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A jam submission

Break a Leg (from "Skulljogger")View project page

Quirky, spooky chiptune track that won't leave your head, and my family hates me for it.
Submitted by Bela Bitbop — 5 days, 18 hours before the deadline
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Break a Leg (from "Skulljogger")'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Melody#54.2674.267
Accompaniment#193.8003.800
Overall#193.7113.711
Jam Theme#303.0673.067

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Explicit Content

No

Methodology
I mostly used vsts that emulate old console hardware like Papu, Chipsynth SFC and Genny. To achieve an authentic 8-bit sound, I used only a few voices and let them interact with each other.

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Comments

Host(+1)

I enjoyed the way you layered harmonies ~0:18 and again at 0:55 with the descending xylophone pattern. All those chromatic, descending, xylophone sounds make me picture a skeleton stumbling around.

Thanks for sharing your tune!

Developer

Thank you, and thanks for hosting the jam, it was great to meet all of these fantastic creators and sharing thoughts about our entries.

Submitted(+1)

Fantastic retro style production. This music is very suitable for an action/spooky scene. At beginning it was not sounding too much spooky but the section at 0:40 definitely has halloween vibes. Great work. I'm following you!

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, it takes a bit to get into the halloween funk. Followed you as well!

Submitted(+1)

Wow! The development of each section is great and it loops perfectly. Regarding theme imo this sounds like a level more than a boss because it has quite a slow pace and has a lot of dynamics and doesn't sound too threatening, I would've liked more dissonance like when the melody does D C# A C G# B in staccato.

The little details everywhere are a nice touch as well, those initial two snares(?) and the Bb arpeggio 'blip' set the stage for the rest of the piece and it delivers!

Developer

Thank you for your kind words and the criticism is welcome. Have a nice day!

Submitted(+1)

I was about to say it wasn't much of a boss fight until you said that it fits will with that kind of quirky boss fight and yeah, I know what you mean now, lol. I'm pretty sure I remember boss fights like that from the Paper Mario games where they had some battles where the music grooved like this

Definitely got the Halloween feel to it with that nice groove to it and that classic 8-bit feel. This was a lot of fun to listen to!

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, I think it depends a lot if one interprets the theme as "classic boss fight" or "could work in that setting". Glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

This is really interesting. I'm in love with the grove; the swung rhythm is really well done. 

The 8-bit plugins were used to great effect and limiting your voices really adds to the authenticity.

I also really like the panning at around 50 seconds in. It was a nice contrast to the previous section and helped add to the track's movement. 

The melody and trills really helped give it a Halloween vibe and the timbre of the marimba in the cover version really adds to the skeleton aesthetic.

I feel so called out in your description though bc I used orchestra lol 😂.

Overall really good work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for your in-depth review! And I hope no hard feelings, maybe I was just self-conscious about not going the orchestra route. ;) I also listened to some of your other stuff, keep up the good work!

Submitted

Absolutely no hard feelings at all. I just thought it was really funny, when I was reading your description, how much it was describing the route I chose😂. Thank you so much for checking out my other stuff. I hope we run into each other on other tune jams in the future😁. 

Submitted(+1)

Really great stuff! I have no experience with chiptune styled music, but I always assumed it could be very challenging and tedious trying to fill the space with very simple sounds, but you did an amazing job doing that! The marimba was also a nice touch, with a catchy spooky melody, great job!

Developer

Thank you! To me it feels more like a fun challenge to limit yourself in this way, I've also written a mostly authentic SNES RPG soundtrack for a game demo a while back and I had a blast. I definitely recommend it. ;)

Submitted(+1)

This has that classic Halloween swing feel that works so well portraying skeletons. I love the marimba used toward the end (and the marimba cover video as well) as mallets really add the skeleton theme. The melody is really catchy and works well for an infinite loop. The foggy pads that pan unilaterally are really creative and makes it so much more satisfying when the full sound comes back in. Overall great work creating very fitting music for this fun little game!

Developer

Thank you for taking the time!

Submitted(+1)

Well done! Super catchy and fun, also works well in the game.

I think one hard part about rating this challenge is how to determine whether something is a boss theme or not. It's definitely spooky but for me not 100% a boss theme, though I could see it working as one in some cases.

A very fun/playful and catchy take for this challenge. I love the marimba version! Are you the one playing the marimba?

Love it!

Developer

Thank you! I agree that the boss theme vibe is not as strong with this one, but I had a lot of fun writing it!

Yes, I'm playing the marimba. Had some unexpected free time waiting for someone, and it's really fun to play live. :)

Submitted(+1)

I love the retro synths used in this. No doubt I will be humming this melody while passing out candy this evening. Love it!

Developer

Thanks! I love these VSTs, it's mostly PAPU and Chipsynth SFC.

Submitted(+1)

The theme is so catchy!

Super 8-bit music!

So you compose this music for a game submitted in another jam. Well done!

Is that you playing the marimba? Because this version is awesome!

Developer

Thanks, and it is! I wrote the music on keyboard, but I realized it was much more fun to play on the marimba.

Submitted

Nice !

I really like it.

Submitted(+1)

This song is super catchy! I was playing the game that came along with it, and honestly it's the perfect tune for just vegging out and jumping over the tombstones for like an hour. One thing that impresses me especially is how you work in instruments with different quality levels into eachother. There is definitely some "realer" sounding instruments that are mixed in there, but they feel totally natural among all the 8-bit ones. This is great.

My main issue with this song however, is that I can't see how this would fit the boss battle theme.

Still, great job!

Developer(+1)

Blending the different era sounds well was very important to me, thanks for picking that up and taking the time!