itch.io

Hello !

I'm available for some light work and composition this month so if you need me to make noises or tunes for your games I'm here !
I can also give some game dev advice as I'm a sofware engineer by day, but I'd rather stick to making sounds for this jam :)

DayTime Skyway : The bells and driving rythm make me think of a lively train station swarming with interesting characters and a sense of adventure

NightTime Skyway : The place is reckognizable, but the flute harp and celesta arrangement gives me a calm and serene vibe, that fits very well an idea of the place becoming more intimate as you explore it at night

Sailway traffic in the rain : Overall a bittersweet little piece. I I like that there is a further away piano for the melody, It gives such a melancholic vibe to the track

The Hill that touches the sky : That synth was a surprise but worked very well. I would nitpick that maybe the arrangement and Ideas are a bit too similar to the third track, this track feels like a development of the previous one. That said it does feel more hopeful and resolved, like after a journey we are now at the place we wanted to be, so it works.

Great Work !

I really like your melodies, they are strong and you achieve great colors and character in each one, they also guides us well through the tracks so that the overall music feels coherent and continuous, with storytelling that worked well for me

Good Job :)

Wow, good job ! This was really nice to listen too

Merry christmas, and don't worry if you feel in a slump, I think we all go through that and it will get better :)

Your main theme has a joe Hisaishi quote from the Merry-go-round of life :)
I really like the instrumentation, the synths work well, and are very nicely contrasted by the miano and strings. the bit of Electric guitar hits the spot too !
There is a nice narrative to the track and interesting harmonic development, and the irregular metre gives some mean momentum
Good job !

Very Shrimp !

For resolving a track you can use a simple cadence, some kind of II chord or IV, then a V (with possibly a I with the fifth at the bass coming before the real V) (in tonal music)
For overall form, common video game form is based on wether your track will loop or not :

Looping forms : 

Here you want to not be too dramatic, as drama thet happens every minute doesn't work too well
Intro(:AB:) where B contrasts A 
(:ABAB':) where B contrasts A and B' develops the B thing
can change the second A too to get ABA'B'

For non-looping track you can think "hero's journey", with sonata form or variations on that idea

Or more song-like with rondo form (chorus and verses with possible bridges)

Or longer things like in the celeste soundtrack where an idea goes throuh cycles of ups and downs and evolves for multiple minutes based on the video game levels
A big build up like you do can also work for battle themes and cutscenes

If you decide on these in advance you can more easily know what your goals are in each sections (establish the theme, contrast with something different, or develop some theme) and It gets easy (easier at least) to handle finishing tracks

Good job ! I tried to write as I listen to try giving more detailed moment-by-moment impressions :

The Ever Ending Waterways :

I like the texture from the start, very well produced ! The piano part feels very delicate and the whole piece makes me think of a chill night scene with some melancholy 

The Wheel that Never Stops:

Similar texture to the last piece, changed towards a less serene and more tense harmony and overall feel. A mysterious synth goes wild and suddenly slows down into a sort of drop. A new lead synth plays a more determined melody and a modulation gives some dramatic intensity to the last section with an unresolved ending that leaves me wondering what is going to happen next !

Small and Insignificant:

String synth sweeps and a piano playing harp figures creates a beautiful harmonic texture that then serves as the backdrop to a lonely flute staccato melody. A synth with a strong character joins with drums, until a dramatic moment where things become serious ! We shift to a military 2/2 metre and a low synth feels me with anticipation while the flute comes back to tell us that now it's ready to roll !

Palace of despair:

Extremely low strings strings set an ominous tone, with a piano melody that is oddly serene in comparison, but occasionally deranged by an unresolved accidental. Ostinato violin feels a bit weak, which could be meant to add to a sense of despair I don't get, or just be that this particular violin sample is a bit too weak to be alone like that.

Patrol of the Underdogs:

Ah, A battle theme :)

Intro follows the last track and now the orchestration works for me and then... 

Boom ! we're fighting, marcato string ostinato and energetic drum-and-bass drums tells us it's not gonna be easy. But a synth comes tell us it's gonna be fun !

Then the instrumentation shifts completely to chiptune, with syncopated rythms and a melody that succeeds in keeping rythmic momentum and energy, until a more techno-inspired 4-on-the-floor comes back with the strings to really push us to our very edge against our enemy.

Overall :

The material is very solid and the orchestration / instrumentation work is really great. But your form tends to always build up and build up and just abruptly stop at the end, which can be fine, but seems to be your default. It's okay to build down you don't have to constantly build up.

Other than this very minor nitpicking I really enjoyed the soundtrack, Great Work ! 

Those synths fit soo well !

Yeah same, with a few fixes it could become very usable in productions which is pretty crazy for free software

W O W

Yeah that's definitely a 5 in composition ! Really nails the good old JRPG aesthetic

Vibes :)
Makes me think of japanese fusion in some places, very fun to listen to :)

Very nice :) Reassured I'm not the only one that used musescore 4 XD
Your orchestration is stellar throughout !

DS stuff !! Coooool :) And good stuff too !

The feeling of bitter wishing for impossible things is there for me ! Good job :)

Really liked "Sellout" as a battle theme. And "Make a wish" :)

Wow this is very nice ! They do inspire my imagination :)

I like the gamelan influence in the third track, it's very cool :) I feel like in the first two tracks you could go with a more laconic style like you can find in the minecraft soundtrack, right now the minimalism of the first two tracks can feel a bit too repetitive, but as spaced out little cues it could work well !

I love the vibe !
On the mixing side your bass parts sound way too loud to me and it prevents your nice melodies from standing out the way they deserve ^^ on your main theme mostly

Great job !

Wow this is really nice !
Track 3 feels a little out of place but is nice on its own

Your fanfare doing a I - IV is a bit frustrating, my ears want to hear the whole I - IV - V - I, I also could like the classic victory cadence ( i - VIb - VIIb - I )

a common critique I can find to all your tracks is that they would really benefit from being performed by humans or by behind humanized, maybe a more realistic piano sound and having rubato / slight tempo variations would help a lot the piano-heavy pieces come to life
Track 1 and 3 in particular have passages that would rooock in a real performance

I would really apreciate a link, it is pretty painful to download the entries manually

I like the track !
the mix has the koto / plucked strings too loud and dry for me, it sticks out too much / feels too close and doesn't blend enough with the other intruments, which is a shame because its melody is nice and plays well with your chords