and a subtle but progressive hope.
Link to DAW overview on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyBn1Zm4Nik
Can be streamed via Audiomack, link below.
Message from the artist
Was super pumped to join this jam but unfortunately sustained an ear injury the night before it kicked off. After a couple of much needed quiet days, I finally got a chance to start on my submission approximately a day before the jam was ending.
There's very little post-work done, and there are a couple of instances of clipping that I missed upon exporting. All in all I'm decently happy with the composition but I would have liked to have taken it much further and developed the concepts within a lot more. I feel as though the chord progressions in particular are lacking, as is a general sense of substance.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I wanted to focus more on the spirit the child is speaking to and what it represents, so I opted for a minor key and left some of the child-like visuals, emotion and expression to the instrumentation.
I used short, delay and reverb soaked synths in Massive to represent the bubbles and wrote primarily for piano, strings and woodwind to set the tone; slightly sombre but with hope on the horizon. Marred happiness and fond memories are two keywords I kept in mind while scoring.
Ultimately the child is speaking to a spirit of a (presumed) loved one, manifesting amidst the bubbles and chalk drawings of fish. I let some reverb tails ring out a little longer and soak the ambience to really sell the water and sea creature vibe as best I could. Playful synths to represent bubbles and the occasional use of a shakuhachi flute to pay due respect to the culture.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://audiomack.com/synlyfe/song/discovery
Number of tracks1
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
I feel your pain on being short of time to come up with something since that's the situation I also found myself in, haha. But what you've created is so beautiful :3 I can definitely feel everything you described in the track & more! Your use of the shakuhachi was also a really nice touch that I enjoyed very much.
For a track where you spent less than a day working on this, this is a very cohesive track and I can definitely see this implemented straight into a chill type game. Great job!
I certainly get the imagery of bubbles. The bouncing harmonic choices feel floaty which further elevate the theme. The beat underlying the flute and piano was not something I expected, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise! At about 1:45 is my favorite part. This is such a unique sound that really intrigued me and would really make me want to explore a game in which this was playing! I’m impressed by the time frame you were able to complete this track! Thank you for sharing!
You're too kind! I think a lot of people were caught off-guard by that section but thankfully it seems to resonate with most. Had I more time, I would've liked to expand upon that section and maybe vary things up a little bit more. Thank you for giving it a listen and taking the time to comment. :)
I am really digging the vibe that you translated in your composition. The expressions of the violin melody is very life like. While listening, it gave me a fantasy style rpg feel. Like being in a small city like in Final Fantasy or something. Awesome work. I like the chord structure too.
Appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment. I'm glad the violin melody worked - I was adamant that I'd have a solo section for it! Recorded about three or four ideas before having to settle on one. Thank you again!
You pulled off a lot for one day, nicely done! I like the chill atmosphere, and how in depth you thought about correlating your sounds to the theme. Hope your ear is ok!
Hey, appreciate it! Always more work to do but I'm decently happy with the end result. Ear is on the mend thankfully, no permanent damage! :)
Your piece is beautiful! It absolutely captures the tone of both the image and the conceptual text. The flute part and the synths especially immersed me in the spirit of the piece. If this how it sounds with a late start via ear injury, I'd love to hear the whole thing! :)
You're too kind, thank you very much! I would've loved to have more time, but there's always the next jam!
Oh my this is just heavenly to listen toooo!!!!
The percussion is very noisy, kinda like the ocean, really like that. Violin just oozes "finding your parent as a spirit after their death" sorta vibe. Those tiny embellishments reallly add to the feeling. And those synthssssss. Oh my I loveeee themmmm. This song feels like its actually underwater and I love that!
Absolutely beautiful. (Sorry about your ear though. Hope its fine.)
Appreciate the comment and insight! I thought the violin would bring just enough oomph to make that connection and I'm glad that I wasn't alone in that line of thinking. Figuring out melodies was the tricky part, ended up resorting to doing a couple of improv takes and running with whatever sounded decent. My ear's doing a lot better after the quiet days, thank you!
