Complements
Complements is a physics puzzle built around opposite colors. Round gems roll and settle in a tall well, and you fire new ones from the top. Same-colored gems cling together, and when a cluster touches its opposite color, the whole bonded group breaks apart.
It was written by Frank Force using LittleJS, his own game engine, as one entry in his free LittleJS Arcade. It runs in a browser tab with no download, and every graphic and sound is generated by code.
How to play Complements
Pick PLAY, then a difficulty. EASY starts the well with 20 gems, MEDIUM with 40, HARD with 60 and INSANE with 80. A dotted line from the launcher shows where your next shot will travel.
Hold to charge a gem. While you hold, it pulses between small and large, so the moment you let go sets its size. Bigger gems shove the pile harder, and smaller ones are easier to place exactly.
Each color has one partner: green cancels red, blue cancels orange, and purple cancels yellow. Clear gems join any color, white gems break whatever they touch, and black gems just get in the way. A line at the top slowly moves down, and if gems stay above it too long the round is lost. Empty the well to win.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aim | Left and Right arrows (with mouse aim off) | Move the pointer | Drag a finger |
| Charge and fire | Hold Space or Down, then release | Hold the left button, then release | Hold, then lift |
| Shake the pile | Up arrow or W | Right-click | — |
| Pause | Esc | — | — |
Tips
- Let a color group grow before you break it. One contact with the opposite color clears every gem bonded to the cluster, so bigger groups mean bigger clears.
- Fire a clear gem into a large group when its opposite sits nearby. It can bridge the two and set off a long chain.
- Use small, quick taps for careful placement and fully charged gems when you need to push a heap away from the top line.
- Big chain breaks fill the shake meter. Save a shake for when the pile stacks up near the line, since spreading it out lowers its height.
- Black gems are blockers whose only opposite is white, so keep a white gem in mind for clearing them instead of stacking more on top.
If you like Complements, try these
Bubble Pop ShooterFiring into a colored cluster stays familiar, but this well uses a grid and you need three of a kind to pop.
PegballPhysics shots again, ricocheting a cannonball off pegs to clear every orange one within ten tries.
Questions
How do you win at Complements?
Clear every gem from the well before the creeping line forces a loss. The game records how long the clear took.
Does Complements save my best time?
Yes. A best clear time is kept for each difficulty in your browser, so you can try to beat it on later visits.
Can I play Complements without a mouse?
Yes. Turn off mouse aim in the options, then aim with the arrow keys, hold Space to charge and release to fire.
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