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Patient Zero OST's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #14 | 4.316 | 4.316 |
| Impression | #84 | 3.890 | 3.890 |
| Quality | #111 | 3.934 | 3.934 |
| Overall | #122 | 3.793 | 3.793 |
| Composition | #230 | 3.603 | 3.603 |
| Correlation to theme | #427 | 3.221 | 3.221 |
Ranked from 136 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- The choice of textures here is definitely interesting, and incorporating non-musical elements (like the speaking) definitely lends this submission a very unique feeling! I appreciated that you felt the need to mix it up frequently while not departing too far from your overall style and tone. Along those lines, I would encourage you to think about structure a little more on a per-track basis. What story does each one tell? At times I felt that you were leading me in a particular direction and then choosing to move in a new one that felt like it didn’t “fit”. You seem like you have a really unique perspective from the perspective of tone and the sonic palette, but it needs to move from point A to point B a little bit more sensibly and in a way that your audience can follow somewhat more easily I think. I will confess that I find the connection to the theme to be the biggest weakness of the submission insofar as the overall tone that it achieves is, in my mind, seems only tenuously connected to the theme. While I appreciate the attempt to connect it to the theme in the description, I just can’t get away from the overall more personal feel of "inside my world" and the more whimsical feel of the image, which I think this struggles to realistically meet. In the future, I think it would be better to fit your submissions to the theme rather than trying to let your statement fit the theme to your music, if that makes any sense. Overall it seems to me like you have some cool ideas about incorporating really neat electronic textures and I think your grasp on how the ambient feelings of your music affect the listener are strong (the described setting for your music does feel as if it matches the tone you are setting in the music). Additionally, I really appreciate that you have a lot of ideas to share— there’s not a lot of dwelling on one idea for too long. I think the biggest challenge for this entry is just that it is fairly incongruent with the theme, as the chosen style and tone are quite a departure from what I’m getting from both the text and the image prompts. I look forward to hearing you do more cool stuff in the future with electronic textures!
Description
A set of songs for an FPS game, made specifically for OST Composing Jam #7
Style: relatively old first-person shooter
You are a soldier whose world is on the verge of destruction by a race of mutants who have arrived from a recently destroyed world. You were sent through the portal with the goal of destroying “Patient Zero” - the child who was the first to be infected with the virus, and which gives rise to mutants and monsters.
But will you be able to destroy patient zero? And will this stop the takeover of your home planet?
...and who started the destruction of the worlds?
The genre... is changing.
Main emphasis on rock and industrial
I tried to make it in the style of old shooter soundtracks
My main inspirations:
Quake (Thanks to Trent Reznor!), Half Life, Doom and other shooters)
1 - Intro. Nothing interesting
2 - Abandoned Village
3 - OST caves
4 - Sewers
5 - Small battle theme in the sewers
6 - Sewer Boss - A huge underwater snake that makes strange noises
7 - Intro to the Industrial zone. Ride on a small train near the factories
8 - Theme of clashes on factory premises
9 - Theme "roofs". Climbing to the top of scaffolding and giant industrial buildings
10 - The boss is a huge mutant raven. Queen's "child"
11 - Respite
12 - Chase. The hero runs away from a revived crow through the city's ports
13 - Subway theme. Lights are turning off everywhere
14 - Relaxing in the Queen's Archives
15 - Battle of the Queen's Archives, where freezing devices are everywhere
16 - The theme of the battle in the abandoned temple
17 - The hero makes his way to the foot of the main techno-temple
18 - Battles inside the Techno Temple
19 - Final boss - The girl who was infected with the virus and gained control over the mutants
20 - Monologue from the unknown "New King"
Message from the artist
Thank you all so much for your comments and criticism! Being new to music and with little experience (only ~4 months), I'm very happy with your feedback! I'll take any advice. Thank you all!
Oh... yes... of course...
