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Boiling Valley's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Did you imagine the town? | #11 | 4.045 | 4.045 |
| Quality | #16 | 3.955 | 3.955 |
| Correlation to theme | #23 | 3.682 | 3.682 |
| Overall | #26 | 3.573 | 3.573 |
| Composition | #29 | 3.136 | 3.136 |
| Creativity | #33 | 3.045 | 3.045 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme
Hot Spring Town
Correlation to theme
I tried to keep the mood tranquil, but mysterious. The echoing chimes give a sense of the canyon and crystalline pools. The soft, slow sounds over top conjure the sense of the misty, dark, quiet atmosphere of the town. Staying in the same key with a drone-like quality makes the piece calming and hypnotic. I also used a Lydian mode which to me has a kind of otherworldly, but uplifting quality.
Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/tristanslater/boiling-valley
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Comments
Somehow, you managed to make the same chord progression for 3+ minutes not sound like a pain. That's already an achievement! Jokes aside, it is not the most creative of songs, but does give a very interesting vibe! As you call it, it gives it a definite 'tranquil' vibe. I get the feeling I am deep inside a dead volcano of sorts. I also get Celeste-vibes from the drone-like sounds, not sure why. Overall, cool entry :D
Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I disagree about the creativity, but I guess that's pretty subjective, and not something you can easily quantify, especially about a track as a whole. I was happy with how I took something somewhat repetitive (well, really only the chimes repeat, nothing else does), and change other aspects of the music to keep it interesting. As I've mentioned before, I really tried to develop it more, but every time I strayed too much, it wrecked the vibe.
Don't get me wrong, I get what you mean. I agree that your song has a certain vibe and that might have indeed been 'wrecked' if you changed too much. You made a nice song, thát we can at least definitely agree on :)
I love those hollow bell sounds so much and would love to be listening to this in a misty mountain hot spring! This is unique in that it went for a more wind chime type of feel which is not commonly represented in the other hot springs town submissions. At first it feels like something taken out of a calm area in Super Mario Galaxy, and then it slowly morphs into an ethereal piece that is completely its own. I love the ambient nature of this one! Great work and thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much!
Oh yea, that's definitely hot springs with that reverby watery chimes arpeggio (If that's the right term). Nailed the theme right off the bat. Definitely getting a mysterious, maybe magical (Zelda fairy fountains kind of), vibe from this as well.
Nice work!
Thank you! I wanted it to sound tranquil and serene at first, but then build the unsettling feeling without getting too intense. I was picturing a beautiful, but dark town, where you're an outsider and people aren't very welcoming, and it seems like they know something you don't.
great job, it creates an atmosphere between relaxing and mysterious, it reminded me of the OST of Secret of Evermore where the songs have that mysterious touch that makes you realize that there is something strange in the world
Thank you! An atmosphere between relaxing and mysterious is exactly what I was going for! I had never heard the Secret of Evermore OST before, so checked it out. Quite a creative and interesting soundtrack!
Ya gots that "Save Room" vibe going!
Is that a good thing? I don't know what that is.
The feel of this music reminds me of the effect composers go for, for a typical place where players can relax and save their progress. So it's very much in keeping with the theme!
It maybe needs more variation, but I enjoyed it a lot!
Seems to be a common criticism; however, I stand by my decisions. Like I said before, it had to be like this to create the atmosphere, but glad you still enjoyed it!
I really liked the chimes in combination with the drones. This really conveyed the feeling of a hot relaxing spa resort in some foggy mountains. However, I felt like it dragged on a little bit to much, which made it also a little bit repetitive.
Yes the drones got a little bit louder and slightly shifted pitch over time, but the chimes didn't really change throughout the song.
Also the drones became somewhat dissonant at one point, which had a more mystery/horror feeling to me than a relaxing spa feeling. This, paired with the increasing intensity of the drones, lead to a tension rising which never got resolved. I think adding a rainstick sound or something like that, or a descending pattern of the chimes followed by the drones going back in intensity, would have created a nice relief of tension. In my head this would have felt like going out into the cold from within a sauna.
But overall great entry!
Thanks for giving so much feedback! I agree, it doesn't resolve the best. That's probably the part I'm least happy with. I spent too much time messing around with other ideas, so ran out of time to resolve it better, so it just kind of fades back to the beginning to loop.
I've said this before and will probably say it again: remember this is not a song song, it's background music for a game. I was trying to serve the job and not my ego. I planned to put in a more conventional melody at some point, I had a couple of key changes, even drums at one point, but everything I added ruined the atmosphere I was going for. I pictured walking around the town I was picturing.
It was meant to be eerie and a bit unsettling. This isn't music for a tourism company to promote a real hot spring town, it is a game! Perhaps there is something sinister going on in this town, or something magical, or it's in the spirit realm or something (ever seen Spirited Away?) There is supposed to be a dark, mysterious, unsettling feeling.
This is gorgeous! It's incredibly relaxing and serene, and fits the theme perfectly in my opinion. If I close my eyes I can easily imagine a quiet, slow town by a hot spring, where the residents live simple lives (mostly) free of worry. Very pretty and well-made.
Wow, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
The first notes got me into it!
Maybe play a little more with volume and panning to hear the different instruments better... but that didn't stop me from finding myself in a hot spring throughout the song.
Delicious job!
Wow, "delicious!" That's a great compliment. Thanks! Also, I appreciate the feedback. There are only 4 instruments in the whole thing, and one is just a copy of the chimes with the envelope changed (those swells that come in after first chimes loop). Then, the strings (if you can call them that) and the drone. I wanted it all to blend and not have anything grab too much attention to give it an atmospheric/hypnotic quality, but perhaps I could have tweaked things a little more.
I love the droning feel of this one! Those looping arpeggios give the piece such a floaty and hypnotic feel. It really evokes this feeling of laying down in a nice warm bath, closing your eyes, and just letting your troubles wash away haha. The pads that play over the arpeggios bring a bit of intrigue to the piece for me. The dissonance and unpredictability makes the piece just a little bit unsettling, which I really dig. I do wish that there was a small melody played over the rest of the piece, but I'm always a sucker for a strong theme so I'm biased haha. This is a really great mood-setting piece though, awesome work!
Thank you! Yes, I had planned a more conventional melody. I was thinking on some kind of horn, but every time I added something, it detracted from the atmospheric quality, which I really wanted. I was thinking about it more as setting the mood and atmosphere of the town rather than being a "song."
Ooooh the eerieness from the chimes at the start is cool. Minecraft meets Japan folk.
Definately something sinister happening in this town! With the slightly offsetting nature of the pads and the fx on them, it feels like there is something luirking around the corner.
Thanks! I didn't intend for it to turn out dark, but everything I make seems to end up that way XD
The arpeggios are very pretty, and with the reverb there's something etheric about them from the very first notes.
I'm less convinced by the dissonant pads on top. Maybe too present. Maybe more reverb… but it adds a real mysterious vibe.
On the other hand, the bass growling is great and adds a lot to the atmosphere.
Thanks! Good feedback. I really like the pad, I guess it's somewhat a matter of taste. I had originally planned to add some more traditional sounding strings to play off the more detuned darker sound, but every time I added them, it make it sound too dramatic. I really wanted to keep the energy low.
This is so zen! Great job
Thanks!