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Deep Garden OST's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #145 | 3.839 | 3.944 |
| Quality | #199 | 3.677 | 3.778 |
| Impression | #206 | 3.569 | 3.667 |
| Overall | #207 | 3.623 | 3.722 |
| Composition | #237 | 3.569 | 3.667 |
| Creativity | #305 | 3.461 | 3.556 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
This is a soundtrack for Deep Garden, a story-based game that focuses on exploration and meditation. You play as a young girl with a wild imagination who discovers her family's past in an underwater world.
The genre of these tracks is ambient, as I wanted to create a sound that envelops the player. I took much of my inspiration from David Wise's compositions for Donkey Kong Country. Each one was created with MIDI instruments.
The Main Theme is representative of entering this new underwater world. It begins with a quiet curiosity, and slowly unfolds into a layered, rich track, which echoes the player's path through the game as they gradually uncover the secrets of this magical place. This track takes heavy influence from David Wise's "Aquatic Ambience" and the sounds of PlayStation-era games.
"Your Past is All Around You" would come at some revelation, when the player discovers that there is more to this game world than they thought. But these omens are fuzzy at the edges; are they welcoming... or warning?
"Village Theme" would be a place of rest and comfort. Your home base is a village inhabited by friendly fish, with stories you learn as the game goes on.
"The Mantle" is where the final challenge takes place. Deep in the abyss, water turns to gas as it meets the scorching stones of the Earth's mantle. You are close to learning the truth...
"Float Home" is a final goodbye to the world you've grown to love. It brings the player back to shore and leaves them gently on the beach.
I used Logic Pro to compose these tracks.
Message from the artist
*IF PLAYING ON SOUNDCLOUD*
Occasionally on playback, SoundCloud cuts off the first few milliseconds of a song. None of these songs should sound like they are starting abruptly, so if the first note of a song isn't crystal clear, just pause it, scrub back to the beginning, and it should sound correct.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The tracks are meant to submerge you in the atmosphere of this underwater world, with trance-inducing ambience and playful melodies. I used lots of mallet sounds to give it an "island" feel, and deep bass to signify the darkness of the ocean. It's designed to feel comforting, yet unfamiliar and new.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/dalton-bantz/sets/deep-garden
Number of tracks5
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Absolutely loved The Mantle!
This soundtrack is really well executed. Super cohesive and conveys the concept you describe. Great work.
Big fan of the Mantle. Loved the bouncy tuned percussion you used! is it like a pipe marimba or something?
The sound design is great, and the compositions fit perfectly in your game story. All the tracks flowed (heheh...flow...water) really well together.
Lovely Wise vibes! Really has that cheerful late 90's VGM energy to it.
really nice soundscapes you've established here. The tuned percussion is very warm sounding and 'homey," and your compositions flow well throughout the entire track
Love the whimsical adventure feel of your work. It fits your description and theme perfectly. Well mixed and awesome composition. I’m surprised I saw this in the “needs reviews” tab! Should be more popular! Great work
Oh, such nice and well done South Eastern influences! No useless frills, just immersive, flowing melodies that submerge you wonderfully in the magical water world you aimed to depict. As an aspiring composer, I definitely should take all of this as a good example to take notes from on how to execute ideas like in a simple but elegant way. Great job!
The tracks are ambient and pleasant to listen to. The first track cuts off too suddenly and needs a fade out, but otherwise it is very well done!
really fun and quirky sound palette here! you definitely hit the mark with the david wise-esque composition, and your percussion work in particular i think sells it. good job on this!
you do a great job at creating enough space for everything to really breathe and be taken in
Ahhh... water!
A beautiful Main Theme, a little warning about the past Your Past Is All Around You, giving a sense of calm and comfort Village Theme, The Mantle with wonderful percussion.
Float Home (Outro) — completes the mood of the entire soundtrack well.
....I'm waiting for new tracks from you)I had fun listening to it!