Be happy!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
My interpretation is this:
The main character went inside a world where there is a “patient zero” on a planet recently plunged into chaos. “Patient Zero” is a little girl who was the first to be infected with a virus that turns living organisms into aggressive mutants. But these mutants have a collective mind! And they all obey the very first infected - a little girl
“Inside my world” means the invasion of the protagonist, a soldier, into an alien world in order to destroy the “zero patient” before the armies of mutants destroy the protagonist’s home world.
Interpretation of the picture: the first locations are caves and sewers. The little girl is the main antagonist. The figure next to the girl is a mysterious man who accompanies the main character and speaks his monologue at the very end of the game
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/aleksej-kolosov-318295124/sets/patient-zero-full-ost
Number of tracks20
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
How did you get this done?! I like the various effects you used here, very unique theme.
Great works!!! Congratulations
Very cool soundtrack! Really nailed the 90's fps vibe. Those boss fight tracks really bring the stank face out!
Great work emulating the old school fps vibe. I love the use of bit crush effects and distortion throughout the soundtrack. This is really impressive for only making music for around 4 months and you should be very proud of it!
Heh, thanks!
I hope you liked the boss themes at least a little)
I didn't play fps games too much in the past, but this definitely matches the vibe very well with the ones I have played. The Sound design was very fitting for the theme you presented, as it gave me that creepy feeling that something not normal was lurking somewhere nearby.
Beginning of Salvation: This is a really interesting track. Lots of creepy sounds setting the atmosphere for the game. I like the synth pulses showing what I’m assuming is the heart rate of the patient zero. The bit-crushed bass adds a lot of intensity to this track, putting me on edge while listening!
Horrible Village: The sound of this track is similar to Metroid Prime exploration areas with the dark ambient type of sound. I like the ambiguity of the bass/low synths which are indistinct but drive the somewhat soft intensity of the level.
Caves: The reverby droplet sounds work well to convey the cave vibes. I like your minimalistic approach with just having a simple beat, an ambient bass, a background drone, and sound effects, making this track really great for a dark and dank setting.
Sewers: I think that silence and space is a very powerful tool in video games and this track takes advantage of that to create a very mysterious and barren feel to this area. The beat with the sound effects is creative and kept me listening throughout!
Rock and Stalagmites: I think this is cool how you used the previous track as a base of sorts for this track and turned it into more of a hard rock track!
Underwater Serpent: The bass is such a groove! Wow the drums that come in give this track a nice battle intensity to it. I like the continuity of using the background pitched clanging noise which tells me we are in the same area as the previous tracks. I really like the part where the buzzy synths cut out and you use a cleaner bass to convey an idea before returning with the gritty bass.
Train: The use of guitar as a melody instrument changes the feel to more of a rusty industrial feel. Nice new area theme!
Among the Boxes: The industrial vibe hits hard in this track.I love it when industrial sounds are used in the beat of a track! I may borrow the idea to use steam release as a sort of cymbal hit sound.
Raising the Crow’s Nest: I like this beat because it feels like someone trying to be stealthy while scaling buildings. Using clanging metal sounds with the absence of cymbals is an interesting way to continue to highlight the industrial aspect of this area.
National Emblem: The industrial percussion again is drawing me in and captivating me. The bass lick you use is also really catchy. It’s interesting choice to use an organ with an industrial sound, but to me it seems to represent the raven boss of this track since it came in a bit in the previous track too! The tempo changes of this track are really creative to help change the pace and feel of the battle.
False Rest: The ambient bird sounds with the metallic pad feel relaxing here. The ominous feeling picks up again quickly though!
Cat and Mouse: I really like how this track was directly connected to the track preceding it. Wow the transition into the chase section is sudden, but works so well! The bass and drums work so well together to create the feeling of a 90s racing game (at least that’s what I associate this type of sound with!) I like the growth of this track and really like the brass part at the end!
Metro in the City: This track has an interesting uplifting feel to it as the melody is mostly in the major key but there are dark borrowed notes that tell us that it isn’t quite supposed to be a happy song. The voice overs sound almost like conductors announcing something overhead over the intercom.
