this was really cool! The surfrock theme was a really creative idea and you worked it well into the overall narrative and theme! The whole OST reminds me a lot of the game Unsolved Case (which took me forever to find the name of lol). Great work!
Play soundtrack
Murder On A Summer Night's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Storytelling | #41 | 3.939 | 3.939 |
| Creativity | #44 | 3.970 | 3.970 |
| Overall | #69 | 3.776 | 3.776 |
| Impression | #87 | 3.636 | 3.636 |
| Composition | #96 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Quality | #105 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
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THE GAME STORY IS EXPLAINED ON THE PROJECT PAGE ALONG WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, PLEASE GO SEE IT !
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(click on the thumbnail or "View project page" for it)
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Genre : Surf Rock/Jazz
Inspirations : Hotel Dusk, No More Heroes, Joe Satriani, Jim Matheos, Jaco Pastorius, Twin Peaks
Game genre : Text Based / Adventure
Software Used : Studio One, NeuralDSP Archetype, Arturia
Gear Used : Guild Starfire Jet 90 (Hollow Body Guitar), Squier Paranormal XII (12 Strings Guitar), Marcus Miller V7 (Fretless Bass), Fender Bass VI, Zoom B1X Four (Bass Pedal)
Pictures made by me
Message from the artist
Don't hesitate the check the projet page to learn more about the story and the setting of the game !
Theme
One Summer Night
Picture theme
How does it fit the theme?
The game takes place on a summer night (the investigation lasts during the entierety of one night) in an secluded hotel near the sea (with the protagonist being the one in the picture). Musically, the summer notion is transmitted with the guitar having flanger and vibrato effects (like in surf rock music), and the fretless bass brings the warmth fitting with the theme. On the story aspect, the "One" in "One Summer Night" made me think of something heavy in matter that needed to be done in one single night (hence the investigation theming of the game imagined). Also, the pensive mood of the art piece is transmitted in the melancolic tone of the final track.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/valerian-dubois/sets/murder-on-a-summer-night
Number of tracks4
Genre
Rock/Metal
Jazz
Soundtrack use permission
No
Comments
Thanks a lot for your comment !
When I think of what summer inspires me on a musical standpoint, surfrock pretty much comes to mind in priority so I'm glad that it came through in the final product.
And thanks for the recommendation, I didn't know about the game before but I've started listening to its soundtrack and it's pretty nice also (has some pretty similar vibes to what I had in mind) !
The idea with having different songs tied to different times of your summer night is a cool idea.
Thou I'm not the biggest fan of the mentioned inspirations, like Joe Satriani, the listening experience of your OST was quite enjoyable. Also the art for your game concept looked very nice.
Additionally I realy want to point out and honor the fact that these are real instruments played here. Something I really get back to too.
Submitted
Birding GroundsThanks a lot for your comment, glad that you enjoyed it (along with the art too) !
Glad also that I picked partial parts from my inspirations and didn't go in the exact same direction, usually I tend to gather inspirations a bit from everywhere in my musical library to make a final result that doesn't sound derivative from the source material (with guitar focused instrumental groups it can get a bit overbearing by itself I agree, but there are lots of ideas here and there that you can get inspiration from and get pretty different results).
And yeah also it's really nice to play real instruments more and more with each jam, this time also I used a bass pedal instead of going exclusively for amp sims which is nice because it makes you focus a lot more on composition itself instead of spending hours to get THE perfect tone (and also with the different instruments I used it provided nice ideas due to the playstyle I tend to use for each).
Anyway thanks a lot for listening !
Thanks a lot for your comment !
I indeed had a bit of Twin Peaks in mind for the second track (with the swingy vibe of the drums, the bass line and the bright keys) and a bit for the third one too (with some percussive parts and the Bass VI line).
And thanks for the compliment about the art too !
I wasn't exactly sure at first what I could go with for the artstyle (lighter brush strokes, pastel colors...) then I went for this style because the black and white harsh strokes felt right at home with the detective theming of my soundtrack (and also I was running a bit short on time since I began the illustrations like 4 hours before the deadline, but I'm glad that it came out well).
