Play soundtrack
The Keystone Slate's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| General Impression | #2 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
| Inclusion of fragment | #2 | 4.600 | 4.600 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.120 | 4.120 |
| Creativity | #2 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Adherence to theme | #3 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Quality | #3 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many tracks did you submit?
5
If you uploaded to a streaming platform, please drop the link here!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOjIcIIClYQW7xRFVLy8X5xcKmA4ebHIN
Explain your hypothetical game concept & how you interpreted the theme!
You creep along as a caterpillar, and this narrative driven game follows you through the different stages of your evolution. You sit in a mysterious cave where reality bends. The meaning of our story is up to your many interpretations!
Check out the project page for a short story while you listen!
Act 1: Where Did I Go
Act 2: If Ever I know You Again
Act 3: What Was It All For
What genre is your soundtrack?
Electronic,
How did you incorporate the Dies Irae into your hypothetical soundtrack?
Dies Irae is incorporated in many ways! It is a melodic element in all songs. In the song On My Way, we recorded Dies Irae as a vocal melody.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Official Tracklist (In Order):
Where Did I Go
Sitting In Between
Emergency
The Worm
On My Way
We represented the theme of creeping through eerie sound elements like the percussions in "Where Did I Go" and the instrument textures in "the Worm". we attempted to twist familiarity and let strangeness creep in.
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Comments
Very cool! Let's go with my impressions:
1. Where Did I Go
SHAKER!!! Forest vibes all over, lively, loving the kind of woodpecker at the background. The percussion is fantastic, and loved the tastefulness of everything and the distribution of everything in the mix, with the motive central, with the piano on the side. The last syncopated chord works great to spice it up.
2. Sitting in Between
I had to check if I was listening to the same song in repeat. I think the motive sounds too similar to the first track, with no variation in timbre, tone or rhythm. This is detrimental to the listening experience, as it inevitably feels like a repetition or modified version of the first piece. I am digging the alterations in the soundscape backing the melody, but would have loved for the melody to also morph into something different (or maybe disappear altogether and make a comeback at the end of the track).
3. Emergency
Same issue with the repetition of the motive. Badass drop and transition at 0:40. That panned, overdrive line is killer. Loving when finally the Dies Irae finally starts to blend with the rest of the song and loses its protagonism.
4. The Worm
And here we are freed from the chains of the motive, for once and for all! Loving the flanger and wah. For me this is the track that hits harder.
5. On my way
Awesome textures, taking me to this earthy, raspy, dirty soily ground. The drums programming here is top notch. Hypnotic percussion with great sound design. Also the general layering is very good. The only thing which kind of bugged me was the timbre of the lead, getting a bit shrill with the repetition of the melodic pattern.
Great work! I am loving the concept, and kudos for the artist who created the cover! Beautiful and powerful, transmitting this mood of earth and wood and wetness and dark soil, fitting very well with the textures of the soundtrack and the video game idea. I loved many things in your pieces, and I sometimes just wished for the Dies Irae to be less central and make room for other original melodic ideas, but of course the idea of the jam was to use the motive, so nothing to say in this regard! I might just be starting to feel tired of listening to it in so many pieces, including mine...
Playlist on youtube in short form was brilliant and innovative. awesome thing about the shorts is that the song can repeat while i am writing a comment/feedback. Gona be honest thought it would be more fun to give everything a cold read before reading the project page. I see you put a lot of work into this, so definitely want to pay my respects.
Cold read means i did not read the story while listening. I listened to the music in the order written below which may have been backwards. (My apologies, i guess i went in the order they were uploaded from top to bottom)
Emergency (Cold read)
-Interesting take on "Dies Irae", love whats happening with the melody, like its slightly askewing from what we understand as the tonal center. I would describe this as anti-hero music. World is falling apart but the player/character maintains peace of mind by stay true one's own moral compass. The setting being a fully functional city at night time, where the chaos exist internal via the people. Similar to the recent cyberpunk anime.