Rest Zone: This track conveys some interesting emotions through the chords you choose. The instrumentation is interesting and harmonically, I think this is your best track as it gives us some meandering implied chords that work surprisingly well given the refusal to stay in the same key.
Queen’s Archives: Really cool lead into this track from the previous track. Love that really heavy bass in this track!
Full Metal Tempo: The bass and drums alone drive this track forward and make it a really nice shooter track in what sounds like a fairly dangerous area.
Green Stage: I really like the use of low bass drums. That voiceover is really creepy! There is a newfound intensity in this track that tells me we are nearing the final boss!
Chaotic Stage: Now we’re kicking it up a notch! Just when I think you can’t make it sound any more intense, your next track surprises me with something like this!
Patient Zero: I like the use of some traditional East Asian instrumentation which seems to be a nod toward the culture that we assume that patient zero comes from given her clothing. What a spectacular final boss theme! I’m very impressed with how much battle music you’ve created in this jam! It’s hard for me to finish even one battle track in such a short amount of time! Wow those screams and the glitching sounds at the end sounds so intense!
Monologue: Woah, this is so creepy… I’m going to have nightmares from this. But I can’t turn it off! What an ending!
Overall: This is a lot of music and it’s very impressive that you were able to produce this much in just 10 days! When I listened to this, I imagined playing the game you imagined and I think this music achieves the goal of creating an atmosphere of darkness and anxious energy driving the motivation to complete a mission in the style of a first person shooter well. You also do a good job conveying your story, especially in the last few tracks. Your strength musically is certainly in writing percussion grooves and creating environmental atmospheres through sound design and instrument choices. My personal 6th category is “game readiness” and this OST scores very highly in that category for sure! Well done and thank you for sharing!
20 tracks? You madman!
The sound design overall is perfect for that old school FPS vibe you were going for. Those industrial beats with strings and crunchy, distorted synths mesh really well. I loved all the bubble sounds in Caves and Sewers. Especially Caves, that sounded like something thick and viscous was bubbling, like mud or lava. Train is another track that stood out to me, I liked the use of the steam engine hisses as a rhythmic element and using the banjo to give it an old school railroad feel but still surrounded by industrial sounds. I also like how Cat and Mouse turns into a full techno track
The loudness of these tracks were a little uneven. I found that I had to keep adjusting my volume lower as I got through the OST. For example, Patient Zero is quite a bit louder than the first boss song Underwater Serpent. While variation in dynamics throughout a song is good, and atmospheric tracks make sense to be a little quiter than boss tracks, they should have a consistent max volume so the listener doesn't have to adjust volume settings. All of the boss songs should be at the same max volume level.
The textures and sound design were great and made for a cohesive soundtrack where I could imagine each level as I listened, and the amount you were able to make is quite impressive. Great work!
My dude just drops 20 tracks like it's nbd. Kudos just for that level of commitment in submitting that many completed tracks.
Love the chaos here. Things start off unsettling, then just completely lose control. There is some pretty thick horror ambience here, and there are always just enough things happening to keep things interesting.
The wailing synth in track 3 is great. As for the crackling and popping sounds, I hate them. But in a good way. All you needed was a good "SNAP" in there somewhere and you would have had an entire box of Rice Krispies!
The sound design continues to be unsettling, at times slightly startling, in all the right ways. The panned delay on that rising synth on track 4 is a nice touch.
I'm assuming these battle and boss themes were supposed to be adaptive in nature and transition from the previous track. If not, they both would certainly serve great at that purpose. Love the crunch and straight up gnarliness of the guitars here. For the boss theme, the dissonance between the acoustic guitars and the ... whatever the hell else is going on is very well-crafted. The chords towards the end of this one change things up nicely.
In case you forgot you were in an industrial zone in track 9, Trent Reznor stops by and drops a few drum beats off to remind you.
