Design Statement
The theme track opens with five hesitant phrases separated by silence, then turns into a continuous cascade that opens from F minor onto D-flat major, rises to a climax and fades into a warm, bittersweet tail. We heard loneliness turning into belonging. Confluence turns that shape into play: you are a fennec cub alone on moonlit dunes, and the five phrases become the five members of your family, each answering your whistle with one phrase of the theme, reinterpreted as a whistle. Listening is the core mechanic: you follow sound, not markers, and each family member is found in a different way: a gentle approach, waking a sleeper with a soft tap, not startling a hider, echoing a rhythm. As the family gathers, their phrases join into chords, the cold night turns warm, and you all walk home at sunset on a steady pulse: the cascade. In the release, the original track plays unmodified while the family's song rises into the stars. The game is wordless, has no fail state, and is meant to be gentle for players of all ages.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
Windows: download "Confluence (Windows)", unzip it and run Confluence.exe (no installation). F11 toggles fullscreen. Headphones recommended.

Controls: move with WASD / arrow keys (or hold the right mouse button to trot towards the pointer). Call (whistle) with Space or the left mouse button: tap for a short, soft whistle, hold for a long call. Gamepad: left stick to move, A to call.

Overview: a wordless journey of about 15 minutes with no fail state. Whistle and listen: each family member answers from where they are hiding, louder as you get closer, and your ears twitch towards them. Find all five, each in their own way, then walk home together at sunset and watch the finale. If you are lost for 5 minutes, a gentle light shows where the next one hides.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://youtu.be/Y-XK229eciY

Trailer / Other Additional Video Material (Optional)
https://youtu.be/AqXL2oXZ_eo

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
Yes. This game contains AI-assisted content: the code, including the vector art generated in code (SVG), was written with an AI coding assistant. The game contains no AI-generated images; AI image generation was only used to explore the art direction during early prototyping. There is no AI-generated audio or voice: the whistles and the score are procedural, and the theme track is used unmodified.