The World We Left Behind was made in collaboration with choreographer Troy Schumacher and game designer Samantha Leigh, through the New York City-based BalletCollective.

Inspired by the idea of chance and randomness, BalletCollective commissioned Leigh to create a new tabletop RPG that would become the basis for a ballet to be developed by Tran and Schumacher.

The game acted as a conduit for creative discussion and imagination to understand each creative medium and build a world to explore out of the prompts from the game. The resulting music reflects how the game works as a creative object and the eventual story experienced playing the game.

Collaborating with game designer Samantha Leigh, cmntx records is offering limited edition bundles of Phong Tran’s release and physical copies of the game that inspired the music.

In the game, you play as astronauts trekking across an alien planet. Learn about the planet’s flora and fauna while uncovering vestiges of the past. What happened to the sapient species that called this planet home? Why do only remnants of their lives remain?

During this casual worldbuilding game, players draw symbols on playing cards to create a planet, populate it with traits, and uncover the mystery of the species that left this world behind. Tell a story of wonder, companionship, and legacy in the midst of a lonely planet.