The second boss theme has a nice steady beat to it that is a welcome change from the unsteady ambience. The sound design continues to be top notch throughout the rest of the soundtrack, with the sudden change up (fake out?) in "False Rest" and subsequent transition into Cat and Mouse being a nice surprise. I assume that
Songbirdthe Crow couldn't fit onto the subway train, or it was just too weirded out by the vocals in track 13 to continue on.I'm not falling for this again, there's no way there is an actual "Rest Zone" in this game. Yep, there it is.
I feel like this soundtrack is slowly gluing itself together as we get towards the end, with Full Metal Temple having quite a bit of structure compared to many of the previous tracks. The strings in "Green Stage" are a nice surprise, and this soundtrack keeps managing to change things up despite it's length and volume.
Who is the boss of the techno temple? It's techno viking, isn't it?
Things are straight up organized chaos in "Patient Zero. " Along with carrying a much more prevalent and forward melody in some sections, it also seems to call back to many of the instruments and sounds used previously. The weight and dreadful energy in this track is powerful.
A+ sound design, A+ ambience crafting, A+ horror vibes. Thanks, I hated it. (just kidding, nice job!)
This is super impressive, just making 20 quality tracks in the amount of time we had and them all fitting the idea you went for.
Heh) Thanks!
This is such fun! Awesome that you've created so many different tracks, it's a proper OST so you can imagine the entire game. The boss music is kick-ass! The Trent Reznor influence is totally there of course, and I can also hear Metroid Prime there too, and bits of House Of The Dead as well actually. Brilliant fun, thankyou!
Didn't read the influences at first and already like 5 seconds into the first track, I'm like "wow, i love these Quake vibes" and sure enough Quake was on your list lol. Very cool! The 90's/2000's shooter genre will always be my fav! I was even getting Metroid Prime vibes kinda in parts of track 9 and 10. Awesome job!
Nice OST! Im amazed your recorded so many tracks. Overall I get a spooky industrial vibe that reminds me of like a smoother / slightly less chaotic version of Cruelty Squad's soundtrack if that makes sense.
Thanks! Heh... This is my second OST jam, and I'm still being compared to the Cruelty Squad)
I like the later pieces (From Sound Cloud) like the Metro in the City.
Without reading the description, I was thinking of Zombie Apocalypse. Then as I read the description, it matches the sound of the song. ;)
Love it!
I finally listened to the entire soundtrack 4 times and finally want to say....
Ok. But you could have done more.
Beginning of Salvation, Horrible Village, Monologue - wow, they give the creepy feeling. If I was playing this game, I would unconsciously be turning my head back all the time to make sure there are no monsters behind me :) great atmosphere!
Sewers (Ambient) - the voices are really scary, love the bubbles and the overall sound design here as well
Rock and Stalagmites - I like the guitars here, so cool :) Music speeding up in the Underwater Serpent is niiice :)
Among the Boxes - the juicy kick here nice. National Emblem - great idea with the crows in the intro, developing of the music in this track keeps the listener's attention, nice work.
Rest Zone indeed gives it a break and lets the player rest for a while before the next fights. The rest is not calm though since the music does not let the player forget what a dangerous world he/she is in :) I think this is a good idea to introduce such a track as a change
Chaotic Stage - I like it how you mix synths with strings here. This track is cool
My personal favorites are Underwater Serpent, National Emblem, Chaotic Stage, Rock and Stalagmites :)
This is insane how much efforts you put in the work; sound design is amazing, rock/metal and industrial vibe is really cool. All tracks are different but still they fit in the chosen theme and style. This is amazing how many details are there in each track. Mixture of genres is interesting. This is a unique and very creative soundtrack, and it would definitely fit the game you imagined :)
Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it!
The number of tracks you produced is impressive!!
I really enjoyed the ambient tracks, "Sewers" is definitely my favorite.
I just can't get over the screams, they gave me goosebumps xD amazing work ^_^
Heh, thanks)
How did you write so much in a week?!
There's a lot to like here. For me the standout tracks are the boss tunes, which have great breakbeat-action energy. And the ambient stuff isn't bad either. I would humbly suggest looking for things that might be trimmable from some of the ambient pieces in particular; as it is it feels almost like I'm watching a longplay of the game but can only hear the music, but that sort of cuts both ways; when things feel slow they may feel slower than intended, but I think the overall effect is positive.
