Awesome game man! I was stuck for a while on the second riddle, because I just knew the answer to the first one and paid no heed to the green words. It took me a some time to figure it out, but that made it really rewarding! I just finished the ending and even got goosebumps. Really well thought out.
Reviews for "Playing With Letters"
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Yeah. The game is a lot easier if the first puzzle is solved, and the answer is not simply guessed. I left hints to lead people in the right direction, but it seems that in many cases it has lead people to miss the real puzzle XD
I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
Thank you.
This is quite amazing. Not just the brilliantly matched creepy music, which is still calm enough to let us think, but the slow-paced writing style, the clues and how they are all bound together. You give us an advice in the first clue and we have to use it in the last. Great. Also, thanks for the hints in the titles.
I can only imagine actually being there, all alone, in a dark room with a note scrawled over with letters; and using them to decrypt a final message, to have a final moment of realisation. Creepy - and awesome.
Also, I've just noticed your note about the secret ending - this kind of interesting easter eggs is something I love when they appear in a game - although sadly I wouldn't find this one if you hadn't told us about it. I will definitely be more cautious in the sequel - and yes, I do look forward to it. Good Luck :)
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Your review is quite amazing ;)
It makes me happy to hear that the music fits well, while still not being too distracting. It's also cool that you realize how much the game is connected to itself. The hints in the titles are pretty necessary I think, and there's even a hint in one of the medals :p
Awesome! It's splendid that you can imagine yourself as the detective, as that is what I was going for. The secret ending is very important, and I think it'll be the intro of the sequel once I get to it. And it was very ridiculously hard to figure out by oneself, so I kinda had to put such a link there XD
Thanks for the great review :3
EXCELLENT game. A good mix of easy and challenging puzzles, and the ending really got me - the whole time I was so focused on what the clues spelled out that I didn't even realize... well, no spoilers. My only real complaint is that the text is kind of hard to read - I wound up squinting at my screen a few times.
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Thanks a lot, DaggerPen :3
I'm glad you enjoyed the puzzles, the difficulty, and the ending, that is, the game XD
Your only complaint is a valid one. This is an old font I made for another game. For copyright reasons etc. I decided to use a font I've made myself. Before I make the sequel, I will make a better font, or at least that is the plan ;)
Great game. The amazing soundtrack led me to your great game. The riddles were pretty challenging (had to google one of them) and the secret ending was chilling! Hopefully you make a sequel to this.
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Oh, hi!
Thanks a lot for playing this game, CrabbWalker :D
I'm stoked to hear you liked it, and that you find it both challenging and chilling :)
I will definitely make a sequel to this eventually. I'm hoping to make it sometime next year, and I already do have a few ideas ;)
This game is about solving puzzles by collecting and contextualizing visual clues and answering riddles. Both of this mechanical elements works well together: player is taught to notice both visual and textual clues and combine them in a proper way to get the answer. Sometimes text's meaning contains all the required information ("Math" and "Aibophobia" levels), sometimes only a visual clue (color) can give this meaning new direction ("Name Calling" level). This way the gameplay combines very well with the detective story against which it is set. Although operating only in the textual medium, player is forced to take notice on something unusual in the text itself, i.e., its visual properties, that serve as clues (not unlike a detective that looks for inconveniences in a convenient scene). This way the intensity and thrill of a detective story is masterfully achieved with what seems to be an absolute bare minimum means of procedural expressiveness, and are further enhanced with the story, the music and with the text animation and coloring (white against black background).
P.S.: I've played this game after I tried playing "A Sweet Typing Thrill" and got stuck on the "abjurer" level. Probably, the second game has put me in an appropriate mindset, and the puzzles here did not seem as difficult to me. Although the challenges in this game are objectively easier than in the second one, their subjective difficulty for me is larger due to the fact that English is not my native language. With every word-based puzzle I had to ask myself: "Do I even know the word that is hidden here?".
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Heh, thanks for leaving your thoughts, boticelly! Seems like you take the "review" format seriously ^ ^
Your analysis was entertaining to read! It's to a large part, pretty spot on :)
It seems like you enjoyed many of the different elements in the game too, which is awesome :D
I'd agree that the second instalment is more difficult, even though to a certain extent, these valuations are subjective :3
The games, although similar, differ from each other in theme. This one is more focused on wordplay, while the other one is more about outside of the box information gathering, and other types of puzzles.
I'm well aware that English is not everyone's first language; after all, it's my own third language. But seems like you did just fine either way, so great job!
Thanks again for playing, and for writing a review :D