The Sea is an experimental game prototype based on Brian Eno’s essay Ambient Music. I wanted to see if I could port the principles behind his theory to create an ambient game. The two central ideas are that it is “as interesting as it is ignorable” and that it can happen in the background, regardless of if the player is actively or passively playing. The Sea is still under development. The following video is a fake 24 hour time-lapse of the possible time of day visuals. Click here to play!

This game was originally designed for the experimental gameplay challenge with the theme “neverending”. The red bar at the top indicates the current completion of the game. The idea is that it takes a collaborative effort of many people to get the boat across the sea. Additionally, there is only one functional button that enables the boat to go forward. The amount of progress is approximately equivalent to the real time and distance across the ocean from Boston to Portugal.