itch.io

I really appreciate your thoughts and feedback! I definitely was aware when compositing FLOW that I was using a very “loved” (aka sometimes overused) chord progression which certainly had the potential to make it sound like other songs. I was feeling some creative block before starting that track and so I pulled from what I knew. I’m actually not familiar with Nightwish or Onimusha, but I will certainly be checking them out! Thank you so much for listening and for offering your thoughts!

This is such a kind comment that made me smile really big! Thank you so much for listening and for sharing your thoughts!

Thank you so much for listening and for leaving this comment! You picked out some of my favorite tracks as well. I’m glad that the time and love I spent on them was enjoyed!

Ooh I like your idea of having interactive music elements with the vocal effects from the glowing memories when they are collected! I am so glad that these tracks resonated with you! I am not familiar with the Freeze Up track - I’m going to look into that! Thank you so much for your attentive listening and for sharing these thoughts - I greatly appreciate it!

I’m so glad you chose to read the descriptions while listening. Thank you so much for spending the time to embrace my story and for leaving this comment - I appreciate you!

L'appel de la Mer: The ambience is really wonderful in this track. I feel like I am both under and above water at the same time. The gentle piano has emotions of sweet feelings as well as apprehensive feelings. There is an interesting dichotomy in this track of feeling calm but also conveying a sense of worry with the strings adding tension. Beautiful track.

La caresse d'une mère: I really like how you make use of the full dynamic range in your soundtrack. The quietness in this track gives the sense of an unconditional love. I felt so at ease listening to this track.

Mère, je t'aime: The bells and voice are so beautiful in this track! This is my favorite of your tracks. I like the doubling of the bells and piano. The plucky tremolo is the perfect acoustic background pad for this track.

Overall: Super creative play on words for the concept - it’s almost like the image was made with that in mind! TThis soundtrack is exceptionally sweet and beautiful. I have a gentle calm and casual game in mind where the goal is mainly to just relax. Wonderful job - thank you for sharing!

Marnie’s Bizarre Adventure: This opening track feels like the start of a grand adventure! But then the second section has a dismayed vibe. Then when the drums and electric guitar return, there is a sense of determination that tells me Marnie is ready for the rest of the adventure to unfold!

Under the Bed: I like the use of synths to convey a sense of mystery and feeling of loss. This track feels like a debriefing track which fits with your description that this is where we get the backstory for the evil ceiling fan.

Where the Wild Worms Are: The beat is really fun and sets up a nice first-boss battle theme. I really enjoy your use of electric guitar - the quality is really great and fits with the energy needed for the story.

Whispers from the Dark: Your story for this part of the soundtrack is really funny. This feels like the prelude to stepping into the Colosseum.

Her Light’s Embrace: The gentle melody in a major key gives this track a sweet sound conveying the holiness you describe.

Her Shadow’s Touch: The sound is now more ominous and dissonant to show direct contrast from the previous track. I like the record stopping sound effect!

When I Was Younger: The pizzicato strings combined with the electric guitar chords and the electronic drum kit gave this track a really fun feel that had me bobbing my head the whole time. 

Minions of the Ceiling Fan: This is a really fun battle theme! I really like the fast moving lines. The long melodies feel very epic over the stadium drum pattern. The violin melody also is really cool. This is a very fun track!

Out of Hiding: The violin 16th notes are super cool in this track! This has a final level intensity to it for sure! The progression of energy is very nicely crafted here. What a fun resolution to your great story about Marnie!

Overall: This was a very creative story that navigated so many emotional themes and many compositional styles. I think your strength lies in the epic/hard rock combo style with the orchestral strings. The last three tracks stood out to me as my favorites. Very nicely done - thank you for sharing!

Pod: The simplicity and recurrent sounds seem reminiscent of what someone might here in a town where things are very regimented and there is a lack of creative freedom. This is eerie in a way because of the story that people are essentially stuck in these pods.

Lab: The moving pad and the constant arpeggios give a little interest and forward motion to this track making it feel like it has a little more energy than the first track. I really like the harmonies following the 3 minute mark. This just seems to open up so much color from the grayscale preceding it.

The Cave: This track has some colors to it, but it seems to have a darker and more longing color, in a different way than Pod has though. I like how it starts ambient and then the groove kicks in.

The Woods: This track has a stillness vibe to it that makes this area in the video game feel like it would be floaty or slow-paced. I really like the chords you used in this serene track!

Overall: The ambient-like feeling of this soundtrack would fit a casual simple game really well. The simplicity is deceptive because there is a depth to the harmonies and emotions, especially in the final two tracks, which were my favorites for this reason. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Main Theme: I can hear the Gareth Coker influence in this track! You have such a big and full sound that makes way for a grand story with big emotion to be carried by it. The quality of this track is really wonderful, and it makes this my favorite of your soundtrack!

