Game Classification

Chime is a music puzzle game created for charity. The game borrows elements from Tetris and features procedurally introduced music by famous artists such as Philip Glass, Moby, Paul Hartnoll, Fred Deakin and Markus Schulz. All proceeds of the game go to charity projects such as "Save the Children" and "Starlight Children's Foundation".

In the game players place shapes similar to tetris blocks (but built from six squares) on a grid. The idea is to create so-called "quads". Quads are at least 3x3 squares. Once a quad is created the player has limited time to expand on the shape in all four directions by placing more shapes next to it.

The stage is also a time line. A position marker will slowly move from left to right. Each shape produces a sound once the position marker reaches it. The sounds are samples from the level's music theme and depending on the shape of the quad different samples are played. The further the player progresses in a level the more difficult it will become and the more hectic the music will automatically get as well.

Once a quad can no longer be expanded and it is reached by the position marker it is removed, but the grid it covered is colored. A counter keeps track of the percentage of the level that is colored, like in the arcade game Qix. The player needs to color at least 50% to unlock the next level.

The grid of each level has a different size and also different shapes that become available to the player. Like in Tetris the player can see which shape he or she is going to receive next.

The game features a free play and time play mode. In the time play mode players can choose between nine, six or three minutes. In this time they have to make as much points as possible. Varies multipliers can be achieved and for every 10% filled the player gains 20 extra seconds of time. Additionally if a player fills the entire screen it is flipped over and he can try to gain more than a 100%.

High scores are automatically uploaded to on-line leader boards which let players compete with each other for the top ranks.

Chime is the first game by charity publisher OneBigGame

The Steam version of the game features one additional bonus song Still Alive from the game Portal. Only in this level when the player reaches a high enough bonus multiplier, the player is rewarded with a "companion cube" (the player's best friend in Portal). This cube is 3x3 so immediately forms a new quad. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Windows) - Xbox 360 (X360)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/chime/