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A jam submission

Solstice Rift OSTView project page

Made for OST Composing Jam 8
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Play soundtrack

Solstice Rift OST's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Quality#643.9003.900
Composition#913.7003.700
Overall#1003.5903.590
Impression#1113.5003.500
Storytelling#1123.5003.500
Creativity#1463.3503.350

Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
Genre & Mood

- Electronic + Ambient: layered synth pads, evolving arpeggios, subtle textures, and atmospheric drums.
- Designed to feel both luminous (summer) and tenebrous (deep night).
- Electronic timbres convey the cosmic and otherworldly setting.

DAW

- I used Logic Pro X!
- Each track evolves layer by layer, mirroring the player’s progression through the night‑summer conflict.
- Leveraged Logic’s Live Loops grid to sketch motifs on the fly: each loop cell held a core element (bass drone, percussive pulse, melodic fragment).

Game Story

The world of Astraea is caught in an eternal twilight.
Every year, on the Solstice Night, the Moon‑spirit Lunara attempts to merge with the Sun‑god Helion to end the endless dusk. To succeed, she must reverse the cosmic current that keeps her bound to her orbit. If she fails, the world stays stuck in a perpetual half‑day, draining life and hope.

[Awakening]

It all starts when Lunara wakes up on the Eclipsed Shore, where she will discover the stakes and acquire powers.

[Countercurrent]

Traveling through the windy highlands where the countercurrent opposes.
I wanted to add a sense of loneliness and discovery with the guitar slides.

[Spiral Descent]
(This was also a personal challenge! Since I never did anything in 3/4 before.)

This occurs when Lunara reaches the Celestial Axis (rotating tunnel), the point where night meets day, and Lunara must reverse its spin.

[Convergence]

Final fight with Helion; the climactic meeting of Night and Sun, and deciding the fate of Astraea.

Message from the artist
Thank you for the chance to share Solstice Rift with you. This soundtrack was inspired by a single, lingering summer night, a moment when the Moon dares to chase the Sun.

Thank you for listening. I look forward to your thoughts! :)

— [Raúl Vega (Null Reference)]

Theme

One Summer Night

How does it fit the theme?
The composition centers on a single, pivotal summer night (the solstice). When the Moon‑spirit (Night) desperately tries to reverse its own orbit to meet the Sun‑spirit (Summer).

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://on.soundcloud.com/oZiFP9HSnQe6OLgVoW

Number of tracks
4

Genre

Electronic
Ambient

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project

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Comments

Submitted

The fast but mellow bass in the last song was a great way to increase the intensity while still keeping the overall ambient vibes of the OST.

More description on how you composition matches the theme besides just the story fitting it would be nice.

Submitted

I'm really impressed with the calming atmosphere you have created here! I love this style of more ambient and repetition based music, and your concepts really remind me of an artist I've heard called the field who focuses a lot of their music on looping specific looping patterns. I think the initial concepts and loops you've chosen to base your songs on, and I think a way you could develop on that even more is by being more purposeful on how you choose to develop your ideas. I feel like sometimes the way you add in more layers can sometimes become a bit too dense (notably in the later two songs), and it can be a bit hard to parse out individual elements. If you want to create a more dense texture, I feel like dropping out some elements will help make sure that it can be dense without being overwhelming (eg, some of the rhythmic piano parts you have). 

Another thing I think would help out a bit is smoothening the transitions you have between elements, especially in the first two songs but I also noticed it in convergence around 1:10. In songs like this I find incorporating new elements is most effective when there is some sort of push leading you to prepare for less subtle changes, even if you are planning to drop in volume from a louder section, you could even build up in volume so that the sudden drop has more weight. While this can definately be difficult to nail if you are structuring the song as a piece that would build throughout a level, I think Lena Raine does a fantastic job at illustrating ways to do this in Farewell. Overall, I did enjoy my listen through and I hope this feedback is somewhat helpful, as I really love this kind of music! Good work, and I would love to hear more of what you do in the future.

Submitted (1 edit)

It felt great just relaxing and listening to these tracks, they're so cleanly composed and have a nice texture to them. Great job! One thing I noticed later on was that the 3rd and 4th tracks had a bit less drama and change to them than I would expect, considering how those two pieces cover pivotal moments in the story. Perhaps even more dramatic changes in rhythms, timbre, and intensity might've made the story come alive even more? Thanks for sharing these tracks, it was really enjoyable listening to them!

Submitted

You really nailed the story you wanted to tell with your music. Super mystical and beautiful!!

Submitted

Really nice soundtrack. Reminds me of a slower tempo synthwave. It complement the story well. Good work.

Submitted

I really like the vibe of this OST, I would love to hear a track or two of the same style/sound at a faster tempo. Overall very cohesive and solid. 

Submitted

Listening to this felt like  I just lived through the events that you described. It's very well made and it definitely fits the theme that you were going for. I really enjoyed the swelling moments present throughout each track. This is really awesome, keep making stuff like this!

Submitted

Opening track, Awakening, set the mood really well, not only for a literal awakening, but also awakening to the gravity of a given situation, which you communicated very well here. I do love how dreamy it gets towards the end.

Countercurrent is an evocative ambience. The intro just sets the stage for what you're doing here. The guitar slides are nice.

Spiral Descent starts off more generic to me than what you've conveyed in the text, the image of a rotating tunnel where night meets day. When the synths build up more, it feels more like what you've written, but it does take some time to grow into that image for me.

Convergence, ah, I am hearing melodic fragments from previous tracks and they tie together very nicely here. The rhythmic synth with which you begin this track sets the mood pretty well, this is a make-or-break event. I would have appreciated more of a climax given that this is a final battle track; this feels a touch calm for the gravity of the situation.

Overall a cohesive soundtrack, an enjoyable listen, and without the context of game OST or scene writing, it is the kind of sound that I could get lost in for hours. Well done, and all the best!

Submitted

Holy moly, this is great! The little guitar on Countercurrent awoke something in me. Absolutely beautiful OST, great job! If you showed me this without context of the jam, I would never believe something like this could have been made in a week.

Submitted

incredible quality! the first track is so stunning- i always love a semi-ambient synth track, but you've managed to combine the ambience with really strong melodic ideas, which is not always an easy feat!

the whole project felt really cohesive, nicely done! what a creative story concept, too - really evocative and inspiring! great submission! :)

Submitted

Nice and steady soundtrack, I felt like I was playing the game already. I like the middle two tracks the most, but the last one had a great ending for them all. Great work!

Submitted(+1)

Super cool! The first track is my favorite. Very consistent and well produced.

Developer

Thank you!