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Where People Used To Be's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Storytelling | #106 | 3.545 | 3.545 |
| Creativity | #116 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Composition | #118 | 3.568 | 3.568 |
| Impression | #119 | 3.455 | 3.455 |
| Overall | #131 | 3.427 | 3.427 |
| Quality | #194 | 3.068 | 3.068 |
Ranked from 44 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
The game I envisioned in my head, after much deliberation, was actually not a type of game ive ever played personally. As I find that most of my favorite games have shallow or repressed stories and focus time into the gameplay aspect.
A Walking Simulator
I couldn't look at the combination prompt and see anything interactive or an objective to complete. I hardly even saw an avenue for growth outside of blanket curiosity for the material.
In this game, you play as someone insignificant to the plot alone in a town which once harbored the regular hustle and bustle of common folk. They worked a job, used the land around them, made food, and gathered together for festivities. String lights and lounge chairs by the beach where the elderly would talk about their past, the men and women would fish, and the children would socialize in play. All of this no longer exist, as there are no people in this town, rather, just echos that there used to be.
The player will navigate the map and stumble across projections of the sights and sounds of the people who inhabited this place before. Throughout the snippets of story, the player will slowly start to hear murmurs from the echos of townsfolk indicating that some great upcoming excursion was taking place. More and more people unsure or unwilling to take this great journey with the rest of the town slowly being reminded of their importance and value, ultimately causing even the most stubborn old folk to embark on an expedition by sea to join a bigger population.
There is no great mystery, there is no impending disaster, there is only a community of people who once used this space gone to seek out bigger communities and grow a larger and more loving family.
Message from the artist
I used a blend of Minecraft OST and some of the work of Takashi Yoshimatsu's compositions for piano and strings to plot out these tracks.
This is my first time composing complete songs, and two of them to boot! I am a percussionist and had to learn how to write for stringed instruments and horns throughout this jam. Following numerous YouTube videos and hours lost to experimentation, I came up with these two songs and barely completed the arrangements and setting relative volumes (Which I botched) before the submission timeline closed.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
On watching the prompt appear for the jam, I felt a disconnect between what was said and what was shown: "One Summer Night" originally instills the feeling in me that this should be a fun, upbeat, high energy piece. When I think of summer, I am flooded with memories of nature, heat, togetherness, comfort, putting aside responsibility for the sake of self fulfilment to an extreme. I spent my time leading up to the jam listening to high energy and technically complex music from many of my favorite artist and games, so at face value, this prompt seemed like it could match. The Image posted along side the prompt left a deep schism between my understanding of the prompt and initial creative ideas. When viewing the image, I spent a decent amount of time taking in the colors and pieces, coming to a final conclusion that this doesn't look like a summer night. This looks like dawn falling on a lonely sea; somber. I see a singular person, seemingly lost in thought, with larger/baggy clothing as if preparing for a chill. She is standing under lights on a pier providing a warm glow with minimal surfaces to bounce from minus the dark wood of the pier and the surface of the water. To me this feels almost isolated, a bit cold, and out of place. Where are the people? Where are the boats? I couldnt help shake the feeling that this is a place where people used to be, but now sits abandoned. Someone saw this stretch of water and decided to build this tower extending out over the ocean like the first step of a staircase. Someone had to have ran wire from a main vein to power the lights shining down. Someone had to have thought this point important enough to install lights in the first place for night use. Where are the people or old rope or fishing line or nets or chairs? I oftentimes struggle with understanding my emotions so I brought the two pieces to my wife (a non-musician, but much more vividly articulates her feelings) and asked her for an opinion on what she feels with both of those pieces together. She said that in terms of games that made her feel something similar, she brought up Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Undertale. We both listened to a few of the songs she felt were relevant, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that these songs perfectly encapsulated the written theme, but did not touch on the image itself. When I told her my feelings about this disconnect, she basically just said: "Well, it is up to interpretation", in a manner that actually suggested: "Perhaps you are just wrong." - Point Taken and probably true (She made the cover art for me so she is also correct by default)
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/ryan-ringo-179352904/sets/ost-composer-jam-8?si=9726b6e4d56d4f04903806f31bbd337f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Number of tracks2
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
For game jams only
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Comments
Gathering the town - Lots going on. The composition is very exciting! Sounds like some of these might be free orchestral instruments, which are hard to get under control so I understandthe comments mentioning balance and mixing. One thing I noticed is that the level of an instrument was ok but they had really high attack, especially strings. I really like all the space you've left, all the ideas can breathe and are very impactful.
Where people used to be - There's some really complex rhythms in the piano that are really exciting when you hear them against the other instruments but it's a little confusing to the listener when it's isolated at the beginning. I really like the left hand piano writing towards the end, reminds me of the piano in breath of the wild, like the horse riding music.
