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Pet Store Escape OST's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Quality | #18 | 4.136 | 4.136 |
| Creativity | #19 | 3.955 | 3.955 |
| Impression | #37 | 3.682 | 3.682 |
| Composition | #38 | 3.864 | 3.864 |
| Overall | #59 | 3.518 | 3.518 |
| Correlation to theme | #110 | 1.955 | 1.955 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
The first track (The Ever Ending Waterways) picks up around halfway through the game where the party has already gotten past the first three areas; The rodent area, the reptile area, and the bird cage.
The Ever Ending Waterways:
As Almond (teddy bear hamster), Rex (leopard gecko), and Scarlet (Parakeet) leave the bird cage, they are faced with a perilous descent into the fish tanks where they must find the 2 legendary koi while also avoiding the net trying to catch them.
The Wheel that Never Stops:
Our trio has found and conversed with the koi who had information on how to escape the store, however they misinterpreted the part where the koi said no one has ever successfully done it. As our trio leaves behind the koi to find the top of the fish tank, there awaits an unexpected hardship.
Small and Insignificant: After narrowly avoiding what can only be assumed as certain death at the hands of The Claw, a mysterious feline helps aide our heroes by sneaking them into the underground.
Palace of Despair:
After an altercation with the Rat King and a new party member, Gama (russian tortoise), joins the team, our heroes exit the underground and end up in the ceiling. As they venture, Gama explains to the rest of the party that there resides 4 bats here that know of a way out of the store. However, the bats are not as friendly as the party had hoped.
Patrol of the Underdogs:
The party engages in a fierce battle with each bat to find a piece of information in order to finally escape.
Message from the artist:
I've been wanting to compose music for a game for a while now, so when my friend asked me if I wanted to and started trying to recruit people to join us and actually start making a game, I was ecstatic. It's been an exciting process so far and we're still only in the beginning stages of production as we've put a slight hold on development because December is a really busy month for most people. Anyways, I look forward to hearing what everyone else is making!
Theme:
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/jars2/sets/ost-composing-jam-5-submissions
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Comments
Loved the wheel that never stops. The beginning is so timid yet adventurous, and then 1:14 hits and its just so good. Really cool entry!!
Oooo I'm inlove with the dynamics of these pieces, so kinetic and adventurous!
Each piece has a LOT of character in them, each with their own vibe while still being overall cohesive. I really love your composing style!💖
Wow! Your chord progressions here are really adventurous. I feel like a lot of the time when I go for those sorts of dense chords in the higher register that you're using here I struggle to get things to flow well, so the fact these all feel perfectly clean and natural is seriously impressive. And that sort of compositional complexity doesn't come at the cost of production quality, something that I've found common across the jam. That isn't to suggest it isn't for good reason - it's much more manageable to focus on making one aspect good given the time constraints. However, the fact that you managed both makes your submission all the more impressive. Both of those things, along with the breadth of moods and energy levels from song to song, makes this a top submission in my eyes. Good work!!
Using the piano throughout gives great cohesion. Patrol of the Underdogs is my favorite. Kept me on my toes!
I loved it! The composition is excellent and the instrumentation is very pleasant. It may be a bit off from the jam's theme but it was amazing nonetheless. Great job!
This is definitely a different submission than most of the rest, mostly due to the story surrounding the music, all the songs are still really good though! "The Wheel that never stops" was a favorite though!
Amazing atmosphere you created from the first track with those chords and those tempo breakdowns, such a good start! There is a lot of surprises going in each song of yours, I like how you toy with expectations :)
I mean the writing is satisfyingly surprising but even the instruments are... In Small and insignificant, I didn't expect that baaaass, and it conveys the sneaking in the underground so well with the flutish sound representing the small trio escaping ...
This a very unique submission that has it's own particular taste! I really liked it! Thank you :)
Nice tunes! I Love Patrol of the Underdogs the most, it's a really cool action track
The Everending Waterways: This track is unique and is an excellent level-based background song. I love the ritardandos used to mimic the eb and flow of the water. The high piano melody is intricate but not distracting. The neo soul-sounding synth chords are the perfect soft yet present harmonic accompaniment for this. I love the percussive nuances that add extra character to this piece!
The Wheel That Never Stops: The emphasis on the off-beat in this track is the biggest factor that makes me imagine a perpetual motion that doesn’t seem to ever quite reach the intended goal. The lead instrument that enters after the drums and bass enter is perfect to represent what I interpret as the koi fish. This is an excellent dynamic track that would work well in-game to have a second layer added on after you reach the particular checkpoint in the game.
Small and Insignificant: I’m listening to your soundtrack on a nice sound system and the subwoofer is shaking the room I’m in and I absolutely love it! The end does feel a little abrupt and I wonder if a transition in your loop back to the beginning without the drums would really add to this track’s emotional impact.
Palace of Despair: I love that the first 2-3 chords made the despair palpable so quickly into the song. Great harmonic composition. The non-diatonic tones that the violin runs add interesting colors that tend to draw the emotion away from despair and more into fear or anxiety. This is great musical representation of the bats as they emerge in the story.
