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Elsewhere - Original Game Soundtrack's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #72 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Impression | #107 | 3.816 | 3.816 |
| Overall | #138 | 3.751 | 3.751 |
| Creativity | #152 | 3.776 | 3.776 |
| Quality | #155 | 3.776 | 3.776 |
| Correlation to theme | #345 | 3.388 | 3.388 |
Ranked from 49 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- You have a good sense of development, I think-- each example seemed like it always knew where it was going, telling a coherent little mini-story in musical form. Moreover, I didn't feel like you got stuck in a rut-- I always felt engaged and interested in the new textures and melodic ideas that you were bringing to the table. Balancing variety while still keeping the whole coherent can be very difficult, and I think that this is a good example of how to do it-- variety with a core of similar elements that tie everything together. Very good choices and writing. Even with looping music, you can still writing endings for the music-- if you're really clever they won't even need post-editing to make the loop work. I think that it is worth doing because it forces you to complete the musical thought fully and can make a surprising difference on everything leading up to it. Thus I do encourage composers to write genuine endings, even if the idea is to eventually loop the music. Additionally, I think some of the tracks here are a bit too brief-- I think this submission would have been better had it had less tracks with more extended tracks like "Dream Home" which to me was extended enough that it said something substantial but didn't overstay its welcome at all. My only other comment is that the correlation to the theme strikes me as a bit stretched. For all the delightful music here, I struggled to connect it back to the theme except in a very general way. I appreciate that the text is quite open-ended and so I certainly wouldn't say that this "doesn't fit" the theme, but it didn't stand out as very obviously fitting in either. Overall, however, there is a really lovely attention to the sonic palette that really elevates the music here-- I can tell you're experienced with making these instruments and samples gel together, and overall I was very taken with the style and very human feel of the music.
Description
This is a soundtrack to a fantasy life sim with JRPG combat elements, titled "Elsewhere". It's a game rich with mechanics, including farming, fishing, crafting, relationships, and of course combat. The goal is to live peacefully in your hometown, but this cannot happen unless you defeat the Fears - monsters of the mind that spawn so long as the denizens of the world are troubled.
For the music itself, I relied on folksy and acoustic compositions for town life, soaring orchestrations for overworld exploration, and high-energy rock and metal for battles and Fear-related events. These each have leitmotifs associated with them. Woodwinds and acoustic guitar were notable pieces of the puzzle - woodwinds were present in my last OST Composing Jam submission in lesser quantities, but they're everywhere this time around, to lean heavily into the peaceful fantasy setting and provide a sense of familiarity. My previous submission did not have acoustic guitar anywhere in it, though, which I opted for this time around to capture warm homely vibes. For the most part, I also tried to avoid synths and electronic instruments outside of battle and Fear themes.
All tracks were made in Reason 12, my DAW of choice. And a note to those of you who are rating submissions - I know I've made a lot of tracks, but all of them loop, except for one! And I don't believe any loop is longer than 2:00 at most. So feel free to just listen up to the loop, then continue onto the next track. Hopefully that abates any worries with rating this soundtrack.
The tracks represent the following:
1. Utopia - Title Screen
2. Imagination - File Select
3. Past Life - Opening
4. Someplace - Town Theme
5. Dream Home - Home/Farming Theme
6. Phantasy General - Shop Theme
7. Illusion Lake - Lake/Fishing Theme
8. Cloudland Tavern - Tavern/Job Board Theme
9. Elsewhere - World Map
10. Face Your Fear - Battle Theme
11. Déjà Vu - Victory Theme
12. Eternal Sleep - Game Over
13. Fear of God - Boss Theme
14. Well of Wisdom - Ending
Message from the artist
I have been immensely busy with music work outside of this jam, and was worried going into this that I would not have the energy to last the full nine or so days. In fact, towards the beginning of the jam, I was struggling to motivate myself and get excited about my idea. I was concerned that I was just rehashing my previous jam submission, and thought my correlation to the theme would be my downfall. But as I kept pushing forward, I grew more attached to the sound I had chosen and world I was forging, and those worries slipped away. I hope people see the vision in what I've crafted and give this a chance - I really challenged myself and came away with a body of work I'm very proud of.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The story of the game, as briefly outlined in my description, revolves around the player's state of mind as well as the collective state of mind of the town. When that's shaken up, the Fears manifest - a physical embodiment of what's inside your mind.
Many of the names of locations in this game also suggest an imaginary reality, something that can only exist inside your head.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/mediamonochrome/sets/elsewhere-original-game-soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxqCS6LidLmvuvRYR-45ZYH45A9EX0AJy
Number of tracks14
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Dang the battle theme really slaps - also the sheer volume of content is so impressive to me. This submission already sounds ready to be used in a full actual game! ( and would cover all the bases). Great work.
As others already said, this amount of work and professionality deserves a well paid contract in the industry!
Really great job! Everything sounds polished and professional. The compositions are super strong. Really great work!
