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A jam submission

The Sky and the Sea OSTView project page

A lone wanderer, a single sail, and hope just beyond the horizon. (OST Composing Jam 5)
Submitted by Aidan Babidan 🎮🎷 (@adibabidan) — 4 days, 15 hours before the deadline
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The Sky and the Sea OST's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Impression#173.9093.909
Overall#243.9003.900
Quality#264.0454.045
Correlation to theme#374.0004.000
Creativity#393.7733.773
Composition#423.7733.773

Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
They’ve finally set sail. The unknown perils of an uncharted ocean may be more dangerous, but they're worth leaving the distress of their old life behind. And now, even as the elements threaten to tear their craft apart, they can't help but find themself entranced by the resounding beauty of the sky and the sea.

The Sky and the Sea is a wordless, atmospheric, 3D adventure game about braving dangerous waters in a small, frail sailboat. The main gameplay loop centers around controlling the sail as the wind carries you across the open water. It’s set to a digital fusion soundtrack with lo-fi and classical elements, made in FL Studio using the Spitfire LABS soft piano, Vital, Magical 8Bit, and Vocaloid (+ a bunch of drums and fx). There are 5 tracks, for a total runtime of ~9 minutes (0:32, 2:02, 2:20, 3:04, 1:02).

Tracks:

1. Having just lost sight of dry land, 'Away' finds our protagonist turning to the forward horizon, where, with the sun on their back and the wind in their hair, they finally get to feel the euphoric relief of their shed past and their renewed future.

2. 'The Will of the Wind' finds the character facing their first true challenge - an intense thunderstorm. Having previously only been coasting, they now must wrangle the sail with all their might to stay afloat.

3. 'Starfall' is the most directly inspired from the picture theme - you and the character are both given a chance to rest post-storm, at which point the sun has set, the clouds have cleared, and the sky is filled with a crescent moon and a million shooting stars.

4. 'Final Horizon' is set to the rising sun, whose light finally reveals solid land in the distance. Exhausted, such a view provides some much needed catharsis - they’re in the final stretch.

5. 'Goodbye to a New Home' follows immediately after the character steps off of the boat. They look back out towards the ocean to reflect - despite the hardships, for a brief moment, those waters felt like home.

Message from the artist:
Thank you for listening!! I’m very proud with what I was able to write for this jam, and I hope you’re able to appreciate it as well. I wish everyone the best of luck with their entries! I’m excited to listen to as many as I can. :)

Theme:

Wish upon a star
Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
The game is set entirely from the perspective of the person piloting the boat in the picture theme, with the track 'Starfall' intended to be played alongside the moment depicted in the image.

'Wish upon a star' is not quite so directly correlated, but the sentiment and vibes are still there - reaching out in hopes of a change for the better.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/adibabidan/sets/the-sky-and-the-sea

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY)

Any project

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Hey nice job, I actually liked “The Will of the Wind”, the drums kinda caught me by surprise when the beat dropped haha :)

Developer

thank you!!  yeah that first drop is fun lol

Submitted(+1)

Wow, Starfall is so magical, definetley my favorite track of the playlist. Really cool entry!

Developer

thank you!!

Submitted

What a vibe and essence you have going on with these arrangements, the title screen is GREAT, it's like the perfect opening to a game with themes you chose.
It's narrative, atmospheric, and all very delightful to listen to.
You're right on the nose in terms of theme, and your compositions are unique. The synths you chose are ✨🌟💫
Wonderful work!

Developer

Thank you for the kind words!!  And I'm glad you like the synths!  They're almost all homemade using Vital, with the big exception being some leads that use the square wave from magical8bit.

Submitted(+1)

Gotta love the atmosphere of perilous journey you put forth in these tracks!

Developer

thank you!!

Submitted(+1)

Away: This is a really epic build-up! I love the echo fade out at the end.

The Will of the Wind: The fluttery piano conveys the freedom of the wind to storm whichever way it wants. The classic + lo-fi blends quite well here. You describe an epic scene, but this piece feels so calm. I think that intense movie scenes like battles or storms accompanied by sweet melodies or calm ambiences are really special because instead of composing the action, the music instead works in conjunction with the visual image to portray the emotions that may not be apparent on screen - it would be super cool to hear this in conjunction with the images you are imagining. My favorite moments in this piece are the bass slides that add an emotional heaviness and also feels like a cresting wave. 

Starfall: Those opening piano chords feel so magical. The synth arpeggios following feel very spacey and magical as well. The chord progressions feel very much like David Wise pieces from Donkey Kong Country in an epic adventure sort of way. This is my favorite track from your OST.

Final Horizon: The thing I think that is most notable about this track is the use of delay and how that makes me imagine the rising sun as you describe. It also gives a sense of reflection on the adventure like you are constantly being reminded of what has happened on the journey.

Goodbye to a New Home: These are some beautiful piano chords that have so many colors and convey a lot of emotion. The chord extensions grow as the song progresses to convey the bittersweet nature of finishing an adventure but also having to say goodbye to the good times. This was an extremely pleasant soundtrack to listen to. Great work and thank you so much for sharing!

