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Synlyfe - Longing Freedom's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Quality | #11 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Overall | #22 | 3.853 | 3.853 |
| Composition | #24 | 4.050 | 4.050 |
| Impression | #31 | 3.883 | 3.883 |
| Correlation to theme | #32 | 3.650 | 3.650 |
| Creativity | #67 | 3.517 | 3.517 |
Ranked from 60 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Wanted to work off of the sombre tones in the picture and lean more into a melancholic longing vibe. Did this by running the piano through some heavy processing, then filtered the final output to keep it a little crispy and muddied by a driven low-pass filter, with some resonators to really bring out and excite some key frequencies.
The piece has some pensive melodies and rather simple supporting instrumentation, leaning heavily into ambience to set the overall tone and drive the track forward. The majority of said instrumentation is rather clean, barring the sine wave from Serum which is being run through similar processing as the keys. Originally planned to do more elaborate string sections but ran out of time so I opted to strip back some underdeveloped sections and supporting lines.
Despite the initial direction, I wanted to inch toward a more hopeful feeling by modulating the key to Ab in the final section. The supporting instrumentation takes a little bit more of a backseat here but the rhythms switch up to lean into a more pensive, possibly-uplifting vibe to round the track out.
As for how this would fit a game - I originally started working with a title theme in mind but then found myself leaning more into a pensive level theme, possibly for some kind of side-scrolling platformer similar to Celeste or even the likes of Hollow Knight. The latter in particular is what made me want to rely more on ambience over outright melodies. I think the piece could be befitting of a kind of Save-Room theme; the journey isn't over, but it's OK to rest a while.
Done in FL Studio in approximately 3 hours. See "Message from the Artist" for more details.
Message from the artist
Misread the ending date for tomorrow so when I woke up and saw 3 hours to submit I realized I'd have to work quick! All in all this piece feels very underdeveloped and I'd prefer to keep some elements, dump the rest and start over but time isn't on my side. Happy enough with the result for a couple of hours work - likely won't be to everyone's tastes but that is OK!
My preferred 3rd party website Audiomack may be having issues displaying the track - I have uploaded the same mp3 to Soundcloud for now as an alternative: https://soundcloud.com/synlyfe/longing-freedom
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Despite the title and the nature of the picture, I personally found it to have some sombre tones. I wanted to lean into this kind of pensive sadness by intentionally having the keys blown out and reverberated, then applied a resonator on certain frequencies and low-pass-filtered the output while engaging some drive.
As for how this would fit a game - I originally started working with a title theme in mind but then found myself leaning more into a pensive level theme, possibly for some kind of side-scrolling platformer similar to Celeste or even the likes of Hollow Knight. The latter in particular is what made me want to rely more on ambience over outright melodies. I think the piece could be befitting of a kind of Save-Room theme.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://audiomack.com/synlyfe/song/longing-freedom
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
For game jams only
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Comments
I don't know what you are on about, this is great. It doesn't sound undeveloped to me, it has the right amount of ambiance.
I really like the instruments, and the effects used on them, they all complement eachother very well.
This is a really nice track, and having done it in three hours is quite the feat.
Great work! :]
Appreciate it! There's a lot I would change but such is the nature of these shorter jams. Thanks for taking the time to check it out and leave a comment. :)
See, even though this is ambient, it is never boring!
The percussion is the star of the show in my eyes for keeping everything interesting and fulfilling the vibe.
I especially like the tuned percussion that swung back and forth from ear to ear! What instrument is it? because it is amazing!
Hey, thanks for checking it out and leaving a comment!
The percussion you're talking about is the marimba - I've got some light processing on it (outside of the panning) to have it sit a little more in the mix. I'm a sucker for textures and melodies with mallet instruments so if I can find an opportunity to slip one in the piece, I always will! Highly recommend giving them a look for yourself as I could see them fitting in with your own works!
Oh don't you worry! Mallet instruments are my absolute favorite and I put one into almost every single song I make! Marimba being the best instrument ever made!
Gotcha! I specifically used Heavyocity's ASPIRE vst if you're curious. Not the best 'standard' mallet vst as it is laden with FX and has a really interesting textural engine, but it helped me out in a pinch and ended up working well for what I was going for!
Very moving song, the music reflects perfectly the title. Great melodies and the change of textures throughout the piece are very nice. Loved the percussion in the section that starts t 1:20 mark.
Appreciate the comment and insights! Definitely needed some kind of change as the piece dragged on, so I figured some percussion and key modulation would do the trick. Thanks again for checking it out. :)
I also got sombre/dark vibes from the image. I asked a friend after the jam ended, and he found the theme more hopeful instead, which seems to be what a lot of people also seemed to as well.
