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Beauty and Terror on the Mountain's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #3 | 4.429 | 4.429 |
| Overall | #5 | 4.105 | 4.105 |
| Impression | #7 | 4.095 | 4.095 |
| Correlation to theme | #14 | 4.048 | 4.048 |
| Quality | #18 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Creativity | #32 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I envision this in a survival/adventure game about the challenges and beauty of climbing a mountain.
I opted to squish 4 themes into one track for the sake of time, but each could be looped or expanded on to be its own are theme. As it stands now, I think it could work well for an opening cinematic, or a long-trailer.
I used Ableton as my DAW, and various spitfire libraries for the sounds. I opted for ensemble patches (vs individual instruments) wherever possible to save on CPU and RAM. I find this limitation helps prompt composition and arrangement ideas.
Artist comment:
The dichotomy of beauty and danger atop an icy peak, two worlds in one. The player will experience the breathtaking vista of a snow-covered mountain before plummeting into the oxygen-deprived dangers, both real and imagined.
4 themes combined into one "overture". Themes include: Character exposition, Boss Fight (a yeti?), Escape/action Sequence (avalanche?), and an ending theme that hearkens back to the safety felt at the beginning.
Theme:
How does it fit the theme?
This piece is an overture/medley of 4 themes to be used within the game. It transitions between two different "worlds" of sound: one icy, calm, and serene; another tumultuous, dark, and intense.
For the serene section I picked sounds that represented the nature of Niels's scene: icy strings, high winds, a resounding horn. For the dark middle section, I picked sounds that felt intense and red with anger.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/chad-953666806/beauty-and-terror-on-the-mountain-ost-composing-jam-crunchtime-submission
https://youtu.be/JbLcp5HiC7E
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Comments
Beautifull track! And it sounds really good
Really nice job! The setting shines through in this piece.
Very nice themes and I really enjoy symphonic soundtracks like this one. The instruments sound very nice in this one, and I know that it's tiny detail, but I for example really like that the brass hit at 1:59 is slightly apart. It might not even be intended, but I think stuff like that really helps make the music sound more realistic.
Such vigorous vibes! Very polished and balanced. Sounds absolutely complete, as if the related game is already released. Well done!
Thanks! The idea came together quick, such a fun prompt and picture!
Nice melodies! I like how you play the theme with different instruments. Great use of panning too. Very well rounded composition!
thanks! most of the panning is dealt with already in the samples I'm using, just narrowed a few down to not be as far out or wide.
appreciate the feedback!
beautiful composition!
beautiful orchestration man!! (:
Thankyou! much appreciated!
Very immersive. This little trip in the mountains was a pleasure
woohoo! thanks!
Impressive work for such a short time, I really liked the format of having the four themes as a continous piece. Everything was nicely balanced with good instrument choices and good tension and release
ahhh, thankyou so much!
Loved this! Enjoyed each of the themes and felt they gave a well rounded feel to the game world you were aiming to portray.
Thanks for the feedback! <3
Very nice composition! I love the frozen strings (sul tasto, etc.), I can definitely picture a snowy/icy mountain, beautiful yet danger looming with one wrong step. The transition between each track is nicely done too! Your use of dissonance to build tension is very well done! When the tension is over, you brought it back to calm strings, reminds me of LOTR heroes coming back to Hobbiton. Bravo!
Wow, thank you so much for this feedback! I'll make sure to check yours out as well. If something I write conjures up an image of returning to the shire, then thats a win by me
big fan of this
even bigger fan of the action sequence part tho
thanks!! I'll give yours a listen in a bit too!