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A jam submission

The Heart Of AsiaView project page

Hearts Of Iron IV OST
Submitted by Manu (@manu_composer) — 5 hours, 39 minutes before the deadline
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The Heart Of Asia's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Composition#174.2634.263
Quality#364.1054.105
Overall#833.4633.463
Impression#873.3683.368
Creativity#1193.2113.211
Correlation to theme#1522.3682.368

Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
I was lucky enough to participate on the video game Hearts Of Iron IV by creating the soundtrack of its new upcoming expansion during the same week that OST Composing Jam #6 was happening, so I decided to submit it as well!

My inspiration for the music was the very specific genre of orchestral music of war video games based on real history plus an asian (mostly japanese) twist, since the expansion of the game features the Asian continent.

The theme of the Jam was "Tick tock...", which I interpreted as "time" and used the inspiration of what soldiers must feel like on the battlefield, constantly haunted by the enemy, wishing they had been born in a different time. Or at least that's how I would feel. (Also, the last World War happened some time ago already, so I thought of this project as kind of a time capsule).

Hope you like it and thank you for checking it out if you did! Can't wait for the expansion to come out and hear this in the game!

I used Logic Pro X :)

Theme:

Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
The theme of the Jam was "Tick tock...", which I interpreted as "time" and used the inspiration of what soldiers must feel like on the battlefield, constantly haunted by the enemy, wishing they had been born in a different time. Or at least that's how I would feel. (Also, the last World War happened some time ago already, so I thought of this project as kind of a time capsule).

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/manu-composer/the-heart-of-asia?si=9f7fd9aa00dd4ee396ab2c59d8d97c8f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

https://youtu.be/jWbYxCvHBg4

Soundtrack use permission

No

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

The intro feels eerily calm. That instrument (or instruments?) at 0:44 has a very interesting sound - how did you achieve that or what did you use? The brassy walking up and down the low register while the upper voices stab occasionally feels quite cinematic. My favorite part of the track is the final minute with all of the instruments sort of coming in and out but ultimately ending in unison. Great work and thank you for sharing!

Developer

Thank you so much!! The instrument you might be referring to could be the Shakuhachi, on top of some strings and brass in that section, but there's also a chinese Ehru with a lot of vibrato underneath as a layer; maybe that's what you mean :)

Submitted(+1)

Oh maybe it was the shakuhachi layered with the brass. I've never heard of that instrument before - I'll have to go read more about it! Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Well produced and great sounding track! Nice touch of asia influence... :)

Congrats on the opportunity to compose for an actual game title!

Developer

Glad you like it, thanks!!

Submitted(+1)

Professionally done music! You're lucky to make music for such a big project!

Developer

Thank you!!

Submitted(+1)

Really well composed, and mixed, listening on head phones, and the panning random little sounds like insects flying off past my ear,  are a really nice touch to make the listener feel they are in the fields or jungle.  Very cool!

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you so much!!

Submitted

This sounds so cool! Really high quality in both sound and composition. Also really cool that this is (going to be) in an actual game instead of a concept. 

Developer

Thank you so much! And I agree, really cool opportunity :)

Submitted

Good orchestration.

I’m Japanese but couldn’t like make song like this remind Japan 

Developer(+1)

ありがとうございました!

Submitted(+1)

Lovely composition. Sombre, melancholy and a little foreboding. Perfect for that "very specific" genre! Nice work :) 

Developer

Hey thanks! Really appreciate it :)

Submitted(+1)

So nice! I can also imagine this as a movie soundtrack, it goes so well with the game concept!

Developer

Thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

Great piece, it really make me feel that war feeling expresed on films and video games, good job

Developer

Hey thanks! Glad it came through :)

Submitted(+1)

I really liked this, particularly the flute. The use of dynamics was very good and the orchestral arrangement was very strong. Well done!

Developer

Thank you so much! :)