Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

Before getting into my feedback, I noticed the full soundtrack goes over 30 minutes, which was the maximum runtime that was set before the beginning of the jam (I know I said I'd offer a bit of wiggle room in a comment elsewhere). Also, audio files were requested to also be uploaded to your itch page as well.  I'm not going to disqualify/remove this submission, but I want you to be aware of this and I'm going to be more strict about these things in the next jam.

With that out of the way, here's my feedback:

Main Theme - Very atmospheric, and an interesting take on a main theme. The mix of what sounds like breathing and the beeps of a machine is actually quite thought provoking. Feels almost horror-esque.

The Beginning - Quite dark all around. Good choice of harmony, and I like that you went with what sounds like an organ for this track. Especially considering the context.

Betrayal by Balkor - Little bit of clipping at ~0:54 (hopefully just on my end). Somewhat short overall, I think the melody you had in that lower register could be developed a little more so that it was a more structured element of the piece outside of the ambience and textural components.

Balkor, the Mad Inventor - I like the percussion in the beginning, for some reason those kinds of sounds/textures feel like 'madness' to me. The change between the phases of this boss fight are quite different but still manage to maintain that madness element IMO. I think the pad at ~0:40 is a little muddy to my ears and takes away from some of the clarity of the mix overall, again IMO.

Abandoned Village - While I like the vibe overall, I think the reverb gets a little muddy and makes everything a little hard to hear. I've found that putting a high-pass filter after my reverb plugins has helped with this a bit.

Breaching the Corrupted Temple - My notes and feedback for this track are similar to those of the last. I think you do a good job with some of the harmony, but the mix overall sounds a bit muddy to my ears.

Tarcon, the Corrupted One - I'm getting a bit of clipping on my end starting at ~1:20, not sure if intentional or not.

Battle Against Corruption - The percussive elements in this track are quite good, and I like some of the sound design you used as well. I think there could've been a little more of a melodic presense IMO, especially for the first couple of phases. Also would've really liked to have heard a little more development with that lower choir at ~4:10, I think that could've been an interesting sound to explore for a boss phase.

Give the Beast a Chance - Quite a haunting atmosphere throughout, like what we hear when we boot up the game. Really glad this returned, as it's especially fitting for an ending I think.

Back Home - To my ears this has a similar vibe to the last track, whereas the description makes me think this should be a touch brighter. Still a neat track, but maybe not quite as fitting as it could be, especially that first ~2:30.

The End - This feels like more of a proper ending to my ears. There's still those darker undertones, but the melody still feels uplifting in a sense. 


Overall this was a solid and well thought-out submission. Clearly a lot of work went into the lore and world-building. It deviates a little bit from the theme for my taste, but executes its ideas quite nicely. IMO the overall mix and lack of some melodic presence in a few of these tracks are what's holding this back from being 5/5 across the board. I think if these elements are addressed then this will be an even better soundtrack that's deserving of a game being.

Thanks for sharing what you've made, and keep up the good work :)

(+1)

Thanks for your feedback! I enjoy hearing what people have to say about my works. Also, I thought I'd share my thoughts on what you were saying.

Theme-Makes sense why it sounds Horroresque as you say, as I do like making horror music on an average basis!

The Beginning-I have to admit, I don't remember using an Organ in this soundtrack.. It might've actually been the Soundscape Pad Tone Patch that I used. (I think it's the Post-Apocolypse Pad from JADE Ethnic Orchestra)

Betrayal By Balkor-I think I might hear a bit of clipping, but it could've just been what the Sample I used in that, which was an Infrasound Sample of a Distant Storm.

Balkor, The Mad Inventor-I used the Thunder X3M Taiko for most of the percussion for phase 1, while I used a Sample for the drums in Phase 2. The muddyness you're hearing is when the Shimmer Plug-In I used got too chaotic; it's sometimes hard tomake sure the Shimmer doesn't get too overpowering.

Abandoned Village-I honestly don't really notice too much muddyness in this track, but thanks for the Filter Tip! I'll see what I can do with what I have to do something like that sometime.

Breaching The Corrupted Temple-I can notice a bit of muddyness to it. Glad to hear that you seem to like the harmony of it though! I also like the harmony in it.

Tarcon, The Corrupted One-I think the clipping was actually kind of an intentional mistake.. I tried making it sound kind of distorted & messed up, since Tarcon is a pretty messed-up character in this.

Battle Against Corruption-A lot of the Percussion was from Samples & Omnisphere. I'm honestly not really sure what you mean by development. I do like experimenting, though! I'm mostly of an Experimental-Ambient-Type of artist.

Give The Beast A Chance-I did try to make this sound like a rather haunting, emotional, & expressive piece, but still with a little bit of a hopeful, peace vibe to it. It is a rather dark game, so I like that you like how dark some of the Soundtracks can sound!

Back home-I wonder what you'd think of how I could make it sound brighter.. That'd be interesting! I like to have a lot of stories I create have a rather dark atmosphere to them at first, but then make them sound more & more better than at first. It is supposed to be almost like an extension to the first track. (Hence why I say Give The Beast A Chance is Part 1 of the Cutscene, while Back Home is Part 2.) They just have a starting of very different point of views at different locations, but both Cutscenes are rather dark & emotional at first, but I tried to make the Soundtracks sound Brighter as they progress. It probably doesn't help that I'm a big fan of producing Deathdream music, which should give off a sense of depression/feeling of loss.. I do like to make New Age music thought from time-to-time. Oftentimes, I like making a Hybrid of each Genre of music in 1 song! (Like Deathdream beginning, but New Age ending.)

The End-You seem to be basically spot-on as to what I was trying to get to! The game is still rather dark, but I still like good endings to things. However, I still liked to keep it rather dark, since the Main Theme is already rather Dark, & I almost kind of wanted to make sort of a loophole in how the Album sounded like.

I'm very happy to know that it seemed like you enjoyed my Album overall, & I won't be stopping trying to make music for an extremely long time! I actually had some trouble with the theme, since I honestly thought originally that it was up to the composer as to what they were going to make, & I was around 1/3 done with the Album after finding out that it was actually based off of mechs, cyborgs, & AI, not really up to the composer for the theme, I somehow managed to still be very creative of what I already had, & what the theme actually was! I'm always up for sharing my music, pretty much. Other than that, there's not much else to say. Hope you have a great time!