Color Chorded

Color Chorded is a game Alice and I made together in MIT's 21M.385 (Interactive Music Systems). We coded, animated, and scored a gem-matching game like Dots but with an additional interactive music element.

Instead of finishing puzzles against a clock or aiming for a certain score, the player aims to develop the complexity of the background music by making "correct moves" while also playing pitches associated with each gem as they select and unselect them. The "quality" and "complexity" of the music depends on the player's move quality/quantity, giving the player agency in the composition, but because of the way we generate the background music, never becomes "un-musical," giving the game a low barrier of entry.

Match gems of the same color to fill up the seaweed; matching gems of the same color and shape give a bonus! Depending on each shape's level (represented by the number of seaweed strands), different elements of the backing music (chords, percussion, embellishments, bassline) will change in complexity. Each section loops randomly but was composed with compatibility in mind, so the music remains novel and harmonious throughout gameplay.

You can play the open source game for yourself here or see us play here.