Soundsearcher

A minimalist auditory exploration game. This game is designed for playing with your eyes closed. Headphones are strongly recommended. Click here to play.

Controls

The user interface provides controls for forward and backward movement and turning left and right:
- Mouse: Hover over the edges of the screen
- Touch: Tap and hold the edges of the screen

Keyboard controls allow play with one or both hands:
- WASD for movement
- QE or arrow keys for orientation

Gamepad support is provided for controllers with one or two analog sticks

Objective

You start with nothing. The world is filled with harmless creatures and sounds. And things to pick up:
- Footsteps
- Compass
- Three synthesizers that change pitch as you explore

Each play is randomized. Reload to start over.

Technical information

- Vanilla JavaScript
- No base code, external libraries, or tools
- All sounds synthesized via Web Audio API

Engine features

- Procedurally generated world
- 2d spatial audio system
- Movement physics

Changelog

These issues were addressed after submission:
- Added sounds to start area so players can check their volume
- Balanced volume levels
- Improved browser compatibility and mobile-friendliness
- Fixed creatures effects
- Fixed distances between pickups

These changes were merged after voting ended:
- Updated control scheme, including basic gamepad support
- Improved compass and collectibles
- More ambient sounds
- Improved starting area
- Object culling (a performance optimization for folks who travel far)
- Increased ambient spawn count
- Gradually increase spawning from starting point
- Collectible reward after returning home with all other collectibles
- Various codebase improvements