FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD40 → Type Them Down

Type Them Down

By angelonias

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3893.6153
Fun1683.7853
Innovation5133.2253
Theme5783.4452
Graphics6383.3753
Humor6002.8548
Mood6363.1950

Comments

finntastico 2017-12-05 02:54

You should also make it available as an HTML5 game. That would be great!

capitanliteral 2017-12-05 02:58

Nice!

secretstage 2017-12-05 03:01

Agree with @finntastico, also it would be nice to be able to return to the menu and change the settings without restarting. Apart from that, nice to see a variation on the typing of the dead, cool idea with the upgrades.

angelonias 2017-12-05 03:06

@secretstage Ikr! I wanted to implement it but time went out of hand! Glad you liked it though :)

secondthread 2017-12-05 03:16

You should put your download in a zip file. It would help download speeds, and more people will play it.

The game was pretty fun. I didn't participate this time, so I can't rate you, but I liked the artwork, and the sound effects were pretty great. It was a little interesting that pressing a button once would kill all of the zombies with that letter, but I got over that pretty quickly. I liked the upgrade system, but I do think that, post jam, it might be a bit more fun to be able to buy stuff more often, so maybe the zombies should drop more money. I made it to round 26 and was only able to buy a single tesla and one shield.

Also, about making it to round 26... The game was fun for the first [however long 26 rounds take on normal difficulty]. Then the game just crashed. It froze, and the keyboard input didn't seem to work either. I don't know what's up there, but it got a little annoying to be so far and then have to restart because the game crashed.

Very fun game though. I liked all the aspects of it, and especially enjoyed the satisfying gunshot sounds.

angelonias 2017-12-05 03:25

@secondthread Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it!

yohoho-games-2 2017-12-05 18:48

This is a very unusual idea! I was impressed when I saw - and really - we have so many buttons on the keyboard and it's so cool to use them) in my opinion this game is very deeply fits in the theme jam :wink:

phyrsos 2017-12-05 18:50

Cool one ! Fit perfectly with the theme ;)

wrexialmt 2017-12-05 18:57

this is a great implementation of a type-em-off! Great job highly enjoyed. Would've prefered it if it was a html5 game but id be nitpicking.

disperse 2017-12-05 18:58

Wow, for a first entry to Ludum Dare I'm impressed. And native Java? I'm super impressed.

I'm a big fan of typing games like the Typing of the Dead so this is a perfect game for me. I'm at about 70WPM and this was too easy for me, even at the top difficulty. I didn't have the patience to get beyond Wave 10. Having a single keystroke hurt multiple enemies regardless of character order makes it way easier. Typing games like this usually require you to 'target' an enemy by typing the first letter and then type the word (or random characters) in order.

I had fun though, just wish it was a bit more challenging for me, I didn't even buy any upgrades! :-)

stamblew 2017-12-05 19:06

Nice game! I played for some rounds and I really appreciated it. It was fun to play and kill some zombies. I would suggest the zombies carry words instead of random letters. But overall, you did a great job!

epb9000 2017-12-05 19:19

I made the mistake of playing at first on the slower typer difficulty. Burning fingers is a lot more fun IMO. I would have gotten a kick out of some messages being hidden among the zombie text.

I wonder if I could use this to trick the kids into typing practice...

budgiem2 2017-12-05 19:19

Great game, but i felt like it took too long to earn enough gold to buy anything

2017-12-05 19:20

Couldnt get it to run on linux Ubuntu :(

angelonias 2017-12-05 20:15

Thanks everyone for their feedback! Glad you enjoy the game! :) @disperse @budgiem2 Yeah in development I made the game faster, but I thought it would scare the players so just before release I made it slower.(mistake)

@stamblew I thought of that, but I would have to load on memory the entire english dictionary and I didn't have the time to implement that!

angelonias 2017-12-05 20:15

@mouseroot It should work, I don't know exactly why it didn't run for you.. :/ Thanks for your feedback

epb9000 2017-12-05 21:01

@angelonias I can second that the game doesn't run properly on Ubuntu as well. It stops at launch with the following exception and has a tiny window open. (Interestingly, while you mentioned music, I didn't hear any on Windows, I suspect it's simply having trouble loading the music given the call that appears to be dying.)

