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Visual Snow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #7 | 4.194 | 4.194 |
| Quality | #7 | 4.472 | 4.472 |
| Correlation to theme | #8 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Impression | #10 | 4.139 | 4.139 |
| Composition | #15 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
| Creativity | #30 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Electronic. First three tracks are mostly ambient. Last track is a pretty hard hitting breakbeat tune. :)
P.S. You can find the DSP effects that I used here: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/JSFX (free). Yutani is my bread and butter synth, other than that I made ample use of LavaVerb.
If you're a REAPER user, the tracker I used for the last track can be found here: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/Hackey-Trackey (also free).
On the last track, drums were first sequenced using Drummica (also free, but not sure if still available), then I crushed/resampled them and loaded them in the tracker to bash them around some more like a crazy person.
Message from the artist:
Hi.
How does it fit the theme?
Tried to come up with a cyberpunkey story in my mind and just wrote a few tunes to it. Imagined something more on the grittier dystopian side of things (deus ex / cbp2077 / bladerunner).
Opening theme: Learning the truth
You always thought the visual noise you experience was normal.
Street ambience:
These streets can not be trusted. Especially at night. You know you're not supposed to be out here. Not alone. Not without explicit permission.
Hacking theme:
Time to find out what is going on and the only way you are going to find out is by jacking in. Going beyond where you are supposed to and finding that which has been locked away from you. Midway through the track you break the last of the locks and really see for the first time. Broken free, you now see what must be done... but ...
Dodging bullets:
Someone did detect your presence. Unfortunately, that means you must be terminated and it doesn't matter if it takes the whole building with it. This theme was written with a building collapsing around you in mind.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NEz3p7l6Wg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=163otCY9wGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFZeM2shLvQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0CkuuPv7Rk
Playlist for convenience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NEz3p7l6Wg&list=PLeGUX1BqFELfNoHqubgdZbxM_sOStIDox
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Comments
Really love the minimalist approach, not just with the instrumentation but the subtle variations in your lead lines and background tracks.
The atmosphere you've managed to create is absolutely stunning. The composition is excellent and filled with small details that completely immerse you in the story you're telling. Stellar work, looking forward to hearing more from you!
Woow very nice tracks with high level of composition :0 !! I especially like Dodging bullets which has a lot of energy ! thanks for your sharing :)!
Thank you :D
Glad you enjoyed 'em!
AHH, I love this! I'm a sucker for ambient stuff, and I always wanted to learn how to do it myself, but it's just so difficult for me. You nailed it really really hard, the atmosphere is supreme (I especially loved the hacking theme)
And then after all the ambient stuff you're telling me you also made a breakcore banger that just makes my head explode and everything in my room fly out of the window. ABSOLUTELY INSANE
Loving this to bits, amazing job!
Thank you. Haha, glad you enjoyed them :)
I think you sell yourself short. You made some cool tracks.
Over the last few years, I've written quite a few tools for making ambient that I use a lot. You can find 'em here: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/JSFX . They're all free, so can give 'em a shot if you have a few hours to spare.
The ones I'd recommend for ambient are Swellotron, Reflectosaurus (1, 2), LavaVerb, Yutani and Amaranth (in that order probably). Especially Swellotron and Reflectosaurus can be good at creating source material that you can slice from to build soundscapes. The first takes two inputs and blends them together in a reverby way, while the second is basically a souped up delay plugin that allows you to link delays to delays and add effects to each delay node. They were originally written for REAPER, but there's a plugin called YSFX that allows loading them in any DAW.
Excellent work here. Opening theme: great mix of pads, growling bass, and horns to set the mood. Great choices. The horn synth especially adds a lot throughout the album.
Street Ambience: exemplary integration of ambient noise. Again I'm loving the horn.
Hacking Theme: really strong start and I'm pumped and ready for some satisfying build up. Bass has so much energy. The ending takes me by surprise but is also a little disappointing because it felt like there was a lot of good buildup that fizzled out.
Dodging bullets: here's the sound i expected based on your previous work! Great beat. Some good surprises here too that keep me guessing. Felt like it could be punchier at times though.
Overall this was one of my favorite entries for the great blends of sounds, the variety, and evocative moods. Great job. Impressive work.
Thank you so much! :)
Glad you enjoyed it.
I should really take some time and do a final version of the Hacking one I think (after the compo is over). I really ran out of time and I think I left some potential on the table there. :)
Dodging bullet is indeed a bit of a sausage mix-wise. Unfortunately, given the haphazard way in which I set up the project, I'm not sure whether there is much I can still do about it. I had a blast making it, but my ears were kind of shot from working on so many tunes in a row by that time. I often make the mistake of mixing too loud so I get pretty bad ear fatigue.
Thank you for the detailed comments. Much appreciated! :)