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Northern Lights's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Impression | #35 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Quality | #37 | 4.121 | 4.121 |
| Overall | #47 | 3.933 | 3.933 |
| Storytelling | #51 | 3.848 | 3.848 |
| Composition | #52 | 3.970 | 3.970 |
| Creativity | #82 | 3.727 | 3.727 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
(Quick note: the soundtrack includes a full track with tracks transitioning the way I imagined. I believe that's the best way to listen to it.)
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GAME STORY
Northern Lights is an imaginary, yet beautiful indie game.
We begin, as one usually does, in a main menu. The menu is a part of the story: our character is sitting at a campfire with strangers. They talk, smoke, laugh - sharing the kind of mellow fun that belongs to quiet summer nights. Our character is just watching, soaking in the atmosphere. You (the player, controlling the main menu) are free to look around, interact, and piece together why this little group has gathered here.
Then the game begins: a stroll. Our character gets up and heads into the woods. The air is warm and alive, we are curious, and so is the music. But with every step, the forest grows darker, quieter. Both the soundtrack and the character stay happily oblivious, until suddenly, everything changes. A rustle in the brush, a shadow creeping where it shouldn't. Wolves start howling. (It's flutes, actually. Don't tell the character.)
Cue panic. Our character runs, not to something, just from. The rhythm picks up, the forest is a blur. We don't know what we are running from. The character doesn't know what they are running from. Maybe they just fear the dark, maybe there are wolves behind them. Or monsters.
Finally, breathless and lost, the character stumbles into a clearing. The world holds its breath for a moment, letting us catch ours - and then the sky comes alive. The aurora, having its stage prepared by the darkness around, begins its dance overhead, washing the night in improbable, impossible color. Whatever chased us there feels small, distant, irrelevant.
The finale is majestic, and the soundtrack follows it. And when the character slowly, calmly walks back towards the camp, there are no longer any tense chords put against the main melody. The fire is still burning, others are still talking, but we are at peace.
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TRACK LIST
- Main Menu (loopable)
- Stroll
- Uh Oh
- RUN
- Clearing
- Northern Lights
- Memories
_____
ABOUT ME & THE TECHNICAL PART
I am a 30 years old semi-professional multi-instrumentalist and producer from Czech Republic, and I use Ableton for all my work. I've worked with both national and foreign artists, I do studio musician work (not final record sound engineering though), I've played northern of 1000 gigs on guitar, drums, bass, piano, synths, ..., released five albums with my main band, a few with my other projects, and this is my first attempt at game soundtracks. I've been a musician and producer for most of my life, and this feels like the next big creative direction I want to explore.
About half of the tracks were played live, and the rest were created using synths - mostly hand-modelled in my beloved Arturia Pigments, or also in Spitfire LABS (that beautiful soft piano!) and Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra. Everything ran through various of effects and processing.
My wife and I are in the middle of moving, and we have a small child, so this was a quick, late-night project - written and finished in just two nights. I submitted it well ahead of the deadline, before I could keep tweaking forever, because I truly loved every second of making it… but I also really need to focus on the move (and maybe get some sleep).
Thank you so much for reading - and hopefully for listening. I hope you enjoyed it. ❤️
Message from the artist
I'd love to have more time for this than the two short nights I could book for it. Looking forward to the next OST Composing jams, where half of the mixing won't have to be done on my MacBook speakers, and my whole life won't be in such a hurry.
Still, I am happy with my submission. Thanks to being quite experienced with music in general, I am able to produce pretty fast because I know what I am aiming for and I am able to not overthink my compositions when needed. So, I am still hoping to leave a good impression with what I came up with in the short time.
I very much hope you'll like it too, and I'm looking forward to the feedback.
Thank you for hosting this jam - I've been thinking about diving into the waters of game soundtracks for a few weeks but had no idea where to begin. The culture of OST jams and the community around it is nothing short of awesome.
Happy to be a part of it now.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
As described in the description. :)
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/13am-324807124/sets/northern-lights-original-soundtrack
Number of tracks7
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
For game jams only
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Comments
At first, I thought that cricket sound in the first track was actually my cat purring in the next room lol
Love the smooth synth in "Stroll" and the distorted ending leading into shit-getting-real™ as the soundtrack progresses. The shift in energy in "RUN" is great! I like how you blended the synth and the flute sound and made a sort of echoing trail with the synth.
