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gaffae - My Last Name's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #20 | 4.094 | 4.190 |
| Impression | #24 | 3.955 | 4.048 |
| Correlation to theme | #28 | 3.675 | 3.762 |
| Overall | #34 | 3.759 | 3.848 |
| Creativity | #44 | 3.722 | 3.810 |
| Quality | #74 | 3.350 | 3.429 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
When I composed it I had in mind a game with the aesthetics of Monster Hunter.
Regarding the software I used, it was solely Musescore 4. I thought about the theme for a while, but then I remembered a quote from Kierkegaard about freedom. I'm no expert on the subject or anything like that, but it made sense to me, so I decided to use that as a reference. I tried my best to represent the limits of freedom by varying the harmony of the theme, because although you can sense it from the melody, it's not something you can always take for granted. I would have liked to have made more variations to explore this idea more, but I started a day late.
I like orchestral music, especially in some Capcom video games like Monster Hunter or Resident Evil. I also like the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack. My main references in music of this style are Joe Hisahishi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akira Senju, Shiro Sagisu, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko shimomura and Yoshihisa Hirano. I'm a novice tho.
Message from the artist
👋
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The main theme is a melody that ascends with a slight descent at the end (minute 1:07). I didn't think too hard about trying to represent the flight of a bird. The way I adhere to the theme is that the theme varies its harmony, limiting the levels of freedom in parallel with what happens in the story, as you meet more people.
The melody doesn't change. It begins with a chord that evokes power; as the melody repeats and the chords underneath change, some may evoke some uncertainty, perhaps even fear, but eventually some comfort, even changing the melody. A little, representing the change that comes with exchanging with others.
There are other elements too, like melodies that ascend and descend with wind instruments, sometimes very fast, sometimes very slow. The strings also make a back-and-forth motion every three bars for most of the piece, like the flapping of a bird's wings.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiUijVwMbvo
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
Why do I feel like your background music is threatening me...
Great job!
P.S. Rawr :>
I'm very glad that you feel threatened and in danger 🥹
Thank you very much for your comment VannaDeltaFox
Oooo as a monster hunter fan I loved thissss, got those feels instantly! the section at about a minute ten seconds was my favorite with the piano melody was so pretty...
oh my god and then the piano melody AGAIN at 2:08 ish... so good!!
The whole piece felt so powerful and adventurous, i loved it! could totally see this being in a video game :)
Thank you very much for your comment, comrade! I also really enjoyed the tension in the monster hunter missions and I love that vibe, I'm glad you see some of that in my theme. It's likely, from what you say and from what I've heard on your soundtrack, that we have similar tastes.
Oh yeah, I'm getting those Monster Hunter vibes from this. Those staccato strings also remind me a lot of the Legend of Zelda, specifically that chord they're playing. That transition around 0:53 hits so hard, and the section around 1:13 sounds climactic and epic. Overall great movements all throughout to make a grand journey. Great job!
I'm getting a lot of comments saying it reminds them a lot of Zelda. To be honest, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but I'm still glad about that, haha. thank you very much!
very nicely arranged — the tension of the piece is already established with the introductory strings, and the slow introduction of the horns as we approach the climax of the piece is a nice touch. nice work!
the transition at 1:12 did surprise me a bit, i was expecting something to transition into it; but i also do like the spontaneous change in volume dynamics for this section! it's rather fitting given the videogame-specific context you envisioned. love the reiteration of the almost rhythmic melodies from the beginning but now in the piano for the end! :D
Thank you very much. I'm glad that was your impression. I'm satisfied with the result. Thank you so much!
Great composition skills ! I like how you play with the dynamics of the Ostinato, I totally catch the Monster Hunter vibe and this melodic sensibility we often find in japanese productions. Awesome :) I guess the theme itself could have been more explicitly explored but we can feel freedom in the music.
I agree, I think it's such a shame I couldn't play more with the harmony of the main theme before deadline. Actually I put those chords as a test (of my main idea of the jam topic) to modify later but bc of time I end up leaving them as it is lol. Im glad you think its a great composition! despite what I said, I really made a huge effort on the this piece.
