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A jam submission

Cold as the SunView project page

For OSTCompJam9. Our hero(ine) sets off on a quest across heaven and earth to save their beloved from the fallen angels.
Submitted by willdionio — 1 hour, 53 minutes before the deadline
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Cold as the Sun's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Impression#104.3334.333
Creativity#164.2384.238
Overall#164.1714.171
Storytelling#214.0004.000
Composition#224.2384.238
Quality#354.0484.048

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
Soundtrack made for Lone Rabbit's OST Composing Jam 9.

Background:

For every OST Jam, I try to do something slightly different from what I did previously. This year, I felt inspired by silverpeel's picture theme to use instruments and styles of music from around the world.

Game Concept:

This soundtrack was imagined for an action adventure fantasy JRPG about romance, longing, and revenge. After fallen angels take the protagonist's lover away, our hero(ine) sets off on a quest across heaven and earth to bring their beloved back.

Music Concept:

The music utilizes instruments from all around the world but primarily features zither and lute instruments. I also wanted themes to be able to evolve for different situations, which I've implemented directly within tracks 1, 3, and 5, and separately across tracks 2 and 4. Each theme is reinterpreted into other styles, time signatures, keys, or a combination of those. For this kind of story and given theme, I felt it was appropriate to explore a wide variety of modes and scales. I also did a little bit of research to ensure most passages are playable live in some capacity. A koto, for example, might need extra strings and specific tuning to play some passages here, and while I wanted to use shakuhachi, I decided on shepherd's flute since it is apparently more versatile, given the context it appears in here.

1. A Fall From Grace, Fury - Exploration/story theme evolving into combat theme. It accompanies the story of the fallen angels being banished from heaven and the inciting battle where the protagonist's lover is taken away. Features guzheng, santoor, jinghu, sitar, and 5+6/8 timing.

2. Cold as the Sun - Main theme, for exploration/combat while traveling on the road between major hubs. Nylon string guitar (real), congas, uillean pipes (w/ extra key switches), shepherd's flute.

3. Salvation, Frenetic Choro - Night and day exploration themes for the big city, branching into higher intensity action at times. Guzheng, nylon string guitar, mandolin, accordion, cajon, timbales, cuica.

4. Steady as a Gun (Reprise) - Story/exploration theme. The hero(ine) and their party, in search of information, walk into a bar. Old fashioneds are on the menu, the band starts playing. Koto (w/ more strings), shepherd's flute.

5. Apotheosis - Exploration theme evolving into higher intensity action for the last gameplay location and story’s finale. The hero(ine) either sacrifices their humanity, ascending to be with their partner or accepts the hard reality they aren’t coming back. Nylon string guitar (real), mandolin, tabla, axatse, Bulgarian choir.

Theme

Songs of a Forgotten World
Picture theme

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/willdionio/sets/cold-as-the-sun

Number of tracks
5

Genre

Orchestral
Jazz
World/Ethnic
Folk/Acoustic

Soundtrack use permission

No

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

wow!! i really love your melodic lines! they're composed very thoughtful. the first track is definitely my favorite. it provides a lot of great energy with such a SWEET rhythmic melody! i've said this to a few others, but i really wanna highlight this on your submission - you have a composition style that reflects faster paced rhythms with lots of arpeggiation and stepwise movement. with melodies like this, it can be difficult to construct melodic lines that follow a clear tonal center and have proper shape and pattern to them. you execute this to a very high degree - you've done very well on this submission! i also like your variation of genres between tracks. i love the jazzy theme of the second track as well.  overall, there is some GREAT stuff packed into this submission. thanks so much for sharing this with us!

Submitted(+1)

this is amazing!!!!!! one of my favorites from this jam ... everything about this is just Great. the production, composition, instrumentation ugghhhhhhh ...... 

this shouldve been longer

Submitted(+1)

Really creative and well throughout ost you have created! The varied time signatures/rhythms as well as instruments all sounded great and made for engaging tracks. Your sound palette choice kept your tracks cohesive as well. I highly enjoyed listening, thank you for sharing!

Submitted(+1)

absolute BANGER of an ost and the vocal was a very nice surprise!!!! i especially LOVE the guitar in apotheosis a lot, immediately gives me that melancholic but tensed feel which goes so well with what you had for the track description (not to mention the choirs used in here too, just an overall fantastic experience) i had this on while drawing and it's actually got me into the mood so thank you so much for that!!! fantastic work!! :D

Submitted(+1)

Love the fresh sound in each of the tracks, and the singing was the cherry on top! You did a fantastic job of bringing together so many diverse sounds into a beautiful, cohesive soundtrack that depicted multiple story beats, locations, and a powerful ending extremely well. Great job, and thanks so much for sharing!

Submitted(+1)

A very interesting submission, the way each track carries it's inspiration on its sleeve while still sharing one cohesive identity was really done. Time was put into making sure you were respecting each genre and culture showcased in this album and it made it feel all the more authentic. I ended up having specific thoughts about all the songs lol

The way the sitar is played in A Fall From Grace kinda sounds like it's dancing, it made me picture a very elegant stroll followed by an even more elegant battle that was unfortunately lost.

The live guitar in Cold as the Sun was absolutely amazing, I loved it a lot! Although I couldn't really get around to loving the string part as much, I guess it sounded a bit too vst-ish. I can't expect you to commission an actual violinist for a jam of this scale, though, so I don't mind as much. The chord progression was definitely not something I expected out of the implied setting, what genre was this inspired by? It made me think Mariachi music.

The high intensity of Frentic Choro made it into a banger, I really liked it, the guitar is again played extremely well.