Menu Selection Theme: The minimal percussion really makes the percussion you do have stand out in a good way. The use of the pentatonic scale here gives this track a classical Eastern Asian sound, butt also slows down the momentum and allows for the listener to relax somewhat before continuing on with the adventure.

Seaside Castle: In addition to hearing some Donkey Kong influence, I also heard some phrases that reminded me of Super Mario Bros 3.

Inside My World: The peace seems to have returned in this track. The synthesized voice you use sounds very similar to an erhu which would also work really well in this type of track so good selection! The relieved optimistic sound makes this a great theme to finish off your soundtrack with.

Overall: This soundtrack is so relaxing and captures the water vibes really well. I think you selected your references well and you were able to create a unique sound that is distinctly your own style. The quality of these tracks is great, especially in the main theme. Your track came up on Soundcloud after I was listening to something else and I was intrigued and that’s how I found your submission. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Girl Among Circuits: What an ominous story! This sounds like almost a horror game concept. The opening to your soundtrack introduces that dark emotion and fear immediately. When the beat comes in, I hear many interesting melodies from synths that sound like Blade Runner synths. This really helps set the cyberpunk type of vibe for me.

Buyer’s Remorse: So cool that you used the old computer dial-up sound to start this off. What an oddly specific genre to base this off of - I can’t say I’ve ever seriously thought of writing “80s/90s corporate lounge music”. The upbeat nature of this song changes the vibe, but there is still an undertone of negative emotions like greed driving this track.

Memories: I appreciate the dynamic range that this song uses. It really helps convey some tough and complex emotions like despair through determination. The build up at the end is really creative!

Shut Up & Shutdown: This track is very upbeat and has a sense of bravery to it that works really well for a determined final battle theme. The melody and harmonies are well-written and really fun to listen to. For that reason, this is my favorite track! Nice ending with the shutdown computer theme!

Overall: This was a creative (and spooky) take on the theme. All-in-all, I really enjoyed this OST and the progression through thee songs feels unique but also complete. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Beginning of Salvation: This is a really interesting track. Lots of creepy sounds setting the atmosphere for the game. I like the synth pulses showing what I’m assuming is the heart rate of the patient zero. The bit-crushed bass adds a lot of intensity to this track, putting me on edge while listening!

Horrible Village: The sound of this track is similar to Metroid Prime exploration areas with the dark ambient type of sound. I like the ambiguity of the bass/low synths which are indistinct but drive the somewhat soft intensity of the level.

Caves: The reverby droplet sounds work well to convey the cave vibes. I like your minimalistic approach with just having a simple beat, an ambient bass, a background drone, and sound effects, making this track really great for a dark and dank setting.

Sewers: I think that silence and space is a very powerful tool in video games and this track takes advantage of that to create a very mysterious and barren feel to this area. The beat with the sound effects is creative and kept me listening throughout!

Rock and Stalagmites: I think this is cool how you used the previous track as a base of sorts for this track and turned it into more of a hard rock track!

Underwater Serpent: The bass is such a groove! Wow the drums that come in give this track a nice battle intensity to it. I like the continuity of using the background pitched clanging noise which tells me we are in the same area as the previous tracks. I really like the part where the buzzy synths cut out and you use a cleaner bass to convey an idea before returning with the gritty bass.

Train: The use of guitar as a melody instrument changes the feel to more of a rusty industrial feel. Nice new area theme!

Among the Boxes: The industrial vibe hits hard in this track.I love it when industrial sounds are used in the beat of a track! I may borrow the idea to use steam release as a sort of cymbal hit sound.

Raising the Crow’s Nest: I like this beat because it feels like someone trying to be stealthy while scaling buildings. Using clanging metal sounds with the absence of cymbals is an interesting way to continue to highlight the industrial aspect of this area.

National Emblem: The industrial percussion again is drawing me in and captivating me. The bass lick you use is also really catchy. It’s interesting choice to use an organ with an industrial sound, but to me it seems to represent the raven boss of this track since it came in a bit in the previous track too! The tempo changes of this track are really creative to help change the pace and feel of the battle.

False Rest: The ambient bird sounds with the metallic pad feel relaxing here. The ominous feeling picks up again quickly though!

Cat and Mouse: I really like how this track was directly connected to the track preceding it. Wow the transition into the chase section is sudden, but works so well! The bass and drums work so well together to create the feeling of a 90s racing game (at least that’s what I associate this type of sound with!) I like the growth of this track and really like the brass part at the end!

Metro in the City: This track has an interesting uplifting feel to it as the melody is mostly in the major key but there are dark borrowed notes that tell us that it isn’t quite supposed to be a happy song. The voice overs sound almost like conductors announcing something overhead over the intercom.

