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Woooow I love those arpeggiated strings and piano in Dragon's Dance - the 3 over 4 groove is brilliant and the vocals are so pretty (reminds me of FF13/Fire Emblem)! Your orchestral instrumentation sounds modded in some parts which is super unique and the use of sound design was so creative; I loved every bit of this. I could definitely see this in a Tales game or Nier (any JRPG really).

Outstanding work, especially for 48 hours! Please keep entering these jams, you're smashing it. 

Thank you, I’m glad :) I rely on the piano a lot haha

Your analysis is so appreciated <3 I’m really glad you enjoyed them, thank you so much! (sneaky modal interchange hehe)

Thank you Simizy, I’m happy you felt that way - that’s always my exact intention :)

This is INCREDIBLE! I can't believe you pulled this off in 48 hours, amazing work! The Skies of the Golden Dragon is insanely impressive and you have such a clear concept for the game :) brilliant work, I'm inspired. 
(also that victory theme reminded me so much of Mother 3... so beautiful)  

Thank you so much! 

Thanks a lot Priv, glad you liked the harmonies and arrangement :) 

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate the kind words. 

Thanks NiSSAK, I was a big fan of your compositions. I'm glad you enjoyed my little dribble of jazz spice.

Thank you Charmie! It's also the one I spent the most time on :)

Really glad to hear it, thanks Chandler :) (those two required the most brain juice) 

Thank you for saying that! I really appreciate it :) I was desperate to make menu music and shop music too. Sky Race was an unfinished battle theme (I imagined turn-based combat). Wish I had more time that weekend. 

Thank you Mia :) I'm really glad you enjoyed listening to them!

YEAAAHHH THIS IS GREAT! I loved the Credits Theme so much, I'm a sucker for beautifully composed solo piano pieces. They're all arranged so well and I'm impressed by the Azure Sky art/theme you put together. It felt like a well-structured soundtrack too with loads of variety - a really good job all-round!

Wow I really like how you approach groove construction and the hyper-creative use of all the synth textures, it's so much fun. I especially enjoyed the melody of the dragons! They all make me imagine the game to involve a metropolis of humanoid dragons.

I really liked Coasting in the Heavens, the guitar melody was beautiful and the side-chained choir was a really nice touch. You pumped out a lot of quality tracks and they were all varied too, good job on this :) 

This feels like watching Link play the Ocarina in the middle of Hyrule field - it's calming. The folk melody is satisfying too.

I'm a fan of that playful lead synth in dispute amongst drakes! My favourite is Dragon of the Azure Skies, it's an absolute vibe. Your music reminds me of the side-scrolling games/JRPGs of the 90s, it's got loads of charm and creativity. I like how intentional you are about the instrumentation too :) good work on these. 

You nailed a sombre, pensive sort of vibe - I can definitely envision this in a hub area of an indie rogue-like game :) I especially liked your subtle use of the piano in Dream of a forgotten realm and I think I'm hearing sidechain compression (?) which gives it a satisfying pulse which I thought sounded great. The glassy synth/sound design in Slumbering Creator is also a great addition as well as the snare drum you used (sounds like foley?). 

Some constructive criticism is: if you're having trouble removing yourself from loop-hell, perhaps just duck out some layers and play around with adding layers that offer a different articulation, rhythmic patterns, harmonies and even metre (these are the main parameters that might be lacking slightly) - sort of like you're introducing a new character to a story/scene with a different perspective on things to shake it up. I would also say not to be afraid to work from reference points that inspire you if you haven't already - I think it's okay to be unapologetic about experimentation (it really works for me at the beginning of the process personally). 

Great work and I'm impressed you composed so many tracks in such a short amount of time, I had a hard time with that myself. Keep it up :D 

Hahaha same yeah! The speed forces us into a flow state :D When I went back to analyse my own tracks, I was like “damn, that 7-8 rhythmic grouping kinda spicy though”.

So glad you got the references, I can hear the inspiration so vividly. I love those games too.

Well done again, yours is definitely my favourite so far.

Thank you so much!!! I was such a huge fan of your tracks, so beautifully orchestrated - I was blown away by the talent! I really appreciate the kind words, especially from a fellow Pianist :’) it’s refreshing to hear that our influences align so closely.

You really should, it's great inspiration. It's super impressive that you made this in an hour too! (I did the same for a few of mine and it was tough) 

I REALLY like that piano ostinato in Awakening, it's so pensive and melancholic when combines with the organ! (reminds me of ICO or Final Fantasy 8)

Also the fact that you crafted a narrative across all your tracks is really creative and added a lot of meaning. The Dying God's pentatonic melodies and use of 4ths reminds me of Japanese folk music, I'm also a HUGE fan of this and when the strings kicked in... UUUUGHH SO PRETTY! Great work on these :)  

Being compared to Hiromi is the highest compliment, thank you!! I really appreciate the kind words :) 

Your voice and vocal arrangement are brilliant, it’s so authentic and makes the whole piece feel so ancient and folkloric. You nailed the vibe. 

