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Nostalgia's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Uniqueness | #8 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Listenability | #13 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Composing Quality | #14 | 3.722 | 3.722 |
| Overall | #14 | 3.736 | 3.736 |
| Mixing Quality | #17 | 3.278 | 3.278 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/user-38140050/sets/nostalgia?si=16252e14fd95490dae02c61d8310135e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Description
You've long since cut off contact from your wealthy abusive family. However, you recently learn that they died in a freak car accident and you are entitled to life insurance benefits. The issue is, the documentation you need is inside your abandoned childhood mansion. Your childhood memories are foggy, and you need to unlock your past and address your trauma to progress.
However, you are not alone.
(Created in BeepBox in 24 hours!)
Nostalgia is a retro, electronic, and chiptune-based soundtrack for a theoretical horror adventure visual novel type game. It consists of two level tracks, and one boss track. All tracks were created in a BeepBox mod, Pandora's Box. I experimented a bit within a time crunch and gained some much needed experience in cramming to a deadline.
I tried to take a unique point of view on the theme I was going for in this submission. I don't have the time to explain each one, but listen carefully and you might catch a couple things like lietmotifs!
PLAYLIST: https://soundcloud.com/user-38140050/sets/nostalgia?si=7cc44c87b633421495cbf6d08...
Track 1: Lost to Time - You enter the above-ground floors. It's incredibly dusty and in poor shape. You realize your family must have been dead for a long while for the mansion to get into this much disrepair. A mixture of bad and good nostalgic memories attack your psyche. However, there's an issue you never considered - the mansion is haunted by your family's spirits.
Track 2: Nuts and Bolts - The basement. You recall your father being an engineer, but you never realized how far he went. The basement seems endless and turning on the power ignites a multitude of threatening hums from endless walls of mechanisms. You are not safe.
Track 3: Spirited - The attic. Your mother used to go here when she needed her alone time, and here she stays. You need to defeat her spirit in order to access the documents. Your head hurts.
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Comments
Really cool instrumentation and sound choices! The drum break in Spirited is sick!
Cool sound! I love the arpeggiated chiptune-synths that you use. I love the kinda bizarre vibe on Nuts and Bolts. Well done!
thanks so much!!
Lost To Time is probably my favourite. I love the intro and really like the switch up to these "falling" synths somewhere at 1:50. Nuts And Bolts starts really unique with some weird, interesting sounds and keeps that unique, interesting vibe throughout. Spirited is a really nice high energy track, but there's a lot of stuff going on and sometimes I fell that all the sounds being really gritty try to compete with each other a bit and I agree with others that the mixing could be worked on a little, but I really enjoyed my time listening to these tracks!
thanks so much for listening and giving such detailed feedback! while spirited was intended to be gritty with a lot going on, i definitely could have achieved it with more attention to mixing. i finished "spirited" within an hour so i didn't pay as much attention to mixing as i wish i had and could have definitely improved it given i had more time. again, thank you a ton!!!
The increasing madness in Lost To Time is my favorite element of this track. It's like I'm falling lower and lower into a spiral-shaped pit...
Nuts And Bolts - Menacing, menacing and once again menacing.
Spirited - Juhu! I'm flying to epic music... stop. I'm flying up! Sic!
Did you do it in 24 hours?
First of all: I hope you're doing well 0_0
Secondly: cool!
yeah, 24 hours! it was definitely difficult and i finished the last track within like the last hour, but i made it work. thanks so much for listening!!
Wow! I really like the sound of this! Feels like a pure videogame soundtrack, the energy feels really fresh in this. I also really like your game concept! Would be very interesting to see how this kind of idea is executed into a real game. Thanks for making this music, it's really cool!
thanks so much, i'm glad you enjoyed!!!
This is pretty cool, especially when paired with the story that you made for this! Lots of cool exciting ideas that are backed by this more creepy background, which creates a really cool contrast, i especially like Spirited as the energy in it is really fun :> I think the mixing could use a bit more work, making your melodies stand out more and having the supporting tracks be a little quieter and helping the overall balance I think would really elevate your work! I can't remember if this is something thats an extra challenge on beepbox or not from our discussions in ost comp jam, but regardless still very cool
no yeah you're absolutely right, mixing is kind of impossible on beepbox. like i've said before and you've reccomended i'm going to switch DAWs because it's incredibly limiting. i'm glad my attempts at mixing were somewhat successful nonetheless, and i'm glad you enjoyed the compositional elements! thank you for listening!!
Amazing work. There's so much happening at every moment and it still feels each voice has its place. I specially liked Lost To Time, so packed with surprises, and Spirited with its VVVVVV vibes.
i haven't heard of VVVVVV before now, i'll for sure check it out! thank you for listening!!
'Lost in Time' The intro reminds me a lot of certain wave music, 'oneheart', super nice! The interplay of higher and lower synths say at 1:40 is very nice, and I like how the melody starts but gets fast. Very nice writing! I did feel the faster elements were a bit subdued with the pads I think. More doubling on ambience or doubling on rhythm might make that choice feel more deliberate, imo at least. Love 2:01 moment! reminds me of nintendo/pokemon while still fitting in the vibe.
