REVEALS SATURDAY, 7 PM UTC, IN THE WALRUS SERVER:
https://discord.gg/mrTndfUDP
Greetings! This is the first time I host a walrus, and I am bringing a novel theme to it.
Videogame music appears from time to time in walrus submissions, and I'm a big submitter of them myself. Not everyone likes them, which is ok. But this time, instead of having the game songs be the underdogs, I'm making them the star of the show. The entire show, actually.
This walrus has the following core rules:
1- Every song that is submitted, and the version of that song that is submitted, must have first appeared in the soundtrack of a videogame.
2- If the version of the song that is being submitted is not the original version, then the original version must also have first appeared in a videogame.
So for example, no picking songs from Guitar Hero, unless it is a song that originated in Guitar Hero itself. It's fine if the song appeared in other media, as long as it was in a game first, and you are showing me a version from a game.
Now, for a few other rules:
- To send your submissions, just send me a private messgage here or in Discord (DDL_), with links to websites where the song plays. Please keep submissions anonymous (make sure the links you send me don't embed the youtube videos).
- Submissions are due Sunday, Jun 4th, 11:59 PM UTC+0.
EDIT: deadline has been extended to Jun 15th, 11:59 PM UTC+0.
- No cap on number of participants.
- There are 11 categories. Because the number is a little high, and because not everyone has played dozens of games, I made a rule to make things a little easier: only the 8 highest scoring submissions by each user will count towards the final score. So it's possible to get a perfect score even if you don't submit songs for all categories, as long as you submit at least 8. Submitting 11 will increase your winning chances, though, since you get to discard your bad ones. Also, in case the contest ends with a tie, the 9th-11th highest scoring entries will be used as tiebreakers.
- Scoring will just be based on how much I like the song, from 0 to 10. There will be no formal scoring for category fit. This is because, due to the nature of the walrus, it's pretty easy to know if a game fits the category or not, because they are mostly tied to specific types of game levels and situations.
That said, to prevent this from going off the rails, I may remove up to 2 points if a song doesn't fit the category.
Also, how strict the category will be varies. For the Press Start and the Credits Roll categories, the song HAS to be from an opening/title and an ending, respectively. This is because the songs in those sections aren't normally tied to a specific musical genre, the only thing specific about them is the section itself. The Not an Instrumental category is also pretty clear cut: the song must have voice. The rest of the categories are more subjective. I will accept submissions from levels/sections of games that match the description (i. e. a boss song for the boss category), and I will also accept if they don't match the type of level, but still feel like they could be from it, based on how I described the category (i e., a song that is not from a boss, but it's epic/tense enough that it could be from one). Feel free to be creative, but use your common sense. I'm expecting not to have to apply the 2 point penalty at all.
- Nothing is banned, and I don't necessarily have a preference over things I already know or don't. That said, I'm a human, so I might score something higher if I hear it for the first time because of the novelty, but then again, I might also score it higher if you hit my nostalgia buttons. I'll try to be fair and objective to the best of my ability, but I can't guarantee anything.
- Categories are not mutually exclusive. I. e. just because there is a category for voice songs, it doesn't mean you can't send me 11 voiced songs. Just specify which song you want to be in which category.
- There will be no formal cap in song length, but bare in my mind my attention spam isn't huge.
- Because this is my first walrus, I assume I'll learn how to host it as I do it, so rules may be added/edited as it is necessary, but I'll try to give everyone forewarning whenever necessary.
Now, without further ado, blow your cartridge, grab your controller, tell your mother that you will be unavailable for the next 6 hours and allow me to present the categories:
1- Press Start to Play
Every videogame has that screen where the logo shows and a song fitting with the overall theme of the game plays. Usually an upbeat song, but not always. Some games take it further by having an entire sequence, full of cinematics, or a gameplay demonstration showing bits of the game's levels. This category is for songs that play before the player actually starts playing. Genre doesn't matter here, as long as this happens before the playthrough (though I'll open an exception if the big opening sequence/screen comes after a short playable prologue).
