Desert Journey

Explore endless abstract and trippy landscapes that adapt and evolve based on the soundscape in real-time. By default it listens to the microphone input, but you can also wire the Windows stereo mix to directly capture computer sounds.

The project is more of a data-driven interactive visual experience than a game, even though it is developed in the Godot game engine. The user can move around and adjust parameters, but there are no goals or purpose other than to explore the visuals.

The experience is abstract, and driven by the music choices of the user. The system reads the audio input and extracts various features, which are used to roughly estimate the mood and energy of the song. It is mainly designed to work with songs, but it also works with any kind of sound. 

The extracted data is then used to steer the world generation to produce landscapes and colors that fit the vibe of the audio. Different songs should create different visual experiences, and the feature extraction doesn’t have to be accurate as long as the user can feel like the audio and visuals are connected.

The goal is to provide the sense of synesthesia, where the visuals and audio blend together into one coherent experience. The experience is designed to be constantly changing, colorful and evocative with infinite procedurally generated landscapes. The experience simulates a trip or traveling through alien environments.

I implemented the project with the help of generative AI in Godot 4.6.

Controls

WASD - move
Arrow up / down - speed up / down
Q/E - change field of view

F1 - open music visualizer.
F2 - open the trip settings.