Rest Zone: This track conveys some interesting emotions through the chords you choose. The instrumentation is interesting and harmonically, I think this is your best track as it gives us some meandering implied chords that work surprisingly well given the refusal to stay in the same key.

Queen’s Archives: Really cool lead into this track from the previous track. Love that really heavy bass in this track!

Full Metal Tempo: The bass and drums alone drive this track forward and make it a really nice shooter track in what sounds like a fairly dangerous area. 

Green Stage: I really like the use of low bass drums. That voiceover is really creepy! There is a newfound intensity in this track that tells me we are nearing the final boss!

Chaotic Stage: Now we’re kicking it up a notch! Just when I think you can’t make it sound any more intense, your next track surprises me with something like this!

Patient Zero: I like the use of some traditional East Asian instrumentation which seems to be a nod toward the culture that we assume that patient zero comes from given her clothing. What a spectacular final boss theme! I’m very impressed with how much battle music you’ve created in this jam! It’s hard for me to finish even one battle track in such a short amount of time! Wow those screams and the glitching sounds at the end sounds so intense!

Monologue: Woah, this is so creepy… I’m going to have nightmares from this. But I can’t turn it off! What an ending! 

Overall: This is a lot of music and it’s very impressive that you were able to produce this much in just 10 days! When I listened to this, I imagined playing the game you imagined and I think this music achieves the goal of creating an atmosphere of darkness and anxious energy driving the motivation to complete a mission in the style of a first person shooter well. You also do a good job conveying your story, especially in the last few tracks. Your strength musically is certainly in writing percussion grooves and creating environmental atmospheres through sound design and instrument choices. My personal 6th category is “game readiness” and this OST scores very highly in that category for sure! Well done and thank you for sharing!

Oh thanks for listening to mine! I support you doing what you need to do to rate more submissions! Hearing your thoughts here means a lot though and I'm glad you liked it! Thank you!

Don’t Stop Believe: The bell instruments playing the repeating motif in the background remind me of sounds from the Studio Ghibli movie, Princess Mononoke. The strings give a more forward energy to the track and helps it feel optimistic and driven. The solo violin is very beautiful. I love the drop off back to the quieter section at the end - this leaves a great opportunity for your track to loop.

Exploration: The soft piano with quiet strings helps give a gentle calmness to this environment. The waltz feeling helps give character to your underwater area. I love the mandolin tremolo effect.

The City Under the Bubbles: Again, I love the mandolin tremolo effect. The light instrumentation works very well for imagery of a city with bubbles overhead. Bubbles are inherently delicate and transient which makes high bells perfect for conveying this musical imagery! I really like the return of your motif, especially at the end of this track.

Whispers of the Night: The instrumentation is very sweet. The harmony feels serene, but it feels a little sad still. The violin and cello together are very beautiful and make for a very emotional scene!

This Is It: This track has a sweet sound and a good sense of finality to it. Beautiful work overall. Thank you so much for sharing!

Reencuentros (Menu Title): This is a sweet title theme that works really well for an opening screen. It flows and doesn’t feel like it is rigidly following a metronome which helps with the humanness, intimacy, and flowy vibes. I can hear your Studio Ghibli and Pokemon influences already!

Mañanas: This piano pattern is very reflective and feels like a closely guarded emotion. The gentleness of the piano is great for an early level in your game.

Imaginar: There is a strong sense of youthful energy in this song and I think it would accompany a scene in which the young protagonist is running through a town and greeting its inhabitants perfectly. I imagined a Studio Ghibli-style cut-scene for this. I love the emotions you convey with the choices you made for your chord progression. I really enjoyed this track!

Burbujas y Peces: Many people that I’ve listened to (myself included) conveyed a sense of being underwater with big synthesized sounds. What is striking about this track is that you used completely acoustic instrumentation and nailed the vibe of the image. That takes creativity and you did this very skillfully.

Entre tus Brazos: This is a beautiful piano theme. It sounds like a live performance. Very wonderfully-written. Thank you for sharing this intimate emotional experience!

Corrientes: This is very different from the previous track, and now I’m ready for some conflict! Again I’m impressed with your use of mostly mallets, piano, and acoustic percussion to capture the vibe of a watery conflict!

Dentro de Mi Mundo: The soft piano at the beginning is very beautiful, like Entre tus Brazos. I wasn’t expecting the strings, but it felt like a very impactful emotional climactic moment and was very cinematic. This is a great emotional peak to your soundtrack!

Reencuentros: Another beautiful piano track that ties your whole story together very nicely!

Overall: Your piano tracks were my favorite - you have a talent for capturing very intimate emotions through your playing and captivating the listener. I really loved the use of mallets and percussion as well to convey the watery setting in a creative way. Well done - thank you so much for sharing!

Dream Walk: I love your choice of instruments. The big synths do feel really dream-like and set the stage for the type of gameplay really nicely. The mallet instrument has a nice and simple soothing melody that would certainly support casual platformer gameplay.