The tracks fit the vibe you described and the picture super well!
Excellent job!
Stunning orchestration! I was amazed by how many textures you were able to incorporate into all of the tracks. Great use of memorable melodies as well!
thank you, i've never thought myself as the best with orchestration so i'm happy to hear that!
I had yet to listen to an entry that had such a remarkable use of motifs. Great quality overall as well, the medieval feelings and JRPG aesthetic were present. Face Your Fear and Fear of God were epic and added dynamic to the whole soundtrack. Well of Wisdom was peaceful and a great ending track. Loved it!
tysm! the motif use was really important to me so i'm glad you and others appreciated that
Great use of motifs! Cool variability of moods and emotions in those tracks.
Battle theme hits really hard, great writing!
That was really great time and tracks to listen, thanks =)
If there is an idea to finish/polish this album and release it - do not delay and do not think, do it!))
i may revisit this in the future and make improvements/add more tracks; if that happens, that'll be the version i release! thank you!
I really like the soundscape you created here. Brings back memories of old school RPGs with the sounds you picked and the minimal, but effective layering. The flute in Past Life was the stand out for me. Nice job!
thank you! though i don't think i managed to get as immersive with it as you did lol
I'm impressed with how many cool tracks you were able to do in the time span! A lot of different vibes to carry out so effectively. I'm a big fan of battle themes, and I love the execution on 'Face your Fear' and 'Fear of God'! Wonderful instrumentation and impressed you pulled off such a great balance between 'farming life' and 'JRPG'. Well done on this!!
thank you, i'm glad to hear you think i struck that balance!
Reason solidarity o7 this is an incredibly well-realized soundtrack! Keep up the good work!
reason soldiers >:) thank you!
Very impressive! I can't believe you managed to compose over 30 minutes of detailed music within the time span. Altogether you had some very cool pieces with a lot of variety, and I appreciate that you kept referring to the main theme throughout the compositions. You definitely did a fantastic job with these compositions. The more high intensity tracks were an absolute pleasure to listen to. Everything had a very coherent feeling to it, though I will say I didn't exactly see how it fit the theme- but the theme is also very subjective, so you likely saw it in a different way. Very very well done, I am very impressed with the volume of music you've produced.
if we're being honest it was closer to 15 mins of music since they're almost all looped lmao. thank you!
Love the light pastoral vibes you start out on, definitely hearing some of thesounds I associate with farming sims, but I’m also getting a bit of The Sims from and the blend of those is satisfying. While the instrumentation of the first few tracks were pretty similar, each one had its own character that set it apart from the others. And those ripping rock and roll tracks near the end were really energetic and fun. Overall great job on this!
thank you! relieving that the first few tracks still managed to sound distinct from one another haha
I really easily pictured the "fantasy life sim with JRPG combat elements", I find that it match perfectly with what ambiences and situations you wanted to show us! Nice choices in the orchestration (I love acoustic guitar :D)
thanks, glad i managed to convey that to you!
Great melodies and great motifs and great use of a variety of instruments.
Feels like a perfect balance between farming sim and jrpg soundtracks, can really hear elements of both in almost every track and they complement each other very well.
Some great use of percussion as well, particularly on Phantasy General.
Lots of tracks I could highlight as a favourite but one that immediately springs to mind is Elsewhere, really loved that heroic and emotional feel you captured with that one and the little lead-ins on the melody are so cool and satisfying.
Well of Wisdom another one I really liked, beautiful central theme and the accompanying parts fit perfectly.
glad i was able to capture both game genres satisfyingly for you! thanks for listening!
Very solid string arrangement throughout the entire OST!
I value the little surprises like the harmony change at 1:25 in Dream Home and the unique mixture you've made in terms of styles. I didn't think I could find folk and metal in the same work.
Amazing work Monochrome!!
thank you so much! hopefully the folk-to-metal whiplash wasn't too sudden for you lol
It was haha That's why I love it ♥
After listening to the whole thing and writing out my review, I want to say that the issues I had were so incredibly minor/niche that they should mostly be viewed as relative to me. In other words, you did a fantastic job overall, I'm just giving you a few bits that popped out to me and my ears so please don't take them as significant criticisms. Your use of the main theme throughout the soundtrack was masterfully done, even working it into the final boss theme in a way that I myself could definitely learn from! This is an excellent submission overall!
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Right off the bat, Utopia sets the stage beautifully. The guitar melody that makes up the main theme is simple yet powerful, and will no doubt be coming in and out of my head throughout the day.
Your instrument choice is great throughout the soundtrack, with the pizzicato strings in Imagination painting the picture that you outlined in your description perfectly.