Developer (1 edit)

omg 🥲 thank you so much for the kind words!!  I'm so glad the thematic intention of each piece came across so well - you're pretty much spot on for what I was hoping each piece would convey!  The whole movie score comparison for Will of the Wind is pretty spot on - there are a lot of cases in movie scores where during a part that seems particularly hopeless, the diegetic sound gets faded out or becomes muffled as a somber string number plays over top of it, and that was vaguely the vibe that I was shooting for.

Submitted(+1)

Great sound design! I loved how you mixed the piano, synths and percs in track 2. These fusions between sound design and classical instrumentation always get me, and you did it in a spectacular way. Track 5 feels really nostalgic, i really liked the harmonies at the end!

Developer

thank you!!  I appreciate the kind words, and I'm glad to hear you liked track 2 and 5 - those were the two that I focused the most on in terms of harmonies, and it seems to have payed off!

Submitted(+1)

I love the synths, the piano is really beautiful too. The style is so clean and pretty, great job with this!

Developer

thank you!!!

Submitted(+1)

such a special style and unique pieces. Loved it bro. Also mixing is balanced too. Good job mate!

Developer

thank you!!

Submitted(+1)

I love your style, it is very unique. All of these songs are very solid and consistent in quality, they all really feel like they complement each other! The main theme sounds like a main theme alright (and it's such a bop) but i think my favorite song is Starfall, I think it's amazing how you managed to make it fit the theme so well with the hip-hop style you used for it, and on top of that it's a banger as well. Thank you for this incredible submission.

Developer(+1)

thank you for the kind words!!!

Submitted(+1)

The Will of the Wind is so beautiful! I like that it has a very wistful but catchy melody to it :) I can also definitely see Away be the opening track for when the game first starts! 

Developer

thank you!!

Submitted(+1)

Oh wow this is amazing! It's so magical and mesmerising and some tracks felt like something straight out of celeste. Wonderful job!

Developer

thank you!! lol i’ve been clocked, celeste is what really got me into composing in the first place

Submitted(+1)

The opening track succinctly set the scene, and by the time I hit 'Starfall' I was mesmerised. Neat work.  

Developer

thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Great work on this! I particularly enjoyed Starfall. I like the synths you used and the rhythmic elements.

Developer

thank you!!!

Submitted(+1)

Wow! The whole soundtrack is pretty neat! 

There are so many interesting rythm gimmicks and cool piano intervals playing (I'm thinking about The Will of the wind and Final horizon here). Liked how you tweaked the main theme here ^^

Every track is really well crafted and has a very good audio quality, super submission in my opinion :) Thank you for sharing your job! 

Developer

thank you!! I really appreciate the kind words :)

Submitted(+1)

I like what you've got going on with the panning on some of these tracks!

Developer

thank you!!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the general vibe which reminds me of Celeste, probably due to the synth I guess?

Very catchy 3rds in the will of the wind, the track describes the thunderstorm in a elegant way while avoiding overdoing. I like how the low-fi beat still holds the track in a chilled way.
I also like how you summerize Starfall in the sky at the end with arpegiated chords, really classy and hip.
Nice ostinato on Final horizon, always with the nicely fitting drum track. And some nice cozy chords at the end of goodbye to new home.

I could really imagine the game with your soundtrack, great job! 

Developer

thank you!! it's really nice to hear that it's easy to visualize the game through listening to the soundtrack.

Submitted(+1)

Such interesting tunes! I love that piano part in The Will of the Wind. Final Horizon is my favorite one, paints such a nice picture.

Developer

thank you! i'm glad you enjoyed it :)

Submitted(+1)

First track was a very satisfying intro. Always love the Labs piano! Love how they sit over the hip-hop style beat and bass. Starfall has a very satisfying use of the Dorian mode, and some beautiful textures. Definitely my favorite track here. Fantastic work! 

Developer

thank you!!!  super happy to hear that you found the intro satisfying, and that the piano + lo-fi hip hop palette came across well.

Submitted(+1)

what a fantastic soundtrack!! ‘The Will of the Wind’ and ‘Starfall’ were my favorites. i think ‘Starfall’ fits the artwork for the jam’s theme perfectly :) the synths and harmonies go so well together

Developer

thank you!!  i'm super glad that starfall came across well. that main arp was so fun to put together, trying to manifest mario galaxy vibes as much as possible lmao

Submitted(+1)

I did NOT expect the instruments to swell in the first track, it kind of startled me. But it also felt really exciting! I love the combinations of soothing sounds and the drumbeats you used. There honestly wasn’t a single track I didn’t like, they're all pretty great! I love a good fusion :)

Developer

thank you for the kind words!! and yeah, lol, it is a rather surprising start to that first song. the idea there was to have it be one of those super explosive title cards (somewhat inspired by the one in EEAAO if you’ve seen it) so as to grab your attention as quickly as possible

Submitted(+1)

Ah yeah I have seen it, well it definitely grabbed my attention ^^