April 26th-29th 2013 :: Theme: Minimalism
Ludum Dare 26 — April 26-29th, 2013
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Words, words-words words, words, words words. Words words words Words words Words Words. WORDS!
This is a pretty standard Mario-esque platformer in which we replaced art assets with words. Let your imagination fill in the rest. Play time is 6-8 minutes. Enjoy!
Team: Liz England & Nick Weihs
Indie Impressions made a video playthrough if you would rather watch than play:
http://youtu.be/9Vht4ElZL78
Notes:
* The game has controller support if you prefer that over WASD
* If you can't run the game, you may need to install the XNA Redistributable. It is included in the download.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 100% |
| #10 | Theme(Jam) | 4.36 |
| #30 | Overall(Jam) | 3.90 |
| #34 | Humor(Jam) | 3.64 |
| #75 | Fun(Jam) | 3.54 |
| #77 | Innovation(Jam) | 3.59 |
| #80 | Mood(Jam) | 3.63 |
| #102 | Graphics(Jam) | 3.86 |
| #123 | Audio(Jam) | 3.43 |
Comments
Really nice, it was very entertaining and I wanted to find out what was next.
Love the mood! I'm not normally a big fan of platformers but this I enjoyed a lot! Good job
Really cool concept with the words - I love the shapes you got them into. The variety of different words, forms, and enemies was great. I found the game a little bit hard and frustrating at times - I may be getting to old to have patience for difficult platform games, so that might just be my problem. I love the dialog between the characters - perfect fit to the theme.
Certainly my favorite game that I've seen so far!
I once had an idea to do a game where the world was made up of ASCII characters, but this is brilliant--a typography world? Awesome!
Seriously, I would love to see this style expanded into an action-adventure game rather than just an action platformer. Refine the style a bit and I would seriously buy it in a heartbeat.
Even though this game could have faffed off its gameplay, it didn't. The jumps were breezy enough to allow proper precision for platforming and the end boss fight was actually fun!
Overall, fantastic job and I hope this prototype is expanded further if possible!
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW CRITICISM PRAISE ENCOURAGEMENT OPINION COMPLIMENT
I just watch this in a stream, but I liked it a lot. I've thought of doing something similar but using kanji... it never went anywhere though
This looks a lot like what I had in mind two years ago. Awesome to see it as a game. https://plus.google.com/104398143105698472084/posts/fpeWGNvay4q
Pity I can't run it, not even PlayOnMac would do that :(
Nice mood. I didn't find the game particularly interesting though. I liked the camera movement, but many elements were quite confusing, together with the color coding.
Excellent! I needed a bit of cheering up and the intro had me belly laughing. Then I was just stunned by all of the tile descriptions. All of that, and it was quite fun to play too :)
While the platforming felt a bit stiff, the concept was fun and I had fun playing it. Interesting how ones imagination fills in the blanks. The music was also nice and added a good amount to the experience.
Controls way better than most platformers I've played so far.
Awesome game- Awesome concept. I really like how your imagination takes over, based on simple words on the screen. It gets slightly confusing at times, but all in all very cool. With a bit of refinement, and maybe a story line, this would be something I wouldn't mind paying for!
Hilarious little game! Loved it. I'm amazed how much detail was put into the background, haha.
Nice idea and nice scope. I've seen games with stuff made out of words for sure, but this one is funnier (I liked the escalation of descriptiveness as the game went on) and fit the theme well. I wish it supported arrow keys as well as WASD so I didn't have to play with my left hand. The difficulty curve was good. Was crying out for a wall marked "secretsecretsecret"!
Gold... Pure gold! Nailed the theme... awesome design... Mind Blown!
I really liked the idea of changing objects for words. Great game.
I really liked the style you've chosen, fits the theme perfectly. Some of the jumping was a little frustrating at times but I still really enjoyed it. Totally agree with cybearg and would love to see this as an action adventure.
What a great idea! Nice level design, too! Congratulations. XNA is a great tool!
Fun, with a groovy art style. Made me laugh a lot. Movement had a lot of slide to it which made platforming difficult.
I lvoe everything about this. I love the music, the aesthetic, and the level design (for the level of complexity that you are going for anyway).
My only negative comment is that as a red/green colourblind person...that was really really hard. I have made this comment on many games today >_>
Compliments compliments compliments compliments specific positive mention of controller support
I really enjoyed it, I don't think anything is missing to make this a decent platformer.
Cool! I really liked the theme. On the negative side words were a bit harsh (aliased) which make playing not so comfortable. Otherwise great job, and absolute theme fit! .)
Really good length. I mean, it could have been longer, but it was not too short. The variance in platforming (and color) throughout the game kept it interesting. One of my favorite games so far.
Love this idea, fits the theme perfectly. Nice job. Words words words.
There should be also a voice saying "BACKGROUND MUSIC, BACKGROUND MUSIC, BACKGROUND MUSIC, ..." as the background music :D
Fantastic game. I liked that I was able to use my gamepad to play it. I really liked that the platformer mechanics weren't just a vehicle for the gimmick but were well designed.
It's amazing how we can recognize the elements with their sprites only made of words! Cool game ;)
This is very similar to http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11606
Really enjoyed looking through all the words in the environment to see all the unique words. A lot of detail in the environment for it being made of words :P Really neat. :)
incredibly GREAT game. Words aesthetics are amazing. Gameplay is cool too. BTW i find a cheat when you press F1 ! :)
Most games I try I'm like "Well, I guess this is minimalist", but I think this one really deserves some points towards theme (and some other categories, of course!). It's ingenious. Good job.
If I were to complain about a thing or two, it would be these:
- I felt like the camera changing depending on the way you are facing was a bit too fast, and thus was a bit disorienting in vertical sections where the player has to change direction often.
- The other thing is, WASD/Space is a bit weird for me, since I'm used to traditional platformers which tend to go for arrow keys. I would have at liked the option to use arrow keys (←→/↑）.
Nonetheless, nice entry.
It perfectly suit the ludum dare subject! I love the idea and graphic! On the other hand I hate games with many many many platforms ...and being push by enemies all the time (I'm not patient enough, so I didn't finish the game...)
Praise praise! Praise praise praise praise! Words words words words words words, words words words.
Clever. I do feel the jumping could be a little more solid, but the controls were pretty good, just not quite as precise as I would have preferred.
Words words words words
words words words?
LAUGHTER LAUGHTER LAUGHTER
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Excellent work!
I impressed with environment from words.
I love this game =)