Patrol of the Underdogs: I love when this turns into the energized battle theme! The automation of the high-cut in the percussion feels really satisfying. The transition into 8-bit sounds is also quite smooth, as is the transition out of it. This is a really awesome dynamic battle track! The only drawback is that it ends quite abruptly. Overall you have a really cool collection of songs. I am not finding many obvious connections to the themes of the jam, but I really do love the story you’ve created. I would be really interested to hear it when it is expanded into the full story/game that you are envisioning it to be! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for your in-depth analysis, I appreciate it! :)
Nice job on this, I really liked the track, small and insignificant. I liked the rhythmic motion in your pieces.
Love the piano jazzy expressions in The Ever Ending Waterways, and the high energy in Small and Insignificant and Patrol of the Underdogs.
Great work :))
Thank you! :)
Good job ! I tried to write as I listen to try giving more detailed moment-by-moment impressions :
The Ever Ending Waterways :
I like the texture from the start, very well produced ! The piano part feels very delicate and the whole piece makes me think of a chill night scene with some melancholy
The Wheel that Never Stops:
Similar texture to the last piece, changed towards a less serene and more tense harmony and overall feel. A mysterious synth goes wild and suddenly slows down into a sort of drop. A new lead synth plays a more determined melody and a modulation gives some dramatic intensity to the last section with an unresolved ending that leaves me wondering what is going to happen next !
Small and Insignificant:
String synth sweeps and a piano playing harp figures creates a beautiful harmonic texture that then serves as the backdrop to a lonely flute staccato melody. A synth with a strong character joins with drums, until a dramatic moment where things become serious ! We shift to a military 2/2 metre and a low synth feels me with anticipation while the flute comes back to tell us that now it's ready to roll !
Palace of despair:
Extremely low strings strings set an ominous tone, with a piano melody that is oddly serene in comparison, but occasionally deranged by an unresolved accidental. Ostinato violin feels a bit weak, which could be meant to add to a sense of despair I don't get, or just be that this particular violin sample is a bit too weak to be alone like that.
Patrol of the Underdogs:
Ah, A battle theme :)
Intro follows the last track and now the orchestration works for me and then...
Boom ! we're fighting, marcato string ostinato and energetic drum-and-bass drums tells us it's not gonna be easy. But a synth comes tell us it's gonna be fun !
Then the instrumentation shifts completely to chiptune, with syncopated rythms and a melody that succeeds in keeping rythmic momentum and energy, until a more techno-inspired 4-on-the-floor comes back with the strings to really push us to our very edge against our enemy.
Overall :
The material is very solid and the orchestration / instrumentation work is really great. But your form tends to always build up and build up and just abruptly stop at the end, which can be fine, but seems to be your default. It's okay to build down you don't have to constantly build up.
Other than this very minor nitpicking I really enjoyed the soundtrack, Great Work !
Those synths fit soo well !
I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate this level of feedback. Thank you for your kind words! I'm not the greatest as resolving tracks and I think that is my biggest weakness when it comes to composing, I'll still have to work more at it haha! Finishing a track has just always been difficult for me because I get distracted really easily and start wanting to create new tracks before I even finish my old one :)
For resolving a track you can use a simple cadence, some kind of II chord or IV, then a V (with possibly a I with the fifth at the bass coming before the real V) (in tonal music)
For overall form, common video game form is based on wether your track will loop or not :
Looping forms :
Here you want to not be too dramatic, as drama thet happens every minute doesn't work too well
Intro(:AB:) where B contrasts A
(:ABAB':) where B contrasts A and B' develops the B thing
can change the second A too to get ABA'B'
For non-looping track you can think "hero's journey", with sonata form or variations on that idea
Or more song-like with rondo form (chorus and verses with possible bridges)
Or longer things like in the celeste soundtrack where an idea goes throuh cycles of ups and downs and evolves for multiple minutes based on the video game levels
A big build up like you do can also work for battle themes and cutscenes
If you decide on these in advance you can more easily know what your goals are in each sections (establish the theme, contrast with something different, or develop some theme) and It gets easy (easier at least) to handle finishing tracks
Love the 3/4 time in The Ever Ending Waterways. Very pretty instrumentation. Love when those drums hit in The Wheel that Never Stops! Small and Insignificant is such a cool vibe. Palace of Despair has cool harmonies, nice, dramatic track. Patrol of the Underdogs is a great finish, a very tense battle theme, and I love the chip style section towards the end. Great work!
I love the piano and the story that goes along with the tracks! I'm not sure exactly how this fits the theme but everything is well composed and produced.
Thanks! Yeah my biggest problem was probably trying to incorporate the theme, I tried but it was a bit hard as our game already had a story haha
Yeah no worries, it’s cool that you were able to use this as an opportunity to work on the game!
Very pretty music.
The synth addition that comes in on "The Wheel that Never Stops" is so well blended ino the composition. It's so easy for a distorted sound to have too much squelch. It's just right.
Patrol of the Underdogs does such a great job of building tension with the tempo and the gradual upshift in keys.
Enjoyed the story that you developed for this soundtrack, too. The songs match the action well.
This is great stuff!
Thank you very much, I appreciate the kind words! The credit goes to our writer for the story though, I only summarized what was already there :)
so let me know when this game comes out please, I’m sold! I listened to each track as I read each description and you nailed it, amazing story telling through music.
Thank you so much! We have a talented writer on our team who is creating the story, I just summarized what they wrote haha. I'll let you know :)
OMG I love it !
thank you, i appreciate it! :)