Going Deeper: I can feel the worry arise in this track and the level intensity certainly seems like it would be higher here. The swing rhythm you use gives a coolness to the track that seems like enemies are getting stronger and more comfortable getting in your way.

Overall: Having these two contrasting tracks helps give a sense of the overall character of your intended game and I really like the dreamy atmosphere that progresses to darker emotions with more forward momentum. Would love to hear what other levels would sound like in this game! Well done - thank you for sharing!

Enchanted Blue: The drum beat is a highlight for me throughout. I love the emphasis shifting to the bass and vibraphone in the second section. You explore many different watery vibes in this track which is really cool. Very nice selection of instruments throughout. The automation on some of the pad instruments makes me feel like coming in and out of lucidity. That saxophone is really nice! I remember some of your previous jam entries using saxophone, which isn’t really a common instrument used in these jams, but you use it so well!

Big Fish: The production quality is fantastic on this. There really aren’t that many entries that explore this type of internal emotion or that explore themes of egocentric cognition. Nicely written, performed, and produced. I am very impressed by this track!

I Remember You - Going Home: The piano at the beginning feels very drowned, but then the clarity with the drums and synths come in and seems to tie your story together. Very nice melody. I could listen to this looping all day!

Overall: The vibes from the start put me straight into your world and have me encapsulated in the underwater vibes. The unique twist on the types of inner world experiences you showcase sets your compositions apart from others. Your production quality is a standout feature that is consistent across all your music, and this is one of my favorites of your music yet! Excellent work - thank you for sharing!

Harbor Town: Great opening to set the scene. The piano work is very well-performed. Oooh I love the B section at 0:40 especially the roll with those colorful chord extensions. Town by ocean vibes are clear in this track!

The Ocean Spirit: The delayed mallets and the deep ambience give a really nice calm ocean ambient vibe. I like the personification of the ocean spirit through the high piano melody that slowly comes in as if the spirit is shy at first but then is ready to play.

Dash to the Docks: The drums and fast piano melody make for a fun level in your game and have me in the mood for a race! The use of 7ths is another creative way to convey the sense of racing which is used in a lot of Mario Kart track songs - nice!

Until Tomorrow: The bouncy mallets once again evoke the image of spending time with the spirit like from your second track, but the descending harmony helps convey the sense that time is running out or the day is coming to an end.

Overall: Before I even read your description, I could sense your inspiration from Totoro and/or Ponyo right away by the title and the first moments of you soundtrack! I really like the variety you’ve included here. I think that Harbor Town is my favorite - it’s clear to me that piano is your instrument of choice and the results are great here! Nicely done - thank you for sharing!

Daydream: The quality of the orchestration is spectacular. I love the strings are crisp, the bass drum is wonderfully heavy without taking away from the trudging bass pulses, love the vocals you recorded which certainly add to the pirate-y feeling, and the oboe doubled by the violins works really well. Love the key change too! The best key changes are those that are subtle and feel more like an emotional shift rather than a big event in my opinion and you nailed that here.

Twisted Dream: The mallets and bass grooving in 12/8 certainly give this track some momentum. I really love the driving section with the violin melody. That part reminds me of music from Paper Mario: The Origami King. Nicely done!

Overall: Both of these tracks work together to show me the dream world from your game very nicely. The nautical vibes are clear, but also each is packed with emotional nuances that give personality to your game in a fun and impactful way. Would love to hear more of this OST if you decide to return to it! Well done and thank you for sharing!

Overworld Theme: Such soothing piano arpeggios. You also have a really nice full sound that completely immerses me in the underwater vibes. The glockenspiel melody keeps the mood free and light. I really like how you use the cello as a countermelody instrument rather than as a bass exclusively.

Underwater Waltz: I think it’s really cool to have variations of the same theme for above and below water. I think it’s awesome as the composer that you evoked the underwater sound so well with just a few instrument changes.

In and Out of Water: Way to show off the adaptive nature of your music variations! This is really creative!

Menu Theme: This is a nice subdued version of the main theme. The mallet instruments are very pleasing to listen to. I could stay on this menu for a long time just vibing to this track!

Adversity Theme: This would be a great “prepare for combat” theme. The whistle is a fun touch that vaguely reminds me of Wario Ware types of goofy musical elements.

