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Forth's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Storytelling | #24 | 4.108 | 4.108 |
| Overall | #42 | 3.978 | 3.978 |
| Creativity | #43 | 3.973 | 3.973 |
| Quality | #43 | 4.054 | 4.054 |
| Composition | #56 | 3.946 | 3.946 |
| Impression | #63 | 3.811 | 3.811 |
Ranked from 37 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Runtime: 16:16 (wow what a coincidence!!!!)
Description:
Forth is a soundtrack for an imaginary game. The game is a first-person 3D adventure game where you can use your boat, go fishing, and do other activities, while trying to find the atoll.
The protagonist, you, have to set sail through the waves to save your brother that has been captured by a mysterious group of tribesmen and is kept on a remote island. The only way to get there is by boat at night. So you start your journey with your friend, Mark, a fisherman who has a boat. He's well experienced in navigating in the sea. He warned you about the dangers of the sea and you're well aware of it, but there's no other way to rescue your brother. He's ready to do this, even if it means dying.
Tracks:
Forth (ambient/idk electronic):This is the title theme of the game that plays at the intro cutscene and the title screen. The first part is calm, you are at the dock, waiting for Mark to arrive. You're a bit anxious, but you're also determined. The second half sets the dark tone of the game, the adventure won't just be all fun and games. Your brother's life depends on your actions. What if you arrive too late to the island? What if the boat breaks? What if the tribesmen catch and kill you? You've never done something like this before.
Sine (ambient): You have started the trip. Slowly distancing from the coast, you feel a sense of peace, but also sadness. The sea is so quiet. The sun is slowly going out, and it's becoming dark. While your friend is rowing and following his map and the compass, you can try fishing, chat, or just observe the endless sea.
Gaia (drone/ambient): As the sun sets, the stars and the galaxy starts covering the sky. Since you live in an urban area, you never got to see the sky this way. And it's beautiful. It's dark, but the moon and your lights prevents you from being in pitch black. However, something doesn't seem right. You see massive clouds slowly coming over, and the waves are starting to become more and more violent. Oh no.
Thunder (noise/industrial/ a bit of IDM): It's a storm. And it's dreadful. The wind and the rain is so strong that you can't see anything. You don't want to die, you're still young. Why have you chosen a weak old boat for this? You hear a faint scream.
Mark... (downtempo?? electronic) : It's over. The ocean has stopped expressing its anger. But, where's your friend? He's no longer on the boat. It can't be. You are in denial. He's dead because of me. I should have been the dead one, not him, not Mark. Will I even be able to reach the island? You learn to use your now deceased friend's compass, the map is completely ruined because of the storm. It's still dark, but now that you're alone, it feels like it's pitch black and you've never felt as hopeless before. Then you see a silhouette at the distance. Is that the island?
Nkumo Atoll (folk/IDM/electronic/ambient) : After hours of the most intense day of your life, you disembark. This must be where the tribesmen live. You still can't get over the death of your friend, the guilt is immense. But you have to go on. As you explore the island, you discover a hidden community. There's huts, and probably people sleeping in them. You have to be quiet. Then you see a cage, and it's your brother. You are so relieved. You sprint towards the cell to rescue him. But they have awakened. You both start running for your life. You quickly take the boat and start rowing with all your force. The tribesmen couldn't catch you and you got away. You have lost your friend, but also successfully rescued your brother, and look, the sun is showing up now. You arrive safely to your homeland.
Stuff I used and inspirations:
The gear is just a modest pc that works well, shitty wired JBL earphones that looooves physically breaking and slightly reducing one of the ear's volumes so that I have to manually balance the earphones' output by channel, so during the jam I bought a real headset but the jack cable the shop gave me gives only mono output and my PC doesn't have bluetooth so I have to keep using those bomboclat earphones that I hate so much I'm never going to buy silicon earphones ever again they also just come out of your ear when you get sweaty like when I work for +3 hours straight on the last day to finish the last track I hate it, and a cheap AIR 32 midi keyboard.
I used REAPER and other free stuff for this, such as: Emergence, Helm, Vital, Ragnarok, 8bit shaper, uhhyou plugins, kilohearts, TAL filter (mostly for panning), deelay, TAL Reverb 4, and a loot of DecentSampler instruments from pianobook for the bongos, strings, pianos, and other acoustic and non synth instruments.
This is the first time I made tracks seamlessly transitionning into the next one, and I'm overall very proud of my work.
Some inspirations: Gaia inspired by Radio Amor from Tim Hecker (like the track Spectral and the album's seamless transitions, also AMAZING ambient/drone artist you should listen), Venetian Snares for the odd time signatures (everything he does is never in 4/4), and just a mix of IDM and Ambient artists I listen to like Autechre, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, etc etc. The track Thunder reminds me of Feedbacker pt.4 by Boris, (you should also listen that, an AMAZING rock/noise album).
