Echoes of a Life

Echoes of a Life is a poignant, narrative-driven puzzle game created as a single HTML file. It combines the strategic depth of a "match-three" puzzle with a powerful, real-life theme: the fight to hold onto memories against the encroaching fog of dementia.

The Concept: The Projector

The mind is a projector, full of memories like slides in a tray. But Dementia, like a broken slide, threatens to darken the screen.

In Echoes of a Life, you don't just match tiles; you piece together the fading fragments of a lifetime. Each move is an attempt to restore a memory to clarity, letting its light push back the encroaching dark. The game is designed to feel tactile, nostalgic, and deeply personal, using the metaphor of a vintage slide projector to tell its story.

• The Grid is a slide carousel, with empty slots waiting for a memory.
• Dementia Tiles are broken, shattered slides that block your progress.
• Memory Fragments are faded Polaroids of cherished moments.
• A Match restores a memory to its full, brilliant clarity, unleashing a powerful effect.

How to Play

The goal is to survive as long as you can by preventing the grid from being completely filled with Dementia or memory fragments.

1. Choose a Memory: Below the grid, you will be offered a choice of two memory fragments.
2. Place it on the Grid: Drag your chosen Polaroid onto any empty, recessed slot on the board.
3. Form a Memory Echo: Line up three fragments of the same color/category in a row or column to form a match.
4. Push Back the Dementia: A successful match will create a powerful "Memory Echo" that clears Dementia tiles in a specific pattern.

The Memories

As you score points and reach new levels, you will delve deeper and unlock new, more complex types of memories:

Level	Memory Type	Effect
1	Pets (🐶🐱🐰)	Clears a single row or column.
2	Occasions (🎂🎄🏖️)	Clears a 3x3 area.
3	Relatives (👨👩👧)	Clears a massive cross-pattern of three rows OR three columns.
4+	The Heartstone (❤️)	A rare, lucid memory that clears a 5x5 area and can be placed on any tile.

The Threat

• Dementia: Black, shattered tiles that block placement.
• Stubborn Dementia: A darker, more fractured tile that requires two Memory Echo hits to be fully cleared. On the first hit, it will downgrade to a regular Dementia tile.

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Features

• Deeply Thematic Gameplay: Every element, from the art style to the mechanics, serves the central narrative of memory and loss.
• Dynamic Difficulty: The game becomes progressively more challenging as you level up. The rate of Dementia spread increases, and "Stubborn" tiles become more common.
• Strategic Depth: A carefully balanced, weighted system for fragment generation makes players choose between making a quick, simple match or holding out for a rare, powerful memory.
• Fully Responsive Design: Using a vmin-based layout, the game looks and feels great on any screen, from a mobile phone to a widescreen desktop.
• Frame-Rate Independent Game Loop: Built with requestAnimationFrame, the game's timing is consistent across all devices, ensuring a fair experience for everyone.
• Custom Synthesized Audio: Sound effects are generated in real-time using the Web Audio API, providing tactile feedback without the need for external asset files.
• Atmospheric Music: A looping background track enhances the gentle, introspective mood.

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How to Run

This game is built as a single, self-contained HTML file.

Playing Locally

1. Clone or Download:
   Simply download the index.html file.
2. Change Music (Optional):
   • In the same directory as the HTML file, create a folder named audio.
   • Place an MP3 file inside this folder and name it background_music.mp3.
   • The final file structure should be:

     /your_game_folder/
     ├── echoes_of_a_life_final.html
     └── /audio/
         └── background_music.mp3
                         

3. Open in Browser:
   Open the index.html file in any modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).

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A Note on the Theme

This game touches on the sensitive and deeply human experience of dementia. It was designed with care and respect, not as a direct simulation, but as a metaphorical exploration of the struggle to hold onto one's identity, the power of cherished memories, and the quiet beauty of a life lived. We hope it resonates with players in a meaningful way.