I like the Dragon boss vibes at the start - the harp/violin texture is great :) 

Wow thanks for letting me know! I’m snagging that, it sounds really good and you used it well. I also love that quartal sound in Spirited Away, I got so excited when I heard it. 

Ahahahaha!! Thank you :) there was 2 hours left till submission when I started that one, so I just played that on the piano quickly. It was method because it was the sound of jazz-hyperventilating. 

Thank you so much!! I’m just playing it in using my NORD actually. Nothing better than the real thing, but it’s the closest I’ve got (means I can’t mess with MIDI so I have to perform the recording just right, which is time-consuming)

Loving the Ravel passion!!! Ravel’s music is like Clockwork, the way he writes for piano is so alien compared to every other composer - such a genius. I admit it was a little derivative due to time constraints, I wish I could sit with the whole catalogue longer and draw from his music more conceptually, but he certainly wasn’t my only influence - just a convenient springboard.

Thank you for the feedback and kind words :) 

The intro to Journey Begins is magical and I'm fan of  the Game of Thrones/Age of Empires vibes - it really slaps.  The horns sound great. 

Big fan of the quartal Princess Mononoke start to Parting of Ways and the sparse piano is beautiful. Great use of the Koto/Shamisen (I think?), you have a real knack for adding a sense majesty to your music.

The melody in this is soooo good!!! I'm hooked on it, I would genuinely love to hear this in a game. All the different synth patches are great; especially the pink noise you use as the snare. Makes me wanna play Shovel Knight. 

THE LAST DRAGON DANCE SLAPS! So great when the waltz kicks in, really nice arrangement. I'm also a sucker for the chromatic voice leading in the bass. Your music really reminds me of the Spiritfarer soundtrack or Okami. It's gentle, sparse and you give space for every instrument to be properly heard. (Is that a Koto I hear? It's a vibe)

YOOOOO THIS IS GREAT! Beautiful arrangement on Last Defender, it's so colourful! I especially like those minor 2nd clusters in the strings and the cheeky slip into Phrygian (correct me if I'm wrong). I love the jaunty woodwinds and brass, it really reminds me of Bravely Default, the old school FF games and Kingdom Hearts. The use of the xylophone is really tasteful too - just a great battle theme overall.    

Garcius' theme is charming, reminds me a lot of FF6 specifically (that game bangs) - I especially like the voice leading and the harp's broken chord voicings. Great job on this, I'm so impressed. 

Above the Clouds was epic and I like how you use choir for supporting harmonies. It's very regal/militant with all the crash cymbals, snare/Timpani & horns - great use of percussion overall. 

Really like the drums on this. A coherent arrangement and I can imagine this in a Chrono Cross type game (godbless the PS1 era) 

Thanks so much for the detailed feedback!

You're right, we needed to establish that you could only jump/bounce at the end of the roll - we just needed better instructions for controls in general, which sadly became an afterthought. The initial intention for the jump mechanic was to home in on the keys you click on and leap over obstacles (i-frames), but that was never fully realised.

We were set on including the laser pointer for the sake of concept, which forced us into the point-and-click control scheme, but perhaps we could've included a little 'cross' animation upon clicking so you know where the cat will end up (like LoL or Runescape). Going with the basic WASD controls could've made this much easier, but we were set on the cat being lazy/immobile (plus laser pointer). You're right that this limits the game's accessibility too; we never considered that this game only working on PC/mobile would be an issue, but it's our first jam/game so we were just concerned about making a game that works haha. 

Thank you :) We will probably rework this in the future with your comment in mind.  

This is exactly the sort of game I love - can't wait.

No problem :) Haha I thought the last minute sketches were a style choice, so it definitely worked out well. 

Glad you appreciated that touch, thank you!

No worries, you're not alone with that sentiment at all. We'll definitely be working on making the game more intuitive without reliance on instructions. 

This game is so addictive, what a clever concept - absolutely loved it. Rock, paper, scissors mice! I love how you have to manually equip the right weapon and the controls felt really intuitive - the melee attack was satisfying and had a generous hitbox. All I would say is that was a little easy because the wrong weapon choice actually stunned the mice, and the CC was hugely beneficial (it could be easily cheesed - lol puns).

The art was great too, especially the concept art in the credits. The brief story sequences were a lovely introduction/break between waves with a very cute Buzzlightyear-saves-the-day vibe. The spooky music was cool too with the strings/synth swell and the harp's broken minor/diminished chords (i seem to recall?). After some repetition, I felt the mouse noises were a little loud in the mix and perhaps another sound design texture would've made the feedback you get from killing the mice slightly more satisfying, but that's such a minor knit pick (Blizzard games do that quite well actually). 

Really well done to the team overall, it was a pleasure to play your game and I can't wait to see what you do with this if you choose to keep working on it. Perhaps the inclusion of obstacles, maybe currency to buy mousetraps for the holes between waves, more enemy variety etc? Those are just off-the-cuff suggestions, but I'm looking forward to seeing the next game you guys create!