8-Bit Video Game Lets You Make Music By Capturing Snowflakes

In the 8-bit video game January, a flurry of snow falls upon a bare white plane prompting the user-controlled avatar to capture snowflakes on his tongue, generating a musical tone or lyrics. The game’s designer, Rich Vreeland, calls it an “experiment in algorithmic music generation,” as with each snowflake caught, an 8-bit tone sounds across the lonely landscape providing a hopeful melody in contrast with the scraping winter wind.

The music comes slowly and quietly at first with only a few flurries falling from the sky. Walking further out into the peppered snowy plane, it progressively becomes a blizzard of flakes and notes varying in sizes and effects. Regardless of the intensity of the snowfall, however, it is still up to the player to decide when to stick his tongue out to capture the snow and make the song play. The song can be modified depending on which size snowflakes are caught, and if so inclined, time in between catching them can also be varied. With long enough rests in between, the song is not only fragmented further, but also adds to the already minimalist aesthetic of the overall piece.

The game is tinged with a nostalgia for childhood when snowfalls were fun, rather than an impediment to real adult life. As cliched as many of the lyrics are, the fact that they never culminate into a full song makes it feel more quaint and soothing, like a zen poem. It’s a cute game that fills us with a sense of longing for the winters of our youth.