Gathering the town - Lots going on. The composition is very exciting! Sounds like some of these might be free orchestral instruments, which are hard to get under control so I understandthe comments mentioning balance and mixing. One thing I noticed is that the level of an instrument was ok but they had really high attack, especially strings. I really like all the space you've left, all the ideas can breathe and are very impactful.
Where people used to be - There's some really complex rhythms in the piano that are really exciting when you hear them against the other instruments but it's a little confusing to the listener when it's isolated at the beginning. I really like the left hand piano writing towards the end, reminds me of the piano in breath of the wild, like the horse riding music.
I imagine this OST playing in a town-building JRPG — it feels very whimsical and cozy.
Really good work!
Thank you a ton for the listen! I never thought of that specifically but when you phrase it that way, yeah I can kind of see a town building RPG in this. I really am glad it was able to evoke a feeling at all so thank you again for taking the time to let me know! im still learning so this is a good way to place an identity on a style of music I can create
First of all congrats on submitting your music to the jam! I know how nerve wracking it can be to show such personal work to other strangers on the internet. For this soundtrack being your first finished tracks it's really really good. You obviously have a sense for orchestration, there's a lot of musical ideas that really gel together and make those songs a very enjoyable listening experience. As mentioned in other comments, there are some technical aspects to be aware of like balance and playing with the dynamics, but that comes with just doing and doing and doing and- you get my point :D Baby steps. (also I can recommend Marc Jovani's yt channel @cinematiccomposing, there's a ton of useful videos to learn from)
I really hope you keep creating because you have something special going on here, I'll be hoping to see you in the next jam!
PS Please give the kitty some skritches from me :)
Thank you a ton for the kind words on this! Will do. I plan to continue creating and honing whatever I got here. Im still a little unsure of what exactly it is I made, I was just kind of following what felt good or what I would sing in the shower and then trying to enhance it with other instruments.
I appreciate your listen!
PS: the deed has been done
Gathering The Town: From the intro I already knew i'd love this one. This has a certain flair that reminds me of tracks from Illusion of Gaia (an OST I really like.) Love that piano sound and the percussion choices.
Where People Used To Be: Really like the glockenspiel use. Almost starts feeling like an anthem around 2:00, the big percussion really enhances this feel.
I like your sense for percussion. Nice work!
Thank you so much for taking a listen! i loved your work so this is big praise. I am really glad there were good things found in both tracks. The Illusion of Gaia OST is a great recommendation and I plan on giving it a listen through as I try to figure out a bit more of my musical identity. This orchestration was a week long adventure and I still dont really know how or where this puts me as a composer or who even to reference since this was a blend of a couple different styles and not closely following 1 specifically. Its big news to find people who I can aim at to help hone some of what I have built here so thank you a ton!.
A very chill and relaxing soundtrack. While the VSTs needed a little bit more finesse, the compositions are quite nice and suit the atmosphere of the game. Nice work!
Thanks a ton for hearing it out! i fully agree and I got a lot of good recommendations for VSTs with actual dynamics haha. Next time at least I know It should be better. I appreciate you hearing it out and im glad you enjoyed the compositions and storytelling!
Thanks a ton again!
absolute PEAK!!!!
You are literally flattering me. I just pushed a bunch of buttons on a keyboard and it made some funny little music.
Thank you so much for giving it a listen! It means the world that someone else even likes it!
Also ill give yours a listen here soon as well i promise! Thank you again!
I think a few other people have commented on the general sound of the instruments and production and how that could be improved so I'll just focus on the stuff I liked...which was a lot!
I will say that the simplistic feel of the instruments themselves and the production does actually give it a slight PSOne sample-based JRPG soundtrack feel to me, which I really enjoy. There were definitely some moments in track 1 where I could feel that energy and excitement coming through, almost like battle music.
Track 2 has more of a lengthy build to it and there's a lot to like about your composition style. Also really liked the background sound design on this one too.
Really nice work, especially considering you have not done this before. I feel like you've got an ear for it so would love to hear more as you keep honing your style!
Thank you a ton for the listen!
Throughout the process of making these, I was reading articles and watching youtube videos for how writing for strings works and I essentially found a lot of people who were writing for strings, but for stringed instrument players. They would say things like "Its really demoralizing for a bass player to receive 3 pages of whole notes. If you want long pads thats fine but basses can play the melody too. Make sure you give everyone a turn"
This kinda felt like it was unrelated for a day or so before I started to think "Well, I know im not writing for people, but what if I wrote like I wanted people to play my music?" and that became the basis for how both pieces were composed. I tried not to move past 3 musical ideas at a time and kept the energy up by raising the notes of lower instruments instead of the higher pitched solo strings. I kind of adopted the same mentality for track 1 with horns, but I used to be a jazz drummer so the conversations between instruments felt like it came intuitively. The hard part was really just making sure that all the instruments were having fun playing.