The thematic correlation felt a bit weak to me but the actual dreamt-up project you put it to was excellently conceived, and I found it creative and very well-produced overall.
Impression/Composition: 4
Theme: 3
Creativity/Quality: 5
Favorite track: Sewer Boss, Chaotic Stage (#18)
You really captured those classic FPS music vibes! There are cool and enjoyable industrial beats everywhere in your OST, fantastic work!
Track by track lets go!
1. Beginning Of Salvation
this track was crazy! The screaming was wild and I liked the deep voice talking. Sometimes it got a little too loud for me but it was to great effect!
2. Horrible Village (Ambient)
I really liked whatever that frog-like instrument was that played slightly panned to the right. The horns I think they were gave an effect of an out of date alarm system which was very cool! I think the beeping that happened on beat in the first half was a little distracting Though sometimes I can't tell what is or isn't meant to be distracting on purpose.
3. Caves (Ambient)
The revving engine noise that happened around 1:25 and 2:05 hurt my head a little with the panning. It also didn't really feel cave like to me if that makes sense? like the only thing that felt cave like to me was when the bubbles echoed but bubbles don't really feel like a cave thing. maybe some like gravel or boulder sounds?
4. Sewers (Ambient)
What sounded like a dying child gasping for help sometimes was both creepy and a really cool effect. I also like the high beep noise. Also, this is a better place for the bubbles which you did use so good job. it started getting way more intense at the end which I liked. that hollow sounding instrument was really cool! I think you might have used the screams too often at the end though as they started to lose their effect.
5. Rock And Stalagmites
This feels like a battle theme for the sewers that would transition organically but I think the title is weird considering this is a battle meant to happen in the sewers and not the caves. The rising guitar went crazy!
6. Underwater Serpent (Boss Theme)
This seems like the first track to have a solid foundation to build a melody off of! I think it maybe came a little late into the playlist. Having a stronger core song like this almost 20 minutes into a playlist makes it feel like the pacing of the music is off if that makes sense.
Like if I was a casual listener and I heard the first 5 tracks I wouldn't think that there would be much variety due to the placement of the songs.
I know they are meant to go in chronological order and that is perfectly fine but it might lead to listeners getting bored before the more involved tacks can get a chance to hook people in.
That being said, This track is much more my style in terms of what I want to listen to so it is my fav as of now.
7. Train
While the style matches the other tracks, the instrumentation is way different and I like that! keeps things fresh!
8. Among The Boxes
I like the factory vibe of this one a lot! I think something that could be improved is with the Brake drum hits. Right now they are all hit at the same velocity but I think making some accented and others a tad quieter could make the track feel a lot cooler!
9. Raising The Crow's Nest
The start with the Crows cawing was a really great intro. I like the thematic use of crows here since a flock of crows is called a Murder and the story involves the main character basically trying to murder Patient Zero so thematically it is neat! Same criticisms here as with the last piece being that the brake drums having unique velocities for some hits would be really cool! Loved it when the organ came in though it might have gotten a bit loud too.
10. National Emblem (Boss Theme)
The crow caws are again a great intro and having them persist is great for a crow boss. The voice at the beginning was also cool. I also notice that each area seems to have their own leitmotifs which is great! The first area had the bubbles and this one has the brake drums! Adds a lot to the video game aesthetic! There were some noises in this one that I thought were people behind me trying to get my attention which was freaky!
11. False Rest
The birds were nice on this one and I like what I assume was a gunshot noise! False rest is a great name since it has the tranquil birds but is still an uneasy song!
12. Cat And Mouse
The tempo switch-up was great. I also really like this synth you used it reminds me of the scene in Wreck-It Ralph with the bug killing FPS. Wasn't a big fan of the strings here. It didn't feel like they fit very well with the other synths.
