Ringwatch

A tech demo rather than a story. Observatory 7 sits on the rim of a crater on a small icy moon, and its panoramic window is sealed behind blast shutters. Pull the lever on the main console and watch the sunlight come through the dust, shaft by shaft, with the shadows of the mullions in it. The floor mirrors the room, the glass is smudged and refracts what’s behind it, the flasks on the bench slosh when you carry them (and when you throw them across the room in a sixth of a g), and the gas giant outside is ray traced per pixel, rings and all. Hold right-click to scan anything and it tells you how it’s drawn; press Tab to switch each technique off and see what it was doing. Every texture, model and sound is made in code. Best with a mouse and keyboard on a desktop graphics card.