🎮 Turing's Frequency — A Rhythm Game Where You Decrypt the Voices of History

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June Solstice Game Jam Submission

🏆 This is a submission for the June Solstice Game Jam

🎯 What I Built

Turing's Frequency is a browser-based rhythm game where you decrypt encrypted radio signals by listening to musical patterns and recreating them. Each signal carries a message from a historical figure who changed the world — voices that were silenced, ignored, or forgotten, now restored through your rhythm.

🎮 👉 PLAY THE GAME LIVE 👈

📖 The Story

The game is set in 1954, on the desk of Alan Turing at the University of Manchester. A radio crackles with fragmented transmissions — encrypted messages carrying words of Pride, resistance, and identity.

You are a student who has found Turing's last notebook, and with it, the key to decrypting these signals.

🌅 The connection to the June solstice: As you decrypt each signal, the screen literally brightens — from near-darkness to a flood of golden light. The solstice is the moment light and dark trade places, and this game makes that transition tangible.

🎬 Video Demo

👆 Watch the full gameplay loop: title → story → rhythm gameplay → decrypted messages → victory screen with solstice light effect.

🕹️ How to Play

Key	Action
`1` `2` `3` `4`	Play notes
`↑` `↓` `←` `→`	Arrow keys (alternative)
`Space` / `Enter`	Advance screens

🎧 Listen to the signal pattern
🎹 Repeat the notes in order
🔓 Decrypt the message
🌅 Restore the voice

💻 The Code

The entire game is a single HTML file (~32KB) with zero external dependencies. No frameworks, no libraries, no asset files (similar to how I built my npm package with zero dependencies) — just HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript.

mamoor123 / turings-frequency

Turing's Frequency - A Rhythm of Light. June Solstice Game Jam 2026 entry.

⚡ Key Technical Decisions

🔊 Web Audio API for all sound:
Every tone is synthesized in real-time using oscillators. The game uses a pentatonic scale (C4, E4, G4, C5) so every combination of notes sounds pleasant. No audio files needed.

function playTone(freq, duration = 0.3, type = 'sine', volume = 0.3) {
  const osc = audioCtx.createOscillator();
  const gain = audioCtx.createGain();
  osc.type = type;
  osc.frequency.setValueAtTime(freq, audioCtx.currentTime);
  gain.gain.setValueAtTime(volume, audioCtx.currentTime);
  gain.gain.exponentialRampToValueAtTime(0.001, audioCtx.currentTime + duration);
  osc.connect(gain);
  gain.connect(audioCtx.destination);
  osc.start();
  osc.stop(audioCtx.currentTime + duration);
}

📺 CRT aesthetic with pure CSS:
Scanlines, flicker, and glow effects are all CSS — no canvas rendering needed.

🌅 Progressive brightness:
A radial gradient overlay transitions from 0% to 12% opacity gold as you progress through levels, creating the solstice "longest day" effect.

🤖 Auto-demo mode:
Adding ?demo to the URL triggers an automated playthrough — perfect for recording videos or showing judges the full experience.

🎵 The Five Signals

Level	Historical Figure	Pattern	Theme	Quote
1️⃣	Alan Turing	C-E-G-E-C	🔢 Mathematical precision	"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of..."
2️⃣	Marsha P. Johnson	C-G-E-C-G-C	✊ Joyful resistance	"You never completely have your rights..."
3️⃣	Bayard Rustin	E-C-C-G-E-G-C	🤫 Quiet power	"We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers."
4️⃣	Audre Lorde	C-G-E-C-C-E-G-C	📝 Poetry as revolution	"It is not our differences that divide us..."
5️⃣	The Solstice	C-E-G-C-C-G-E-C-E-C	🌅 All voices together	"We are all infinite when we choose to be seen."

🧠 Why Rhythm?

Most June Solstice Game Jam submissions are visual — platformers, puzzles, cipher games. I wanted to make something auditory.

A rhythm game where the mechanic itself is "listening and repeating" felt like the right metaphor for amplifying voices that deserve to be heard.

💡 "The best games are the ones where the mechanic IS the message."

🏆 Prize Categories

🎖️ Best Ode to Alan Turing

This game is directly inspired by Alan Turing's life and legacy:

🏛️ The setting: 1954, Turing's final year at Manchester
🔐 The mechanic: Decrypting signals mirrors Turing's work at Bletchley Park
🏳️‍🌈 The metaphor: Turing was persecuted for being gay — this game restores voices of Pride
1️⃣ Level 1 is dedicated to Turing himself

🤖 Best Google AI Usage

I used Google Gemini to assist with (see my full Google I/O 2026 tools review for more AI tools):

📚 Research and quote verification
🎵 Pentatonic scale design for pleasant sounds
🐛 Debugging the auto-demo mode
✍️ Crafting the narrative framing

🛠️ Tech Stack

Technology	Usage
HTML5	Structure
CSS3	CRT effects, animations, glow
Vanilla JavaScript	Game logic
Web Audio API	Sound synthesis
GitHub Pages	Hosting

No frameworks. No libraries. No build tools. Just web. (If you're interested in AI agents, check out my Hermes Agent vs LangGraph vs AutoGen comparison)