13. Metro In The City
Once again I really like the synths you used but I didn't feel like the more orchestral instruments fit here. The bits of dialogue were rally cool atmospherically! I also like how the girls voice seems to be getting clearer as you get closer to her! I am assuming that's who it is. I did like the mallets though because I always like mallets!
14. Rest Zone
I DO think the orchestral instruments work here however! I like how airy the flutes you used were. Gives a sense of fleeting as though the rest is only a short one. Also liked that it still remained rather uneasy.
15. Queen's Archives
From what I can tell, the rest theme leads directly in to this one. If so, I like it! If not, then I think the rest zone ends too abruptly. Since this place is supposed to be freezing, I think adding more "cold" instruments would be good. About halfway through a synth comes in that has that cold effect but I think some echoey chimes in the background would enhance the effect a lot!
16. Full Metal Temple
I had heard this one in the Devlog chat before. I recognized the intro! I liked that sometimes there would be the briefest of pauses with almost every instrument. It made me wish that you had played with empty space in the fuller songs more. Really empty them out for like a second to change things up and keep them more interesting!
17. Green Stage
Very clear voice on the girl, though now I can clearly tell that there are 2 distinct voices. an adult woman and a child. I am assuming the little girl is the infected one so who is this person that keeps calling me a mean b-word ),: Liked the choir here!
18. Chaotic Zone
This song had really fantastic percussion! It felt like it stood out a lot compared to a lot of the other tracks which made the entire song feel a lot more memorable to me. This is likely my new fav of the entire OST. Especially because of the choir! Sometimes I do think this one got way too loud though. The ringing phone at the end was cool though IDK what it means.
19. Patient Zero (Boss Theme)
Going all in on the strings was an interesting choice but one I think works. I was scared that the final boss track might get lost in the shuffle by being too similar but the strings and choir prevented that! Bad words ),: The ending where I am assuming she is dying was really loud but I think that was an appropriate place for high volumes.
20. Monologue
I didn't like this one. Made me uncomfy ): I can feel his breath on my neck as he speaks. Narratively speaking it is cool and creative but as a track in an OST it isn't really a song. I won't hold it against you but I wouldn't listen to this as a song which I think is still an important aspect for each track to have in an OST composing jam
In Conclusion
This was a very unique and interesting entry! I think there were some issues with volume getting too high at points as well as some missed opportunities in certain songs. I also feel that some of the songs didn't feel as unique as they could have been causing a few to feel similar. I also found some instrument choices to feel out of place compared to the rest of the track.
This definitely isn't my style of music but I can absolutely see it being others. I feel it would work incredibly well in a video game which I think is an important part of OST composing jam. I think the sound design is excellent with things like voice lines, SFX, and atmosphere.
Good Job! Be proud of the effort you put in!
1468 words.
Whoo! I asked for a detailed critique and I got it! Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of each track!
In fact, creating such a large number of tracks and having little experience is what caused all the problems you mentioned).
I seem to have made the biggest mistake of building a large soundtrack: Listeners have to go through 20 minutes of boring ambient before getting to the “interesting” part. And also the point is that I was learning a lot while making this soundtrack, and it so happens that the quality level of the first tracks and the last tracks are VERY different (Right down to the trivial volume and sound quality). I wanted to remake them... but I realized this when a little more than half of the deadline had passed. I couldn't cut them out completely because it would “break” the original idea. I ended up with a very uneven soundtrack with a lot of unfinished ideas and mistakes.... Maybe I shouldn't have set myself such an ambitious goal? :)
My main stylistic mistake is trying to inappropriately combine orchestral instruments with other musical instruments.
The main technical error is problems with excessive sound volume at some points in the soundtrack.
I quite agree with the monologue: this “track” exists solely for the final completion of the “story”. It's just that I really wanted to make the soundtrack complete, which is why I had to add it in
Anyway - thanks so much for the detailed review! I'm very pleased with it. I'll try to make fewer mistakes next time, heh. I'll have more experience, though)
P.S. Yes, Rest Zone is a sub to Queen's Archives. Heh)
Very creative