I learned that mid way through the composition week and that seemed to shape the rest of the tracks. Im really glad that you found something enjoyable in listening to these songs! I really thought coming in that my composition was going to be a weaker aspect.
That's a really nice way to look at composition and I can totally see it in the music now you've pointed that out!
Whoa! Your music a quite impressive for someone just embarking on their composing adventures. You have great intuition when it comes to the pacing, phrasing, putting ideas together in general. There are some fleeting moments of bitonality, a refreshing approach, and fits your interpretation of the prompts. The sudden shift in texture at 2.25 in Where People Used to Be is really effective. You wrote some wonderful conversations between the instruments, like the melodic interplay between the horns and stings in Gathering the Town around 1.10 and 1:30. Your instrumentation is ambitious at this level. Congratulations on pulling off such a big endeavor.
Thank you a ton! Yeah this represents a lot of first for me. I really appreciate the praise coming from you! your music was really inspiring to hear and I am super glad to be told that im doing something correctly. I was really leaning into my intuition here and was afraid of much the opposite reaction from listeners, but this really does instill way more confidence than I should be allowed to have. You certainly make me proud of this little work.
Thank you a ton for listening!
I certainly hear the percussionist in this composition, but for someone who has never composed a full song before, I wouldn't have known otherwise if you hadn't have said it! The soft and airy piano sits nicely at the top of what else is going on in the track. I wouldn't say you botched the volume by any means, but that brass in the second track is preeeetty bumpin lol. It's not a game breaker, though. Keep practicing your composition and production - I would say that you clearly have a knack for it! Just keep making songs and experimenting - even if they don't sound the way you wanted or didn't quite pan out, you will get better every time you do it! Nice job on your submission and looking forward to what you could bring to the table next jam!
Thank you so much for this! Yeah i fully agree that brass kinda comes in like the koolaid man.
I am really delighted to hear that! I thought for sure I was making some really entry level mistakes with the whole set so its been quite surprising to see so many people enjoy my arrangement. I cant express how happy that has made me and I have more confidence now to learn the stuff getting in the way of better work now that its been pointed out.
Thank you for taking the time to listen at all!
Good job on taking the most important thing away from this jam: your wife is correct by default.
Its true its true! Im not right about many things, but when I am, Im actually not
A short but sweet submission! These tracks were delightful, especially for a first foray into composing full songs.
Thank you so much! this is high praise for me. I was really worried coming in that there were going to be some pretty major problems with the arrangements that I just wasnt skilled enough to pick out, but ive been consistently and pleasantly surprised by the people who seemed to like it! It means the world to me that I created something that anyone but me was able to listen to and enjoy.
Thank you tons again!
I already gave you some feedback in the server, so all I will say is: cat!
Thank you again for the feedback earlier today! I appreciate it greatly and 100% agree with you!
loving the deep strings in this first track with the interjection of various percussion instruments!!! it sounds really fun, playful, and powerful!! this is the kind of piece i'd love to play irl, really gorgeous!! the only issue here was mixing when all instruments were playing, but it wasn't to an extreme degree - the mixing you did on the percussion when it was just them and the staccato strings was very nice and balanced!!!
loving the calm intro to the second track, the short piano interjections over the soft water ambience is really lovely! this track is really playful and sweet and i love the piano and mallet sounds specifically!! the instrumentation and composition here is done well! the dissonant chord progressions in the second half of the track is quite nice. i like how it falls back into just the piano at the end, featuring a really sweet and well composed solo!
also side note the cat in ur soundcloud is actually adorable aww
really nice listen, thanks for sharing!! :DD
Thank you so much! it was a good bit of work but Im glad it turned out half decent!.
I fully agree about the mixing/balance issues and I appreciate you catching on to it. I was more confident with throwing around the percussion but the rest of this is really just research and trial so I wasnt 100% sure I made something that felt nice. Im glad it seems to have been worth it!
(That is Brownie. She is a sweet heart for sure)
the composition work really drew me in as i listened, especially the staccatic piano on the second track as well as the various number of instruments being used overall! as others have expressed before me, i think having additional reverb would really help expand the space for your tracks to feel more "full"!
if anything i would actually HIGHLY recommend getting sam pura's "everything bundle" rn as it is currently on a MASSIVE sale as of me writing this, where you can cop an entire high quality plugin bundle for only $3 instead of its original price $473! they have several compressors as well as a reverb plugin (panda rooms) that i think you might find very interesting to look at and play around with! figured i could drop a rec haha 😄😄
fantastic work!!
