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Yume no Umi's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #72 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Creativity | #160 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Composition | #162 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Overall | #192 | 3.640 | 3.640 |
| Impression | #263 | 3.450 | 3.450 |
| Quality | #397 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Yume no Umi (or Ocean of Dreams) is an orchestral score that leans into oriental influences. I tried to be authentic as possible, using traditional Japanese instruments and scales.
I envisioned Yume no Umi's game to be simliar to GRIS or Journey; a platformer type game that has a focus on telling a visual narrative rather than challenging gameplay. It would be shorter than the previous examples, but it's a one-off story that functions as an engaging and artistic experience.
The story of Yume no Umi is a young girl gaining access to a dream-like undersea world (Ritual Dance). She explores this beautiful ocean and its inhabitants- which, surprisingly, happen to include her mother. (Yume no Umi). However, as she traverses the dream world, she comes to realize that her mother isn't really here; in fact, her mother had died recently. And while this ocean could let the girl escape her grief, she accepts the truth and decides to return home. (You're Not Her). In the end, the young girl is home in the real world, beginning to heal her grief and move forwards. (The Flow of Life Carries On).
Yume no Umi was created in Pro Tools with various instrument libraries; the predominate one being Native Instrument's East Asia collection. In terms of composition, the majority of the score is written using the Ritsu scale and the Ryo scale for the final track. The symbolism of these scales reflect Yin and Yang; Ristu being Yang, which represents the life of this dream world yet it not being true, and Ryo being Yin, which represents nothingness and loss, but hidden within is life continuing on. Also to not, the last track is the only track with no water SFX, signifying the girl's removal from the dream world entirely.
Message from the artist
I hope you enjoy!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The narrative of the soundtrack revolves around this artwork; a young girl with a mother figure in an undersea world. Yet the woman is faceless, fleeting as the bubbles around her... why is that? I felt that there was a bittersweet story here, about a daughter eventually accepting the loss of her mother after trying to escape from it.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/thedarkmaestromft/sets/yume-no-umi?si=8b955672631e4952a01d51d28f81b62e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
https://youtu.be/JXmoyQeBjjc
Number of tracks4
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Really enjoyed how you used the Ritsu and Ryo scales to represent different aspects of your world, it worked very well with the instruments you used. Great job!
I love the eastern vibe in your tracks. Well done orchestration! :)
The choice of instruments and arrangement in Ritual Dance is really cool - feels very faithful. Nice progression and cool evolution throughout.
Yume No Umi is gorgeous; the layering at the beginning is fantastic and the piano playing does a great job of bolstering the other instrumentation. Nice use of the bells taking the lead tones and the rest of the accompaniment below carrying the melody and chords. I think the (primarily) piano outro for this one is really clever; it grounds the track and and gives some breathing room before kicking into the next track.
You're Not Her is ominous out of the gate; nice choice use of instruments here, very much opting for the less-is-more approach and it works really well. Having some low droning notes accompanied by SFX does a great job of setting the stage for something much darker than what we've heard thus far. String-work is great and this track does a fantastic job of evolving over time. Resetting once again to a quieter and more peaceful prolonged outro section does wonders for cleansing the palate of the tension beforehand.
And last but no least, The Flow of Life Carries On - I love how stripped down this is in comparison to the other tracks. Nice simple melodies, ambling along at its own pace. Great articulations at play here and a really nice way to round out the soundtrack as a whole.
Great work - this made for a fun listen and explores some lesser explored themes. Produced well with no mixing issues from myself personally, and some genuinely really cool arrangements in general. Best of luck! :)
Great choice of instruments and style. While a lot of submissions were inspired by East Asia because of the theme, this submission was one that committed to the style on a musical front. My favoroutie part of the soundtrack was probably the second portion of "Your not her". One critique: the sustained flute and strings could be more expressive--they felt a bit blocky and unshaped.
Overall a very creative soundtrack. Nice work.
Last Minute Rating Spree
I really enjoy submissions that break away from the western orchestral instrumentation and harmony. Well done.
It was an emotion-filled, albeit small, adventure! (And I heard a lot of oriental instruments! Whoo!).
I don't know why, but The Flow Of Life Carries On is my favorite track. It makes the story feel complete and happy)
Thank you)
Love the piano melody on Yume no Umi! Great use of Japanese instruments, enjoyed my stay!
great story that absolutely nails the picture theme! Great job.
I appreciate that you used very Japanese instruments it was a pleasant vibe!
The entire OST is beautiful! The oriental influences sound gorgeous and absolutely capture the world & narrative that you described :3 I especially enjoyed the sombre contrast of You’re Not Her with the other brighter, more upbeat tracks preceding it! I think that sense of sadness, loss, and realisation combined with a gentle warmth probably made it my favourite track :D
The title track had beautiful calmness with that oriental strumming in there. I was pretty happy with this submission and glad to be able to rate it.
Beautiful color palette. I think you chose the right instruments to paint with.
This would be a video game that I would definitely save in my collection.
Awesome!
The composition is really good! I do think you might need to work on the dynamics a little more for next time (Mostly on the flute in the first track, not really your fault.) Woodwinds are particularly very difficult to program but the real trick is to adjust the expression to make it sound more natural! Either way even if its as simple as faking it with a volume adjustment going up and down it can really make a huge difference.
That said I love the compositions. Really great atmosphere in all the tracks. You should definitely check out some of Ryuichi Sakamoto's (RIP) music if you wanna get some references for next time! Really loved it!
First off, I love all of the lore you made for the game! I would play the heck out of that. As for the music, I adore the heavy Japanese influence that you had! It definitely made your soundtrack quite unique, and it gave way to really interesting ideas.