6PM: Fast Road: We on a road trip hell yeah. Surf rock vibes are strong here. LOVE that bass.
7PM: In The Lounge: Oh wow this is some good jazz. Cool chords. I love the darker bassline, sits nicely under the brighter elements. My favorite track here!
8PM: Guilty?: I can really see this one in an investigation scene, and the urgency from the story you wrote can be felt here.
9PM: At Dusk: This is a really cool outro. The percussion is nice and works really well with the guitars.
Nice work!
Submitted
Ferrous Blossomreally appreciate the varied genres throughout the ost especially the jazz on the second track!! i also really dig the guitars + keys! awesome work on both the art and music 😁😁😁
Submitted
A Strange Summer Miracle (2002)Thanks a lot for listening (and for checking out the project page), glad that you enjoyed it !
I'm glad that the variety that I had in mind for the base of the musical ideas came through, and in pretty different genres also (although it seems like the second track had something a bit more special among the selections).
Maybe I should continue in the style of the 2nd track for future works to see where it could lead to (since I had a lot of ideas for it that I could implement pretty seamlessly), could be a lot of fun !
Really cool to see someone go for the Hotel Dusk & mystery vibes. The ideas here and instrumentation are super well done and I would have never thought to take this direction since I can't play guitar for the life of me :')
Submitted
Evenfall: Death Come MourningThanks a lot, glad to see another Hotel Dusk inspired submission around here too !
Since creation is built on available resources and limitations, it's pretty interesting to see that from a same mutual inspiration our final results end up quite different (which is nice to see different flavors and different interpretations since yours was very great to listen to also !).
But yeah, if you have the occasion, bringing in real instruments can drive your creativity and music ideas in pretty different ways so I can really recommend it at some point !
Your submission is so unique! I love hearing the live instrumentation, and the fretless bass does scream Jaco. Very well put together. My only criticism is that I wish there were more melodic moments. Text based adventure have very little to focus on or distract the listener, so having clearer melodies helps it feel less in the background. Even in Twin Peaks, there's so much to pay attention to, visually and plot-wise, and yet I'm certain you hum Laura Palmer's theme in your head right now. Overall awesome work, definitely one of my favorites I've heard so far.
Submitted
RibbonThanks a lot for your comment and your feedback !
For the game I had in mind I didn't plan to have a full-on text based game (maybe something a bit similar to Hotel Dusk where there are huge narrative portions punctuated by more involved gameplay sections) so I wrote the tracks leaning a bit more on general feeling and melodies here and there to keep the listener's interest.
However you are right about the melodic writing that I could have incorporated in my tracks (I usually wrote music that blends more in the background without clear obvious melodies to have some breathing room for the gameplay), I could lean more on this aspect next time (a bit like you did in your submission with a clear driving melody that is built upon throughout the length of the track).
Anyway thanks a lot for listening, I'll try to keep your comment in mind for the next songs I'm going to write !
This submission just oozes with style! The pictures are a really cool touch and do a great job of highlighting the story. Musically, there is a very unique sound to the album as a whole that feels very polished and intentional. Individually, each track is just fun to listen to and each track ties to the next very nicely. Overall, a really fun listen, great job!
Submitted
One Night OnlyYour pictures are very stylistic and cool.
I liked how you tied into the theme with the specific guitar to represent beachy vibes.
Submitted
Only As Good As The Last Dayyour first track, fast road, is a wonderful introductory track! i love the guitar and bassline used in conjunction with the diverse and energetic percussion! the melody is quite nice as well - i like how you start with one idea, and build on it as the track progresses. it's not repetitive at all and instead keeps things recognizable and interesting! i really like the bass line as well!! well done!!