Overall: I purposefully didn’t look through the comments, because I wanted to guess your inspirations without cheating! Your gameplay ideas sound like the types of games I always loved to play like family-friendly Nintendo games. The immersiveness and instrument changes for underwater make me think of Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Odyssey. The piano accompaniment, high mallet melodies, and waltzy qualities actually remind me a lot of Kirby’s Epic Yarn which is my guess as one of the inspiring soundtracks for what you’ve made! I like the creativity of the variations on the theme you made and the nuanced decisions you made for each add to the quality of each track tremendously. Great work and thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for listening! Conveying the emotions of the story in the music was a challenge I strived for in this OST in particular so I’m glad that you could feel many of the emotions being conveyed. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Hey! Good to see you in this jam too! Thank you so much for listening and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate the constructive feedback - I agree with you and now know how to fix that for the future! Your soundtrack is on my list to listen to and rate by the end of the rating period - I’m looking forward to it! Thank you so much, once again!

Thank you so much for listening and for sharing your thoughts. Your score is very generous - thank you! I’m so surprised that I didn’t actually have Wind Waker in mind while making this, but now that you say it, I think that style would work really well for the game I imagined! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave this thoughtful comment!

Gosh, thank you so much for taking the time to listen and leave such an in-depth and thoughtful comment! Regarding the timing of the music with the story, I of course hoped that it would line up as people are reading, if it lined up perfectly for you, that was mostly coincidence! I agree with you about still being unsure about what exactly makes a shop theme, but I’ve noticed that laid-back Latin-inspired grooves are one way to capture the feeling! I really appreciate your notes about DEEP especially since I spent the majority of my time, proportionally, on this track. The jittery sound was actually kind of an accident as I was playing around with automating the high-shelf frequency of the high violin part and I thought it would sound cool as a lead in to the big orchestral hit.

I think it is very natural to compare yourself to other people (I’ve done it countless times in this jam. Even your soundtrack with the smooth adaptive elements in your first track as it smoothly transitions between locations is something that I thought to myself “why didn’t I think of that?”). I think that these jams and this community create such a special opportunity to learn and grow compositionally. Before you look too far ahead, I think it’s always nice to look backward and see how far you’ve come every once in a while. When I listen to my first OST Comp jam submission from the Story of Seasons jam, I can definitely tell the difference in quality compared to now. I can certainly say the same for your music - you have made tremendous leaps forward since the time we started joining the same music jams. Keep going! I’ll be rooting for you all along the way!

Thank you once again, as always, for your support!

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my music and then write such a thoughtful comment! Your close listening picked up on many subtle elements that I was trying to convey in the tracks (for example the dark section at 1:30 in FLOW). I have dabbled in story-writing, but I often find myself most motivated to do so when I get to write the story musically as well. Having the music and the narrative helped inform details about each other, details of the story had to be included in the music, and vice versa. I am glad listening to my soundtrack was a good experience! Once again, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen!

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and to leave such a thoughtful comment! I appreciate you reading the story I wrote - I try to let my music speak for itself, but since I had such a specific idea for the game story, I wanted to share it with others! 

I would be happy to share my process! BLUE was the first track I wrote and I didn't really have anything in mind before I started other than I really wanted to convey a sense of being underwater in a serene blue environment, so I spent a decent amount of time working on the pads and atmosphere before the piano, which largely started as  improvisation, was added. I think I had images of Finding Nemo in my mind while creating the atmosphere I was going for.  Afterward, I knew I would have limited time during the week because of my work schedule, so I decided to tackle what I knew would be the most time-consuming production which was DEEP. By completing my two biggest tracks first (and FLOW third), I knew that I would also have plenty of time to leave and come back to them with fresh ears after a couple days so I could really fine-tune them.  For the majority of my later projects, I had specific references of other video game water music that I was listening to on repeat since the beginning of the jam to get a feel for the types of compositional tricks that make up a "water" sound. Then for most of the tracks, I took a melody-first approach and filled in the accompaniment after to match the mood and style I was shooting for based on the story elements that I had in mind. I have lots of recordings on my phone of me singing different variations of the melodies before I settled on what became the final versions. :) I'm not a purist when it comes to selection of orchestral instrumentation - my philosophy is that if I have the capability to combine any instruments together, I might as well choose whichever ones fit the needs of my project and the emotions I'm trying to convey. My tracks always start with 10 instruments or so that I think would fit the vibe I'm going for and then I get partway and think "Oh, I need a high-register instrument to fill in the gaps for this melody, maybe a flute would work?", for example. Then as that continues it often snowballs into many additional instruments. I think this is an area of my composition that I could improve in the future, for purposes of time efficiency and acoustic space economy. Then again, I also operate under the mantra that if it sounds good and I like it, then chances are other people might feel the same, whether it is "proper composition" or not. I always seem to still be writing my last track on the final day before the submission is due so SINK (the last track I wrote) maybe didn't get as much revision love as my other tracks, but I think it turned out far better than I was expecting it to! 

This was fun typing out my process. I hope I answered what you were curious about. Thank you so much once again for your support!

I am so honored that I was able to create a track that you enjoy so much! FLOW was really fun for me to write and just has a serene feel-good quality in my opinion. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and to write a comment on my submission as well as on every other submission too! You are certainly appreciated by many people in this jam!

