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To Rule There A Realm At Their Own Will's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #151 | 2.336 | 2.450 |
| Creativity | #154 | 2.574 | 2.700 |
| Impression | #157 | 2.241 | 2.350 |
| Quality | #157 | 2.241 | 2.350 |
| Composition | #157 | 2.193 | 2.300 |
| Overall | #157 | 2.317 | 2.430 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
This is a strategy game around preparing to assault Morgoth in Angband during the Long Peace
Message from the artist
This just has the main theme and the prologue at the beginning where Annael speaks to Tuor about how the Long Peace was like and what happened to his mother Rian after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Galadriel and the other contending Princes of the Noldor were roused to Exile wishing to rule realms freely at their own will when Feanor spoke before they set out on their journey. Also Tuor (shown in the game's Prologue which actually takes place after most of the action) after Annael's fostering will be in slavery and then regain his freedom.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/to-rule-there-a-realm-at-their-own-will
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/prologue-annael-recounts-to-tuor-the-long-peace
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
i love how in-depth you were with the description for your soundtrack's concept; overall, i feel immersed in the world of Middle-Earth as i listen to your tracks... which is really funny because only in the past two weeks have i finally watched 2/3 of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy for the first time LOL ^^
"Prologue - Annael Recounts to Tuor the Long Peace" really fit the bill for me since i had just watched those movies. i can imagine cinematic cutscenes describing some past history that occurred, giving me some context before current day. nice work!!
I identify heavily with portraying Ulmo, lord of Waters (Tolkien's Sea-god) because even though he's the 2nd most powerful Vala he's frequently overruled such that he's kind of the 'Dilbert' of the group. It was Ulmo who saw that he was going to have to intervene while the rest of the gang stayed in Valinor, setting up a more or less path-of-prophecy which led to Elrond's father being born. I mean it's more tricky than that Mandos foretold Earendil's birth by name but it ended up being expected of Ulmo to guide the process.
It sorts well with being a musician because Ulmo's star skill is being the 2nd most knowledgeable about the Music (fate) after Manwe who leads the entire troop of Valar.
This feels like walking into a pre-established world, so I could see this working for the type of game you were writing for!
in the Prologue.... around 1:21 to 1:27 you've got the crossing the Prophecy Of The North / The Helcaraxë On Foot theme echoing (Release LIII)
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=crossing%20the%20helcaraxe%20on%20foot
particularly 0:28 to 0:31 of that which existed in my head since the 90's and is the oldest part of the whole Silmarillion musical corpus apart from the Eärendillinwë main structure (Release I and XVIII both)
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/earendil-piano-alternate-phrases
so your surmise is correct. cheers
see also echoes of Howard Shore during the Two Towers movie: compare here from 4:04 to 4:11 is the seed of a phrase i created throughout the Silmarillion Stuff and gave to the earlier couple (Beren and Luthien)
the beginning of The Quest of the Jewel (LXIV) has it for a few seconds
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=the%20quest%20of%20the%20jewel
cool sound, it does feel like you improvd stuff in on a MIDI controller and then just quantized it. Improv stuff in isn't bad but you didn't really seem to go into it much and make a structure or any themes out of what you improvd in and it feel very constantly random and disconnected because of that. I like the idea and direction you're going in and playing stuff in is an awesome way to get stuff down it just needs some more editing after that step. Good work :)
Being an old who balances a 9-5 with just vibing manual performances, I'm always going to be at a default-disadvantage against the kids who are making precision chiptunes on Itch. But I enjoy the jams for giving me a prompt to not have to invent from scratch :)
Glad you had fun Vera, gave you an Itch follow, consider the same back, if you see anything you like at my main Itch page
https://exedexes1.itch.io/
and as always my wider outside-itch page is this:
https://exedexes1.com/
Ooh Prologue would be perfect in a strategy game, the strings are moody and present enough to evoke a variety of victorious, uncertain, brave, and heroic emotions. The way it varies a lot in terms of chord movement is great for not ever wearing itself down. I could probably spend 2 hours planning out my next 46 moves in one turn with this playing and it'd be fresh all the way through. I do like the regal feel of the Main Theme, but the piano sounds a bit too midi to me personally. Could consider adding a harpsichord if you really want to lean into the regal vibes. Overall great submission!
It does fit into a larger frame of my Silmarillion stuff, every twenty or thirty releases of my main-line i go back if I can find an excuse to do so:
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/sets/silmarillion-stuff
gave you an Itch follow, consider the same back, if you see anything you like at my main Itch page
https://exedexes1.itch.io/
and as always my wider outside-itch page is this:
https://exedexes1.com/
Glad you had a good time with it! Cheers
This composition is crazy, left me speechless with how different it all was, good stuff.
glad you enjoyed it, gave you a follow, consider doing the same if you like my things, my main outside-of-itch website is:
https://exedexes1.com/
I have been on soundcloud since January 2023, then moved to the other platforms via Distrokid in May 2023, and so my things are on Spotify etc.
I really liked the Prologue, harmony is really well made and executed ! Would fit very good as an opening
It has some mixed feelings of greatness and melancoly which I really enjoyed
Great Job !
glad you had a good time, with my other jams i don't always get a chance to go back to the Silmarillion but every several dozen things i try to, to fill holes i didn't cover yet
Oh this really does adhere to the more classical side of things. This was a great listen all in all.
The Prologue has a very pensive intro to it, gradually opening up as it progresses and allowing some more space for the instruments to take to the stage and play their respective parts. I could easily imagine hearing this in the opening cutscene of a game, perhaps even beneath some dialogue.
To Rule There a Realm at their Own Will is laden with regal vibes, and that doesn't just come down to the choice of instruments. The progression here is really nice, and I like how the orchestral elements continually wash in and out to support the lead melody line. Layering of these is really well done as well.
Mixing throughout seems to be good, and the thematic execution is on point. Great work!
I didn't really understand the concept behind the tracks. They had some strange pauses and timings which could sound cool but I want to know why they were added.
You've given part of a story but I don't know how the story fits these songs per se.
A number of useful hyperlinks have been added to the project page.
They should solve all your problems and answer all your questions. Lolz
Probably the most hyperlink-complete page i've done in a good while.
Oh wow you were right! I didn't realize at first that it was meant to be based on preexisting lore.
Thank you for telling me!
I think the prologue would be my personal pick out of the two tracks in terms of the emotions that are invoked out of this piece!
Every once in a while like every 40-50 Soundcloud tracks I allow myself to go back to that Silmarillion world and do a little more stuff to fill in gaps in the book that I didn't get around to yet, A 4X strategy requiring the Noldor to build up against Angband post Mereth Aderthad seemed a good fit for this jam.
the first track is kind of set a short time after Galadriel and Finrod are guests at Menegroth and Finrod says "I'm not ever getting married" Galadriel "Why" Finrod "I'm NGMI per Elvish foresight Nargothrond's getting wiped out" (not in so many direct words)
Which is the substance of:
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/finrod-galadriel-wav
and hearing this makes the first track in the 2-track submission, make more sense
and then the second track builds more on the later things in the list
https://soundcloud.com/doug-stoothoff/sets/silmarillion-stuff
Glad you enjoyed!
Really nice vibes. It feels oooold school kind of dark, sad fantasy!
Glad you had a good time. Elrond's grandfather -does- get put through the wringer in his youth, Annael does her best as a foster parent but those times don't last forever.