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General GameOST feedback thread

A topic by horbror created Aug 16, 2023 Views: 356 Replies: 14
Viewing posts 1 to 4

Post your musical work, give feedback to other developers stuff. Try to be fair when giving your critiques to one another. This is a thread dedicated to work concerning your soundtrack, not your musical creations in general.

Things you could bring up: 

- General theming

- Sound quality 

- Suggested changes 

- Specific parts or sounds which contain unpleasant noise and needs change. 

POST YA STUFF. 

My stuff: 

Battlemusic: https://soundcloud.com/horbror/sets/dreams-of-joy-departed-battlemusic

General OST: https://soundcloud.com/horbror/sets/dreams-of-joy-departed-ost

I remember hearing these tracks in the game, and they fit with the progressive story element well. It's hard to tell what some of these themes are specifically for (characters, areas, situations), but they seem to share a similar mood (I get sort of a Stranger Things vibe). I wasn't prepared to hear any vocals, so that was a nice surprise. Everything has a good sense of rhythm and driving percussion.

The sound quality, mixing, and dynamics make it seem to me like you know what you're doing as a composer (unlike me haha). I don't know what software you use, but it seems to be working out well. Are you the only composer or did you get help? Are those your vocals, someone else's, or are they just samples? 

Do you know what leitmotif is? Lots of good composers use it to hide little messages and hints in their music, and I use it extensively in my OST. I heard some of it kind of touched on, with the main bongo-like sound in the battle theme. I heard it pop back up in a few other tracks... coincidence, or something more?

Here's Grass Elemental's OST (for now): https://grasselementalost.bandcamp.com/album/grass-elemental-demo-demo-ost

Though most of this is Gameboy music, the majority of the finished OST will not be chiptune. I am not an experienced composer at all, and this is my first soundtrack, so I hope it isn't too rough lol. 

Your stuff really is good shit, I see what you mean with referencing musical motifs in different ways. I also enjoyed the reference to pokemon. Cant wait to see and hear more from your game.  Are the songs made with a tracker btw?

Thank you so much! The chiptunes are made with Famitracker, and the rest is LMMS. 

I have tried to learn how to use trackers, but I guess I just cant wrap my head around music without a pianoroll :D. 

Its all made by me. My current computer sucks so I am using reason 5, though I own a license for 10. Getting a new computer at the end of the month when payday comes. Yes, there are a lot of clues in the music. All the lyrics are either about what is happening, the themes or something that is going to happen. I am working on my demoupdate at the moment with a whole lot of quality of life fixes but also a lot of new content. Best example I have of the lyrics having to do with the events is this for now (bunch of audioissues created by the recording unfortunately): 

Oh, and the singing is programmed using software similar to Hatsune Miku if you know what that is, I am a man ;). It takes a lot of work to make it presentable but its quite interesting to work with. Concerning mood and themes they become more clear as the game progresses. The video I think explains quite a lot of the themes in chapter 1. Each chapter will have different characters, except for our main dude Winter who is like an outside observer moving through peoples experiences. 

I am going to go through your OST now while I continue to work :). 

All of this is so cool! I'm getting a pretty good glimpse into the project and it's looking great so far! 

I'll email you a midi of Young Hero in a sec :)

First dedicated bosstrack: https://soundcloud.com/horbror/thaw

Can you spot the three songs referenced?

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I'm straining my ears...

Assuming it's just chapter 1 tracks, my first guesses: 

WINTER ARRIVES EARLY,

MIRRORMAN, 

Regret (Nothing)

Lmk how close I got!

Haha, well, many of the tracks reference each other, but I was actually talking about "real musicians". Its the Midge Ure version of Bowies "man who sold the world", Enrico Morricones "Orca, the killer whale" and Beethovens "symphony no.7, 11.Allegreto". Three extremely good songs everyone should listen to.  

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Oh okay, makes sense. I'm too hooked up on leitmotifs I guess lol

If you're up for a motif challenge: What tracks in the Grass Elemental OST use the "Song of the LAND" motif? 

Challenge accepted.

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"Growth and change" is  easy to spot, as is "Her playing" but there are some short parts in "Young Hero" as well. Did I get it right? I also get the feeling that your answer might be "LOL, ALL OF THEM" but if so I cannot spot it!

(2 edits)

Absolutely nailed it 100%, perfect score! I try to make the motifs fairly obvious, like how growth and change is literally just parts of the title theme and SOTL playing simultaneously. "Hi There" and "Black and White Fury" have a very hidden motif from one of the tracks, but I won't say due to potential spoilers for the game's story...

Good luck on your boss!

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Almost done, now I am implementing some scary continuations of some scary mechanics.

And here is the boss: