Play soundtrack
child of the forest's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Quality | #7 | 4.524 | 4.524 |
| Correlation to theme | #8 | 4.262 | 4.262 |
| Overall | #10 | 4.210 | 4.210 |
| Impression | #13 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Composition | #26 | 4.119 | 4.119 |
| Creativity | #31 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
For this project I was picturing a platforming/puzzle mix with the following story:
For as long as Ryu can remember, she and her child Blinny Phong made their home in the village of Mirru. For some time, the elders have expressed unusual interest in her child. Uneasy, she eventually makes the tough decision to flee.
She decides to do this at night under the cover of darkness with her child in tow (track 1).
The forest is scary, and feels eerily lonely, but they have to press on and see if they can find some new place to live (track 2).
Eventually, she finds that the forest is not all that it seems to be. Every now and then she spots what look like small automatons from the corner of her eyes (track 3).
Eventually there journey leads to a hill beyond which the forest seems much more like a work in progress. Running up the hill she sees the other side of the forest for what it is. A giant mechanical meshwork of tiny cogs, pistons and springs (track 4).
It's a bit of a shock that it's not even a real forest, but all the intricate motion is mesmerizing. Behind its lush green facades lies a web of intricate mechanical parts continually producing plant-like organic matter.
Stranger still, the mechanical parts in the forest react to the child. Tiny cogs spin into action every time they approach (track 5).
Eventually the child starts controlling and interacting with its environment and rebels against Ryu who only wants to protect it (track missing unfortunately, ran out of time).
Eventually, Blinny is calmed down by the mechanical automatons from the forest which slowly take it in as its form seemingly blends into the mechanical parts that make up the forest. She realizes Blinn was never hers. She reminisces on her past with little Blinn (track 7).
Ending credits (track 8).
Message from the artist:
whee
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
I took the themes quite literally. She's running away from her village. The ominous looking forest made me think that it would be nice if all is not as it seems.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4EzVGWPUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-msRic2k1TM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83DVkDY47GI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQP35ssQ8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOvP50ZmLQM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhqvHeJ5w6E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c2lKxL7g2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hav5gxV4QdQ
Or as a YT playlist for convenience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4EzVGWPUA&list=PLeGUX1BqFELf7A4AT_oEZ4brpK26-XzIf
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Comments
I really liked this
It gave me the vibe of a Zelda game being set in a world similar of that to portals
Thank you :)
Really nice combination of rhythmic jams and spooky synths. Good work!
I tried. :D Any favorites?
Amazing rhythm combinations! I first listened to the playlist while basking in the sun outside a cottage in woods. Something about the techie feel of hearing music while looking directly at nature really brings it all together nicely. Great job!
Thank you for the kind comment. Actually, it was written while baking in the sun. Unfortunately, not in the woods though :D
I love this sort of ambient fusion music! Such a versatile style.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. :)
Great soundtrack! Each brings a unique vibe. Top two for me are the Mechanical Forest and Remembering the Good Times. Mechanical Forest just has some really interesting elements and the intent is communicated really well. I could understand through the music that this wasn't an ordinary forest. The synth pop feel of Remember the Good Times was just fun. Feel like I could have heard that on Stranger Things! Well done all around, really well executed story telling in your OST. Creative!
Thank you for listening and the kind comments. I quite like how Remembering the Good Times turned out in terms of feel but in retrospect I would've liked to add some additional variation to it. Maybe in a future post-compo version. Originally it was gonna be the credits theme (since it almost feels a bit resolution-ey too).
Really deep sound in this ost! The subtle high pitch noise in the first track adds to the ambience, there is a sense of the mechanical presence they are soon to find out lives in the forest. Great way to mix all these synths together and tie them into the story of the ost.
Thank you. In the first track I used a small plugin I wrote to merge two sounds together. It's basically a reverb tank that takes input from two audio signals and only keeps those frequencies the two sounds have in common. It then re-synthesizes new audio with random phases (making it really wide). I really enjoy carving sounds with that thing.
Hopefully, one day I'll hone my sound design skills as well as you have. For now, I think I already learned a lot just from listening all the fantastic entries in this compo. It's been a lot of fun.
I really like this soundtrack, the sound design really remind me some game like Hyper Life Drifter and minor Hotline Miami. All musics for this Soundtrack is consistent too.
My Favourite tracks so far is The Forest, woodland automatons, remember the good times, Ending Credits.
Quite a diverse genres ya done too in fact (Synthwave, Trance and maybe Deep Dubstep -from the bass i hear- like Starkey, Kryptic Minds)
Good job my friend :))
Thanks so much! :)
I often switch between genres without really giving too much thought. I'm glad you thought it was coherent enough :)
Also, you did a great job on your soundtrack! Also quite varied :DI absolutely love this entry. Here’s three favourite things:
1. The subtle way the bass enters in Through the Perimiter. It seems to be setting a pulse, but stays at that low, soft place, just adding some tense colour.
