Akis

What is Akis?

Akis is a series of sound games from Bumba Games, played in the browser and on phones. The screen is dark; every sound you make bounces off the walls and shows you the shape of the room for a moment. You play with headphones, in 3D sound.

Right now you can play three test labyrinths from the first game, The Well, here for free and without ads. Nothing to install: open the page and turn the sound on.

How to play

Make a sound and you see, but whatever moves in the dark hears you too. Sneaking shows you little but keeps you safe; a clap lights up the whole room and everyone hears it.

On a computer, W and S move you forward and back, A and D turn. Shift sneaks, Ctrl runs. Q clicks your tongue (a short, sharp sonar), Space claps, F throws a stone, B holds your breath.

On a phone, drag on the left half of the screen to walk. Tap the right half to click, hold to clap, swipe to throw a stone.

Why headphones?

In Akis the sound is the picture. With headphones you hear whether a sound is left or right, in front or behind, near or far. The echoes coming back from the walls tell you how big the room is and what it is made of.

The first time you play there is a two-minute headphone setup: it checks left and right, picks the head profile that suits your ears, and sets the volume and the delay of wireless headphones. Speakers work too, but you lose most of the sense of direction.

Playing without sight

With "Play without sight" on, the screen goes fully dark and the wall echoes get stronger; you find the labyrinth by sound alone. The menus work with the keyboard.

This mode is a first version. We plan to develop it together with blind and visually impaired players.

Where things stand

This is a prototype with three test labyrinths: Echo, Materials and The Swallower. For now every sound is generated in code; real recordings and sound design come in later steps.

The series is planned as four games: The Well, Threshold, Forest and Signal. There is no speech in them; sounds, places and music tell the story.

Questions

Do I need headphones?

No, but they help a lot. The game is made for 3D sound; it works on speakers, but telling where a sound comes from gets much harder.

My headphones are on but the sound comes from the speaker. What should I do?

On a phone, switch the output to your headphones: on iPhone from the audio card in Control Center, on Android from the volume panel. If you opened the page inside another app, that app may be sending sound to the speaker; open the page in Safari or Chrome instead. On a computer, choose your headphones in the system's sound output settings.

Does it cost anything?

No. The prototype is free and has no ads.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes, it opens in the browser and you play by touch. Store apps for iOS and Android are also planned.

Where does my data go?

Your progress, settings and badges stay in this browser. If you allow statistics, visits are counted with Umami on our own server. The privacy page has the details.