Design Statement
Listening to the theme track, our team resonated with the simple yet deep layer of notes, which gave off a sense of loneliness and weightlessness. The sounds and textures also reminded us of twinkling stars in a void of space and so we wanted to incorporate the concept of stars and lights into our project. In our game Wayfinder, the player travels through a sea of fallen stars in space. We wanted to capture the sense of loneliness and twinkling of stars that we interpreted from the theme track through the environment. Our key design choices were to make the game as non-verbal as possible since we wanted to focus on player emotions through the experience, meaning the major interaction with the game space was through visuals and art. Another major element was making the game have no urgency, enforced by having no time limits or conflicts with other entities and other forms of pressure. We wanted players to take their time with the space, feeling weightless as they wandered through the atmosphere and taking appreciation of the environment around them. We hope that players can find peacefulness and and serenity in the landscape and simply take some time to themselves exploring through the sea of fallen stars.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
The resolution quality seems to be heavily compressed on the web build (most noticeably the water shader and puzzle graphics), so we heavily encourage downloading the desktop build if possible for the best experience! (or watch the walkthrough video to see the full graphics)

Gameplay Overview
Wayfinder is a puzzle exploration game where players fish in a sea of fallen stars.

Controls
W, A, S, D for movement
Right click to enter fishing mode (movement is enabled but camera movement is locked to enable drawing)
Left click + hold to direct fishing line and collect stars, letting go will exit fishing mode
Mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/out
Esc for settings/volume adjustment

Launch Steps
Download the .zip file and launch the .exe file to run the Windows version.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://youtu.be/YkkLh0Fd11I

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
No