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(2 edits) (+1)

Couldn't quite beat it on my first try, but barely won when I tried a 2nd time! So difficulty was just right. 

Theme is quite solid since the enemies, enemy types and turret upgrades are added over time. The doors were kind of forced as in they didn't make any difference to the gameplay or anything, could've been anything else as well. (The door sprites looked good tho!)


The sound effects were great, this kind of game would feel very empty without them. I read in another comment that it was your first time making music? If that's true you did AMAZING! 

 I'm a musician so let me break it down a little further: 

+ There is no random dissonance or unintentional weird note choices which are typical when I hear someone's first electronic track. 

+The sound choices are all solid and nothing feels too out of place. 

+Important for a game, it doesn't get annoying hearing it on a loop while playing the game. Also it isn't obvious when the song loops (Like a weird pause or something where you can easily hear "oh here it loops")

+I love the lead synth doing the slides/bends, it really makes the track " lift off "

+The drums aren't just a kick/snare loop and you have some details there.

+The biggest plus is you have DYNAMICS and CONTRAST between the song sections, the drums go in and out. Melody stops playing as well. You have different combinations of the instruments playing so it feels fresh as the song goes on!


Now there's still stuff that could be improved, but these wouldn't be as relevant to game jams more like making music in general:

- The mixing, while not bad could be better. I think it works since you have so few instruments and good sound choice. (Each occupy their own frequency area quite nicely)

-Arrangement wise you don't have any instrument playing chords. Songs often have at some points some kind of comping instrument playing chords. Not having any can make it seem hollow.   (Having chords can complicate mixing however since chords are often in a similar frequency range as the melody. )

-You could add more effects like delays or maybe a modulation effect like flanger/chorus for some part. This is common in electronic to have more contrast and movement.  Also doing automation on these effects and pan/volume etc. is what really makes a track pop!


But yeah the music "negatives" are major nitpicking, I'm jealous you did so great on your first time.


Solid game entry, sorry for the novel about music in the middle in my review haha

Thank you for your praise and fair criticism! Im happy to hear you thought the difficulty was just right, balancing the game was not easy.

It's actually not my first time making music, but it's the first time I'm happy with the music I made! I usually struggle with coming up with something more than just 8 bars. Maybe the time pressure of the game jam helped, I had to be quick to make the song and didn't have time to think so much, haha it felt like a happy accident!

I really appreciate your music tips, having contrast and dynamics is something I will keep having in future songs. If you had to add chords to this song, what instrument would you use? Some kind of synth? I will try to add this after the jam and see if I can't make it more "full" :D

(2 edits) (+1)

I can relate to the fast time pressure and just keeping the first thing you made having a positive impact when making music. If you hear your own idea too many times it's very easy to get stuck and not know where to go from there.

The most typical and easiest would be a "Synth Pad" sound, these usually play long chords, only changing when the chords in the composition change. Usually that's when the bass changes but that's not a rule.

The more advanced option is a "Poly Synth" sound where you play more of a rhythmic idea or even a riff. The most basic form of this would be a "Stab" sound playing each time the snare drum hits. (and maybe with a few filler rhythms for variation.)

There's a bunch of different "Layers" that can be added depending on the specific genre of music. 


Of course all of these should be layered and left out for contrast when the music needs it!


Edit: One more way to add harmonic information is an "Arpeggio" These are common in chiptunes/video game music since the old hardware couldn't play chords. Arpeggios add a lot of energy and forwards momentum to a song, maybe try them in some song too!