Exception in thread "Thread-0" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid format at org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioDataLine.createStream(PulseAudioDataLine.java:142) at org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioDataLine.open(PulseAudioDataLine.java:99) at org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioDataLine.open(PulseAudioDataLine.java:283) at org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioClip.open(PulseAudioClip.java:402) at org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioClip.open(PulseAudioClip.java:453) at angelonias.ld40.main.Soundbox.(Soundbox.java:51) at angelonias.ld40.screens.ScreenManager.(ScreenManager.java:17) at angelonias.ld40.main.GamePanel.init(GamePanel.java:67) at angelonias.ld40.main.GamePanel.run(GamePanel.java:73) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

@mouseroot A workaround is to use Oracle's Java implementation to launch it rather the default OpenJDK. [Edit: Though I still seem to have the Window size issue. After after a couple of attempts it opens.]

pilarius 2017-12-05 21:45

Great entry! Im still not able to type blindfolded so this game is a great training ;) It is a bit confusing that every letter disapears with 1 click even if a zombie "named" jjl. I was loosing a lot by pressing j twice... But overall i played that game longer than i should have ^^

duzzondrums 2017-12-06 04:22

I love typing games, and this was really fun! Suggestions: - I felt it was too easy even on the hardest setting. Could be faster to ramp up. - I think if each zombie never had duplicate letters I wouldn't have to be so careful not to press the same letter twice (which is the main way I lost health) (although thinking about it, it does fit the theme) - Or you could have a cooldown on a letter disappearing before you lose health for pressing it.

But all said really good, the presentation was great, really nice entry!

sleepystrix 2017-12-06 05:01

Stuff that's good now: * Definitely longest I've ever played a typing game, strangely addictive. * Having duplicate letters tripped me up several times, making me have to focus harder.

Stuff that could be improved: * Takes too long to get enough money for even one upgrade * Tesla upgrade causes more problems than it solves, I type out a sequence of letters but sometimes the Tesla already typed one.

angelonias 2017-12-06 10:16

@epb9000 Wow thanks so much for this! Actually I think I lowered the volume of the music too much..

@pilarius @duzzondurms Thank you for your feedback. I left duplicates because I think it made the game a little trickier!

@sleepystrix You are absolutely right, you got me.. Tesla as it is, can cause a loss of a shield. I was thinking setting a timer when tesla types a word...so when you type the same one (like a second after), it won't count as a misstype! Thanks for the feedback!

gyfis 2017-12-06 13:07

Hi, I enjoyed the game. Played on OS X. There's a bug (probably listed too) that pressing the same key destroys all key labels on screen. Also I thought the ordering is important but it didn't seem so. Thanks for the game!

angelonias 2017-12-06 13:10

@gyfis Actually I made it to be this way. Thanks though!

zantze 2017-12-06 13:11

I'm a sucker for typing games, so it's like a default that these kind of games are fun for me.

I found some annoyances with this one though. Sometimes the "words" would have two of the same letter which made me instinctively lose a shield/life.

I wish you could've explored some more grounds with this game, as generally all typings games feel a lot like the same, and some innovativiness could go a long way.

anyways, the game was fun to play and difficult on the hardest setting, which is always nice. Good job :D

angelonias 2017-12-06 13:18

@zante Thanks for your feedback. Yes it seems like, when one word contains the same letter more than once, it annoys people. I saw it as a challenge. I shall change it! Glad you enjoyed the game though :)

korbz 2017-12-06 13:29

The game is actually nice and well thought, difficulty calibration seems about right and you can't button smash them down thanks to misstype mechanic. Nice work.

angelonias 2017-12-06 13:34

@korbz Thanks, glad you enjoyed the game!

casper 2017-12-06 13:51

With more different upgrades features will be even more fun! Great job!

angelonias 2017-12-06 17:10

@casper Thanks!

pedro-miranda 2017-12-07 11:59

Great entry! Fun to train our typing capabilities :D The main character could use a idle animation. Overall great and funny game, congratz!

angelonias 2017-12-07 12:02

@pedro-miranda Thanks for your feedback, glad you enjoyed!

ronin748 2017-12-07 12:09

Works nicely on Fedora. Big fan of GL myself!

james-studd 2017-12-07 16:04

Really good idea, well thought out and looks really good as well!

jfraser314 2017-12-07 16:08

This was AWESOME! Please make a web version. @angelonias is it ok if I have my students play this in my classroom?

grentacular 2017-12-07 16:12

A fun game, but I found it a little confusing that all copies of a letter were removed when pressed once, especially when zombies frequently had duplicate letters in their "words." Overall very impressive given how quickly you had to pull it all together. Nice work!

angelonias 2017-12-07 16:29

Thanks for your feedback.