On my way (cold read)
-a lot of these songs are upbeat, and not meloncholic as i was expecting. Nice gems and hyper listenable in not require visuals to listen to. Great standalone piece. Nice use of synthesized voice? Seems more like music waiting for a vocalist. is that a rubbing sound against the mic? in the beginning? i get the impression of an "on my way" being told as a lie. Like when someone says "ill hold off the enemy so everyone can escape, ill be on my away after everyone gets out" but everyone knows he is sacrificing himself for their sakes. This song is a reflection of the emotions of the fleeing people in the aforenoted scenerio. Very creative take on the theme.
"Siting Between" (cold read)
-Nice job mainting that melodic theme. seems like a prelude or outro to "on my way" as a transitional element. Maybe even a slow down/slo mo sequence to emphasis specific moment.
"Worm" (Cold read)
-Game play music happening in the back ground with a slow build that only happening once you ending or get closer to the boss room. Could also serve as a transitional piece for a loading screen.
"Where did i go" (Act 1)
nice panning. Interestingly enough i listen to this song last and then starting reading act 1 while listening to it. Act 1 seemed very description heavy. Didn't get a sense of direction or purpose, more like a description of an establishing shot. curious what the intent was with act 1 or was it just free writing?
-Would be nice to know which acts go with which songs.
i'll also be honest, i couldn't get into the writing, personally not a big reader. I should also mention, heavily descriptive writing that doesn't push the story forward is not my thing. I like intention and predefined goals that the character is working towards and any details that don't push the character in the direction of said goals, seem like filler words. The story was too creative for me, But love the idea of pairing writing with music. Keep this collaboration going!
thank you for the the detailed comment! unfortunately we uploaded them in the wrong order the track list is: Where did i go, Sitting in between, Emergency, Worm, On my Way. The vocals in On My Way are actually me singing and Carmine heavily processed them. About the short story, we were very ambiguous with it, we intended to leave the meaning up to the readers interpretation, which definitely could’ve have made it less engaging.
also incase youre curious here are the songs and which acts they relate to: Act 1: Where did i Go, Sitting in between Act 2: Emergency, Worm Act 3: On My Way
Thanks again for the comment and perspective! much appreciated
yea i noticed when went to read the project page, but unfortunately that was after listening to everything. and thanks for the updates.
Feedback for The Keystone Slate OST by Dajoh and Carmine
1. Where Did I Go
I really love this more modern/lo-fi take on the Dies Irae! Super hip and creative. I love the percussion elements and the sparse countermelodies and the sparseness of the track in general. I really like the xylophone-sounding instrument you use for the Dies Irae melody.
2. Sitting In Between
Great transitionary track. I like how this is kind of a more relaxed version of the first song.
3. Emergency
Nice kind of laidback track here. It’s a bit repetitive, but a good atmospheric track!
4. The Worm
The Dies Irae is starting to wear just a bit, but I like what you do with the bass synth and drum machine here to take attention away from it. As if you sensed this. The drums are well-programmed and mixed. I like the stereo panning and the overall mix and effects.
5. On My Way
My favorite of the bunch! Awesome sound design! I am getting a definite caterpillar ASMR “crunch” sound throughout the track. Loving the percussive elements and simple but effective drum beat. The vocal part is utter bliss and gives off Cashmere Cat vibes, especially in combination with the percussion!
Wow! I am quite impressed with this soundtrack! The Dies Irae is used very creatively and I love the caterpillar narrative. You two have effectively taken a very old melody and seamlessly placed it within a hip, modern setting. I guess my biggest complaint is that it was kind of annoying having to manually go to the next song since it was uploaded to YouTube Shorts. I am also a little confused by the concept of the hypothetical game and what the gameplay would be like. The inclusion of the short story seemed somewhat superfluous. But this was a great collaboration overall!
thanks Robert! On My Way is certainly our favourite as well. the reason it was posted as YouTube shorts is because we uploaded the video with a 4:3 aspect ratio so YouTube wouldn’t let us post it as a normal video (definitely wont be making that mistake again) as for the game concept i suppose we were more interested in the narrative as opposed to the gameplay, thus the short story. thank you for the feedback and taking the time to write such a detailed review!