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OST Composing Jam #6

Hosted by Lone Rabbit · #OSTCompJam
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A jam submission

The Clock TowerView project page

OST for an imaginary game about a clock tower
Submitted by adexia — 7 hours, 7 minutes before the deadline
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The Clock Tower's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Correlation to theme#623.6173.824
Composition#763.5613.765
Impression#1023.2273.412
Overall#1023.3273.518
Quality#1163.2273.412
Creativity#1383.0053.176

Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
The game that I imagined this soundtrack to be for is some sort of survival game where you are trying to escape a creepy clock tower. You have to solve puzzles and fight off enemies in order to progress through the tower's floors and eventually escape. I was picturing something akin to Little Nightmares, but with less gore/horror.

The songs are named after where I think they could be used. Title Theme might be played during the title screen of the game. Battle Theme would be played during a battle. Safe Room would play when you are in a safe room. Puzzle theme would play when you are solving a puzzle. Game Over would play when you have failed/died and must restart. Pretty straightforward.

I composed each track in Musescore 4. Since I'm a classically trained musician, I find it much easier to write scores in an engraving software than a DAW, although Musescore's MIDI is strange and requires manipulation sometimes in order to get it to sound okay. That's why the scores don't look very good, because I had to brute force the MIDI to produce the sound I wanted. My composition process usually starts with me improvising on the violin or piano, finding melodies/chord progressions that I think are cool, and then turning them into full songs.

Theme:

Tick Tock...

How does it fit the theme?
Most of the songs (except the game over one) have a ticking sound in the background produced by a percussion instrument, usually a wood block. This was supposed to represent the ticking of the turret clock in the tower, and also fits the "tick tock" theme. Furthermore, "tick tock" reminded me of a metronome, so all of the pieces I composed have strict tempos that they stick to very metronomically. Lastly the theme was more broadly about time, so I experimented with time in the music through hemiolas/syncopation and changing time signatures (in the battle theme).

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://youtu.be/_ZBNK6UWegU
https://youtu.be/xY6I1Yj08pw
https://youtu.be/Cj8AQwrL_Mc
https://youtu.be/GxVuNNA3aAk
https://youtu.be/KozdMKusKMM

Soundtrack use permission

No

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Comments

Lucas Schacht GamesSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I appreciate the fact that you didn't use an actual clock ticking sound like literally everybody else.

Though one can feel the tick tock aspect of it! I really like your ambient style! Very very high quality stuff!

Submitted
Lingering In the Misty Marsh (Submission for Lone Rabbit's Composer Jam #6)
Reply
Egorkin531Submitted1 year ago(+1)

Very good entry! I really like those wood blocks, especially in the Tittle! Beautiful minimalistic sounding, but I think tracks need some ambient sounds or pads because the sounds too empty sometimes. It's still a good job^^

Submitted
Save the Space Time
Reply
Blue LavaSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Title: The use of the cello as your melody instrument over a gentle high piano line is an interesting choice, but to me gives a sense of immensity of the clock tower, while at the same time giving a sense of calm that for the time being we are safe. I like the soft wood block helping to keep time in the background. I wonder if a “bigger” sounding instrument might help give the impression that the game takes place in a clock tower with much larger structures? I still think it works well with the intended effect as is!

Puzzle: The polyrhythms in the different layers give a sense of mind-disorganization that works great for a puzzle level. The initial minor progression adds mystery to the piece, which the piano comes in to try to solve and helps add clarity to the puzzle.

Safe Room: As the piano gets louder, especially in the lower register, I am beginning to wonder how safe this safe room actually is! This is some beautiful and haunting piano work - good job!

Battle: The 5/4 strings are really cool and make this my favorite out of your OST! I also like that the wood blocks follow the 5/4 time making it feel like time is skipping and is not moving the way it normally should.

Game Over: This duet is a somber piece that is perfect for the ending of a game, though holding out the last notes a little longer may work well to add more of a sense of conclusion to the end of your OST. Or maybe it is intended to repeat at that point?

Overall: This OST transports me to the eerie clock tower location that you set and definitely would add some emotion and suspense to the puzzle game you describe. Good work and thank you for sharing!

Submitted
Big Ben
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adexiaDeveloper1 year ago

yes the game over theme is supposed to loop at the end. thank you for the comment!

Reply
GornemantSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Lovely soundtrack! Greatly orchestrated with very various tracks that really capture the different moods in your game. I loved in particular the battle theme in 5/4 that reminded me a bit of the Hornet theme in Hollow Knight. Also that C/Emaj7 chord (I think?) at the beginning of the Safe room theme sounds gorgeous and carries that ambiguous feeling of unstable safety very well. Great job overall!

Submitted
Whispers of Sands
Reply
gulloSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I like how well the time theme blends into the title theme. The piano and bells work together very well to do that, and it's not too obvious. I think it's one big challenge for this theme and you did that well.
It might be obvious by now, but the battle theme sounds really good :D

Submitted
The Tower of Decaying Time
Reply
robin johnsonSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I was going to say I always enjoy a 5/4 battle theme, though I notice you scored it differently ^^ Still, that was the highlight for me. Nice work

Submitted
Taulight Overdrive
Reply
adexiaDeveloper1 year ago

haha yeah it is essentially 5/4 but i wanted to group the 8th notes in a very specific way and musescore was being a little strange when i tried to write it in 5/4 so i settled on 6/8 + 4/8 instead :")

Reply
David CaldarellaSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Title Theme: smart contrast of high and low registers to create a creepy vibe! This melody is almost Wagnerian in length, or I'd suggest a repeat with an altered orchestration.

Puzzle Theme: loved the polyrhythm here. Once you layered in all the instruments, I'm glad you changed the harmonies instead of leaving it static on the i chord.

Safe Room: not too much to say about this track-- a nice, simple break from the action.

Battle Theme: while definitely very intense, I think this track could have benefitted from further percussion to really ramp up the intensity of the strings.

Game Over: loved the use of solo strings here, perhaps to imitate the sounds of a funeral dirge. (the Musescore solo strings really do sound good!)

While using clock sounds to tie in the tick-tock theme was smart, I'd have loved to see more creative uses of it instead of just having it on the first beat of each measure, or on the 1 and 3. Perhaps having it in a polyrhythm, or keeping it in 4 over a mixed meter, would've shaken things up? That's my only real criticism: otherwise, you did a great job, and keep writing!

Submitted
Axes
Reply
TimTheTortoiseSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Loved the detail and use of dynamics. 5/4 in the battle theme really made it stand out. The instrumentation was consistent and very well done- your classical background really shows in a great way. Really great job!

Submitted
Hourglass
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