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A jam submission

Magelight - What Will Become of YouView project page

Hypnotic entry for the OST Composing Jam
Submitted by Magelight — 2 days, 16 hours before the deadline
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Play soundtrack

Magelight - What Will Become of You's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Quality#54.4694.469
Impression#84.0944.094
Overall#84.1414.141
Creativity#134.0634.063
Correlation to theme#203.9383.938

Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
What Will Become of You / Game Over is an ambient musical journey from an imagined game where spirits linger on the coast, refusing to offer up their ties to the mortal world. The sun will not dip below the horizon, the player may not rest, until these ties are cut and they are ushered on across the waters.

Message from the artist:
The sun rests on the horizon cradled by gentle prismatic waves, fracturing, diffusing warm light in cool air. A soft rain falls, droplets tickling your face and dampening your armor. Footprints in the sand, before and behind, leaden, light, or merely tracing, boots and talons alike, spirits at play, spirits at rest. Idle, grasping, wandering things.

Sand outstretched, ahead and afar. Pick yourself up; the hourglass has halted, sure as the sword in your hand, the spear at your back.

We must pass on. The sun must set.

Theme

a journey to remember.

How does it fit the theme?
The player must embark on a quest of self-discovery, reasoning why they are tasked with releasing these wayward spirits on their own respective journeys. Eventually the player, and the piece as well, comes to a stop; there is no further to go and their world can end without regret.

Link to streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/magelightpublishing/magelight-what-will-become-of-you-game-over

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Comments

Submitted

Before even listening to the score, this is definitely a game I would play :) And the music did not disappoint. Absolutely gorgeous. Very understated, yet has a lot of moving parts if you listen closely enough. Brian Eno would be proud. A+

Developer(+1)

Thanks very much Quadratic! Eno's early work and indeterminacy in general inform a lot of my composing. I like to take samples of my own playing from other projects and let the various ostinatos beat against each other until a sense of forward motion is found. From there, the structure is born. Very glad to hear you enjoyed it and I will be expanding these themes into a full album.

Submitted (1 edit)

What a cool soundscape to start things off with! I love this almost drunken piano loop to start combined with the steady rainfall, it has a really cool “struggling to survive” kind of vibe to it.

The production on this is some of the best I’ve heard in the jam so far – the blend of ambient sounds and orchestral instrumentation really works, giving the whole thing a feeling of ceaseless mourning.

I could have used just a little more variation in the instrumentation and melodies – it would have been really cool to let the piano take a step back towards the middle sections, giving the violin, vocals, and maybe some bass elements a chance to shine.

Awesome work!

Developer(+1)

Thanks Aran, that's all very kind of you to say. The rubato nature of the piano loops and how they interact is very much intended to offer a sense of constant forward motion, inevitable but uneven, perhaps struggling as you say. Walking through sand isn't so easy!

Submitted

Wow- stunning! Really enjoyed the use of thunder to add to the atmosphere of the piece. Very relaxing and peaceful- but mysterious at the same time. 

Developer

Thanks for your words, can't have an ambient composition without a little bit of mystery :)

Submitted

Beautiful. It fit's the description perfectly. This made me go places in my head I haven't ever visited before. A magjstic piece.

Impressive work.

Developer

Thank you Felipe, I'm glad it took you somewhere enjoyable!

Submitted

Fantastic ambient piece, I think it would work perfectly in an exploration part of a game (it kind of reminded me of the vibe from Hyper Light Drifter, even if the sounds are very different).
It would have been great to hear different moments of the story/game, but I guess in your idea this is all there was in the game, so it's perfectly fine.
The cover art takes me back to the Bathory albums... love it :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks Cyberleaf! The delicate, fluttering sounds of Hyper Light Drifter are definitely a touchstone for me. Any game that combines worldbuilding through exploration and reaction-heavy combat is a surefire win for my sensibilities.

Had I more than a week, I would have added additional segments of the game/story. I am turning this into a full-length and will make it available on my Itch page as well as more traditional musical outlets.

I do dungeon synth and black metal as well so even when I'm not operating in those modes Bathory is always somewhere on my mind :)

Submitted

Your music has an incredible ambient development.

Developer

Thanks for the kind words Snabisch!

Submitted

very nice. although it's a very long track it didn't became repetitive.  it paints an atmosphere very well. I don't think it would take away your attention when played in the background of a movie or a game scene but at the same time as it paints an atmosphere it would be missed when it would stop to play.

Developer

Thank you Kris, that's one of my favorite things about ambient music and minimalism. You can choose your level of participation, picking out all of the tiny elements and changes or just letting it subtly change your mood in the background.

Submitted

I really like your track, AND your cover art! Out of curiosity, did you do that yourself?  Your instrumentation choice is great, and your long-form / atmospheric approach is really well done.  