Thank you a ton for listening at all!
I 100% agree that many of the instruments fell out of space here and reverb would have done a lot of heavy lifting. Im basically just relying on the composition to carry the music and thats not as pleasant.
I am not very heavily invested in the VST/plugin space and what is currently out there, so I really appreciate the recommendation! I will check this out for sure!
I actually grabbed this today. Thanks a ton for the recommendation again!
really happy to hear that and ofc!! :D
Like others have mentioned here, the lack of dynamic samples in the bbcso discover doesn't really do the writing justice 😁
Re: some of the mixing things already mentioned, I've tend to find that you should be really conservative with using compression in orchestra music as it can kill the dynamics very easily and make the bass too loud and boomy.
A thing kinda adding to that, that came while listening the first time was during Where People Used To Be when the pizzicato basses first came in they were a bit too loud and kind of made them end up overpowering the other instruments and weakening the impact of the other percussion as they came in, but that's just slight nitpicking on my end 😉
If you are looking for other free orchestral sounds, orchestral tools recently released a free version of their berlin orchestra soundset called the Berlin Free Orchestra which might be a good addition alongside your bbcso discover and they have some other nice free sounds in their Sinefactory series of instruments, also there is the ProjectSam free orchestra that has some good stuff too.
If these are the first actual complete you've made, you should be really proud of what you've made! Lets just say, you don't want to hear my first ever complete tracks that I managed to make, since compared to these they are doo-doo 🤣
Good job!
I am super grateful for your feedback here!
I am certainly at a point where relying on a single free plugin isnt helping the music any. Also woah Berlin Free Orchestra I would have never found this without your recommendation.
I 100% overused compression in the wrong places. It didnt occur to me until listening to actual orchestra (Not just duets and quartets like I based the songs off of) that maintaining dynamic volume was more important than any 1 or 2 notes being heard. this is really solid advice.
Yeah the bass pizzicato are certainly much louder than the rest of the instruments. Thats a real problem for enjoyment.
I take all this to heart as well as your praise of my work. I certainly bit off more than I could chew here but Im glad to hear that it was enjoyable in the slightest.
I love the orchestration here, especially the pitched percussion instruments. There’s an underlying feeling of duty in both tracks which portrays the duty of the excursion well. The foliage was subtle but a nice touch. The solo instruments sometimes sound like they are “out of place” space-wise, I think a little more reverb on them would help them fit into the room more. Good work!
Thank you a ton for the listen! I really appreciate this feedback. I 100% agree with you that some of the instruments here could use a home. It sounds like they dont all live together and for some items that is intentional, but certainly not for the solo instruments. I know what to look at for next time though.
Also yeah! I appreciate it! Im glad the music was able to paint a picture in your head
I love your submission! It had a personality to it that I really enjoyed. Thanks for the experience!
Thank you a ton for listening! Im flattered that you would call it an experience at all. I felt like I wasnt able to create much above the bare minimum
More about the experience I referred to, something about Gathering The Town and some parts of the other track gave me hints of a Tim Burton production for some reason, in a good way because I love that kind of music
Very nice compositions! Aside from the percussion and instrumentation themselves, those quick little piano patterns are what really stick out to me in these tracks. It was really insightful getting to read through your thought process about the theme and your interpretation. Mixing is 100% something that you pick up as you continue to practice (I still struggle with it myself) so I wouldn't worry too much about it. More importantly, I think your foundation and compositional skills are great and I'd love to hear more of your work in the future!
Thank you a ton for listening!
The results and reviews for my work have been a pretty big surprise to me these past few days. I didn't really create this with the expectation that it was going to be received well at all. (I'd chalk some of that up to everyone here being too nice as well haha) But I hearing your feedback shows me where my strengths are. I really appreciate you taking the time to hear it out and share at all. I think I have some pretty good incentive here to keep making music, just hopefully better in the future!
really nice writing! i'm impressed with the ambition to write fully orchestral music within the short span of time we had for this jam - but i think you really did a great job! considering these are your first two complete songs (wild!!), you have great compositional instincts! please keep writing, i'm keen to see what else you come up with in the future! the highlight for me was the solo piano at the end of the second track, and i loved how it faded in the gentle sound of the waves... really nicely done!
Thank you much!
I'm really glad I participated here. I really have been quite self conscious about my ability to make music at all and participating in this jam has really been a great vehicle to tell me that I need to write more.
I fully expected to get slammed for quality and writing when entering but I guess I stumbled across a couple things i can be proud of. That plus a big laundry list of what could be fixed and I hope it just gets better from here. Thank you a ton for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it.