2. The Forest, which sounds like it could belong in a 2D Metroid game.
3. I’ve heard a lot of tracks I really like in this jam, but a lot that don’t feel like they’d serve as good game soundtracks. This isn’t that; these would work really well as background level loops.
Also the last track gave me flashbacks to Robert Miles, whose track Children you absolutely couldn’t get away from in 1995.
Thank you for having a listen and the kind words. :)
I did try to keep things videogame-y. I'm glad that came across.
I have definitely listened to my fair share of trance and dance in the 90s so maybe something carried over. And yes, I can still hum the exact track you mentioned :D
Really coal OST! I'm digging dancable "ending credits". Good job.
Thank you! :)
I feel one would almost be obligated to have the characters dance with those ending credits XD.
The shift in tone from the game to the ending credits was maybe a bit sudden, but I was pretty happy with the ending credits theme, so I just had to include it XD.
Track 1: I love how the music is reflected so simply. You prepared the ground of the game very well with the instruments you used.
Track 2: I really like the drum in this one, and again, a simple entrance suits it very well.
Track 3: In the first track, I had the impression that all the music would be classical. But you surprised me with a different style.
Track 4: You explained the new adventure part of the story very well.
Track 5,6,7,8: I congratulate you for making such a variety of music with the same theme. The ending music is also very good.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to them and giving me your feedback :)
For track 3, I hope the transitions weren't too jarring. I could've probably eased one track into the next a bit more. Especially track 3 and 5 are a bit more on the experimental side I suppose. Next time I'll try tapering one into the next a bit more.
I really love the diversity between wide open soundscapes to glitchy electronica. Your production is super clean and loved the vibe! The Ending Credits song was my fav!
Thank you. I was a little afraid the ending credits theme would be too different from the rest of the soundtrack, but I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
The Plot to Sound to Theme pipeline in the soundtrack, really made the journey have an audiovisual narrative. Where the sound and plot were able to piece together a sci-fi type or runaway.
While having subtle changes in the pace of "running/voyaging" that resembles real life as we are never walking/running at a constant page, there will always be bits and pieces that we slow down/speed up
Thank you. :)
"Through The Perimeter" makes it clear this game is an epic. I really dig the ambiance in "Woodland Automatons." "The Woodland Machine Reveals Itself" does such a great job adding tension to the game. "Ending Credits" - Perfect for some scrolling and freeze frames of our favorite characters. This is great stuff!
Thank you! I think Automatons was my personal favourite. That was the one I hoped would hone in most on the theme. I mostly imagined a platformer while doing the soundtrack and tried to strike a balance between calm, but still having some rhythmic parts to propel the game forward.
I like your description on the final credits. I could see that yeah :D
Super cool production on this one, first thing I noticed was how clear, big and spacious everything sounds. Reminds me a bit of the Celeste OST in terms of its dynamics and the "wavy" synths
Thank you! I think I'm a bit addicted to hearing automated reverb tails echo out. :D
The drums really elevate each of these songs to something special. Good work!
Thank you! Glad you liked 'em.
What a compelling plot of the game! Implementing an important portion of mechanics on the forest scene is very refreshing, and you really nailed to combine these 2 elements musically as well. Percussive synth tracks in Woodland automatons reminded me of clockwork tower level in Shovel Knight(should be the only reference I can think of for now).
I also love how your music illustrates very well your description, and It was very interesting to notice how the rhythmic layer gets more and more dense and present with the progression of the tracks. Very interesting to notice the last 2 tracks being more rhythmic than I would have imagined.
It's really a quality work, Great job!!
Thank you. I really appreciate the review.
Melodically I still have a lot to learn, so I tend to lean a bit more heavily into the sound design and rhythmic parts. I like that you picked that track, that's actually the one I ended up being happiest with out of the ones I submitted.
The first track was a really great mood setter, great stuff!
Thank you :)
Each track feels very intentional. i like the variety and aural texture in the tracks while still feeling part of the same world . first track was ambient and subtle . second track build up was nice, I could visualize the progression through the stage. i see the merging of mechanical with more earthy vibes which was well done. great job !! very cohesive !!
Thank you! I appreciate it. I'm glad it worked for you :)
Holy smoke! I love the first track subs. These drones morphing sounds are amazing. Jeeez, this echoing, and phasing things. Daaamn. I am really impressed. Did you used any complex VST for it? Or everything just Reaper internal engine? How did you make this morphing sub thing? Damn I love it so much, it sits on my shoulder and say: Aaron, you will fall in to this ambient goodness hole.
Track two, well done, I love the fills. I love the bass, and that goa sound. Oh god, I really love how to bass and this goa sound move together.
track three: Fricking genius. I love the sounds design of the synths. So smooth, so light. These percussions are well mixed. You did a perfect job with the mixing and mastering. If you have time please put these tracks to bandcamp, please! The instruments well placed, well panned!
