Play soundtrack
Sea of Spirits's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #97 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
| Storytelling | #99 | 3.579 | 3.579 |
| Composition | #99 | 3.632 | 3.632 |
| Quality | #100 | 3.684 | 3.684 |
| Impression | #100 | 3.579 | 3.579 |
| Creativity | #106 | 3.579 | 3.579 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
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"My father loved the sea almost as much as he loved making music. It feels only natural to listen to his last recordings at the place he cherished the most."
The calm summer sea suddenly shifts, pulling Nila into the strange world of the Sea Spirits. She must partner with a Curious Spirit to learn more about the Summer Festival and uncover the truth about her father.
I envision Sea of Spirits to be an Adventure Puzzle Game, potentially a point and click style game exploring a quirky world of unique spirits. All of the tracks were made using FL Studio.
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1 - The Last Recording
The Last Recording is a short piano piece meant to represent the last demo Nila has from her missing father. I'd like it to be the music for the opening cutscene. It ends abruptly to leave space for the excitement and adventure that is to come. I'd like the main melody from this track to serve as the leitmotif for the relationship between Nila and her father.
2 - One Summer Night
A little more atmospheric and ambient, I imagine this to be the moment Nila realises something is not quite right. I tried to capture the sense that the sea is suddenly changing from calm and showing some of its true power, with some hints of the next track.
3 - Taken by Spirits
The moment Nila is captured by the Sea, thunder will roar, and 'Taken by Spirits' will play. Inspired by the unique sounds of Indonesian Gamelan, I tried to create a feeling of being disoriented while maintaining the sound of an ancient spiritual festival. It was fun to write using the Pelog Scale in 5/4 time and experiment with the different tunings of traditional Gamelan instruments. Pretty happy with the overall atmosphere in this track.
4 - A Curious Spirit
Nila needs a guide to explore the Sea of Spirits. Lucky for her a Curious Spirit has shown some interest in her adventure. I really wanted a mischievous and dancelike melody for this new character. Unlike the previous Gamelan inspired track, I let myself veer off the Pelog Scale a little to let this track be a bit more playful.
Message from the artist
This is my first entry into anything like this. Pretty open and keen to hear any and all feedback.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The idea I went with was 'One summer night, taken by spirits'. I wanted to contrast the solitude of the photo with a great sea filled with crowds of spirits and bring that across in my OST.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
N/A
Number of tracks4
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any project
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Comments
The gamelan and other pitched percussion arranging sounds fantastic. The track is really unique compared to the others I've heard.
this was cool! I liked the gradual change of the piano becoming clearer and cleaner throughout the songs, very interesting textures with lots of feeling. Well done!
thanks! getting the textures to sound unique was a big effort so I'm glad to hear people enjoyed it.
That was so cool! Really took me on a journey :)
Really sweet piano piece in the beginning, then all of those sounds you've explored throughout the pieces, especially with Taken by Spirits. Working with ethnic sounds always makes things so much more interesting.
And then A Curious Spirit... that's so Shantae that I don't even... I'm sold xD
Fantastic job!
Thank you! I'm happy that the journey came across as I had intended.
The Last Recording was beautiful. Great soundtrack :)
Thanks!
The opening song is lovely, and the whistling (I think?) in the second half added a bit of wistfulness and magic to the vibe. Taken by Spirits is very interesting, the odd signature and the instruments really helped sell that disorienting and mysterious feeling! The Curious Spirit is probably my favorite though, both the melody and the sounds you picked for it were on point, congrats :)
Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you liked A Curious Spirit; it's one of those tracks that kinda just came together in one sitting and I'm pretty happy with how catchy it is.
I like that the last recording starts like a scratchy record player before becoming really clean to represent that it is an in universe recording.
Taken by spirits was my favorite. It reminded me so much of a song and I can't for the life of me remember. I feel like it's from the Legend of Zelda but I can't remember which one or if it is zelda.
Thanks for listening! That record detail was a last-minute idea and I'm glad it gave the right impression. The only other Gamelan-esque tracks I could think of from OSTs were Faron Wetlands from Zelda EoW and Battle Palace from Pokemon RSE - maybe those are what you're thinking of?
A nice track! Story wise I can jive with it, and the pieces are also great! The ambiences are also a great part of the pieces that add to them.
Thank you - it took a lot of trouble to get the atmosphere right, especially with the gamelan tracks. Glad it's coming across as intended.
what a beautiful submission. it's giving the vibes of hopes and wonder, and the story is really fit to it. i do wish that i could hear more
Thank you! I'm really keen to explore more of this style of music so it's really great to hear that others are enjoying it too.
These are some really nice and fun tracks! This "criticism" will not impact my perception of your entry in the jam, but I would really love to hear a lot more in this style and for this game. You've got something really nice here; I hope you add more to it in the future! And if not, it's great as is.
Aw thanks! I really enjoyed working with these sounds so would definitely be keen to do more with it in the future.
I loved the whimsical energy in A Curious Spirit! Awesome work!
Thanks! It was one of those tracks that just put itself together. Had a lot of fun on that one.
Really beautiful opening piano piece, would be nice to hear the melody established a bit stronger here. The gamelan track is really cool, definitely paints an action packed image! It fades out, does that mean it will probably be over gameplay? I really like the playfulness of the last track. Feels like I'm meeting a character in a village of some kind. Would love to hear this kind of soundtrack expanded upon in a full game!
Thanks! Yea I'd like the gamelan to play alongside the gameplay. Would definitely like to expand on that opening piano piece.