loving the jazzy percussion in "the lobby"... ooohh vibe and electric piano this is very much a nice little jazz theme!!! the instruments are very humanized and sound live! well done as well, same thing as the last track - you start with one idea and build on it and add melodic and instrumentation variation as the track progresses n im so here for that! im obsessed with that vibraphone line too ahh
the third track is fittingly energetic and panicked without doing too much and going beyond the genre you've built - really has that investigative vibe!! you achieved this well through the guitar ostinato as well as the repeating piano line. wowow love this
your final track is nicely executed as well! i like the effects you've placed on the instruments and the timbre of the track is achieved well, and fitting of the vibe of Melinda reflecting on everything that's happened so far. very somber track, love it!!!
ahh overall this was such a good listen and i like the level of storytelling youve put into this track! i saw in the comments that you didn't have much time to complete this submission, but for that being the case, this is really well done. my only critique is with the balance of instrumentation; sometimes i feel like the lower melodic lines like in the guitar would overpower the melody, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment in the slightest - like i said, for you having had little time to complete this, it's very well done and i really enjoyed listening!!!
wowowow i loved listening to this one!!!! thanks for sharing!!!! :DDDDD
Submitted
TriquetraThanks a lot for your very nice and thorough comment !
I was indeed more under a stricter time pressure this time around (at least compared the OST Comp Jam 07 where I pretty much had nothing to do except working on music) because I worked mainly during the weekends and in the evenings of the week when I got home. However I feel that this album is stronger than the #07 I did even with the fewer time spent, so more time doesn't necessarily equal a hugely better final product for me I guess (having more experience now helps also of course).
I did use this "layering" thing quite a lot on gère now that you remind me of it, I had quite a lot of ideas so taking the time to bring them one at a time for the different instruments made sense for it (and it's pretty nice to have something evolve over time to not be too repetitive I feel). And because of this layering I did run into some issues like you pointed it out, at first the melodies were way louder than the rest but it would have been pretty uncomfortable for the listener to adjust the volume back and forth so I tried to make the volume a bit consistent across the different sound devices (I could have managed this a bit better though, better luck next time).
Anyway glad that you enjoyed it so much, it means a lot !
Very cool concept that's delivered very well! First I'll have to say that the illustrations, and short description for each, helped paint a clearer picture of the story you wanted to tell. That being said even without those the tracks themselves were still able to tell a story, and doing that while still sounding good!
All of the tracks were distinct enough to give a different feel to fit with the scene, while still sounding cohesive! The guitar was used very nicely overall and I just love a fretless bass! My favorite tracks were "In The lounge" for giving that motel vibe and sounding a bit like Weather Report at times (which reading your inspirations makes sense), and "At Dusk", I really liked the texture you created, really felt like a big and arduous task was about to come and this is the last time you get to have a breather!
Great Job!
Submitted
Summer's Last NightThanks a lot for listening and for reading !
I indeed wanted each track to have a distinct style for the kind of scenery I had in mind (like with "At Dusk" having that sense of calmness yet semi-exhaustion for what is yet to come), so I'm glad that it came through by listening !
For the fretless bass lines I used (not very surprising I think) the Jaco Pastorius preset on my Zoom B1XFour bass pedal (with some additionnal filters) because it felt just right for this kind of music with that "mwah" sound.
I actually haven't listened to the discograpy of Weather Report (with or without Jaco in the band, I should do so at some point), only Jaco's solo album which is very influential for me for fretless bass playing, I also had in mind Jim Matheos (the guitarist from the prog metal band Fates Warning) Away With Words solo album for the fretless bass lines style and use in a guitar driven environment.
Thanks a lot for your comment !
Thanks a lot for listening, glad that you enjoyed it !
You are right for the use of guitars, I brought them more and more to the front along the different jams interations, firstly because most of my musical influences outside of game music are rock/metal adjacent (so it makes sense to lean on what I know best), and also because it's nice to bring exterior influences outside of game music to make the final result a bit more fresh, so using real instruments I feel.
And for "Guilty ?" I wanted that mysterious vibe too, with the surf guitar it brings that touch of anticipation, and the Bass VI line starting from 55s in the track was meant to replicate the feel from some spy music (in terms of sound and melody).
Anyway thanks for your comment !
Absolutely amazing, appreciate the extra amount of effort into telling the story, my only piece of feedback is that it sometimes felt that instruments would fall behind in the mix. Besides that, really well made soundtrack with a very intriguing story attached!
