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The Fleet's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composing Quality | #23 | 3.471 | 3.471 |
| Correlation to Theme | #26 | 3.824 | 3.824 |
| Listenability | #28 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
| Overall | #28 | 3.424 | 3.424 |
| Execution | #29 | 3.235 | 3.235 |
| Uniqueness | #31 | 3.235 | 3.235 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/reflect-null/the-fleet?si=4a60a82b4e0e44e59eca2d0d47446f12&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Description
SNESSy sci-fi track made with Chipsynth sfc. Tried to be accurate to SNES, so there are minimal effects (just a bit of octave and reverb to blend things in).
When I first heard the motif I thought of it in 5/4, so I went with that and let whatever happened happen; the track ended up being a bit spacey sounding so I leaned into that. After the first bit with the motif it ends up going into a bit more of a longer, shifting melody that sounds almost Zelda-y to me. Most of the time spend on this was just making sure notes in the arpeggio didn’t clash with the bass/melody, since there are some chord changes that modulate key I think.
Can loop from end back to start.
Screenshot of DAW
In the project description
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Which Motif did you use?
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Comments
A cosmic SNES orchestra, with a dash of spooky ghosts and panning tunes... LOVE IT!
So also marching drums.... That's it! I'm in love :>
P.S. Rawr :>
Thank you!
Like FoxHyode mentioned, I also felt some of the long help notes at the ends of some of the melody phrases felt that they needed some more movement, like at 1:18 the notes being held for so long felt a bit weird to me on the first listen and the change to the stripped down part felt a bit "jumpy" (for the lack of a better description 😅).
But still, good stuff!
Thanks for the feedback. Personally I like the held notes there, but I could definitely try some modulation (like some vibrato or panning movement) to make it more interesting. I just started using Chipsynth SFC and this is the first song I made with it, so I'm still getting used to the software.
I wanted the change to the stripped down part to feel sudden, but I could probably put some lingering reverb or delay on the notes from the previous section so they don't feel like they disappear too quickly. Thanks again for the feedback!
The sudden shift would probably be great depending the context this would play in a game, say an intro sequence where the visuals match the sudden shift, just felt a bit jumpy to me on its own (also a pretty subjective thing I'm sure 😄).
Might have to buy Chipsynth SFC at some point since I really loved the sounds in your track + the ability to make snes sounds from your own samples seems pretty cool.
Yeah I actually imagined this track as an intro, opening credits sequence that would play once (like in FF6 when they're walking through the snow). I think it's hard to critique game songs without context, in that sense. That said, I come from a background of writing rock/indie music and playing in bands; I only started getting into making game music these past few weeks, and this is the first time I've submitted anything online. It's been interesting to get feedback from people in the game-music community, as it seems like there are definitely expectations people here have that I'm not used to. I've been getting critiques I never would have thought of, which again is pretty interesting and useful. But some have definitely caught me off guard, haha. I think my background of writing and mixing rock/prog/jazz music might rub off on my game music in ways that go against some conventions, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.
But yeah, try out Chipsynth! I've been ripping samples from SNES games, it's a ton of fun to use if you like that sound.
With these sort of jams where the music is made to fit in a game contex, I've always felt its good to write out what kind of place/scenario you imagined to music to play in, just so it's a bit easier to imagine how it would work in context while listening.
Some music feel a lot different when listened to outside of the context they were made for, like movie music feels really jumpy and a bit all over the place when i listen to it on its own, but when paired with the movie it works great, since all the sudden shifts and jumps correspond the the footage (I listened to some star wars music on its own recently and especially the action music felt really adhd).
But all of this is subjective of how I feel things while listening, so might be totally different for other people 😅.
Yeah, music will always be super subjective - which is one reason I love it, haha.
Interesting take using SNES soundfont. Composition wise the structure made sense, the loop works but it feels a bit static at some point with the longer melody note, you could probably play a bit more with the melody or counter melody. 1:25 there was something a little weird going on harmonically melody and arpegios are clashing a little bit. Mixing wise you could probalby balance it a bit more, the better your arrangement is the easier the mix will be by default. Good job :)
Thanks for the feedback. Honestly I didn't imagine this song to be a looping song, more like a thing played one time during an opening credits sequence. As a one-time song I like the longer notes and the simplistic composition, but if it were a looping track I agree that it would need a bit more counter-melody, etc.
I don't hear the 1:25 clashing notes, so I'll try going back into the mix and see what's going on there. It might just be because that note isn't part of the key-at that part the key is changing back to the original, so there are some odd notes going on. Personally I like it, but there might be something going on I can smooth out.
I like the melody a lot here, it's catchy and that arpeggio in the background makes for a great harmony. The little details of having elements get panned around is really good and adds a lot for the way the song feels to listen to, though (and this is a pretty small thing, probably won't matter to someone not wearing headphones) sometimes it felt like it was a little heavy on the panning to the point where one ear felt empty. Overall very fun track though, great work! :)
Thanks for the comment. My headphones I mix with actually had a broken ear piece on the right, which I only caught and replaced after doing this song, so everything on the right was mixed louder than the left haha. I still don't mind it, but I might go back and make some things on the right quieter to give it a better balance.