Oh awesome! I'll be checking that out. Thanks!

Title: The main instrument you use sounds a lot like some of the synths from Super Mario Galaxy which gives this a really spacey and full quality. I really love the unique chord progression in the second section - I think that dropping the bass and changing the melody to the high chimes adds some great character to the track that shows imagery of returning to her childhood.

Find Myself: This has really nice quality lo-fi sounds/beat. The melody is really well-written - it is singable, has antecedent and consequent, and is interesting. It has a longing quality to it that maybe is a representation of nostalgia.

Evil Thoughts: I like the return of the Mario Galaxy theremin-like instrument. This track is also very spacey and full. The minor sound, bigger synth instruments, and syncopated-sounding time signature help convey the sense of danger and challenge.

Overall: I really enjoyed this short collection of tracks for your imaginary game. They are cohesive and would work so well for the video game you describe, but they are also fresh-sounding; they sound different from many other entries in this jam. I have book-marked your title track to reference later for inspiration - it was my favorite! Great work and thank you for sharing!

Title Screen: The quiet piano helps set up the melody and main theme for your OST really well. The pads give an ocean vibe which is very relaxing to listen to.

Calm Area: This is really lovely watery guitar and piano over ocean pads. This track is the embodiment of gentle water exploration. I am bookmarking this track to reference back to when I want to write ambient water music in the future!

Urgent Mission: The piano and driving strings are very epic and sound like they belong in a Fire Emblem game. I think this is a really great chord progression - I especially love your bass movement. The electric guitar adds an intensity that feels like the stress of a combat situation. You were able to capture all of these feelings while having it feel like a water level throughout. This is an amazing track!

Overall: You have demonstrated your masterful ability to write in 3 different styles with what you have show-cased here. I feel that I learned a lot from you by listening to your tracks. Excellent work and thank you for sharing!

Echoes From the Past: The music box and/or vibraphone in this track feel very reminiscent. And the rolling swells give an ethereal feeling. I can feel what the character is feeling in your story!

Raging Sea: I love the use of the 12/8 time signature. It makes the percussion feel really interesting. The feeling I get when listening to this track are a haunting and ominous feeling.

Aquatic Perseverance: I hear the Donkey Kong and Vangelis influence strongly in this track which is my favorite of your OST! The now-driving rhythm feels like there is now more intention in the gameplay. I really like your instrument choices in this track, in particular the delayed mallets, electric guitar, and choirs work really well together.

Drowning Into Despair: The dark ambient vibes describe your story perfectly and the image you made for this track is my favorite. I like how you use many instruments to create a feeling a deep stillness.

Acceptance: You have great mixing, especially the panning of the piano. I love the voice swells, it makes it feel like a somewhat reluctant acceptance.

Overall: The way you presented the story and the images you made to accompany the story help elevate your OST to give full immersion into your story. You have a unique array of influences, and they meld together nicely in your distinct style which was a pleasure to listen to. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Title Theme: I really like the upbeat and playful nature of this opening track! The twinkling sounds give a great dream-like quality along with the pads. The guitar-work you have is excellent - that is always something I struggle with. I’m curious if your guitar instrument strums for you? Or if not, how did you produce that type of sound?

Home Theme: The more retro sound gives this a nostalgic flare that works so well for a home theme. Wow that saxophone melody over the arpeggiating synth and drum kit groove gives this song a really fun, warm power. This track is my favorite of your OST!

Town Theme: This has an Earthbound sound to it right off the bat. I really like the experimental nature of the melody and chord progression - it makes this a really fun track while giving character to the town that it accompanies.

RAM-EATER: This is a unique and fun battle-sounding theme. I can tell you are fighting a technological enemy based on the sounds chosen.

Overall: Gosh, I really can’t imagine what else you would come up with if you had time to write the entire 10 track soundtrack. The four songs you gave us have lots of personality and energy and provide both variety and cohesion. Your influences are clear, but this also demonstrates your unique style, which I am a fan of! Excellent work and thank you for sharing!

Queen Bubblene Blast!: I really like the tropical flavor right off the bat! I really like your instrument choice with the use of mallets and steel drums. This certainly feels like the start of an arcade-type game. Great energy!

So you’ve been turned into a bubble: The underwater Peach’s Castle vibe seems to fit this track really well. Waltzes always feel very watery to me. Nice job conveying anxiety and uncertainty in the B section!

The H2Zone: The instrumentation once again is on point - the mallets/marimba and percussion give this such a cozy feeling. The nice bassoon melody gives an intimate and soothing vibe, perfect for a town theme.

Nonstopped Unpopped: There is some tension in this track - like we are racing against time (I read your description after and I like that you imagined a death wall following you). My favorite part in this track are the triplets in the fast mallet runs - so smooth!

