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No Looking Back's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to Theme | #3 | 4.312 | 4.312 |
| Overall | #6 | 4.150 | 4.150 |
| Composing Quality | #7 | 4.250 | 4.250 |
| Overall Uniqueness | #8 | 4.188 | 4.188 |
| Execution | #15 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Listenability | #16 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service (YouTube Recommended)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz3Ny12RyoA
Description
For this Jam, I tried to view each picture as a part of a 3-part story. The tracks are based on them in chronological order.
Opening Cutscene, based on picture 1:
Monday, October 17th, 1948. The time is 5:36 AM. The temperature outside in a small town just an hour out from Vegas is 56 degrees Fahrenheit, 13 degrees Celsius.
"This is it.
This is the day you leave everything behind."
Irene walks out of her room, out of her house, into the barren wasteland that is her front yard, town, and entire life. After visiting her old dog, and saying goodbye to her house, her life, and everything she's ever known, she gets on her bike and rides off. This time she doesn't know if she'll ever return.
She arrives at a small little canyon, where the past few years, she's been building something. Something she's been dreaming about since she was just a girl.
Her own spaceship.
Completely separated from professional scientists or engineers, she's been working towards this all by herself her entire life. She's confident she can return safely, but someone has to test it, regardless of the risk. That someone is of course, her.
Her hands tremble with anxiety as she gets into the cockpit, ready to ascend into the unknown.
It's time.
Rushing rapidly upwards, her entire life flashes before her eyes as faster and faster the engines roar and her ears start to ring as the ship approaches max speed.
15,000 Mph
16,000 Mph
20,000 Mph
30,000 Mph
50,000 Mph
??????? Mph...
Suddenly, the ship comes to a complete halt.
Irene opens her eyes.
0 Mph.
Earth is nowhere to be seen.
The ship is in lockdown mode. It moves, but won't ever reach the speeds it needs to in order to get back home.
She's Stranded.
Tracks 2 and 3 are scripted gameplay exploration segments, based on the second image given. And track 4 is the first full gameplay track, like a first person dungeon crawler kind of thing, based on image three. However, I'd like to leave them up to interpretation.
Enjoy!
https://x.com/riskateartist
Screenshot of DAW
On Project Page
Description of Setup (Optional but recommended)
FL Studio 2025, Eastwest and Serum were mainly used
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Comments
This is so awesome.
Not much to add here. Probably some minor tweaks on the mixing to get to that level of perfect polish, but very minor.
Great work.
Thank you ! Can I ask what specifically felt off to you in terms of the mix? If you remember any specifics. Thank u for the kind words.
Great work and story here! Love it. Really cinematic music too. First piece and track 4 were my favorite. Just solid orchestration and sound all around.
Irene nooo DX haha I love this, really was feeling the emotional arc of it all. I like how track 4 feels more action gameplay oriented than the others, just like you described. And the inclusion of the first 3 more cinematic tracks really anchored me into it. Really like this one, great work!
realized one of the screenshots was a duplicate instead of track 4 lol, fixed !
The sound design related to the spaceship ascending and then getting stranded is exciting, lush and unsettling like few others. Some bold choices in the chords during the third track, which are really nice!
The fourth track has style and it’s produced in an ace manner but… it feels a little “foreign” to the overall style of the previous tracks? Other than that, top notch effort.
I know it was a criticism, but "Foreign" was EXACTLY what I was going for, given the story I had in mind, so that actually makes me happy XD thank u for all the other kind words
Those techy-beeps, and that high-pitched ringing, and that ambience, and those strings with the beautiful, peaceful, suspenseful piano, they're all so different, but all the tracks are really well connected. It's calm but sad; it sounds like an ending, but it sounds like a longing for more at the same time. Really loved the entire vibe of this track, and the variety keeps it refreshing and interesting. awesome work! :D
I liked the variety a lot. How did you make the end of the first track?
Serum 2 + multiband delay :)
No Looking Back: The initial ambience does a nice job representing a wasteland type of area. Then the build up injections the emotions of sadness, then hope, than nervous excitement which all accompany the story you described quite nicely. I really like the plucky string sounds over the orchestral strings which to me represent the nervous energy and excitement leading up to launch. The sound effects representing travelling at incredible speeds are really creative and I love ending on the sub-bass where I was feeling it more than I was hearing it. The final sequence of this track placed me in the scene and was a really cool experience.
Stranded: This is a very peaceful ambient track that uses cold pads mixed with warm piano. This dichotomy creates a sense of confusion and unease while the harmony supports these feelings and perpetuates that things seem pretty bleak.
No Way Back: The initial harmonic walk up and upward arpeggios seems to give a sense of optimism and hope which seems a little different than what I was expecting from the title. The viola/cello melody does a very nice job capturing the voice of Irene sharing really complex emotions that to me say “Is this what I wanted? Now I don’t have to return… But this is not what I thought it would be like.”
Escape: The gameplay seems to take an interesting turn with this track. The drum beat is really nicely produced and I really like the piano pattern holding onto the determination in the face of uncertainty. It would be really fun to hear more of what comes after this track in the story!
Overall these tracks pull together a really beautiful and emotional story that had me engaged the entire time. When I reached the end, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that there should be more given that the fourth track varies from the style of the preceding tracks. It was very fun to listen to though and it would work really well in game to keep the adrenaline pumping! Very nicely done and thank you for sharing!
really appreciate the thoughtful and lengthy reply ! The fourth track's sudden shift was meant to represent to me, the uncovering of something unknown, something the protagonist doesn't see coming ! I'm really happy u enjoyed all the tracks and I'll try to give yours the same treatment :p thank you for all the kind words !
Great job! I liked the variety across all the tracks, and the last track was a fun listen
Very cinematic, especially the first track almost feeling like an intro to a tv show.
The ambience and vibe was great on all, but gotta say the last track took me by surprise :D had a really great groove and feel on it.
Good work!
This is really cool! Love the sound design on "No Looking Back."
Bro the builds on the piano and mix with the strings! go so well with your story! No gong to talk about the amazing Synth trap! so cool mix man! well done
tysm !! appreciate the listen and im glad u enjoyed it