Developer

Thanks for the kind words tinythanos! The art is a public domain scan of a painting by Odilon Rendon who I discovered quite by accident. I'm now composing numerous works to suit his artwork; it really takes me away to another place.

Submitted

The ambient really hooked me. One of the best tracks I've heard on this jam! Amazing Job! :D

Developer

Thanks for the compliment, BulletproofCupid. Glad to hear the world brought you in.

Submitted

nice, multilayered ambient, perfect as a background music, smooth, relaxing, and yet kinda challenging... really good work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you Dan, I appreciate the comment regarding some challenging elements in the piece. I like that ambient/minimalist music has multiple levels of participation; you can let it subtly alter your background and mood, or you can focus your ears on all the little interlocking bits.

Submitted(+1)

Against a stormy background, a piano (and guitar or harp?) Gradually emerges, tirelessly picking up its notes, like the call of a bell. The strings in long layers then appear in this mystical bouillard, then as soloists with sustained notes. The echo giving the whole a depth as if coming from a dream. A very soaring OST, in which we are surprised to hear voices fleetingly, as if emerging from a secret broth slowly turned in a cauldron by a celestial entity. Perfectly suitable for contemplation and meditation. The central break is only there to launch a new sequence that will quickly gain momentum. Strangely, I find the magic of the games of "thatgamecompany", in particular the intermediate levels of Flower where the poetry initially remains present while the universe already begins to darken. The choirs more present in the last part finish to confirm the mystical touch felt by the notes of the piano at the beginning. At the end, we can hardly believe that more than 12 minutes have passed. Magic !

Developer

Thanks for the kind words and analysis, Yazorius, Flower and Journey are big influences. I enjoyed your adventurous pieces as well and look forward to more music coming to Itch! Sharing with everyone has been a super fun experience and I think we will see only increased participation from composers in gaming.

Submitted

super cool track, really set you in the mood, good job

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the kind words, well done on your entry! Bright bass tones are underrated.

Submitted

haha, glad you like it

Submitted

This was a very thoughtful and very well put together piece, well done!

Developer

Thanks for the kind words Iksar

Submitted

Loved the use of thunder throughout the piece. Really gave it such a great ambiance!! If anything, I want mooooooore thunder! It would be really cool if it got louder throughout the piece! Some journeys end and this track really nailed that feeling. I feel like this sort of track would work really well in an artistic video game. Loved it! Great work <3

Developer(+1)

Thanks zinewave, I'm glad you appreciated the field recording! If I were to tweak the track for rerelease or for gameplay, coordinating further with the thunder strikes would be a great move. Definitely going for an art game or Soulslike atmosphere, happy to hear that you think it fits well there.

Submitted (1 edit)

This is a game over song I'd remember. Very hypnotic.

Developer(+1)

Thank you, character creation/central hub and end credits music are the things that sit with me the longest. Souls of Fire and Majula are probably my favorite video game pieces of all time.

Submitted

This man knows what he's talking about. Don't know if you are familiar with Demon's Souls, but I would say Souls of mist (the character creation theme) and the nexus are  just as good as the others. Might not be the greatest Souls game (actually is not xd) but I think it has a very unique atmosphere that hasn't actually been achieved in the other souls games. I recommend you giving it a shot if you haven't already, or at least listening to the soundtrack. The music reflects very nicely the moral ambiguity and the despair and sorrow of the world :)

Developer

I played a bit, but elected to wait to fully dive in until the PS5 came out. Well... still don't have a PS5 haha and that's not likely to change, so I might give in and complete it via PS3 after all. The Nexus and Maiden in Black are absolutely brilliant.

Submitted (1 edit)

While I was listening to this I imagined the redemption of a sinful man/woman travelling in a huge empty landscape. The texture is totally different, but it gave me "Journey" vibes. And I absolutely love the choirs at the end part, like the sins have been purified and the soul has trascend. Very original and interesting concept of a "journey", nothing else to say

Submitted

Actually, I have something else to say. Didn't notice the detail that it starts rainning at the beginning and stops rainning at the end, that supports my theory of purification, where the storm and thunders represent the sins. Man, I love how diveregely music can be interpreted.  Very nice again!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you, and I very much appreciate your interpretation! As for the sins of the main character, that is up to the player to impress upon them. The game that I envision would definitely have room for such a vision; who else is to say why the character is tasked with ushering other souls along their journey? Hopefully I'll turn it into a comic or game some day!

Submitted

Atmospheric :) It's good for Hollow Knight game! Rain and storm sounds make it more cool! This soundtrack is different, because you made a soft ambient and probably it's the only ambient on this jam. Good job!

Developer

Thanks very much! Hollow Knight is a big influence. The music from central hubs in games has to be spot on for me to be fully absorbed.

Submitted

This is just amazing! Great atmosphere!

Developer

Thanks for the kind words :)