The composition is really nice, especially the main melody and the "climax" at ~ 1:13, which really caught me off guard. Seeing a proper orchestral composition in this short jam is also very unexpected, but welcome.
For me, the only lacking part is the sound itself - the instruments and the mixing is taking so much away and only leaving to imagination, how nice this could sound with better (or even real!) instruments. The solo piano part is very nice, but it falls apart with some of the other instruments.
Yeah, those are the best sfz/vst's I have atm lol, mixing and mastering are not my strength, maybe it's just that idk how to make those instruments shine, but I think I'm improving little by little. Thakyou very much for your comment, I really appreciate your feedback!
Major respect, orchestral stuff is not easy by any feat of the imagination. Each section is kept appropriately busy, with many melodies weaving around one another and getting their time in the sun before dipping back toward supporting the rest of the score. As someone who primarily works in typical DAWs, seeing all of this in Muse Score is as interesting as it is inspiring - there's just something about seeing the sheet music live that really makes you appreciate the effort that goes into tailoring each individual instrument and section to bolster the composition as a whole.
Great work throughout; super solid orchestration, great understanding of dynamics and articulations.
Thank you so much for your comment. I'm truly flattered, and it motivates me to continue composing and participating more often. Perhaps I'm more comfortable composing orchestral pieces in Musescore because I started composing in music notation programs and later in DAWs.
Of course - definitely keep at it! You've a knack for it, and whatever platform suits you the most to bring your pieces to life is the way to go.
Could hear the Shiro Sagisu influence on the first section with the rhytmic pattern😁.
Might be because of the Shiro Sagisu feel i got in the first section, but i felt that having the timpani play a bit more active role in that could've been cool, instead of just accenting the start of the measures.
But nevertheless, great work!
I love his work so much, Shiro Sagisu is easily my top 3 fav artists. About the percussion, thats not one of my strengths tbh haha. But if I ever improve this score, I'll keep in mind your advice for sure. Thak you very much!!
Big Ghibli vibes with this, especially with the strings at the start, I'm super impressed with your composition skills! Fantastic work, I hope you keep working on this cause it has loads of potential
Thank you very much for the comment, it's greatly appreciated. What a good ear, perhaps you get that impression because many chords are composed of fourths, a musical resource Joe Hisaishi uses quite a bit. I'd also like to improve some things I've noticed, but after a few days of rest from composing lol
This is so impressive, the bar is very high for orchestral pieces and you reached really high I must say.
I think your connection to the theme of freedom was really solid and that part at 1min really got me and my teammate
your comment makes me very happy! I'm glad you liked the main theme, I tried my best to make it sound like liberation even though it's supposed to be a moment where you're giving up certain levels of freedom by choosing a defined path.
Fantastic Work!
Going from 2/4 - 4/4 was really effective, and I LOVED when the beginning came back in the piano! Would have loved to see you round out the composition brining the orchestra back in toward the end!
Bravo!
Thank you very much! feedback means a lot to me. I had planned to divide the piece in sections depending on the progress of the boss, like in shadow of the colossus. The climax would be the part when you're winning or sumn. The thing is, I couldn't work on the loop but yeah, thinking about it, would've been more interesting to go back to the orchestra section. u.u
You went into great detail about how the orchestration is meant to match the theme and that kind of thought is what I love to see in entries! It shows me that you put time and effort into making the music fit the theme in the way you envisioned.
It was very challenging tbh, it's the 1st time I rushed a piece this much lol. Thank you for your feedback!
Cover is epic, and I love orchestral work, and yours is definitely one of the best I've heard!
Amazing work!
It means a lot to me, thank you! reading coments like this makes my sumbit totally worth it for me
Very nice!!! Getting some strong Legend of Zelda vibes, love it :)
tysm! I'm flattered that you think it has some Zelda's vibes. I also like Koji Kondo's work