Day 3, the sun screams and we ship

Sunday was all sound, and the sound is where the game actually happens.

Everything is synthesised

Not a single audio file in the build. Everything is DSP in C:

• storm - the weather. Rain is a hiss with a patter of drops in it, and the sea is a rumble with two taps of cliff answering late, which is what puts a mountain in front of you.
• wing - the beat. A tambor with the pitch falling out of it, a click on the attack, and a five-partial cluster under both.
• chorus - what waits at the top. A choir built properly and then broken on purpose, so it sounds holy until you get close :)

One buffer, and altitude decides the blend: out of the rain early, out of the sea late, and at the sun nothing left to hear.

The trick I'm most happy with: the judgement of your beat IS the tuning. Land it well and the wings ring in tune, land it badly and they detune and distort, so you hear the mistake before the readout tells you.

The screaming sun

Then the top of the ride got its payoff: the sun. Ring modulated, and the vibrato gets worse the closer you get, until it stops sounding like an instrument at all.

Last hours

Final pass before uploading: fall lines so the drop reads as speed, a centred band for the perfect beat, and the cover baked straight out of the game (the ride is deterministic, so a frame number picks the exact moment I want).

Published on time. Now the rock can rest, until someone presses the button again.