Track four: Oh I love how the arps goes to higher pitch. Really smart! Holy smoke, really smart ambient from the depths. Oh god, how amazing the mixing. Hope you will be on the track list. These tracks are amazing.
Track five: This sound design, kills me. These are pianos with some bit crush and saturation, I think. Not bad. :D Yeah baby, cut off trick, and so smooth. Did I tell you you have to on the track list? :D
Track six: Ooooooh it sounds like the good old fashioned Hot Line Miami. I love that game. Oh I forgot to read the description. My attention grabbed. :D
Track synthwave: The sounds are really smart. I didn't know if you put the synths to the background it will be sounds more awesome! I love the drums. It's kinda my taste, but a bit more compression for the drumz could be killer, but I stfu, because it's amazing track!
Track awesomeness: You are doing the synthwave very well. Amazingly catchy. I thought the good synthwave has a really simple drum arrangement, but this is much better!
I am a really simple man. I love synthwave, I love subs. well done 13 out of 10. A+++, What can I give you? :D ** CLAPS ** CLAPS **
Thank you for the in-depth review man. I really appreciate it. :D
For this soundtrack I really mostly only used my own JSFX. But I've made them all availabe. You can find 'em all here if you want to take them for a spin: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/JSFX#installation-instructions
They're all free. Beware though, I can't guarantee that they'll be completely bug free, but if you find any bugs, let me know and I will at least try to fix them.
The ambient opener makes a lot of use of Swellotron in particular. It's an effect that takes two sound sources and turns them into ambient washes. It's basically kind of like a vocoder and reverb in one. It takes two inputs, computes their frequency dependent energy over time and adds that in a buffer (a reverb tank basically) to decay over time. It resynthesizes this with random phases which makes the sounds very wide (because left and right are not correlated). It's not the best for live use because it has quite a bit of latency, but it can be really nice for creating some audio washes for resampling later. I have a short tutorial of it here:
It can be a bit tricky to control, so I'd recommend just making a whole bunch of samples and then sculpting those more into the final thing that you want later. For the bass I used lava verb in its spectral mode. If you set the diffusion somewhere in the middle on a bassy note, you very quickly get that non-localized sound. Unfortunately, I don't have a tut for lava verb, but hopefully it's easy enough to figure out from the UI.The synths are typically Yutani in paraphonic mode. In most polysynths, you have a filter per voice. In paraphonic synths, all the voices go to the same filter. With non-linear filters, this creates a kind of unusual distortion which I quite like. It makes it sound kinda old.
The strange synth in track 5 is Yutani again with audio rate modulation on the filter at very high resonance. It's a particular filter with some non-linearity in its feedback path, which causes some unusual effects as you can hear. Personally, (also based on feedback received), I think I should've maybe made it slightly less harsh to blend in a little better.
I'll probably do some touch-ups on the tracks based on the feedback I've received and then maybe put an updated version here (and maybe on bandcamp). Unfortunately I had to work the week of the compo, so I was a little strapped for time trying to get it all finished. :D
Thanks again for the feedback :)
Holy baby Jesus, Did you create those effects? I am amazed. :D Sadly I am using Ableton live.
A lot of thanks for the details! Very smart sound design. I never tried to use a synth in paraphonic mode, maybe I will somehow. This Swellotron sounds great. I've never tried vocoder in that depth. It's a really good idea again. I learned a lot, thank you. :)
You should put the whole album on Bandcamp! It is worth it. :) Sadly I didn't have the time to participate in more depth. I had to do a lot of stuff, but happily, I had a track that I was able to push. Anyway, this is an amazing jam. Nice to meet amazing people like you. :)
I did. It's pretty fun working on your own effects. :)
Actually, if you ever feel like experimenting, there's a VST host you can use. You can find it here: https://github.com/jpcima/ysfx . ysfx behaves like a VST, but once it opens you can just open any JSFX and it should just work. It's still under active development though, so I don't know if there may be issues that still need solving there for specific DAWs.
And likewise! I had to work the week of the compo unfortunately, so I could only really do stuff in the evening hours. That said, it was a ton of fun.
Thanks a lot! I will check it out!
Through the Perimeter is one of the best ambient tracks I've heard so far. You have a great ear for pacing and space, which is so important in BGM for building atmosphere. When I played taiko we would call it "Ma", the space between the notes. Great use of Ma :)
I enjoyed the progression of energy throughout the soundtrack, going from the eerie forest ambience to the mechanical dance/electronic action. Really well done!
Thanks a lot for taking a listen and the kind words! :)
That's a really nice word and concept. Went down a nice wikipedia/google rabbit hole (with some really nice looking artworks) looking that up.