thank you for playing and the great feedback! As the music speeds up it does get pretty stressful eh!? As the composer I’m curious was it a tone of the synths thing that made it uncomfortable like a shepherd tone? Or was it something else? The range maybe? No worries if you’re not sure. I really appreciate the feedback though! It was my first time writing music for a game and am always tryna learn more 🙃
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Pretty sure it was the lower synths creating a dissonance with the upper melody + the fact that they change every time you click on a new outfit. Like being on a musical roller coaster. Felt incongruent. Which I'm sure is incredibly hard to make feel harmonious when modulating so much. lol I think if it was less about switching them constantly and the modes had time to settle between changes it wouldn't have hit my "flight or fight" response so hard.
BUT if you were going for anxiety than kudos it worked like a charm. lol :P It may also be a personal experience as we all have aversions to different things. My wife complains about high pitched whistles in some songs I can't even audibly process.
Those are super good observations! yes indeed the music was intended to be uncomfortable until you matched the correct two clothing pieces together at which point it became more harmonious so depending on how one was playing one could definitely get lost in the dissonance... I feel you big time.
We were trying out the idea with modes switching since it was the theme of the game jam, but if we were to continue working on this i think it would be more effective with changing instrumentation with each clothing option and keep the actual song more similar/harmonious. I think it would align with the visual aesthetic a bit more and hopefully maintain an overall more pleasant experience for the player while still keeping the music interactive. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on all this and happy new year!