Alphabet Cereal by kakarotsan

[raw]
made by kakarotsan for LD 40 (JAM)

Click on tiles to form words for points. How high can you score before the time runs out?

Controls: * Left click - select letters * Space bar - submit word

How to play: * Click on letters to form words for points * The next letter can be any unselected letter that is touching the last letter selected (in all 8 directions) * Red tiles increase your play time by 10 seconds * Gold tiles double your word score

Hint: Longer words score much higher than shorter words

Mac and Linux versions are untested

Read the read me for further details

Ratings

Overall 1008th 2.92⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 964th 2.78⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1011th 2.6⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1086th 2.46⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 886th 2.9⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 958th 1.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 934th 2.738⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

Vovin
05. Dec 2017 · 15:35 UTC
That was surprisingly wholesome. An unselect method would have been nice for useability.
zenmumbler
05. Dec 2017 · 15:46 UTC
Hey, just a heads up: your macOS and Linux links are pointing to the Windows download.
🎤 kakarotsan
05. Dec 2017 · 16:26 UTC
@zenmumbler Thanks. Since this was made with Unity, the build should work on all three systems. Which one are you trying it on?
🎤 kakarotsan
05. Dec 2017 · 16:29 UTC
@vovin Thanks for the feedback. I had it planned but ran out of time (and energy). I'll add it after the grading.
zenmumbler
05. Dec 2017 · 17:02 UTC
I'm running on macOS. Your distribution only includes the Windows output (an exe + separate data folder).
🎤 kakarotsan
05. Dec 2017 · 17:25 UTC
@zenmumbler Ok, I think I've created a proper build for Mac (and Linux as well). Could you try again?
MoeShan
06. Dec 2017 · 03:02 UTC
Really nice game well done!
James Dunlap
06. Dec 2017 · 04:40 UTC
Interesting game. Unfortunately, I think you need to make sure that more vowels are included. Also, as I use up the vowels that are lower, it becomes increasingly impossible to make words lower in the grid as new letters are added only on the top. Also, since it was developed in Unity, why no web build?
🎤 kakarotsan
06. Dec 2017 · 05:30 UTC
@james-dunlap I agree. I was planning on adding scramble pickups but ran out of time. I'll add them later.

I've been so busy with moving that I wasn't able to host a web player. I'll get around to it soon.

Thanks for the feedback!
James Dunlap
06. Dec 2017 · 05:45 UTC
@kakarotsan All understandable as that is the nature of ludum dare. We all run out of time...

If you want to see running out of time for tuning as an artform, take a look at my game at https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/globstopper :grin:
🎤 kakarotsan
06. Dec 2017 · 09:56 UTC
@james-dunlap Web build is up! I'll check out your game now.
zenmumbler
06. Dec 2017 · 17:27 UTC
OK, tested the macOS build and works fine. Thanks for updating it. In the game I got stuck with a board with almost no vowels at all, making words nearly impossible. Would be good to add some distribition parameter to your board generator so it yields a proper ratio of vowels and consonants in each area. And indeed, being able to cancel a word would be nice. Nice one.
zenmumbler
06. Dec 2017 · 17:28 UTC
Wait, is that the link to the theme that more consonants are worse? That would be clever. ;)
🎤 kakarotsan
06. Dec 2017 · 18:21 UTC
@zenmumbler I can be clever sometimes - Such as a broken clock is correct twice a day. Haha
Cubeeo
07. Dec 2017 · 05:19 UTC
I agree that an un-click button would be highly helpful. That being said, it's a difficult but very playable game.
Cosmic Adventure Squad
08. Dec 2017 · 07:55 UTC
Pretty straightforward word game, all the pieces were there, though I didn't feel it followed the theme too much. The music didn't really fit the mood but that's not a dealbreaker. Good job.
Wevel
09. Dec 2017 · 01:20 UTC
very difficult, might be an idea to weight letters a bit so that ones that are more common in words apear more often. Also, there should be a mode where you have a lot longer to play.
🎤 kakarotsan
09. Dec 2017 · 01:33 UTC
@wevel They are weighted ;)

```
private char chooseLetter() {
float randomNumber = Random.Range (0, 100f);
List<char> letterList;

if (randomNumber <= 3.0f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'Q', 'Z' };
} else if (randomNumber > 3.0f && randomNumber <= 9.1f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'J', 'X' };
} else if (randomNumber > 9.1f && randomNumber <= 18.2f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'K' };
} else if (randomNumber > 18.2f && randomNumber <= 30.3f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'F', 'H', 'V', 'W', 'Y' };
} else if (randomNumber > 30.3f && randomNumber <= 45.5f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'B', 'C', 'M', 'P' };
} else if (randomNumber > 45.5f && randomNumber <= 69.7f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'D', 'G' };
} else if (randomNumber > 69.7f && randomNumber <= 100f) {
letterList = new List<char> { 'A', 'E', 'I', 'L', 'N', 'O', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U' };
} else {
letterList = new List<char> { 'E' }; //This shouldn't happen
}

int number = (int)Random.Range (0, letterList.Count);
return letterList [number];
}
```

Also, you can increase your play time by capturing red tiles.
schizoid2k
09. Dec 2017 · 02:01 UTC
Nice word game... graphics and game play are smooth.
Wevel
09. Dec 2017 · 09:51 UTC
I guess I just ended up with lots of similar letters that I wan't so good at using, so it felt like they whern't. For the time, it was more that I think there should be a 5 min mode or something; i'm just a bit slow when it comes to spotting words.
🎤 kakarotsan
09. Dec 2017 · 15:58 UTC
@wevel Different difficulty levels sound like a good idea. Thanks for the feedback!
picapica
09. Dec 2017 · 18:19 UTC
Ahhh... hate those consonants! But got stuck playing several times anyway. Nice and simple, and with a bit of polishing (maybe a liiittle less consonants for a while? and some slightly less annoying music? showing all time high-scores?) it could become even more addictive! I like that it stands out from a lot of more "typical" ludum entries!
Noble Robot
10. Dec 2017 · 07:02 UTC
Started out with very few vowels, so I couldn't make any words longer than 3 or 4 letters to begin with, and it only got worse from there! :-D

I do like the concept, though, it was just a bit frustrating in this early stage.
Grentacular
10. Dec 2017 · 12:48 UTC
Some of the sound effects were jarring (the "not a word one was the worst), and I see above that you've weighted the spawning of letters, but I still feel like vowels weren't weighted highly enough. Also, as others mentioned, having unused letters fall down means you get a lot of hard-to-use letters towards the bottom, with few vowels. Maybe have new letters spawn in place rather than at the top?

Overall, though, a pretty fun game. Nice work!
sorlok
11. Dec 2017 · 13:16 UTC
A solid letter puzzle game. I found making long words very challenging; not sure if the letters were purely randomized, but that might have been it. Neat use of the colored tiles to do different things. Good job!
falak
18. Dec 2017 · 12:43 UTC
I'm suck in this game X'D ![Bez tytułu.png](///raw/72f/1/z/ea79.png) But is really good!
Jupiter_Hadley
09. Jan 2018 · 17:48 UTC
Neat little game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BQct2dB93U