Steady as a Gun's singing part using the main theme's melody was a great touch, and your voice was lovely as well! The way the flute was played was well done as well, considering it's a vst. I think having Cold as the Sun with vocals would be fairly interesting as well.

Apotheosis was my favourite track, the chord progression just really got to me. The way the guitar is played with the context of the story made it feel extremely dramatic. The orchestral switch near the middle had absolutely AMAZING vocals as well, I refused to believe this was a vst, it sounds absolutely amazing! It's hard to put through text, I genuinely thought it was awesome.

I overall really enjoyed your submission, although I have to admit that it could've beniffited from some more realistic instruments or better vsts, here and there. The two stand outs being the string part in Cold as the Sun and the flute every now and then. Still, compositionally it's almost flawless! Props to you for deciding to experiment and getting out of your comfort zone!

Developer(+1)

Cold as the Sun is influenced, stylistically, by salsa music in the percussion writing, and rumba flamenca and other JRPG themes in the guitar. Actually, Steady as a Gun was written first, so the chord progression is taken from that, as opposed to mariachi progressions which seem like they traditionally use combinations of I, IV, and V. But I suppose we can say that the bVI to V7 here has similarities to an Andalusian cadence in flamenco! The chord progressions and scales used on this soundtrack are a bit of a fusion of what is traditional and nontraditional since I just like exploring cool progressions way too much.

Submitted(+1)

Damn I love Steady as a Gun so much! Great idea to have vocals man. Whole OST is well made

Developer

Thanks! I wanted to keep the vocals a surprise so hopefully no one comes down here before listening lol (no it’s alright). I had already been working on my songwriting recently, so when I saw the jam’s theme, it felt like a good opportunity to challenge myself. I did try to see how it would sound with some synthV vocal banks I have but ultimately decided it wasn’t a good fit.

Submitted(+1)

This feels fresh. I like the addition of vocals.

Submitted(+1)

A Fall From Grace, Fury: Nice time sig. Towards the middle, I like how you use Lydian over the IV, it makes me simultaneously get a Dorian and Lydian feel (from the i-IV and then the use of Lydian over the IV.) That's how I hear it anyways.

Cold as the Sun: This is my favorite type of overworld theme. Very strong instrumentation.

Salvation, Frenetic Choro: I can really feel the romance feel here. Very well composed, the percussion is so well done. 

Steady as a Gun: Romance isn't complete without the vocals lol. Nice reprise. Very slick bass.

Apotheosis: These chord changes tho. That percussion came in so nicely. And then so epic by the end! Nice vocals.

Amazing work. This is really convincing and I could hear it in a game easily.

Developer(+1)

Good catch with the modes in track 1. More specifically, it's G Dorian to C Lydian b7. The b7 is referenced briefly in a harmonizing line, though if I had time to expand on this idea, I'd probably make it more prominent.

Submitted(+1)

Ahh I don't know how I missed the b7. I love Lydian Dominant

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I love the instrumentation here and the time signature shenanigans, I'm really curious if a lot of this was played live (like the guitar in Cold as the Sun) or if it was a VST. Also really great vocals in Steady as a Gun, I hope more people get to listen to this

Developer (1 edit)

Yes, all guitars in Cold as the Sun and Apotheosis were recorded live. Salvation, Frenetic Choro uses a mixture of VST and recorded guitar. Thank you so much for listening and commenting!

Submitted(+1)

well. thats just fukkn lovely that is

Submitted(+1)

Great tracks. I like the Latin feel of a couple of them. My favorite track was "Apothesis".

Submitted(+1)

What a jazzy and fresh experience, I especially love Salvation, Frenetic Choro, my favorite ! Great job

Submitted(+1)

I'm in love with Cold as the Sun! It has such a cool title too. Salvation is also SO groovy. Congratulations on an awesome submission! 

Just a side note, I am not sure but you might enjoy some tunes composed by Satoshi Okubo in the game "Hotel Dusk Room 215"

Developer(+1)

I just took a quick listen and you’re right, the guitar-centric jazz sound in that game is great! The game itself looks cool too, and I like the art style of the characters, reminding me of some manga from the 2000’s. Some songs gave me city pop vibes, I definitely want to get around to writing some city pop tunes maybe in this upcoming year.

Also, thanks for your comment and rating! I’m always curious to hear everyone’s favorite song when I submit in these jams because each answer is different from the next

Submitted(+1)

This is an amazing submission 🄹

A fall from Grace, Fury - i think intro started off weak but then i heard the drop and i was blown away. also hello the time signature switch at the end is amazing !!! im in awe.

Cold as the sun - i have no thoughts. all i know is that im grooving !! so many amazing melody lines its so pretty.

Salvation - AMAZING COMPOSITION. perc lines are so incredible im taking notes.

Steady as a gun - woooooh its so pretty 🄹 i have no words. this can put me into sleep release this @ everywhere pls. putting this in my jazzy playlist.

Apotheosis - beautiful drop !!! my only nitpick is that one of the percussion instrument is off-tone? but it doesnt affect my rating on you your submission is beautiful!

congrats for completing this submission on time !!!

this is such an amazing treat to my ears. makes me wanna dive to jazz more.


Developer

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful first comment!

ā€œSteady as a Gunā€ and ā€œCold as the Sunā€ are alternate versions of the same theme. I tried Cold as the Sun with vocals as well, and it sounds good, but I thought that track was more useful as an instrumental within the context of a video game. I was actually planning on recording vocals for that one and releasing it, but I think I’ll have to do both now thanks to your comment! šŸ˜„