Taking in some air: This feels like a deep watery respite. When I first heard this track, I immediately thought it could be a dungeon theme from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

Octo-Popper Supreme: That accelerando at the beginning is really fun! The percussion (in particular the guiro and wood blocks) helps keep the energy light. I really love the brass you use - especially the shake effect on the trumpets. Keeping the bassoon adds some nice consistency to your OST. This track was my favorite from your OST!

Surfacing: The synth swells feel like waves - this is a really nice effect!

Overall: I really like the early-era style video game idea and approach that you took to this. You have a great variety of tracks and in my own personal sixth rating category, game readiness, you would score very high! Great work and thank you for sharing! Thank you also for your dedication to listen to every submission! I am so impressed and am grateful that you, of everyone, are equipped to give a fair rating to all submissions!

Luna: Main Theme: I love the cello melody, the performance quality is nuanced and really wonderful. The guitar plucking is a really cool effect. The ending with the cello and the string “insect” effect (that’s what I call them - I have never heard the term aleatoric before!) is really cool and unique!

Echoes of Silence: The overall tone is somber which helps convey your themes of grief well. The string effect gives the sense of chaos and almost like you are being watched. The pads also do a good job to raise tension.

Gates of Thalassia: I really like the choir! Which instrument software do these come from and would you recommend them for someone looking for a good choir instrument to get? This track feels like a very emotional moment.

Whispers of Thalassia: The simple pizzicato strings and piano with the gentle string drone gives the sense of a safe area or a village at night. I am really impressed by this piece because it has the sense of motion without having too much harmonic motion - which works really well for a level theme.

Final Boss: Again I love the male choral voices. The slow cello and snare build-up give the sense of a really dark boss. I think the fact that the energy doesn’t get too high makes this boss theme more emotional and impactful.

Overall: Wow, I am very impressed with each of your tracks and how they come together to create a dark heroic story from which I can very clearly imagine it backing a very high quality game. I am going to refer back to this in the future for inspiration. Excellent work and thank you for sharing!

Main Menu: Your music is always very impressive to me! You are able to balance many fast-moving elements and have it all flow so well together. My favorite part is the melody at 0:46 and the unexpected chord change at 0:56! I imagine a racing game when I hear this style of music and it seems like it would be perfect for your game idea!

Azure Coral Shopping Center: I think that the background arpeggiating warbly sounds are what sell the watery atmosphere for me on this one. Your mixing is something to aspire toward and I love the kind of “in and out” effects throughout.

Overall: Your tracks are always so impressive! Your game idea is also intriguing and is very appropriate for the way our society functions these days. Excellent work and thank you for sharing!

Aquatic Restoration: The chords have a natural waviness to them that give the sense of being underwater. I really like your choice to use instruments that are deep in the lower register to help convey the underwater effect where everything sounds lower-pitched.

Bumbling Reef: I really like how the big chords came in at 0:26 - they made me feel like I was coming out of the shadows to see the entire reef basked in sunlight with all its vibrancy!

Hollow Wayward: The opening chord swells are produced very nicely! I really like your melody on this track as it feels somewhat haunting and tense.

Hollowed Eruption: The use of the noise channel to create the sense of things falling down around you is very creative. The rapid and chaotic feeling is contrasted with the use of a major key to give the sense of optimism, which shows the determination of the main character!

And It Stared Back: Unnerving is a great word to describe this track. In addition, I also get the sense of a sadness or somber tone making me wonder what the horrible being is?

Entangled Thoughts: This track conveys a strong sense of feeling lost. The hope feels further away with the darker elements of this track clouding it out a little. I wouldn’t want to spend too much in this area of the game!

Through Our Reflections: I think it’s really cool how this sounds like it has a similar framework to the previous track, but feels more optimistic. It would be really cool to have these elements together as an adaptive version of the same level in your game.

Resolve: What a great way to conclude this adventure! It feels more optimistic. But then it seems to grow a little dissonant which makes me question if we really have resolved the sense of suffering. That’s a very complex emotion to portray.

Overall: Your story arc works really well and I think you did a good job of capturing challenging emotions in each of your songs and conveying a sense of location as well. Nicely done - thank you for sharing!

Grief: I like that this track musically conveys a sense of love and loss which is a great way to show grief. The strings, delayed piano, and electric piano fit really nicely together to create these feelings. 

Reminiscence: Those dreamy pads are very reflective and are a great way to evoke a sense of reminiscence. I like that the melody is spread out over more time to convey that these thoughts are a little more remote. Oooh I love that unexpected chord at 1:21! The percussion is subtle, but it feels a little like a ticking clock which also helps convey the message that this was from some time ago.

Acceptance: The arpeggios using the brighter instrument makes me feel a little more optimistic. This is a nice conclusion to the progression through stages of grief after loss.