2- The Open World
You have left the cramped tutorial area at the start. Suddenly, the entire world opens to you. It is huge, and begging to be explored. This is a song that plays in large open areas, or overworld maps. It tends to feel optimistic or epic. Or sometimnes, filled with mystery or tension as you enter an area that seems dangerous. Give me a song that conveys the wonder and curiosity of a new place to explore.
3- Freezeezy Peak
There are many classic themes of game levels, and I'm not making categories for all of them, but for some reason, snow/ice levels tend to have songs that become favorites of mine. Maybe they are calm and soothing, and convey a sense of emptiness that is relaxing. Maybe they are fun and catchy christmas songs. Show me your best chilly songs.
4- Yoshi's Island
Another type of level that tends to produce great songs are tropical levels. Islands, jungles, beaches, indigenous tribes. They tend to have different instruments with lots of percussion and upbeat tunes. Some of them go the other way and make you feel like you are relaxing in a beautiful beach in the middle of summer. If the category above was for chill, this one is for warmth.
5- Escape from Planet Zebes
You are just minding your business, checking the loot you have collected, when suddenly a massive dragon appears and starts chasing you, and you have just a few seconds to start running or it will eat you. Or the building you are in is about to explode. Or all of your characters are at low health, and they will die next turn if you don't do anything. Your adrenaline spikes, and you desperately press the buttons on your controller to get to safety. The words for this category are dread, fear, adrenaline.
6- Free Category
There are many types of levels and moments in games that I did not portray here, because there are too many categories already. But you may have one of those that you want to submit. Or maybe you have two snow level songs and don't want to pick one. This is a free category. Anything is fine, as long as it's from a videogame.
7- The Puzzle Song
Sometimes in a game, you will spend a long time doing a monotone activity: solving a difficult puzzle, fiddling with menus to optimize your equipment, questioning characters to figure out which one of them is the murderer. The songs that play in these situations tend to be more "background-like", songs you won't pay much attention to because you are focused in the task at hand. They lean more on the relaxing side, but are energetic enough that they help you focus. A good non-videogame parallel are songs that you might listen to when studying, or working out. Sometimes, such songs are so good that you will stop doing the task for a few minutes just to pay attention to the music. Show me one of those.
8- The Bonus Room
You have just found a secret door leading to a room that has thousands of coins, and you have a few minutes to collect as many as you can. Or you collected all the coins, and now you get to be invincible for a whole minute. Or you are just playing silly minigames between the previous story sequence and the next. These songs tend to feel disconnected from the theme of the game, and tend to be childish and/or carefree. Give me a song that just wants to make you get a dopamine rush for no reason.
9- The Non-Instrumental Category
Sometimes, people may submit instrumental songs, and there might even be a category in the walrus for them. Well, this is a walrus where most songs are likely to be instrumental, so I'm making a category for songs that have voice. While not every game has those, especially old games, some games have a whole bunch, and some have one or two that are reserved for memorable parts of the game.
10- The Boss Fight
Now the situation has gotten serious. The enemy in front of you is a boss, not necessarily the final boss, but it's clearly much stronger those minions you have been killing on the way here. The door behind you locks, and you can't run away. It's do or die. The fight that is about to ensue will be difficult, but victory will be really worth it. Songs here can be fast, epic, or scary and tragic, or they may be remixes of the level or a character's theme. Those songs tend to be some of the best and most memorable of videogames, so give me your best shot.
11- The Credits Roll
We started with the opening, so we end with the ending. This song makes you remember all the trials you have gone through and the hours of fun you've had. It can be sad and poignant, or it can give a sense of triumph. Or it's a remix of other songs that played before, to add the feeling of nostalgia for the experience you have just have. Like category 1, any genre is welcome here, as long as it plays in the ending sequence of a game.