Submitted
Port CorellaThanks a lot for listening and for taking the time to take a look at the story of the game !
I was in quite of a rush for this one (the benefit of having a full time job for once compared to previous jams haha) so to adjust the mixing I listened to the tracks back and forth on different devices (monitoring headset, phone speakers, bluetooth loudspeaker) and modified the volume when it got too loud on one specific device.
Next time I should look at it more on the frequencies side instead of just a volume one I feel.
Anyway thanks a lot for your comment !
the vibes of this soundtrack are quite unique and groovy in their way. The whole composition is just done professionally imo, it all sounds great. My favorite would probably be "Guilty?", because it succeeds really well at representing the atmosphere of unease and suspense, which shows both Melinda's feelings and the thoughts of others suspecting her.
Submitted
B.F.T.T. Act 2: Revelations OSTHi thanks a lot for your comment !
Glad that you enjoyed "Guilty ?", it indeed had this intent of having moments of intense stress while having a constant vibe of unease and anticipation (like you said in this moment of the story where Melinda is in a state of shock for what she's seen and what would be the consequences for her if she doesn't act fast and efficiently to prove her innocence).
Thanks a lot for listening !
"Okay, Mr. Hotel Owner, do you see anyone from room 246?"
(Mr. Hotel Owner looks at you up and down, his pen moving before shows his notebook)
(It was you...)
...
(Melinda sighs to herself)
"I would be better hurry if I were you, Ms. Melinda. The cops will be here with their donuts soon."
"Jeez"
My favorite are 7PM : In The Lounge and 9PM : At Dusk
You know, when I see the illustrations, I immediately think about Room 215 DS game :) and holy moly :] yes
Thanks a lot for your comment, you're pretty spot on with the narration (pretty much what I envision when I think about what the game could be) !
Hotel Dusk/Room 215/Wish Room is indeed a gigantic influence for me, when I was elaborating the theming for my project this was pretty much what I had in mind the entire time (such a good game with its sequel too, with the great Another Code remake I hope we'll see another game from the series like the third game that was supposed to happen at some point).
Anyway thanks a lot for listening !
Great submission! It's very cohesive. Loved the chilled rock/jazz vibe you went for with this. It really does feel like it can be in some sort of detective game. My favorite is the Lounge track, it's so chill, and those Rhodes keys are something else. Great work!
Submitted
LUNACOR ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKGreat soundtrack, 7PM : In The Lounge is my favorite because of the guitar. The music really told the story well on its own even without any context. Nice work :)
Submitted
Wet Paws SoundtrackThanks a lot for listening !
I'm glad that you liked 7PM : In The Lounge, at first I didn't think much of this track (I only had the first two sections without the guitar solo and I didn't how to spice it up), similar story to 6PM : Fast Road that didn't have much flair without the guitar solo (moral of the story : in doubt, add a guitar solo, it might be the solution).
Anyway thanks for your comment and for listening !
This is very unique. I love the jazzy vibe of In The Lounge, and I love the use of real instruments, especially for a theme where most of others went for digital.
I'm not sure if it's an intention or not, so apologise me if it is and I just don't understand it, but - from what I hear, I believe getting broader understanding of drums would push you forward a long way. You clearly have a lot of music talent and skills, but the drums felt chaotic, and probably not fully the way you intended. Which contrasted with the other instruments' neat arrangements.
That's just for some constructive feedback. Loved your take on the theme, it was memorable and had a some very good storytelling. Great job.
Submitted
Northern LightsThanks a lot for listening and for the constructive feedback also !
That is true indeed, I haven't focused much on rhythm theory as of right now (almost all of the instruments I'm familiar with are string instruments) since I mostly use drum grooves that I rearrange for the needs of a track (the drum sections tend to sound like a glorified metronome this way, which could be pushed further to be more intentional like you said for a fuller package).
Actually I have an electronic drum kit gathering dust in a corner of my living room, maybe I should put it to some use to have a better grasp of rhythm in general.
Anyway thanks a lot, it really helps !
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