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Stratus's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Impression | #6 | 4.118 | 4.118 |
| Creativity | #11 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
| Overall | #11 | 3.976 | 3.976 |
| Composition | #13 | 4.118 | 4.118 |
| Quality | #19 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
| Correlation to theme | #20 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
TLDR: Marle (the main character) finds a friend who likes the same song as her and they sing it together. The friend turns out to be Stratus, the White Dragon, who was wrongly imprisoned because everyone thinks it killed a bunch of people (spoilers it didn't). So Marle breaks Stratus out of its cell and then they both fly away and escape from everyone else.
STORY
Based on the theme, I imagined a game situated in islands floating in the sky, with lots of dragons around. Most dragons are pretty chill and friendly towards people, to the point where it is normal for humans to have a dragon as a pet, or even as a method of aerial transportation, OR both. However, there's one in particular that is seen as very dangerous and threatening, they call it Stratus, the White Dragon. Stratus was involved in an incident several years ago, resulting in the death of around 25 people, and despite there not being decisive proof of its guilt, everyone is convinced that it was Stratus who did it, because "who else could have?". They keep Stratus locked up in a hidden cell to prevent it from doing any further harm, they believe it's too dangerous to be left unconfined.
One day Marle, the main character, was walking around forest in her sky island, humming the melody to her favorite song , and then she heard someone (or something) singing along, but she didn't see anyone. The next day she came back to the same place and chanted the same melody again, and then the next day too, and then again, and again... This person was always somewhere around, and they always sang along with her every single time she came back, but who where they, and where were they? After a lot of searching throughout multiple days, Marle found the hidden cell, with a white dragon inside. "Stratus" was written in the outside of the cell, it was Stratus who had been singing with her all this time! Marle, however, did not know who Stratus was or why it was locked up in a hidden cell, so she went back to seek help to let Stratus free. She spoke around with a lot of people, she told them about how Stratus had been singing with her all this time, but nobody believed her. Then people told her about the people Stratus supposedly had killed, but she didn't believe them.
Marle did not give up though, she was determined to free Stratus...
THE SONGS, ORDERED:
1. Stratus The White Dragon: This song plays during most of the interactions Marle has with Stratus during the game! This is the white dragon's melody. This is Marle and Stratus' favorite song.
2. Fly Away: After having freed Stratus from the hidden cell it was locked in, this song plays as Stratus flies away with you (Marle) on its back, escaping from the people in the village, who are trying to stop you by throwing various lethal projectiles at Stratus and you. Think of this as somewhat of a bullet-hell section where you're escaping from a lot of people.
DAW AND INSTRUMENTS
I used Cakewalk to make both of these! I used Cakewalk TTS-1 for most of the instruments, except for the drums on Fly Away, which are Lorenzo's Drums V1, you can find them on pianobook and use them with decentsampler!
Message from the artist
Hi! I wanted to do more tracks but I guess I only managed to make 2 in these 48 hours. I appreciate any feedback any of you can give me, especially mixing/mastering tips because I feel like I need to improve those the most.
Anyways, I had a lot of fun during the jam, I hope everyone else did as well, and thanks again to everyone involved in making OST Composing Jams possible!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Well... I imagined the characters in the game as the ones in this picture, so Stratus is supposed to be the white dragon in the picture theme, and Marle is the woman. The game I made is set in islands in the sky so that too. And lastly, for the "White Dragon's Melody" I tried to write a leitmotif that would be present on both songs to represent it, and it's also Marle and Stratus' favorite song!
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/fiumals-204391381/sets/stratus?si=e313298266b94cbd8e739a728c36ee08&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
fly away has to be one of the most unique songs i've heard in this jam. manages to be fast and upbeat while still maintaining a sense of melancholy?? that retro GBA composition style is just so damn gorgeous, i'm absolutely in love with the chord movements here
Stratus The White Dragon: ohhh that SNES JRPG style bassline, my weakness. Secret of Mana vibes from this track!
Fly Away: more upbeat take on the motif! Still giving those classic JRPG vibes. Some really cool synths here. The one around 1:40 reminds me of the GBA castlevania games.
Great work!
Really nice tracks and choice of instrumentation ! Like said before, there's a GBA-DS vibe to it that I enjoy a lot (it wouldn't feel out of place in a Golden Sun game for example), and I found the arrangements really nice. Maybe the main leitmotif could have been introduced in a more subtle way in the second track to differenciate it better from the previous one (instead of putting it right at the beginning), but it doesn't detract from the listening experience so it's all good. Congrats for the result and for the additional backstory provided for the tracks too !
Amazing work here! I’ve said this about a lot of entries but the whole Wii/3DS-esque feel you captured (whether intentionally or not) is great. I like the rhythm and soundfont and the chords are just beautiful.
These were so FUN! I personally appreciate the entries that try to make songs that you can listen to over and over rather than trying to be as cinematic as possible so I really liked these.
That is really awesome! I love both tracks but Fly away goes really hard, well done!
I loved that you made them both "sing" the tracks in their on voice, it sounds so pretty, specially on the first on when they sing together. Really great composition, great job! :) Also, that bass slaps.
Man, your bassline always slaps! I really enjoyed Fly Away, can't stop bopping my head to it! Great job sir
I honestly loved this and got an amazing impression from it. I think my favorite track was your 2nd arrangement of the main theme "Fly Away". Definitely one of my favorites.