The beginning of "Clearing" I'm assuming you were trying to put that distortion in the beginning as a bit of a transition from the immediate danger. I don't think it quite hits the mark, just sounds a little weird to me. Maybe having a tiny bit of the wub-wub sound at the end of "RUN" playing and fading out in the beginning of this track would help deliver that effect? I know it sounds ~some kind of way~ using my own music as an example 😬, but I actually made a lot of really cool track to track transitions in my own submission this year that I was really proud of. Taking elements of the previous track (or the next track) and blending them into the first or last few seconds of the next track is one of the things that I did to make them more pronounced.
For "Northern Lights" - the pick-up here is really sudden and a little unexpected compared to the last track. I think this one could have benefited a lot from more of a build-up and crescendo in the beginning of the track to really deliver the "big finish." This track is huge and grandiose and powerful, but I feel like it lacks the context it needs to really deliver that effect properly.
Regardless, I'm glad our main character was able to escape the impending danger of the wild killer flutes! I DO worry, however; that these fiendish creatures are lying in the darkness surrounding the campsite, waiting for their chance to come and commit savage atrocities to the bunch of idiots sitting around looking up at the sky.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable submission! "Stroll" "Uh Oh" and "RUN" are all solid tracks on their own, but create a really fun little dynamic when paired with the story. Great little story and really solid job on only having two days to work on this! Excellent work!
A great OST! It feels very cohesive and I really like how smoothly the songs flow into each other. RUN was a standout for me – the drums and the overall production of this track are amazing.
Thank you, Max! Very happy to hear you liked my work. ❤️
A lovely, meditative OST, it sets the tone you are going for extremely well. The way you then transitioned into the conflict from "Stroll" to "Uh-Oh", then amped up the energy in "RUN" was fantastic! Extremely immersive. I do think "Northern Lights" could be a bit less bombastic. I understand what you're going for, but in the context of the whole track, maybe it could be tuned back a tiny bit? You set such a nice atmosphere with your prior tracks, but it was kind of blasted out of me when that track hit. I think with the wonderful atmosphere you've built up with all of your prior music, "Northern Lights" could be plenty beautiful and impactful with a softer palette of sounds. That's just my personal opinion though. Thanks for taking me on beautiful journey, it was really nice to listen to!
Thank you, Bodo! I am not that happy with the Northern Lights track overall, due to the mix but also conceptually. Thing is, when you put yourself on a very short timeline, you have to not get stuck on whether ideas are good enough - part of that track's idea was showing off wide range of the soundtrack, but I'd probably have done that track with a different concept if I started again and had some time to sit on it. Next Jam I'd like to have a full week and give much more depth to my submission; that's what I feel is a bit lacking in it now.
I am happy you listened to my work and liked it. ❤️
Solid OST for only two nights of work. It's very "Celeste" in style. The mix sounds good and the music is cohesive overall.
Main Menu: Good ambient sfx. Pretty piano. Quickly completed by the guitar.
Stroll: Love the synth. Nice vibe.
Uh Oh: the brass! Sets a good scary atmosphere.
RUN: this is urgent while also being a bop. I was really enjoying paying attention to the background elements here.
Clearing: Love the lo-fi sound. Very nice piano.
Northern Lights: Love how grand this feels. Made an I-IV-V based progression feel very fresh!
Memories: Another pretty piano track to close out, similar to the opening.
Nice work! I like how the tracks length isn't inflated more than necessary, helps keep full attention throughout. Very immersive OST!
This is another one that I would wish would get top!
The instruments, ambience, composition are all well done, and the story could also be felt in the composition.
I hope to see this in a pretty cool spot!
Super glad you liked it! Thank youuuu ❤️ for your heartwarming comment. 😊
Very diverse and cohesive soundtrack, very impressed by the quality and variety of it !
It has a very cozy vibe on certain tracks with the acoustic guitar sections that translate the nostalgic elements of the picture very efficiently, and even with the more dynamic tracks it all flows together in a very natural and organic way.
I wanted to listen to each track individually to get a feel of how each situation was represented but I'm glad I listened to the compiled version instead because of the quality of the transitions (also the soundwave on Soundcloud has pretty clear delimitations between each track so I wasn't lost, pretty funny to see).
Overall excellent job, congrats for your work (and for being able to manage to deliver this great piece in this short amount of time) !