@grentacular Yeah I get that a lot. It's on my plans to fix it.

@jfraser314 I would be honored! :)

rargrave 2017-12-07 16:31

Agreed with most of the comments this was a great find. Really good for teaching kids to type too. One suggestion would be to have a dictionary of words and draw from that, it's a more realistic way to learn typing rather than random letters. Overall, loved it. PS. I 2nd the suggestion to make an HTML5 version. It would be my go-to resource for people asking how to learn to type.

angelonias 2017-12-07 16:44

@rargrave Thanks! Maybe in the future when I find time I will create an HTML5 version(not biggie) with proper dictionary!

jfraser314 2017-12-07 16:48

I had an other teacher see me playing, and already asked me "How do I get that game?"

angelonias 2017-12-07 16:57

@jfraser314 You can do with the game as you please. It's in my plans to *upgrade* it, so maybe it will be an even better teaching material. You're too kind btw :D

noethelazydev 2017-12-07 17:18

Great Idea, even if I don't especially like this type of games I kinda enjoyed it. I would suggest you to put the music a bit louder and give more feedback (audio) to the user when he loses a life or kills a zombie. An the linux build works btw

angelonias 2017-12-07 17:26

@NoeTheLazyDev I've put a *scream* sound effect when you lose a life. (by a zombie not by misstype)

Also I agree about the music being too low. Really **linux** build works for you? Two others said that didn't so..

Thanks for your feedback!

vincent 2017-12-07 18:04

I didn't know a typing game could be fun :) And I like the pixel art style.

angelonias 2017-12-07 18:18

@vincent Thanks! :)

tolmera 2017-12-07 18:33

Even though I'm a professional programmer, spend at minimum 8 hours a day typing, and have been at a computer daily for most of my life. I still struggle with these games! they are fun :) they are challenging.

I don't really get the tie in to the theme. I would get it if hitting a key didn't kill that letter on all the zombies. so you had to be faster, get faster. but otherwise the link is a bit weak sorry to say.

Overall, a nice entry for the LD40 :) nicely done!

angelonias 2017-12-07 18:44

@tolmera No worries, I respect your opinion. In my eyes, it's like, the more zombies the worse, because it gets harder. Sure enough, there are games that are closer to the theme.

cliff-lee-cl 2017-12-08 08:49

Great concept to combine a game with typing practice!

I enjoy this game but some typing mistakes will kill myself is odd for the game. Maybe you can make the input disable for some seconds as a punishment instead of losing health.

angelonias 2017-12-08 09:10

@cliff-lee-cl Thanks for your feedback. Interesting idea, yet I think that's worse punishment than losing a shield.

thijs-tak 2017-12-08 11:56

Pretty solid entry. I always like these typing games, even though I'm not very good at them. Great job.

angelonias 2017-12-09 10:19

@thijs-tak Thanks!

chadrbanks 2017-12-10 04:44

These typing games remind me of my old Mario Teaches typing, I love it!

sorlok 2017-12-11 02:01

Given the short timespan for making it, the game was quite a lot of fun! Having duplicate letters in a single zombie seemed wrong, since typing one would remove all the others. Also, after a Game Over, I always started with 1 less shield than I should have. Despite this, it was a lot of fun to play. Good job!

soldierbear 2017-12-11 09:55

I love typing games and really enjoyed this one. Found a bit too easy for too long but balancing is not easy in this time frame. Congrats on a great submission!

illabom 2017-12-12 01:33

Nice game you have here. SUPER WELL DONE!

Come check out my game if you like! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/virus-detected

pcmaster 2017-12-12 13:08

This was very good! I was thrilled until they finally got me in wave 10 or so! Grand work!

angelonias 2017-12-13 10:17

@chadrbanks @sorlok @soldierbear @illabom @pcmaster Thanks for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

robert-newman 2017-12-15 15:36

This is was super fun and completely different from other games i have played or seen from this jam.

turns out my typing speed needs improvement! i could see this being a cool little educational game with some tweaking of the art style.

Good job

angelonias 2017-12-16 09:51

@robert-newman Thanks so much!:)

hisfantor 2017-12-21 14:14

cool concept for the MK love