Message from the artist
hope you enjoy, also I made a 20min vid explaining how I made the soundtrack https://youtu.be/5gll5oMnmWQ
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The setting was mostly inspired by the picture, but also the text a bit. First, the game mostly takes place in the ocean as indicated on the picture. The gender of the protagonist isn't specified but I interpreted the girl in the picture as the protagonist, waiting for Mark to arrive. Secondly, the game takes place in a single night.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
bandcamp: https://alpikespot.bandcamp.com/album/forth
youtube (for seamless transitions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JomlWdgZMzU
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Forth: Great ambience, got lost in it. Drums caught me off guard in a good way.
Sine: Ethereal. Love the buried melody around 4:18.
Gaia: Love how this swells. Bass sits so well. Great transition into-
Thunder: , and I love this percussion. The noise really captures the storm feel, I really do feel like I'm in the midst of one while listening. Very cool track! My favorite here.
Mark...: This one matched your story so well. I love how the sound changes leading into-
Nkumo Atoll: I love the percussion. Oh wow this is very cool. You really nailed a tribal feel here. The hectic section indicating the chase is a really cool touch. And then the calm ending. Finally they escaped!
I appreciate the storytelling here a lot! Nice work!
peak😼😼
saw someone mention oliver buckland in the comments and im already excited to listen ...
your opening track, "Forth," is really beautiful! really like the chord progression being built. this track is simple in a way that is thoughtful. the synths here are well composed. i do feel like, without the percussion, the lower synths did present as slightly muddy - but not in a way that was too distracting, your melodic lines still sounded wonderful! the percussion interjecting later on provides a good driving force befitting of the beginning of a story.
"Sine" sounds wonderful so far! your transition was so smooth i hadn't even realized it started yet LMAO.. again, wonderful chord progression! again the only issue is mixing - your composition is really thoughtful and i love the timbre and texture of this track, but some of the melodic lines were lost behind reverb and the volume of other instruments, like i couldn't really hear the piano (i have hearing problems so take this w a grain of salt i may be wayy off base and sound crazy asf</3)
oooo gaia is really gorgeous so far!!! i love the chords being built! really builds that cosmic and surreal theme, while leading into that sense of impending doom with the clouds rolling in. loving the addition of the arpeggiating synths. definitely my favorite track so far!!
scary storm,. ,.,. hey if i heard this in an actual game i would probably crap my pants ! loving the chaos in this track and its really fitting of the chaos of a ocean storm. the ambience of the ocean and rain here is nice. the glitchy panning percussion is really cool!
poor mark ... he shouldve like. not fallen probably. but no yeah i really like the depressive theme of this track! the ostinato from the marimba-like instrument really progresses the idea that the main character must keep going in spite of what's happened. definitely one of my favorite tracks so far.
oo the percussion in Nkumo Atoll is really nice! this one tells a good story, beginning with the quieter and deeper synths, before progressing into the chase sequence. really nice ending to the OST, and i love the percussion here! hello 5/8... this is a really lovely track and, again, this one definitely takes the cake for being my favorite! i love the intention behind this one and i can really visualize the story that runs alongside this track.
overall, very entertaining listen! i feel like the pitfall of a lot of ambient tracks is that they get boring very quick, but that was not the case here. i enjoyed every second! my only general note (and, again, take this with a grain of salt, because there was a LOT of good in your submission that far outnumbered this one nitpicky thing) would be mixing. there was the occasional muddiness from the reverb of synths and general balance between instrumentation that tended to drown out other instruments, but never to a distracting degree. this was a wonderful listen overall!
thanks for much for sharing i lovelovelove this submission! keep it up!!! :DDDDDDDD
Thank you!! I've never heard of Olivier Buckland but I'll take those as a compliment. I wasn't expecting a review this long lol. Glad that you liked it and thanks for your feedback too! I actually tried to make the piano sound distant in Sine so I put the reverb mix to like 70%.
These ambiant pieces remind me of the music of Oliver Bucland . Very cool use of textural elements and effect to create a sence of dread and wonder. Nice story owerall and a lovely listen.
The sound design is great! For ambient music good sound design really puts it together, and here it really delivers!
Love the overall vibe and ambience you were able to create with this project! It's designed perfectly to immerse you in your game. I imagine you would almost forget that it's there while you're playing cause of how well it can become part of the experience. Good work!
Very great story. The music is not too exciting so it won't be intrusive to potential gameplay.
Very nice soundtrack, it has a lot of very interesting textures and sounds throughout !
Even with the minimalism of the ambient style, I felt that every track represented its story intent very efficiently (especially with the gloomy melodies in Mark... that represent very well this moment of the story for the protagonist).
I also really liked Nkumo Atoll, the style with the percussions and the track's progression was very unique and contrasted a lot (in a good way) with the calmer sailing tracks before.
Overall excellent job, congrats !
This is rlly good and precise, i loved your composition very subtle yet spot on.
Dang, even with most of the tracks being fairly ambient they are all insanely precise with their storytelling. All the textures and pads and percussion come together to create an atmosphere that physically and emotionally puts you right in the story. My personal favorite's gotta be Gaia with how well it shifts the tone away from Sine and sets up Thunder which is also a banger. Nkumo Atoll also feels like a pretty out there combination of genres and manages to blend them together really well both on its own and in the context of the album, a great way to close it all out. That was a ton of fun to listen to!