I enjoyed the ambience of your track! Instruments fit together nicely as well.
Cool trip hop vibe with nice developments. I enjoyed the bouncy acid bass groove towards the middle and it all blends together with the flute and strings very well!
Sounds awesome! I love the sound and instrument choices you made. Those choices (aswell as the dynamical changes) really create that sombre but hopeful feeling you wanted to go for. I hope everything is and will be fine regarding that ear injury and I wish you luck! :)
Thank you very much, hopefully in the clear with my ear now! Appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment. :)
Great job! all of the tracks sounded cohesive and well structured. Thank you for sharing this!
Synths and orchestral combination done so well. Wasn't expecting the LoFi drum tracks but I adored it. So chill, banger submission!!!!
great track man, feels amazing, the melody, the mix, so good man, good job x3
This is fantastic!
I Was totally able to fully immerse myself in the track and can imagine walking around in a game and exploring the areas this could play in.
This is extremely beautiful, everything blends together impressively well, it is so captivating and Oh so lovely to listen to. I love how sweet and elegant the strings ring throughout however melancholic and sombre they sound, not to mention my favourite part where the kick drum and shakuhachi flute drops in in unison made me feel hope and drive in some manner.
This is truly wonderful, I would love to see what you are able to cook up with free time!
Thank you very much for the glowing comment! Really appreciate the insight and commendation. Plenty of time to practice ahead of the next jam and hopefully come up with a little more to submit in the future!
This my friend is an achievement. Because of the limited time you had, and because the result is a really shooting ambiant track I can 100% see in a JRPG ! Well done !
You're very kind, thank you! Appreciate you checking it out. Happy to have had something to submit in the end!
Really nice sounds, very well done for getting it done in a day, very sad to hear you didn't get a catch to work more on this or on more tracks due to being injured.
Nice combination of synths and drums with the more orchestral sounds. Really fits the theme nicely too.
I would say maybe the kick drum is a little loud but understandable it's not a perfect balance due to your lack of time.
Appreciate the kind words and considerations. There's always next time! Gives me some time to hone and learn from some of the many wonderful entries others have submitted.
I would agree - in general I think the levelling is kind of all over the place (lol), something I should've caught before exporting but I was in a rush and wanted to be sure I had everything ready to submit with some time to spare. Oh well!
One day for this result? Crazy it's really good and enjoyed it very much. Hope you're doing better with your ear, can't wait to see what you can cook with more time!
Thank you very much for the encouragement! I would have loved to have more time but there's always the next jam! Ear is doing better, thankfully. Happy that I managed to avoid permanent damage as that was a scare I'm sure none of us here want!
Gosh yeah that would have been bad for sure, happy to hear it’s gonna get better, can’t wait to hear more from you!
Very well done, mixed is great, I really like this because that is something I would probably do. I was never bored all the emotions was extremely well paced. The only thing I don,t like is literally the kick drum choice but its personal. Great job !
Thank you, appreciate you giving it a listen and leaving a comment. That's a very fair critique and in truth there is a fair amount of things I think I would change with this if I had a little more time, and I think I would have liked to have worked on that section a little more.
I love this song's instrumentation, it's very well mixed and paced, with each instrument coming in right when it needs to. The tremolo strings especially stick out to me, really beautiful sounds. I'm sorry about your injury, I would have loved to hear what you'd made if you had more time. I'm hoping you'll participate again in next year's jam!
Thank you for checking it out and leaving a comment! There's always next year's jam for sure. Appreciate the kind words about the piece and the injury - thankfully I managed to avoid permanent damage so I'll take it! Thank you again, and best of luck!
A fellow day-before-the-jam-ends composer!
This is absolutely incredible. I could listen to it pretty much endlessly. The mesh of the dripping wet synth with the piano, the strings and shakuhachi, the beat coming in and dropping out. This is top tier music creation.
Can't beat composing without a time limit breathing down your neck! Appreciate you checking it out. I'd love to have had a little more time to really develop this, but there's always next time. Thank you for the kind words. :)