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Beneath the Ocean, Within the Soul's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #62 | 4.048 | 4.048 |
| Overall | #143 | 3.745 | 3.745 |
| Composition | #158 | 3.774 | 3.774 |
| Impression | #171 | 3.645 | 3.645 |
| Quality | #223 | 3.645 | 3.645 |
| Creativity | #238 | 3.613 | 3.613 |
Ranked from 62 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Sana, a magical girl who lives in a bubble house underwater, has gotten bored of life closer to the surface.
She feels something is missing within herself and wishes to see if rumors of treasure deep below are true. She ventures deeper and deeper, entering "uncharted" territory and fighting against mechanized fish (where did those even come from?)
She reaches the lowest part of a trench, but finds most of the treasure has been taken. Perhaps the depths weren't so uncharted after all. However, the long adventure has made her stronger willed as well as more appreciative of the peaceful nature of the upper waters. Perhaps the real treasure was the (insert cliche line)!
Prologue (Introspection): Prologue, and Sana's theme.
Subaquatic Saunter: This serves as an overworld theme when traversing the ocean. Written in 5/4 to give the idea of swimming rather than a more typical walking rhythm.
Subaquatic Saunter (Action): Dynamic variation of Subaquatic Saunter for when doing puzzles or fighting enemies.
Within a Bubble: Save room theme. Take a break!
Mechacanthine Foreboding: Transitional theme when approaching boss areas (the depths). This track with the tonal shift marks the shift towards the depths of the ocean.
Mechacanthine Chaos: Boss theme that might play when you fight a mechanized coelacanth. Ends with a short boss defeated jingle.
Epilogue (Within the Soul): Epilogue, and variation of Introspection, as Sana realizes what she was missing.
Message from the artist
I had a great time making this one. Thanks for listening!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I primarily used synths that I felt had a sort of water sound to them (particularly electric piano/rhodes and Mellotron winds) as well as extensive use of leitmotif throughout the OST.
I took the picture theme for an overall water themed OST, and the text theme (Inside my World) to reflect Sana's discovery within herself.
I primarily used the Dorian mode in the first half of the OST and Phrygian Dominant in the second half. This was a means of further showing a "two worlds" interpretation of the text theme, with the more lighthearted upper ocean and the depths filled with mechanized and heavily armed sealife.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM6jJ1Ve8aIdV1LV3bLW-zumd__hIXnfd
Number of tracks7
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
For game jams only
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Comments
This soundtrack is incredibly present. The sounds you curated definitely portray a vibrant world underneath the waves. While the production feels fairly simple, I think that works to your benefit as the tracks are just super easy to listen to, and can fit in the background of a video game effortlessly! Great job! :D
Thank you!
Wonderful soundtrack! I love what you’ve done with the two versions of Subaquatic Saunter (lovely name btw)! The guitar part is very well composted! Can’t get enough of the breakbeat in Mechacanthine Chaos, super groovy! Well done!!
Thank you! It's my favorite name from my ost too
Very nice soundtrack, lots of variety !
The whole album flows quite well with very interesting musical ideas and motifs on each track (especially on the last two tracks which I liked a lot) and the instrumentation works greatly for this kind of music.
Great job !
Thank you!
had to relisten to Mechacanthine Chaos, it's just too good! I was vibing all the way through.
Thank you!
Odd time signatures, jazz harmony, unusual scales - there's a lots of complicated musical ideas. There isn't a dull moment when you're tinkering with so much, there's always an unexpected turn around the corner or at the next track. The F# major to A dominant 7 was pretty spicy in Subaquatic Saunter (Action).
The soundtrack starts of oozing with 90's vibes with some modern polish. By the time I reached the end, Mechacanthine Foreboding and Epilogue (Within the Soul) stick out a bit to me; the samples are a bit too good and the performances are a little too realistic when compared to the more proudly digital start of the soundtrack.
Nevertheless, it's a very eclectic combination of sounds and musical ideas. Even if it doesn't always sound cohesive it's never boring. Kudos.
Thank you! I'm glad you liked that chord movement, wanted to add some spice over the IV-bVI movement that the regular variant had. Yeah I wanted to have the big tonal shift going into Mechacanthine Foreboding (along with the switch to Phrygian Dominant) to differentiate the depths of the ocean from the higher zones. I probably could have used a digital lead on that track to smoothen the transition between the two halves of the OST.
Thanks for the detailed feedback!
Maybe this is a personal bias, but I find changing the fidelity / realism of the instruments a little jarring for descending the depths of the ocean. Which is strange when I think about it, because the bottom of the ocean could resemble a different planet or dimension with the lack of sunlight, strange lifeforms and ridiculous amounts of pressure. I don't find a change in time signature, key signature or instrumentation that weird for some reason. I'll need to think about this a little more to figure out why I feel this way.
Good solution anyway, using a track to transition between the two sections would make it feel more natural.
Awesome atmospheric tracks! I really loved the stark contrast between the mechacanthine BGMs and the rest of the music, it's so cool. Great job!
Thank you!
Oh I love this vibe, very interesting colors and oldish vibe. It's also rare to hear Jazz in this kind of fashion so very cool! Nice submission :)
Thank you!
I really like the jazz fusion-esque vibes you got going with this submission especially in Within a Bubble. I found myself sometimes wishing the songs were a bit longer, but they are short and sweet. Great work with this! My favorite track was Mechacanthine Chaos
Thanks! Yeah honestly Within a Bubble in particular was supposed to be longer but time constraints got to me lol.
I want to admit ...
I danced to Mechacanthine Chaos)
You can feel the atmosphere of the game taking place underwater... And that's cool! It fits the theme perfectly
Thanks! I'm glad the atmosphere carried across.
Really liked the action feel of Mechacanthine chaos. And all the other tracks really set the chill aquatic mood. Very nice!
Thank you!
Mechacanthine Foreboding has that cool voice in there that sounds half like a vox tone and half like a flute or something. Really enjoyed this submission overall. Nice work!
Thanks! Thats probably the duduk.