Overview: Place blocks to form rectangles in order to gain points and cover the entire playing surface.
20120928:
Some Steam Achievements completed on this day.
20121204:
Screenshots show about 20 minutes of play.
Steam Game Time: 2.7 hours
20181206 (Part 1):
I revisited this game today and started by trying to load an old save file using GameSave Manager. Unfortunately, the backed up save file was not a real back up. In other words, I had to start over from the beginning.
The first time I played, I didn't realize that an important goal was to cover the entire playing surface. I also didn't know until near the end of the first level I played that once a rectangular set of blocks, known as a quad, is cleared by the beatline (the white vertical bar that scans across the board), the playing surface that was occupied by the quad is reclaimed and can be used again.
Setup: Mouse. I started off with a keyboard but then decided to forgo the need to rotate left and right in favor of rotating only right by clicking the right mouse button.
Game Mechanics: Each level has a different layout and has a different set of blocks to use. Once the level starts, the player must place the blocks onto the playing surface and form rectangles, which the game calls "quads." When a quad is first formed, a meter begins to fill. The quad may be extended if the meter has not yet reached 100%. Bigger quads gain more points. Each completed quad increments the score multiplier. Block fragments will begin to deteriorate each time the beatline (white vertical bar) passes. A piece that fully deteriorates will reset the bonus multiplier, i.e., back to 1x. Finally, the area behind a completed rectangle is marked as covered, and the player's ultimate goal is to cover the entire playing field. (The main incentive to cover the playing field is to reset the field and continue to earn more time bonuses.)
Steam Game Time: 0.9 hours (session game time)
20181206 (Part 2):
After writing some thoughts below, I decided to dive back into the game and try playing faster.
Setup: Mouse. Today I used the mouse wheel to rotate the pieces right and left.
Upon trying out the new strategy, I was drawn back into the game as I started developing new strategies. In particular, at one point I realized that I could sacrifice getting points in favor of covering more squares by creating smaller rectangles. This is especially true near corners.
I suppose one strategy would be to cover as much center area as possible and then work on any missing corners. Speaking of missing area, I didn't use the reveal button often enough, but it's usage a key to doing well in the game.
Steam Game Time: 1.4 hours (session game time)
20181207:
As I returned to finalize this blog post, I got the feeling to play more and try to beat my scores. In essence, some amount of addiction has kicked in. Today I tried to tackle various achievements.
Overall, there was some fun trying to complete some of the achievements, two of which are a big grind (50 and 100 companion cubes).
At one point, I thought that perhaps a clean way to play the game would be to determine how to pack the pieces in different small scenarios. For example, are there ways to combine the blocks in a closed form? Are there ways to do it around a single or double single block? And so on.
Steam Game Time: 2.5 hours (session game time); 4.8 hours (week game time); 7.5 hours (total game time)
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Challenging
+ Good music and general vibe
+ Features the Portal song "Still Alive."
Neutral:
~ Has some appeal.
~ Has about as much replay value as other arcade games: master the game mechanics and RNG in order to get a high score. If you don't care about getting the high score, the game will be a short experience.
Con:
~ There are only a small number of layouts to choose from. A custom mode would have been perfect for this game.
Summary:
If you have this game and enjoy puzzle games like Tetris or Puzzle Bobble, then I would recommend you play it; more so if you've played Portal and absolutely loved "Still Alive" (who doesn't!?!). If none of those apply to you, then don't worry, you're not missing out.
Chime (PC) (2010)
Relevant Links:
Chime (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Chime (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Chime (Steam Store Page)
20120928:
Some Steam Achievements completed on this day.
20121204:
Screenshots show about 20 minutes of play.
 |
| A companion cube! (from 2007 first person video game Portal) |
Steam Game Time: 2.7 hours
20181206 (Part 1):
I revisited this game today and started by trying to load an old save file using GameSave Manager. Unfortunately, the backed up save file was not a real back up. In other words, I had to start over from the beginning.
The first time I played, I didn't realize that an important goal was to cover the entire playing surface. I also didn't know until near the end of the first level I played that once a rectangular set of blocks, known as a quad, is cleared by the beatline (the white vertical bar that scans across the board), the playing surface that was occupied by the quad is reclaimed and can be used again.
Setup: Mouse. I started off with a keyboard but then decided to forgo the need to rotate left and right in favor of rotating only right by clicking the right mouse button.
 |
| A blank level. |
Game Mechanics: Each level has a different layout and has a different set of blocks to use. Once the level starts, the player must place the blocks onto the playing surface and form rectangles, which the game calls "quads." When a quad is first formed, a meter begins to fill. The quad may be extended if the meter has not yet reached 100%. Bigger quads gain more points. Each completed quad increments the score multiplier. Block fragments will begin to deteriorate each time the beatline (white vertical bar) passes. A piece that fully deteriorates will reset the bonus multiplier, i.e., back to 1x. Finally, the area behind a completed rectangle is marked as covered, and the player's ultimate goal is to cover the entire playing field. (The main incentive to cover the playing field is to reset the field and continue to earn more time bonuses.)
Steam Game Time: 0.9 hours (session game time)
20181206 (Part 2):
After writing some thoughts below, I decided to dive back into the game and try playing faster.
 |
| A quad whose meter is still filling. |
Setup: Mouse. Today I used the mouse wheel to rotate the pieces right and left.
Upon trying out the new strategy, I was drawn back into the game as I started developing new strategies. In particular, at one point I realized that I could sacrifice getting points in favor of covering more squares by creating smaller rectangles. This is especially true near corners.
I suppose one strategy would be to cover as much center area as possible and then work on any missing corners. Speaking of missing area, I didn't use the reveal button often enough, but it's usage a key to doing well in the game.
Steam Game Time: 1.4 hours (session game time)
 |
| Use "reveal" to see what still needs to be covered. |
20181207:
As I returned to finalize this blog post, I got the feeling to play more and try to beat my scores. In essence, some amount of addiction has kicked in. Today I tried to tackle various achievements.
Overall, there was some fun trying to complete some of the achievements, two of which are a big grind (50 and 100 companion cubes).
At one point, I thought that perhaps a clean way to play the game would be to determine how to pack the pieces in different small scenarios. For example, are there ways to combine the blocks in a closed form? Are there ways to do it around a single or double single block? And so on.
Steam Game Time: 2.5 hours (session game time); 4.8 hours (week game time); 7.5 hours (total game time)
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Challenging
+ Good music and general vibe
+ Features the Portal song "Still Alive."
Neutral:
~ Has some appeal.
~ Has about as much replay value as other arcade games: master the game mechanics and RNG in order to get a high score. If you don't care about getting the high score, the game will be a short experience.
Con:
~ There are only a small number of layouts to choose from. A custom mode would have been perfect for this game.
Summary:
If you have this game and enjoy puzzle games like Tetris or Puzzle Bobble, then I would recommend you play it; more so if you've played Portal and absolutely loved "Still Alive" (who doesn't!?!). If none of those apply to you, then don't worry, you're not missing out.
Chime (PC) (2010)
Relevant Links:
Chime (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Chime (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Chime (Steam Store Page)
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