Design Statement
Listening to the theme track, our team gathered 3 main inspirations/concepts:
1. Dreams
2. The feeling of flying/soaring
3. Using phonetics/audio as a part of gameplay

Combining these three concepts together, we landed on a fast-paced platformer that detects what the player is saying, and depending on the type of sound their words start with, their words will have different effects. One of these effects is an explosion, which can launch the player high into the air, imitating the feeling of flight. Story-wise, the game takes place in a future where diving into people’s dreams and nightmares is possible, as you navigate through someone’s nightmare, trying to turn it into a good dream. We hope that the combination of these ideas will make for a fun and interesting experience!

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
*Launch Steps: Windows*
1. Download the “Koe.zip” folder
2. Unzip/Extract the folder, and click on “koe.exe”
3. If you get a warning from Windows, just ignore it and run it anyway (we’re not stealing your bank account details, trust)
4. Enjoy!

*Launch Steps: Mac*
1. Click on koe.dmg
2. Click on the Godot logo labelled Koe
3. Done!

Also, don’t forget to enable microphone input when prompted!

*Controls*
It is recommended to play Koe with a set of headphones and a microphone!
A + D or Left Arrow + Right Arrow to move horizontally
W, Up Arrow, or Spacebar to jump
Mouse to aim in the direction to spawn words
Speak into the microphone to activate words
(Spoiler: if you’re stuck or encounter a game-breaking bug, press 1 to enter god mode ;))

*Gameplay Overview*
Imagine this: whatever you say/sing/scream will materialize into the world (with all its glorious physics)!

Different kinds of sounds will have different physical properties. For instance, Plosive sounds (p, t, d, k) will explode after they hit something -- this is because these sounds typically involve your mouth being temporarily entirely closed, followed by a burst (try saying 'PA'!!). Fricatives (s,t,f,v) will be spawned with constant velocity in one direction because these sounds typically involve turbulent airflow coming out of a squeeze, say, through your dental gap (try saying "Sssssss"). Nasals (m,n, ng) will be sticky because they involve airflow being directed through your nasal cavity (feel your nose when u say ‘Mmmmm’) and, well, your nasal cavity is filled with sticky mucus and all💀.

The black goo water is rising; grab collectible lyrics and reach the core of the nightmare!

Gameplay walkthrough video
http://TO BE ADDED LATER

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
No. We are firmly against using generative AI at every stage of our artistic process, from ideation, writing and coding to art and so on, for ethical and environmental reasons. A “Speech-to-text” model is used to transcribe your voice and convert it to text (no data is being collected, of course) – this is arguably a machine learning “AI” model, though quite different in both its architecture and how it is being used and squarely different from our everyday conception and usage of the word “AI” (being ChatGPT and so on).