Chime (video game)

Chime is a music-based puzzle game developed by independent developers Zoë Mode and published on Xbox Live Arcade in February 2010, and on Steam in September of the same year.

The game plays much like Lumines or Tetris in that virtually the entire game is based around organizing blocks, but unlike the two games, the blocks don't fall from up above. Instead, the blocks are placed on a flat grid to form quads, that can be filled in to form quads. The aim of the game is to cover the entire grid with quads, either by creating quads as quickly as possible, or filling in existing quads before they vanish. All this is tied to the game's soundtrack, where the music builds up as more quads are placed on-screen, and existing blocks sound out chimes in tune with the background music. The music in the game was contributed to the game free of charge by artists such as Philip Glass, Paul Hartnoll (of Orbital fame) and Moby, with the Steam version adding Jonathan Coulton's Still Alive to the list of playable songs.

The game is notable not only for its engaging, addictive gameplay and cheap price, but for the developers' own selflessness, as they're donating all the profits for the game for charity, and the game even gives you an achievement just for buying it and helping their cause.