Hello everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying Chime Super Deluxe since we launched three weeks ago – we’re delighted with the great reviews it’s been getting so far. I’m especially pleased with the reaction to the music, obviously! But I’m not here to talk about that, I’ve got some news about a competition (enter here) that could see your music rubbing shoulders with Philip Glass, Plaid, Moby and the rest…

In case you’re not familiar with how the game works, here’s beat-boxer extraordinaire Shlomo explains the basics in the video above. Give it a watch!

We’re inviting aspiring musicians to submit tracks for a chance to appear in Chime Super Deluxe. We will pick our favorite and work with the winner to turn the track into a unique level. Players around the world could hear your music and see your name on screen! We will also profile you on the game’s official website and link to your music online.

There are no rules about what style of music you can submit. Whether you’re a laptop producer, band, choir or percussion group, if you think it would make a great Chime level we’d love to hear it. The only stipulations are that it must be your own work, that you’re up for putting it into the game, and that you’re able to provide “stems” (a multi-track recording with separate instrument parts) if we pick your track as the winner.

For Chime Super Deluxe, we got great results by collaborating with artists like Shlomo, now we’re inviting you to collaborate with us. We’re always looking to push Chime in new musical directions, and we can’t wait to hear what you come up with for the game – so come on, surprise us!

“How does it work?” I hear you ask… To enter, just head here and submit an mp3. The competition opens today and we’ll be accepting submissions until Friday 1st July.

Good luck to you all!

FAQ

How do I submit a track?

Once submissions are open, you can use the form on this page to upload an mp3 file of your track, along with contact information and comments.

Can I submit more than one track?

Yes, but if you submit more than one we may not be able to listen to all of them, so choose your best!

What kind of music can I submit?

Whatever you like – if you can imagine it in working in the game, let’s hear it.

Can I submit a cover version?

No. A cover version is partly owned by the original composer. Anything you submit must be your own composition and not infringe on any existing copyright

My music contains samples from other songs, is that ok?

No. Samples are the property of the owner of the original recording. Anything you submit must be your own composition and not infringe on any existing copyright.

Will I get feedback on my track?

We can’t promise to provide feedback but we will listen to every submission.

We’re excited to announce that Chime Super Deluxe will be released and available to download from the PlayStation Store on 29th of March in the US. We can’t wait! In the meantime, I would like to tell you a little more about what Super Chime Deluxe has in store for you.

To play the game, you have to place down irregular-shaped blocks one at a time on the grid, fit them together 3 X 3 or more and you will build a quad. The quads score you points and this creates coverage, which fills the grid. The challenge is to fill the grid before the time runs out. This core rule set alongside multipliers, time bonuses, block fragment crashes and more create an addictive and mesmerising strategic experience.

But where does the music come in? Each block you place plays a note, and a different note depending on where it is placed. Every quad you create plays a longer musical phrase depending on the size and shape of it. The backing track is driven forward depending on how much coverage you have. The composition of the music is therefore remixed by you as you play.

When you hit 100% grid coverage, clearing and resetting the grid, you are rewarded with a brand new grid to play. This is one of the ways we have adjusted and improved the difficulty curve of the game. There are five of these to master on each level and each one is more fiendish than the last!

“Perfect quads” have also been introduced. If you create a quad and leave no fragments behind you get a bonus added to your multiplier. We’ve also rebalanced the scoring and balanced the game so you can play for speed and get extra points from the 100% coverage bonus or you can play neatly and be rewarded with huge multipliers.

The Look

Although we loved the look of the original Chime we didn’t feel it was sharp enough for PlayStation Network and wanted to create something more elegant. We decided upon a glassy and semi-translucent finish to the blocks and we have also added a hypnotic set of grid colours, lighting, effects and background videos.

Game Modes

Chime Super Deluxe also sees us introduce four-player, offline multiplayer modes for the first time. We have developed a Co-op Mode allowing players to make music together and play collaboratively and a Versus Mode brings another fresh dynamic to the game play experience.

The Co-op Mode is perfect for those late night sessions with friends and tasks players to crack their high scores together. The Versus Mode is a particular favourite of mine as players work against each other by stealing quads and destroying each other’s coverage. The aim is to cover the grid with your colour against a backdrop of backstabbing, musical harmony and visual chaos!

The Artists

For Chime Super Deluxe we wanted to work closely with the artists to create music designed for the game and we are thrilled to reveal the remaining line-up of brand new artists to accompany those already announced. The artists and their never-before-heard tracks include:

• “Play With You” – 8-Bit and Chip Tune specialist, Sabrepulse
• “Tender Hooks “ – World renown electronica duo, Plaid
• “The Looping Song” – Beatboxer extraordinaire and World Loopstation Champion, Shlomo

Shlomo. Photo by Gabrielle Motola

The Zoë Mode studio has also contributed music to the game with tracks, “Machine Dream” from Nathan McCree, the guy behind the music in Tomb Raider and an orchestral piece, “Sympathy”, from Joe Hogan, completes the line up.

That’s it! There’s not long to wait now until the end of the month and we hope you are looking forward to getting your hands on the game and are ready to sample Chime Super Deluxe for yourselves! In the meantime if you wish to know a bit more, here is artist Sabrepulse describing his experiences with the game.

For the latest news on Chime Super Deluxe, please be sure to visit the website and join the Chime newsletter. Join the community on our Facebook page or follow the Zoe Mode studio on Twitter.

I am proud to share some exciting news with you about our new game Chime Super Deluxe, which will be available to download soon from PSN. Chime Super Deluxe is a unique and addictive block puzzle game featuring an innovative music creation element. Players must cover a number of different grids with irregular shapes to form rectangular blocks called “quads.” Every shape and quad generates musical notes and phrases. As the grid is gradually covered, the song builds up in the background.

Working their way towards that elusive 100% coverage, players create a unique remix of the music every time they play. Its a very simple game mechanic idea but one that provides captivating and mesmerizing gameplay that will feed your aural senses like nothing else before.

“So what about the music?” I hear you ask. Well, we have a fantastic line up of music artists in the game who have allowed us to play around with their music tracks so that we can create this unique puzzle experience for you. The game comes with 10 music tracks and playable grids at launch and we can reveal 5 of these now. The other artists and tracks created exclusively for Chime Super Deluxe will be announced at a later date so keep checking back to the PlayStation.Blog for more details as we make them available.

The first five artist tracks are:

• “Ooh Yeah” – Moby
• “Spilled Cranberries” – Markus Schulz
• “Brazil” – Philip Glass
• “For Silence” – Paul Hartnoll (Orbital)
• “Disco Ghosts” – Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly)

Chime Super Deluxe also supports two multiplayer modes which will allow players to “Chime” together, but more on how that works in a later post. We really can’t wait for you to play the game, which we think is easy to play but hard to master…having said that, we are sure that you will be spending hours trying to do just that!

We will have lots of competitions for you to enter so please be sure to visit the website, www.chimegame.com, ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page or follow the Zoe Mode studio on Twitter.

We promise to reveal more on the game very soon and announce the release date, but for now please enjoy our new teaser trailer which will hopefully intrigue you even more!