I enjoy a lot how the narrative combines concepts of video game's history timeline with the themes in the game, the sense of continuity and strange tones of A Bike can go captured my attention causing those weird feelings of strangeness and curiosity of travelling through time and space, the high notes brought this nostalgic feeling of facing a memory.
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Axes's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #2 | 4.692 | 4.692 |
| Quality | #7 | 4.538 | 4.538 |
| Overall | #7 | 4.331 | 4.331 |
| Creativity | #12 | 4.231 | 4.231 |
| Impression | #14 | 4.192 | 4.192 |
| Correlation to theme | #28 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Axes is a narrative puzzle game spanning 2D, 3D and 4D environments, in contrating pixel, voxel and realistic art styles. The story follows the Keeper, a stick-man, as he traverses the ever-transforming mind of Pomet, a composer and poet, across time. As the Keeper explores new dimensions, the timbral quality of the music changes.
1. Axes (Title Song) - Since this soundtrack uses a wide variety of timbral settings, I wanted to include them all in some capacity in this song. There are hints of synthesizers, a close-mic solo violin, and traditional orchestral instruments.
2. A Purple Box - At the beginning of the game, we start in a bare, pixelated 2D world, with little else but a stick figure and some purple shapes on screen. These first few levels, we aren't sure what's going on storywise, and must learn the rules of this disorienting place.
3. A Bike Can Go- After a while of exploring, the Keeper stumbles upon the first 'memory' level: here, we see a little boy learning how to ride his bike for the first time. The Keeper must align the objects in the level exactly correct to get restore the seemily corrupt memory into its correct timing: it's here that you unlock the ability to pause time.
4. Shifts and Pauses- This next section of the game introduces 3D environments, and it becomes more clear that we are helping to fix the corrupted memories of Pomet, who has grown into adolescence. As his concept and understanding of time passing by also evolves, so do the instruments we hear-- and the number of dimensions in the level. This is the first track to also have a 'clock mode', which happens whenever the Keeper pauses time (in this case, the clock comes in when the music repeats.)
5. First Cigarette- The moment where Pomet shares his first (and only) cigarette with his first love is the setting for our next level.
6. Inexorable Views- As Pomet gets older, and struggles more and more with his understanding of time, the levels begin to explore the fourth dimension, jumping through different realities and splicing them through time. The music gains a further sense of urgency here. This level also has a 'clock mode', heard on the second repeat.
7. They Say It Flashes- (tw: su!c!de) In the final level, Pomet leaps from the top of his apartment building in an attempt to take his own life. Here, it is revealed that the Keeper is a manifestation of Pomet's subconscious mind, and has been repairing the memories to help Pomet through a coma. This final memory, the hardest of all the levels in the game, is the only way to save Pomet's life.
This project was made with sounds from EastWest Composercloud, as well as some synths and percussion from Spitfire LABS, and from the Cinematic Studio Winds, Strings, and Solo Strings libraries.
Theme:
Tick Tock...
How does it fit the theme?
The game involves the manipulation of time in various 2D, 3D, and 4D spaces, and the game's story involves the main character grappling with an ever-changing understanding of time.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/david-caldarella/sets/axes-original-soundtrack?si=1c8029ce541844b3a575df18e360dd97&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Soundtrack use permission
No
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