'Nuts and Bolts', I like how different textures come in one by one, and compliment each other. The chiptune's so well executed! 0:26 the nasaly + low synth coming in + reverb is an interesting shift. I saw 'muddyness' was mentioned, and I actually like how the reverbed pad almost comes in/out. Aligns with the endless basement of twists and turns, and fears in the foreground and background, kind of getting into your own head, or worrying while running. Playing with more sounds exclusive to the in/out layers might be cool to make it feel even more deliberate, but I feel this would feel very noticable if I were playing a game with this music.
'Spirited' I really enjoyed the ostinatos, and variety of synths, fitting with 'Lost in Time'. The melody played faster up-pitched was immediately recognizable and fit the boss tone. The harmonic shifts start at 1:10 are very nice! It feels almost dreamy and like there's action (spirit) with emotional undertones too. Some of the harmonies say at 1:40 felt a bit
No idea why i made this so long xD, but these were the thoughts/suggestions that came up for me. A lot of great moments here, I feel this is a strong work!
hey, i appreciate the long response!!! especially since this was made in 24 hours a lot of your critiques are very fair and listening back you are absolutely correct, especially with your tips to make things feel more deliberate. you noticed a bit of the deliberate musical choices i made in each track that i didn't mention, kudos to you for that! thanks so much for the feedback, and i'll for sure be checking out 'oneheart!!'
Okay 24 hours is impressive, definitely missed that xD! ton of kudos wow. But yea of course, so glad this helped you!! ^^ also glad I could catch some details hehe, def tried to catch some when you mentioned details in the description
Oh and btw, noticed with my third comment I was going to say the harmony moment like at 1:40 may have felt a bit too uplifting for the final boss. I did feel that the other elements like synths/melody were very strong for it, and the chiptune felt like it had deliberate focus in this third track. So I wouldn't think a huge shift would be needed personally, really just a few chord changes there, and the progressions already good though, it's more the fit for me. But anyways, it's great, keep doing more of this stuff :D
oh no yeah i totally get that! i wanted kind of a tone shift for the final track since it was supposed to represent the main character confronting her mother, resurfacing nostalgic good And bad memories, but with the vibe i set in the first two tracks, i definitely see how that can contrast greatly (especially since i utilized The pop chord progression in Spirited). great tip, thanks for adding!!!
Interesting take with the chiptune you got some good composition idea and melodic phrases.
Lost to Time : Cool sound design choice, I would watch acouple of chords clashing unless its on purpose starting at 0:26 with the strings minor 2nd with the chords is not working well together.
Nuts and Bolts : I like the variety in sounds and melody is fine, main issue would be the muddy mix, most of your chords are all compacted and it adds a lot of stuff on top of the reverb and we're losing the sense of all melodic elements.
Spirited : Same as Nuts and bolts mix very in the mid range and I feel like the composition is great but its needs to be more wide open so we can fully enjoy everything that is going on.
Good job !
i appreciate the feedback! just a couple things for clarification -
in lost to time, the clashing is purposeful but i did not utilize minor 2nds - the first chord is an Edom9 (no G#) and the second is a D6/9, and so on, with an E drone throughout. the strings are droning the root of each chord and E, the vibraphone-like instrument is playing the chords. it was a stylistic choice as i was attempting to represent a "haunted mansion" kind of vibe, and typical video games utilize dissonance to achieve this, and also i'm drawn to clashy chords as a jazz guy. but i totally see where you are coming from and will keep it in mind!
the reverb and chord structure is deliberate in nuts and bolts - but i see what you mean at the 1:08 section, i could've toned that down and matched the rest of the song where i did a better job at using minimal instrumentation to add chords beneath the melody.
the muddy mix critique is very fair and i agree with that. it's kind of impossible to do on beepbox and i plan to switch DAWs in the near future.
thank you for the feedback!!!!!
Really loved all the tracks! Only thing I feel, is that the tracks would benefit from some mixing to remove a lot of the muddiness and help the instruments stand out from each other, but I remember hearing on previous jams that you cant really mix the individual tracks that much in BeepBox itself.
Really great tracks, good job!
thank you so much! yeah you can't really mix on BeepBox and i plan to switch DAWs in the near future because of this, it's kind of limiting. thanks for listening!
Lost To Time: Cool bassline. Sense of urgency which especially peaks at 1:55 and afterwards! Very cool chromatic movements at times.
Nuts And Bolts: Very cool instrumentation and melody.
Spirited: Coolest use of the pop progression I've heard in a while. And then the part where it breaks away from that in the middle is very cool and dark.
Great work!
thank you for the detailed feedback!! i was wondering if anyone would notice the pop progression in Spirited, lol - i thought it would fit very nicely into the feel i was going for in the track and it easily allowed me to hover around sol for one melody while inserting lietmotifs for others, especially since i was in such a time crunch. thank you for listening!
When I saw an almost 8 minute entry I was really scared I was gonna get 8 minutes of ambience and chill music. Thank goodness I was wrong! These were a ton of fun and a joy to listen to! My only critique is that the first like 1/4th of Nuts and Bolts feels underwhelming and a little off-putting compared to everything else including the rest of Nuts And Bolts which was great.
yeah i totally get that! i initially was gonna go for a more traditional chiptune track for nuts and bolts but by that point i decided to abandon that idea and revert back to my use of more electronic instruments. i definitely should have introduced the idea sooner, but i'm glad that everything else sounded fun and were nice to listen to!