Thank you so much! Appreciate the kind words, I am happy you liked my work 😊 glad you listened to all of it together, I think that’s the way the soundtrack works the best.
Thank you, and good luck too ❤️
One of the most cohesive submissions I’ve heard so far. Great atmosphere/sound design on top of creating a story through the music to the point where you wouldn’t even have to read the song descriptions. Love the implementation of the motif you used from Uh Oh and using it again in RUN. The contrast of the flute and brass creates such a cool sound. Great work here :)
I love you liked it, thank you. ❤️ Being also a writer, I hope storytelling is (or will be, when I hone my skills in creating soundtracks, I'm still very new to this) a strong point of mine. Therefore this compliment hits home and makes me very happy. 😊
One of the most impressive track I've rated so far, varied, everything was already said so... GG !
That is one heartwarming feedback. Thank you, Pyöveli. ❤️
Happy you enjoyed it!
Oh I love the variety!
I aimed for that! Thanks for appreciating it 😊
Really impressive work, especially considering the short timeframe. I'm also getting that Outer Wilds vibe, or even A Short Hike set in a northern lights kind of atmosphere. Great job!
Thank you! Love the references you mentioned. Happy you liked my submission. ❤️
This is so insane. It sounded like Stranger Things' OST while having that outer wilds vibes. it's so comfy. also the mixing is really awesome. all the bg sfx in here are all laid out well and it's accompanying the instruments nicely. great job
Oh my god, these references warmed my heart so much. Thank youuuuuuuu ❤️ super happy you liked it!
The amounts of efforts for making this in two nights is astonishing. Very well made!
I am very happy you like it! I had to do a bit of a speedrun, but that's a good way to learn things too, especially regarding not overthinking it. 😊
This is amazing for only two nights of work! The earlier tracks paint a clear picture of serenity, and when the action amps up it feels like a natural progression of the story.
Thank you, Kaz! Next time I hope I'll be able to participate properly, with full time and possibilities (I sadly mixed half of this on MacBook Pro speakers). Y'all taking time to listen to submissions deserve my full time and effort. 😊
Not going to repeat what others have said much better than me, it's a really complete OST and the theme does shine. Great job!
Thank you! Hope it didn't strain your internet connection too much. I love that you like it. :)
The main menu theme is giving Outer Wilds and Final Fantasy XV all rolled into one (I say this very fondly). It is breathtakingly beautiful, lush sounding.
The stroll theme sounds nice, fittingly background.
Uh Oh is a danger cue, a foresty danger cue. That's what it conveys to my mind.
The run theme does have the motifs of the Uh Oh theme, but to my mind, not the urgency, at least not until the end with those growly basses. For the rest of the song it does give a cyberpunk run theme, which can convey all sorts of emotions, but especially, neutral.
Clearing is a beautiful cue, not just musically, but from a narrative standpoint. If this were set on loop, it very effectively conveys that I, the player, am getting a moment's peace, where the dangerous wide outside world doesn't matter at least for these few moments. The reverb being more boxed in also conveys that quite effectively.
Northern Lights... It feels triumphal, but I'm not sure it's giving Northern Lights when I'm listening to it, I'll be honest. To me it gives back not-great memories of faux-patriotic songs from more despotic regimes (personal experience, apologies!). I think it's the relative thinness of the mix compared to what came before, which felt lusher, that's also giving this to me. When people have described the Northern Lights to me they've described not just a dance of colour, but also a feeling of smallness when looking at something as vast-reaching as the Northern Lights. I want to feel wonder and awe. I'm not getting it here.
Memories, now that's a very nice bookend to the soundtrack. It has the same feel of lushness of the main menu theme, but very clearly has the song of the stroll theme. That hits me really really hard.
Comments on the tracks aside, this is quality -- very well produced, and very well put together for two days. It is a submission to be proud of. Well done, and all the best in this jam!
I said it on Discord, I'll say it here - this comment took a ton of effort and is super helpful to me. I am so grateful you made it.
Thank you, Troisnyx. You're a legend.
The songs all flow into each other very nicely! Also, the knowledge that many of the tracks have live instruments is great as it makes me want to listen closer to the music knowing it was done in reality.
The tracks themselves are all very nice and the wolf howls are excellent. It all fits together very nicely!
Well done!
Thank you! ❤️