Semantic Paradox

Try the live app

Inspiration

Most brain-training games either feel too simple, too clinical, or too slow to be exciting. I wanted to build something that creates instant mental tension in a fun way: a game where your brain has to fight its own automatic response.

Semantic Paradox is inspired by the classic Stroop effect, where reading a word and recognizing its color can conflict. I turned that cognitive conflict into a fast 60-second web game with shifting rules, score pressure, leaderboard competition, and an AI-generated performance profile.

What it does

Semantic Paradox is a high-speed cognitive game where players see a color word such as RED, BLUE, GREEN, or YELLOW.

The twist is that the word may be displayed in a different font color.

Players must follow the active rule:

• HARMONY: tap the written word
• PARADOX: tap the font color

The rule changes during gameplay, so the player must constantly switch between reading and visual recognition.

The app includes:

• 60-second timed gameplay
• dynamic HARMONY / PARADOX rule switching
• real-time score tracking
• accuracy calculation
• correct and incorrect feedback
• arcade-style 3-letter score submission
• persistent leaderboard
• AI-powered Cognitive Profile after each run
• responsive web design
• cyber-minimal dark UI with neon accents

How I built it

I built Semantic Paradox using MeDo, starting from a natural-language product specification and iterating through the game logic, UI, responsiveness, leaderboard, and AI profile flow.

The main architecture includes:

• React-based web interface
• real-time game state management
• timed 60-second play sessions
• randomized prompt generation
• HARMONY / PARADOX rule switching
• score and accuracy tracking
• persistent leaderboard storage
• AI-generated Cognitive Profile card
• responsive mobile and desktop layouts

The core logic is simple but mentally demanding:

If rule = HARMONY:
    correct answer = written word

If rule = PARADOX:
    correct answer = font color

Built With

• medo