Developers Richard Flanagan and Henk Boom have just shared a partial walkthrough of FRACT OSC, which is a major update from the title which won the IGF Student Showcase in 2011. The developers describe this upcoming PC and Mac title as "Myst meets Rez meets Tron." The dazzling neon of Tron, the first-person puzzle adventures of Myst, and the music-generating world of Rez all seem to mesh together nicely in their creation.

Everything in the world is built on sound and structures inspired by synthesizers. The puzzles included in the video walkthrough are literally musical, with the structures players rebuild being musical tools. Players will then use these tools to create their own sound and music, and those tunes will solve bigger puzzles.

No chiptune artists were harmed during the making of FRACT OSC, since most of the game's sounds are synthesized in real time. Henk Boom says that all these clever puzzles actually mask a pedagogical experience. FRACT OSC apparently teaches players how to use real music-making tools.

Given that, FRACT OSC aptly uses a studio as the main hub. As the player rebuilds tools, different parts of the studio-hub come to life. Flanagan describes this as one of the two end-goals in the game which happen somewhat in parallel.

In addition to fixing the broken machinery in the world by solving puzzles, players should unlock and learn all the tools in the studio. "I have other hopes for what people will do with these tools once they have them, so we'll have to wait and see there," Flanagan told IndieGames.

With such rich music-making abilities, I asked him about song sharing. "We have discussed several approaches to song sharing and are still looking into other options. Sharing is a huge priority, we're just trying evaluate what would be the best way to achieve it."