Mark really should have thought about not dying instead.
Nkumo Atoll was my favorite, but also the track I felt had a few issues. The percussion was really cool at the start and it gave a very eerie tribe feeling even without the story It was conveyed well. The start of the second half of Nkumo Atoll felt a little loud however. Slightly too crowded IMO but I liked the energy.
I didn't have much time to properly mix hence the loudness of the track, still nice that it's your fav one.
Mark really should have thought about not dying instead.
Nkumo Atoll was my favorite, but also the track I felt had a few issues. The percussion was really cool at the start and it gave a very eerie tribe feeling even without the story It was conveyed well. The start of the second half of Nkumo Atoll felt a little loud however. Slightly too crowded IMO but I liked the energy.
Solid concept, the sound really aligns with your vision for the game. I particularly like the synth you used to convey anxiety in ‘Forth.’ Great work!
pretty solid mostly ambient soundtrack, as most others have pointed out, the transitions were perfect. also i feel like the story was told pretty well through the music
i rated this a few days back but i was feeling kinda down so i didn't leave a comment but im feeling a little better now so i figured i'd come back and leave one anyway
this is an awesome submission, the whole thing truly feels like an adventure and it's SO good, i kind of suck at sound design and ambient so i don't exactly know any more specific things i could compliment/give feedback on on this where i'd actually know what i'm talking about but overall the quality and storytelling are amazing on this one i think. this is a long reach but some elements of sine reminded me of 12am from deltarune which is a song i really like. I'm so glad you kept thunder after all because i really think it fits awesomely with the scene it represents, like i swear it sounds like thunder itself. plus i admire how well produced it sounds despite being so intense!! thunder's one of my favorites for sure. mark... is also really fantastic, it reminded me of minecraft a little bit, also it made me feel sad but still sounded like serious and empty... like not cliche sad idk?? idk how else to put it, it's great! nkumo atoll is my OTHER favorite i think apart from thunder, i like all the percussive elements plus 7/4 = instant banger. and i just realized it has 5/8 or 5/something too i think. even better. overall i think all the songs are super well made and flawlessly fit their respective parts of the story and moods they're supposed to convey, you did a fantastic job imo!! :D
btw WOOOOO WE LOVE LORENZO'S DRUMS (ignore if you didnt actually use lorenzos drums maybe im just tripping)
Thanks!!, ! I used to listen and play deltarune like 3-4 years ago (chapter 1 & 2) but not anymore so yeah I think it's a reach lol. I like Thunder too now, when I was first making it I was a bit uncertain but when I actually finished it I realised that it actually fits well into the soundtrack. On "Mark..." I used a chord progression I used on some of the tracks I keep to myself and the similarity to minecraft isn't really surprising because I LOVE C418!!!!!!! I'm glad that I managed to set that "serious and empty" feeling like you described. For nkumo atoll the first half is 7/4 or 7/8 idk then it switches to 5/8 5/4 (idk time sig notation) at 2:58. And I DID use lorenzo's drums on Forth how did you recognize lol (I usually don't use decentsampler instruments that much but I downloaded A LOT during the jam).
Wowowowow I really love that everything blends together. Mark, I never knew you and I never knew how much I needed you until now...
the storytelling through ambient transitions is incredible (i listened through youtube earlier) !! it feels like i'm sailing and sounds very nostalgic with how airy it is. i really like it.
ok that's probably a winner for me. It's so unique and absolutely peak, the way songs transition between each other and the absolutely lovely synths and great work with panning hasn't been done by anybody I've heard so far but you. My favorite so far is probably Gaia and Thunder, with those two I could clearly see the picture of what was happening in my head without even trying to do so.
y'know, i'm not really that into ambient music but this one clicked with me! one of the things i admire about this soundtrack is the texture of these tracks, you went so hard on the sound design it's insane
Nkumo Atoll is one of the best songs from this jam to ever grace my ears, i FUCKING LOVE how you made the tribal drums have the glitchy programming and combined it with the crazyyy sounding production, so creative!!
overall very very good submission, not really any complaints from me
Thank you!! I wanted to make the drums more varied and even add an amen break in Nkumo Atoll but since it was the last day I didn't really had enough time for it.
okay first of all, as a sound design nerd, i appreciate the experimental uses of electronic sounds! im actually learning a thing or two by listening to your music :0
now for the music itself, its ambient which ive to be honest a genre that i dont listen to a lot. however, it does feel seamless when i listen to music while i just go about doing stuffs on the side so i think that's pretty cool! i also love the way you connect the tail of each songs to the next one, its a good touch id say myself. unfortunately, bandcamp is kinda ass for streaming so i wasnt able to enjoy the seamless experience as it was intended to be T.T
Nkumo Atoll SLAPS btw i love the buildup from the beginning to end! i love slow-burn songs like that
Thanks for your comment! I may make a youtube video but I'm kinda lazy tbh.