morse rhythm

morse rhythm

This is a proof-of-concept of a game idea that I wanted to try making for a while: A rhythm game that kinda teaches morse code.

How it works:

1. Music plays synchronized with a target phrase you need to recreate
2. Visual cues scroll across the screen, showing you when to tap
3. Tap the button (or press spacebar) to the rhythm to emit sounds
4. Your taps create dits and dahs that get decoded as Morse code
5. The Morse code is translated to letters and scored against the target phrase

It’s very unpolished (only two songs, no end screen) but hopefully demonstrates the game mechanics.

Submitted to Unpolished Jam #4.

Post-game jam updates:

Here are some updates to the game, now that the game jam is over:

• 2025-11-05 (v1.3):
  • Added Exit and Replay buttons during gameplay
  • Added support for LCtrl (Dit) and RCtrl (Dah) keys and using right mouse buttons on the Dit and Dah buttons, matching morsecode.world keyer behavior.
  • Improved visual feedback in Hard Mode, showing the starting time of each letter
• 2025-10-27 (v1.2):
  • Added a third and fourth levels:
    • ABC (morse code ver) — short song (1 minute)
    • Ophelia's Song — dynamic level
  • On keyboard, you can now press other keys to Tap; not only Spacebar.
  • Level duration and speed (measured in words-per-minute) is displayed.
• 2025-10-22 (v1.1):
  • Added a second level, Intergalactic Bliss (Trance Mix)
  • This level is faster and is an alphabet drill, to help you remember the alphabets and learn to tap faster.
  • Iambic keyer mode
    • This mode adds "." and "-" buttons to the game.
    • Holding down the "." button sends a continuous stream of dits.
    • Holding down the "-" button sends a continuous stream of dahs.
    • Holding down both buttons sends alternating dits and dahs signals.
    • Keyboard: Use ArrowLeft for "." and ArrowRight for "-".
  • The score is now highlighted after the level ends.

Controls:

• Mouse/Touch: Press the "Tap" button
• Keyboard:
  • Hold down the Spacebar or other keyboard keys to emit a morse code signal.
  • Iambic keyer:
    • Hold down ArrowLeft, Z, or Period to send a continuous stream of dits.
    • Hold down ArrowRight, X, or Slash to send a continuous stream of dahs.
    • Hold down both buttons to send alternating dits and dahs signals.
      

Hard mode:

• There's a hard mode where the visual cues only shows the character you need to tap as Morse code signal, hiding the dits and dahs. For people who memorized the Morse code.

Song used:

• forgottenland by airtone (from ccMixter).
• Intergalactic Bliss (Trance Mix) by KCentric (from ccMixter).
• Ophelia's Song (Remix) by musetta, remixed by pharmacopia (from ccMixter).
• I arranged a key track that gets layered on top while the signal is being emitted.

Tech stack:

• React
• Nano Stores
• HTML5 2D Canvas
• Web Audio API

Source code:

• You can find the source code on GitHub at https://github.com/dtinth/morse-rhythm but the code is a hot mess 😅