Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

DreamlessView project page

Album made for OST Composition Jam Crunchtime 04
Submitted by Forty Four — 26 minutes, 46 seconds before the deadline
Add to collection

Play soundtrack

Dreamless's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Correlation to theme#883.2173.217
Impression#1183.1743.174
Quality#1192.9572.957
Overall#1193.0703.070
Creativity#1223.0433.043
Composition#1282.9572.957

Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
Both the picture and the text suggested the game about struggling with anxiety, something that could maybe be made in RPG Maker. I tried to pair it with minimalistic instruments to create this emotional feeling. In a story-heavy game music is very important and it has to tell a story by itself.

Main Menu theme was made as a baseline to the others. I tried to create the feeling of fatigue, and shift in music was supposed to indicate that the game is about struggle.

Dreams of Dreams is the song that was supposed to be played at night - we are the most vulnerable to anxiety at the late hours and I tried to replicate that. Clock not only gave the song a rhythm, but also was supposed to add a feeling of passing time, which would elevate the stressful atmosphere.

Sunset, Sunrise was supposed to play during an ending, where the protagonist finds the strength to keep going. Not everything is fixed, however now they have hope that it can.

The pieces were supposed to tell a story as much as the writing of the game would.

All pieces were made in FL Studio.

Message from the artist
Thanks to my friends for supporting me throughout.

Theme

Freedom
Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
Both the picture and the text suggested the game about struggling with anxiety, something that could maybe be made in RPG Maker. I tried to pair it with minimalistic instruments to create this emotional feeling. In a story-heavy game music is very important and it has to tell a story by itself.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG1PAatPAJNTMhxYaKpTTAnM9dlEyIOht

Genre

Ambient
Folk/Acoustic

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Submitted(+1)

Sunset, Sunrise - Sounds like one more “good morning, friend!”

Menu Theme - This theme made me stare at the wall...how did you achieve this effect? HOW?

Dream of Dreams - Bells... clocks..... time... sadness...

Good job!

P.S. Rarw

Submitted(+1)

I adore the muted trumpet/sax in Sunset, Sunrise, give it such a resolute but melancholy feel. Great choice. Also hearing the main theme turned into something hopeful was really neat too! I do wish the clock ticking was a little bit quieter as it sort of takes over the piece in Dream of Dreams, but it was a pretty clever idea for what it represents in game

Submitted(+1)

Weirdly enough, it has taken me until today to really hear some submissions with saxophone. Yesterday it would've been my first time hearing it, but today is my third. Either way, here in Sunset, Sunrise it works really well when offset by the piano. Nice melody; slow-developing and rather pensive. The keys do a lovely job of supporting it - some really nice choice of chords here.

The Main Menu theme, by comparison, has some tension present. The lower-register pulsing contrasts the melody being played above. I love how this starts to open up gradually as the track progresses with just the barest hint of supporting pads. Having the aforementioned pulse develop into an arpeggio and then rest into chords later on is a great example of harmonic progression done right.

Finally, Dream of Dreams leans into its title quite literally - loving the changing of voices here. Having the piano keep to itself in the lower-register again while letting those dulcet tones ring out above like a lullaby is clever. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the percussion in this one, but it wasn't distracting enough to take me out of the moment.

Great work all around, these piano-centric pieces are always a blast to listen to and I love how you branched out into other instruments to carry some melodies. Well produced and a delight to listen to. Best of luck.

Submitted(+1)

Lovely listen.

Submitted(+1)

Really nice work! I particularly loved the last track! Really pretty! I think if you added just a tiny bit of rhythmic vitality in the piano, particularly at the end of phrases leading to other phrases, I think that could go a long way!

Beautiful work!

Submitted(+1)

I enjoyed this soundtrack, it's calm and there's no drums at all, leaving the light to the composition and the texture. I liked the tick-tock of the clock on the second track, its volume could be a bit reduced though. The wind instruments on the closer is also nice.

Submitted(+1)

I like the anxiety approach, the clock in the second track is pretty stressful indeed ahah. Quite coherent and simple at the same time. Mostly wholesome even in my opinion, like to counter-balance the anxiety I suppose :)

Submitted(+1)

your soundtrack was very cohesive with the instrumental palette and atmosphere! the atmospheres the tracks portray really add to the sentimental and sorrowful themes that you wanted in your videogame concept!! ^-^

i really like the addition of the ticking in "Dreams of Dreams" (i'm a sucker for anything clock-related); the clock does stand out from the rest of the instrumentation, which i think adds more of a sense of dread and anxiety by overshadowing the instruments.

Submitted(+1)

The instruments were all quite pretty, though I think the clock ticking in the second track was a bit too loud and distracting.

I also feel like all the songs were all too similar. The instruments would change around, but the chords and melody all felt samey. There's having a motif, and then there's having variations of a song. The third song was the most unique with the trumpet melody.

Developer

Ah the clock in the last one was quite a poor quality sample I tried to fix. Dream of Dreams was the final song I made; it was rushed a bit, and it feels that way unfortunately.

Melodies and variation in the songs are something I have to work on, trying to make them cohesive and not repetitive at the same time. I appreciate the comments and advice ^^

Thanks for taking Your time to rate it and comment!

Submitted(+1)

Like the minimal use of instruments.  Sometimes less is more. 

Developer

Thank You, that what I was going for ^^

Submitted(+1)

Really like the idea on "Dream of Dreams", that feeling of restlessness when dreams and reality mix into a blur is quite relateable

Developer

Glad You liked it! My execution could be a bit better though.

Thank You for taking Your time to rate and comment!

Submitted(+1)

I think this submission was very well done conceptually, even though I think it was slightly lacking creatively. But that was not really an issue for me at all, the quality of the music is well done and for background music would be a perfect addition in many minimal games. Sunset, Sunrise is my favorite song in it all, would listen to it on loop! Great work!

Developer

Thank You! Glad You enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

I really like your take on the theme. I didn't really think about it but anxiety/depression makes a ton of sense, and the quiet, sparse instrumentation definitely helps give off feelings of a melancholic, resigned life imo. The piano does feel like it could use a little more variation in the velocities to humanize it a bit, but otherwise I liked the vibe. The sax in the final song was a great way to close it off!

Developer

Thank you! Honestly a bit surprised not many people went into that direction, it felt obvious to me after seeing the picture combined with the theme. I’m happy that I managed to convey what I wanted to at least in some capacity. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

I like that you brought down to a small instrumentation to create a more emotional/personal feel to it, I think that worked well

Developer

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

Really soft introspective album. As most people mixing could be better but on crunchtime that's hell lol.

Super enjoyable :)

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Ah, thank you! Mixing is hard and I have yet to learn how to do it correctly, but at least I can blame it on the crunch time right now :P

Glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+2)

interesting exploration of the theme, nice :)

Developer

Thank you ^^