Behind the Build | Within by Enrique García-Alcalá

VIVERSE Team
Apr 16
2 min read

Updated: Apr 17

Modern office with computer, chair, and pink lighting. Screens show mountain images. Shelves hold boxes. Text: "BEHIND THE BUILD." — Behind the Build | A look into the creative process with Enrique García-Alcalá

Within: A Maze + Music Experiment

By Enrique García-Alcalá

About Me

I’m a digital artist, creative technologist, and professor of digital art and interactive media at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. With a background in audio engineering and a master’s degree in interactive media, my work explores the intersection of code, sound, and space through immersive environments, generative systems, and critical play. I focus on how digital technologies can foster reflective, poetic, and participatory experiences in both artistic and educational contexts.

A silhouetted figure sits on a ledge under a starry sky.

The Project: Within

This project began as a personal research and artistic device:

What if a maze could generate music?

Built in PlayCanvas and powered by Tone.js for the VIVERSE ecosystem, the piece creates a procedural labyrinth where every collectible object adds a new musical layer. As users explore, they don't just navigate what they compose. Ambient drones, deep basslines, generative arpeggios, and percussive patterns evolve dynamically, turning the maze into a living sound sculpture.

Each playthrough is unique, both spatially and sonically.

Futuristic scene with a human figure sitting on a wall, colorful hourglass, and geometric patterns under a starry sky. Mood is serene. — Collect the objects under a starry sky.

The Experience of Building It

Designing this system meant weaving together two complex components:

A procedural maze generator that controls walls, floor tiles, and object placement.
A generative music engine that responds to user interaction in real-time.

This project challenged me to think about sound not just as content but as architecture that shapes perception and behavior through design. It also required careful management of performance, preload timing, and web audio constraints, especially to make it browser-compatible.

Text on screen: "A thread winds through the maze...Keep moving." Background has red and gray walls, with a "CONTINUE" button below. — Don't dismiss hints; they'll help you move forward.

Conclusion

Participating in this project as a VIVERSE Creator has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The platform offered me the freedom to experiment, play, and prototype without constraints—something rare and invaluable in digital creation.

As an artist and educator, having the tools and support to explore how virtual worlds can become living, generative, and responsive spaces opened up new dimensions in my practice. I was able to blur the lines between sound, architecture, and interaction and imagine digital spaces not just as backdrops but as dynamic canvases for storytelling and expression.

This project reminded me how exciting it is to build something from the ground up, where exploration becomes music, and every player becomes a composer.

I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this evolving creative ecosystem.

🔗 Access the full technical documentation here → A Generative Audiovisual Maze

🔗 Experience Within by Enrique García-Alcalá. → Play Within Now!

A virtual room with pink and purple geometric walls, viewed through an arch. Starry sky above and interface icons below show "Collected Objects 0/6". — No map will guide you. No path will repeat.