Remember Chime? It was a nice music puzzle game originally released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. It featured the same sweeping time bar and glowing visuals as Lumines but focused more on Tetris-style pieces rather than colored squares. It was neat but I always felt at odds with the game. While I wanted to chill with the music and add layers to it as I played, that relentless bar and the unavoidable junk pieces made me rush, stress and frequently fail.
I’m happy to say that’s one of the first concerns addressed in the Kickstarter video for Chime Sharp. Headed up by Ste Curran, one of the creators of Chime, the goals for the sequel are simple; “a prettier version of the game that everyone loves, distilled, with extra game modes and all new music.” The pretty graphics are already largely in place but adding new modes and music is why they’ve turned to Kickstarter.
Music licensing is hard, especially when your game needs to rip up the songs and let the player piece them together. There’s already new music in place but with backer support the team hopes to add the likes of Daft Punk, Magic Sword, George & Jonathan, and Chipzel to build their “dream soundtrack”. Backers also give them time (and a test market) to experiment with new ways to play and, most important of all, prove to their publisher that there’s an audience ready for more Chime.
With 32 days to go they’re already nearly at their goal so Chime Sharp looks all but certain. The target launch is planned for August 2015 on PC, Mac and Linux but there’s plenty of time for stretch goals that could result in console ports and more features. You can see and hear more about the game and even play a browser based demo at the official Chime Sharp site.