Could see this playing in a chill puzzle game, or a game menu no problem.
Good stuff!
I can't say I thought of a puzzle game when tipping away with this, but I can totally see the angle now. Appreciate the insights - always fascinating to hear how people perceive things!
Idk Synlyfe, looks like you only need 3 hours to absolutely cook! Sometimes the music takes you somewhere you didn't intend but it gets the atmosphere very spot on. It's really nice ambient texturing throughout and it really just lands its relaxed and passive atmosphere. Strangely with the key change I actually felt less of a hopeful emotion and more of a curious type of feeling. Vibes
Thank you for the kind words! I wish I had more time but truth be told I just wanted to participate so happy or not, I was submitting whatever I ended up with. Regarding the key change - that is interesting! I can appreciate that, ultimately it is all up to how we perceive those kinds of changes. Can definitely feel out that kind of curious feeling, listening back to it now with fresh ears.
Appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts!
God I LOVE how spacious this mix is I'm so glad I listened to this with headphones. Every single melodic and percussive element that came and went added so much character to the track and complemented each other in such a way that they make something greater than the sum of their parts. Personally I'm getting abandoned laboratory exploration vibes from it, and can totally see this as an adaptive track that shifts into a more percussion-focused battle theme kinda like Stellar Blade.
You know, I don't think I even gave this a listen without headphones which is something I definitely should have done! Really appreciate the kind words and the insights. Abandoned Laboratory is an interesting one - I think I can see what you mean. I'd love to lean more into the adaptive side of music at some point but unfortunately with jams there isn't a lot of room to really think that far ahead.
All the same, thank you again - I'm glad you enjoyed and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. :)
What an absolute vibe! The smooth resonances and bitcrushed elements really hit the sweet spot for me, and I can definitely see this as a save-room theme as you mentioned, if this started playing in a safezone ingame this is where I'd rub my eyes and sit back for a good few minutes to take it all in
Appreciate the kind words! Happy to see that it resonates as a safe-room theme - not quite my original intention but the deeper in I got the more it started to fill that niche.
Very clean and atmospheric, I love the feeling of calm tinged with a little darkness. Cool track!
really gorgeous, the tranquil instrumentation is almost hypnotic. i especially love the use of the sine wave, i personally just really love the innocent sort of sound of sine waves in music.
Ooooh the vibes here are immaculate! Great melodies, great production, and this was done in only a couple of hours?! Incredible!
Appreciate the kind words!
I really enjoy the instrumentation, unconventional but fitting. Nice job!!!
Very pretty, I dig it a lot :) I can definitely see it in some sort've Hollow Knight-esque game, ngl
Very smooth and airy track, I enjoyed it a lot !
It flows by very smoothly, it could easily fit in a dream level with flight mecanisms in a 2D platformer (like you described), the instrumentation is very pleasant to listen and vibe to.
Great work, especially when done in 3 hours (you really put the crunch in crunchtime in this one), congrats !
Appreciate it! Definitely took the "crunch" aspect a little too seriously, lmao. Misread the submission date and thought I had a full day to get it wrapped. Oh well, still fun to participate. :)
awesome work on the textures/overall mixing as well as the piano composition!!! felt like i was floating the entire time :D
fantastic work!!
Getting this done in only three hours is impressive! It was nice to read how the theme led to your decision-making with sound design and composition.
The music itself was great, too. Definitely captured the mellow vibes you were going for. Nice work!
found you from my submission comment, and ok, 3 hours is still impressively fast. good to have such balance (i don't have one. and im making all tracks starting from yesterday XP)
im vibing and relaxing with this one. also thx for cheking out my tune as well( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )
I know it's been said already but for 3 hours this sounds amazing!
I loved how smoothe the track is, very chill. As you said it does really feel like it fits a game like Celeste.
Great work!
Appreciate it! Ended up taking the Jam name a little too literally with how much crunch had to go into this but that's part of the fun!
Thanks for the technical breakdown, 3 hours for this is insane!
I wish you had more time, because I definitely wanted to hear more of it! It's so melancholic I love it!
Cheers Kev! Have your piece open on some other tab so I imagine I'll get to it soon. Still have fond memories of Tsuya from last summer!
Thank you! I'm never disappointed with your work, so hopefully my submission doesn't miss the mark too much lol. Cheers!
While I was listening to this, I was thinking this would sound great in a Midna's Lament-type sequence in a game. The hopeful feeling that comes in later in the song really nails home the sense of longing.
Great work!
What the heck this is incredible for a 3 hour quickie! I've given you very good rating, in all honesty!
Appreciate the kind words! I'd change a lot if I could, but it's all in good fun for the jam!