One very minor grievance - I would have liked if you had put the description of the songs (file select, opening, etc) in your Soundcloud track titles so I didn't have to go back and forth. It bothered me enough that I realized I should go back and do it on my submission, as well ahahaha
Half way through your soundtrack, everything thus far has served the purpose you set out well, and feel cohesive as an album while still being diverse enough to avoid anything blending together. The shorter length songs are an excellent lesson in keeping things short, sweet and to the point. There are no wasted notes, everything is just long enough to establish its intended purpose and move on. In that way, it is very reminiscent of older SNES jRPG or PS1 soundtracks in style and composition. Lufia II comes to mind for me due to your instrument choice, specifically, but this soundtrack would have fit at home in a Tales or a Dragon Quest game as well.
Illusion Lake continues to keep things just varied enough to be interesting with a nice piano lead. The chords you used here were deceptive in that my brain immediately went to "dungeon" (ala FFIV or Octopath) but the main theme comes back in afterwards to remind me we are just relaxing and fishing. An alternate version of this track as a dungeon theme that continued the path the piano laid out would be really interesting to hear!
Your battle theme sounds great! I can definitely tell it's not a real guitar on the higher notes, but that's not an actual criticism; more a detail that only matters an idiot like me who goes through way too much effort to make their MIDI guitars sound realistic lmao. For your acoustic guitars up to this point - it was realistic and genuine enough sounding that my ears never really dwelled too much on if it was an actual recorded guitar or not. Also, did you layer a clap or something similar on top of your snare? I only noticed it on the first listen, and it doesn't sound bad, it just caught my ear for some reason as sounding a little strange the first time I heard it. Regardless of these minor details, the battle theme slaps - it has a great hook, builds up nicely and has a lovely little break around 0:40 that keeps the hype flowing. Very well done!
Maybe I'm picking here, but Deja Vu sounds like the drums are a tiny bit too forward for it's intended purpose? I checked back halfway through listening to see what it's intended purpose was, and tbh I had to listen to it a couple times to get a picture of Victory Theme in my head. I get it, now, the first few notes are perfect; but something about the bass or the drums feels like it's a little strong - the track overall feels more like world map music or something to my ear. That said, the rest of what was going on in the song outside of the low end felt pretty on point for victory music.
Eternal Sleep ends on a chord that would make me very depressed if I got a game over and heard this ahahaha. Great job!
Solid work on the final boss theme! The main theme popping up again is done so well here, it feels like a payoff for the whole soundtrack. It feels related to the battle theme while not being too far removed from it, and for the most part appropriately upgraded in magnitude. my one critique here is that I might have brought the strings between 0:45 and 1:07 more forward to keep the overall energy of the song high. That's probably the weakest part of the song, imo, the rest of it definitely feels "final bossy" enough.
Overall, definitely the most musically thought out submission I've heard so far. Excellent work!
wow, thank you so much for the in-depth feedback! sorry about the descriptions thing though haha
means a lot that you're drawing comparisons to all these venerated jrpgs, a good number of them served as inspiration for the sound. regarding the clap thing, it was a snare flam hit - i'm not a drummer so idk if that was a sensible choice, i just did what i thought sounded alright lol
for deja vu, i can see the bass being a bit overbearing. the composition itself was inspired by bravely default, though, which had sort of a marching band-type of victory theme. i thought there was a certain whimsicality to that, which is why i went for it... though listening back i don't know if i captured that same whimsicality lol
and i do agree that the strings at 0:45-1:07 could have been boosted, hell, maybe i could have just added more melodic elements in general, it sounds a fair bit empty now that i'm playing it back.
This was a lovely listen! I loved the way you morphed and molded your Main Theme's motif to adjust for different areas of the imaginary game - heck, it sounds too good for it to be "imaginary", I definitely see the vision of it and hear it being used in the stories you tell with these songs. Absolutely wonderful soundtrack! Fav. track: Imagination
Just wondering by the way, what's the guitar-like sound you used in Cloudland Tavern? It sounds oddly familiar but I can't put my finger on it, as if I'd used it before or heard it somewhere else in another album.
thank you! i used an acoustic guitar by orange tree samples for the main melody, but i also used this thing called a mandolin guitarophone as well, i got no idea what it is but i really like the sound lol
Really enjoyed listening to this album. I could clearly picture the scenery of the game in my head. The contrast between the styles of the area themes and the battle themes made it easy to imagine the peace getting interrupted, so I think that was a good choice. Illusion Lake and Well of Wisdom are both gorgeous.
tysm, glad you saw the vision with the sytlistic contrasts!
Ok, hell - that's a lot of music in a week. Well done! 😁
Love that they are all nicely interconnected and tell one story. Only thing I would improve is the sample quality/programming. But other than that this is a fantastic job!
thank you! definitely could have focused more on sample realism and performance realism if i had more time, my main focus was to get melodies down and have as fleshed out of a soundtrack as i could have though.
I lost my huge comment unfortunately... I had filled it up with stars mostly so that's okay.
Nothing to see here, just goes straight to my top 5, freaking incredible job! I'm amazed by having done this much work in a week. Amazing!
man, that's high praise, much appreciated!