Overall: The delay and reverb on your piano were perfect for each of the songs in this soundtrack. I think it helped convey a sense of intimacy, but also gave the illusion of distance as well. Nicely done! I also have to say I really like your album art! Thank you for sharing!

Blue Fantasy: The low piano with a long reverb tail and the background pulsing instrument sets the underwater atmosphere very nicely. I hear hints that maybe this was influenced a little by Dire Dire Docks? I really like the main melody which feels dark but also intimate and gentle.

Guidance: I really like the long string lines in the background and think that those with the clarinet parts would sound even better if pulled forward in the mix! The softness of all the instruments working together here feels uplifting and comforting.

Fun in Coral Town!: Coral Town seems like it has some shady/sinister characters in it, but also a vibrancy that maybe seems like it is seen through rose-colored glasses.

Abyssal Nightmare: Wow the echoey sounds throughout give this a very dark feel. There is a lot of suspense in this track through the dissonant string chords, the pulsing high strings, the glide bass, and the prominent kick drum. While I feel very stressed listening to this track (in the way it was intended I presume), I think this is my favorite of your tracks because of how well you had complete control over my emotions throughout.

In Loving Memory: The sweet piano feels sweet but longing. You convey grief really well through your instrumentation and harmonic choices. I love the somewhat uplifting moment at 1:20 that feels like a little spark of hope like from a positive memory. 

Overall: You navigated many complex emotions very well in each of your tracks. The story is very present in every second of your music and I was engaged the entire time. Very nicely done and thank you for sharing!

Wow you packed a lot into this track! The watery mallet instrument pulsing at the beginning reminds me of Super Mario Galaxy 2 music, like Cosmic Cove Galaxy. I love the panning you use to create a really full effect with the harp on the left and the watery ambient sounds on the right. The part where the percussion comes in feels like we are moving into a vibrant open reef area and is my favorite part! Very nicely done with this track and thank you for sharing!

Inside My World: The quiet high piano is great for underwater melodies. I like your harmonic choices!

Maria’s Music Box: This has a very nice lullaby quality to it. The use of the mixolydian mode feels quite magical.

Maria’s Vision: I notice that you like to use the bVI chord in each of your tracks, but it feels like it’s used in unique ways each time. I enjoyed the use of pizzicato strings over legato swells to convey a sense of super-reality.

Maria’s Golden Touch: Great use of leitmotif. The blue notes used throughout add emotional depth to this track. The reverb creates an ambience that works really well with the underwater theme and feel. The subtle strings toward the end is a really nice touch! I also appreciate your chord choices where it feels like the progression is over, but then you turn back into the progression with a I-III-IV (I think?) move that seems to say “But wait, there’s one more thing…”

Midas’ World: The use of more synthetic-sounding instruments tell me that something is different here from the previous tracks. There is a sad and distressed but sweet quality to this track.

Midas: This track is very different from the rest and has a lot of energy in it! I think the thing that makes it stand out is the fullness of the string pulse that supports the anchor points of the piano melody. The addition of electronic sounds is good musical representation of the two different characters. I think it’s also worth noting that one nuanced detail I appreciated is the sound of your snare sounds a little deeper and darker which I think works really well to help convey more of an underwater sound.

Walking Through The Waterways: Your use of a waltzy piano track for water tunnels between worlds is something I really enjoyed. After all, Koji Kondo set the standard for water levels being in 3/4 and it just feels right! This track is probably my favorite out of all of them!

Overall: You have a very delicate and fine-tuned compositional style which allows for nuanced emotions and moments to be conveyed with ease. I appreciate that you set up themes early and then revisited them to help tell your story musically. Very well done! And thank you for sharing!

Between Worlds: The VSTs are nicely produced with good mixing and reverb. I like the progression from piano to violin to glockenspiel. I can hear the Earthbound vibes already!

The Start: Somewhat ominous string tremolos getting us ready for an adventure in which you are transported to another world.

Dark, Damp, Empty Cave: This dark environment has a nice ambience that keeps things sort of quiet and subtle.

Punch Me and I’ll Punch You Back!: The elements of this track work really well together with the bass, percussion, brass, and chiptune lead! I also really like the sound effects with people shouting in the background - that’s a great way to convey a fight scene!

Get Up and Try Again: I really like the delay you used on the main melody! This sounds very era-appropriate for how reverb was done on early consoles. Nice work!

Through the Pink Forest: The use of reversed sounds are really cool in the intro of this track! I wasn’t expecting the percussion and bass, but when they came in, I was instantly hit with strong Earthbound vibes. I think this was my favorite of all your tracks!

Moving On: This has a similar sound to The Start but with maybe a somewhat more uplifting sound.

Overall: I really like how true you stayed to your influences and the game-ready quality that you produced with each track. Through the Pink Forest was a personal favorite! Thank you for sharing!