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Amberwisp Forest's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #34 | 4.056 | 4.056 |
| Impression | #50 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Correlation to theme | #53 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Overall | #54 | 3.767 | 3.767 |
| Quality | #58 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Creativity | #150 | 3.389 | 3.389 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
The background of the game is described inside the project.
For the composition process I used my MIDI keyboard directly on the DAW (Ableton Live) to first do a MIDI with the base harmony and melody. The base was then used as reference for the orchestration process and other several changes. The theme has an introduction, A and B section, connected by a suspense transtion/bridge and followed by a final A part.
I wanted to shown a forest that has some kind of influence by the humans in afterlife that were killed in the story (now the wisps). They won't show a threatful attitude towards the main character because they know he can become a druid.
The introduction represents the fear the main character would feel after he goes into the unknown forbidden forest. This will be fastly contrasted by the A theme, which is the main theme and represents the exploration and connection of this forest with the main character. The bridge is meant to create a suspense/tension moment in the exploration. The B part is a more slow paced, created to express the moment of contemplation/beauty of the forest, which will eventually lead to the riprese of the A theme.
The sections can be looped at least once (A1, A2, B1, B2), but they dont necessary have to be looped. If looped, different layers of struments could be played for each section, but the idea is to have an increasement of music density in the second section of each theme. Subtly changes are also added through the harmony, rhythm and color/timbre of struments in a attempt to keep things fresh.
The free plugings used were:
-The Free Orchestra Project Sam - Kontakt 5
-BBC Symphony orchestra - Spitfire Audio
-Keyzone classic piano - Bitsonic
-Free ambient sound effect by "Debrup Travel & Films"
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
"Long ago, humans used to have a special connection with nature. Nevertheless, such kind of power always induced dread to those who were not giften. Drifted by envy and irrationality, humans exterminated the sages of nature, and those who survived... did fall stedly into the oblivion"
The main character founds a lost newborn near his home and since then strange things started to happen to him. It would not take long until the town authorities took actions - The young man is forced to scape from his hometown under a pursuit ordered by the King.
In a hopeless attemt to avert the soldiers, the protagonist decides to go deep into the forbidden forest - Feared and known to had consumed the lives of those who dare to delve into their secrets. However, for some odd reason the Amberwisp Forest does not seem as threatful as he thought it would be. This will be the first clue to discover the connection between the couple of adventurers, nature and their shared fate - The path of a new druid.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/victor-barrios-845090555/amberwisp-forest-ost-composing-jam-4
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Comments
Sounds interesting. Like ambient and a drop of waltz
Very magical feel. Love the vibe. Strings foundation and intermittent percussion really work well here, then the harp, then the subtle forest sounds in the background, then the voices. Beautiful buildup. Thanks for sharing!
Nice soundscape and texture, sweet orchestrations, nice use of the harp, but it feels like its an AMAZING start of something even more beautiful I was expecting some crazy strings arrangement going into something super melo dramatic, maybe i'm seeing too far but I think this has great potential. Nicely done !
I'm glad you liked it! Considering it is the first contact with the forest and nature for the main character I think is good you got the idea to eventually reach something more beautiful and richer. Indeed one problem could be to have composed everything for the jam thinking into an specific moment of the game, like the prologue and not a final. Nevertheless, reviews like yours make me want to futher develop the theme your heard to match those expectatives! Thank you!
Beautiful composition. The opening paints a beautiful serene picture. I love how gently you glide into the second section. Love the little pizzacato string details and how they are punctuated by those strings with the long-ish attacks. Beautiful. Nice little drum details everywhere too. Little cymbals, hats, a little piano.
Transitioning into the third section, I feel a little tension rolling in. I guess this tension comes from losing the connection to nature. It's all still pretty gentle, but I definitely hear some tension now. Thankfully, it then resolves back to happy.
Great work!
Love this right from the start, very nice chord choice. Love the sound choices, they really focus on the forest vibe. Very magical sound. Love the cool but mellow composition towards the end especially.
Great job at organizing different sections very fluidly in a single track! I love how it evolves to accompany the narrative while assuring unity to the musical profile. Great job!
What an utterly serene opening chord-- in fact I had to go back and listen to it again. The orchestration in these first 10 seconds is sincerely beautiful... it sounds just like On The Steps Of The Palace from Into The Woods.
I love your main theme, and again you create a really cool atmosphere with the lush strings and harp.
Good addition of the birdsong-- this helps provide setting for the story. This percussion is lovely as well.
You've done an excellent job of giving this track a magical feel with the whimsical percussion and heavy use of the harp, so good job with that!
In all, great work, and keep writing!
Thanks a lot for your review. I'm glad you liked it!
I listened your tracks and I love your style of composition and choice of struments! I will review them aswell soon.
As a whole I was very much blown away by this. I very much enjoyed the story that was told by the music and how it made me feel. Great job.
Is always nice to read my music could make you feel like that. I also loved your work and the great effort you put into recording all the sounds used in your tracks!
I appreciate you saying :) thank you for the kind words!
Really interesting that you based your story around how humans drifted away from nature. And the music went really well with this idea having some sort of a nostalgic feel to it. Good job!
Thanks for the comment! I heard your submission on soundcloud and I love the way your music express the adventure feeling. The second part of Innocence reminded me at some points to some Pokemon games, which I absolutly love it.
Thanks for listening, I'm glad you liked it!
I really enjoy the mystical forest feeling of your track! Love the cover too. Nice work!!
I'm happy you liked the composition!
I really like how your song sounds as a whole. The harp gives it a mystical sort of vibe which definitely matches the picture theme. The harp sounded so good with the arps around 3:36. I have some advice though, when using the piano, you'll probably have to eq out the low ends. I could hear the muddiness from the piano. Additionally, some times the harp felt out of place even though it was the melody. It could just be instrument choice.
I'm glad you like it and thank you a lot for the advice!
I really feel like this has been one of the best mixed/mastered tracks I have listened to so far! Great composition as well, but just wanted to complement you on the quality of your track! Great job!
Thank you! Honestly I'm not an expert in production, so I didn't expect the quality to match the standars of the jam. This is a really nice new for me.