Albedo Approaches Zero

What if Monty Don could appreciate the landscaping around the 2001: A Space Odessey monolith excavation site?

Albedo Approaches Zero is a meditative walk through a garden of uknowable singing crystals on the surface a distant moon. Each crystal emits a unique audio loop (provided by excellent sound designer Oscillator Sink using a Korg Opsix FM synth), which overlap and combine into a soundscape that changes as the player explores the space, with whatever the player gravitates to dictating the current combination of sounds. The result is a powerful ambient drone conducted by the player's movements.

I am interested in the possibility of an aimless walking simulator to be a small ocean of calm/awe/terror/escape from the hustle and bustle of a busy game convention. The sound is a constant low rumble even without the singing crystals to block out the noisy environment, and the visuals are at first dark and undescernable, inviting the player to wonder, but then pay full attention to what secrets the landscape holds. Looking backwards at any time reveals the landscape traversed so far in a much brighter light to entice onlookers or those who get lost (not that there's a destination per se).

The current build is a work in progress, and the final "garden" will contain more pleasent surprises, and feature a 'garden' design that contain more dedicated loops of exploration. 

This is designed as a spiritual successor to one of my early walking sims 'Grave Apologies' as well as the accepted to 2020 leftfield (but never shown due to covid) 'This Is Not A Place Of Honour'. As such, the planned (slightly too ambitious) concrete sculptures that were to decorate the table will be replaced by plastic ones painted with 'Black 3.0' ultra-matte black paint by Stuart Semple (truly, albedo approaching zero), with game controls and credits written in whiteout on them.

WSAD to move

Mouse to look

Shift to run

Space to jump

Alt+F4 to quit