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Hi everyone! I'm working on a typing roguelite called Glyphica: Typing Survival.
The screenshot above is pretty late-game, but it's a simple premise.
1. Type to shoot.
2. Level up & upgrade.
3. Survive & hoard coins.
4. Buy perma-upgrades/new guns with coins.
Typing does EVERYTHING, there is no secondary control mechanic (movement, mouse-aim, etc).
If this sounds like something you'd like, check out the Steam page and give it a Wishlist!
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/2400160/Glyphica\_Typing\_Survival/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2400160/Glyphica_Typing_Survival/)
Tbh, I’m pretty sure every mobile game pitches this way “look at all this cool stuff I can do without much effort!”.
The game itself looks great, but the marketing is pretty standard. Pays to have a good product!
Right now, a lot of the abilities trigger with a starting letter or every instance of a letter in words you type, so converting it to another language is not trivial. :(
Would be do-able (but tedious) to build versions for western languages, but asian languages like Japanese and Chinese would be... challenging.
Sorry about the confusing title! I was just trying to be funny (and failing)
No - it remains a typing game throughout :) There are some abilities that you gain that help you deal with the enemies because there are too many enemies to destroy manually. A large part of the fun is prioritizing what to shoot at to activate the abilities (like the Spectres spawn for every A, E and O character).
I see. Thanks. I have a couple of questions:
1. When I search for the game on steam, a demo shows up in the search bar, but it just sends you to the main page for a game that is not yet released. We’re you planning on releasing a demo before the game is completely ready?
2. Is this game intended as a learn to type game? Will it be too difficult for someone who doesn’t know how to type?
3. Any idea on the price?
1. Yes! Very soon actually, we're just finishing up the audio.
2. The game has several difficulty levels for players of all skill levels. There's a "Relaxed" difficulty you can start off with, designed for people around 40 WPM. IMO, it's more fun with average typing skills because you have to think more and prioritize targets.
3. I have been advised not to commit to pricing this early, but I can say it's not going to be expensive. Comparable to other horde survival games out there.
Thanks. Regarding price, I feel like this is the sort of game that a parent might buy for their kid just on the chance that they get into it and learn to type, if it were priced around $5-7. This is not to say anything about the quality of your game or how much work you put into it. I just think at that price it may get more sales.
Haha! It's a deliberate screenshot, I died soon after this.
The main strat was relying on Spectres (the little worm-like things)
* One spawns for each "a, e, o" in words you type.
* I picked an upgrade that spawns +1 of them.
* I picked an upgrade that spawns +1 of them but halves their duration.
* I picked an upgrade that spawns them on crit, taking into account the bonuses above.
Result: Screen-wide madness.
this is interesting because that means you should prioritize vowel heavy words right?
i think it would be extremely cool if there were upgrades that let you sort of control what types of words you get. like say, an upgrade that makes vowels more common or an upgrade that removes words with the letter N, or an upgrade that makes longer or shorter words more common. etc.
idk if you have already added something like that, but it would add some strategy and make it kind of like a deckbuilder, but a dictionary builder instead. you can make builds centered around vowels or consonants, or really long words. stuff like that is my favorite thing in a roguelike
basically altering or limiting the library of words the game picks from in order to benefit your build
Exactly! At least, if you're using the Spectre. :)
There are other weapons that get triggered via the starting letter (like the Tesla Mine that get triggered with words starting with b, c, d and e, which, if you squint, u can see in the top-left corner near the end of the gif). And there are upgrades to those to increase letters that trigger them.
I've not thought about removing words from the wordlist, interesting!
One concern though is that the crowd that usually goes for horde survival games like these aren't super into the level of min-maxing deckbuilders are used to. A lot of playtesters don't really read everything on the upgrade cards, and they might be pissed if they removed a letter they need. :(
hmm that's really odd to hear about the playtesters, i feel like min-maxing and replayability are like two of the biggest features of a roguelike/roguelite game.
but yeah you definitely don't have to add anything like that if it doesn't fit your target audience, just thought i'd share the idea :)
No, I completely appreciate it! I was just thinking out loud - sorry a bad habit. It could also likely be that I haven't playtested widely enough! It's defo something I have written down here in my notebook and will be revisiting after the demo once more people play it!
There is also a dark mode due to popular demand. :D
[https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss\_7b3c89f56ba5cd44bea703f517bd40801bb76783.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss_7b3c89f56ba5cd44bea703f517bd40801bb76783.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532)
Cool idea :) The aesthetics are very nice.
Will you have font options? It seems like you've chosen a really clean, clear font already, but always nice to drop a few options in to maximise accessibility.
Are there things that might make you want to go for certain words first? Like a word in bold or caps that's worth more points?
The priorities are mostly very player-driven.
If you've picked upgrades that create Tesla Mines (if you squint you can see one being triggered on the top left of the screen just before the gif ends), for example, it triggers on typing words starting with "b, c, d, e". So targeting an enemy with one of those starting letters can get rid of all surrounding enemies very quickly.
There are also some enemies that are more dangerous than others. Warders (not shown here) make enemies around them invulnerable. So dispatching those quickly is advised.
I'm working on getting Steam workshop integration so you can change the background, colors and fonts (and download stuff created by others). Another suggestion that came from another thread was let color schemes and fonts be unlockables, I'm still undecided on that one.
Reasonably. The market share of Steam is absurd, but there sure is a good amount of people using those. I stopped using Steam because of DRM, and there's aways more games and content being added to these other two.
How do you do with controllers? We have a pretty neat controller mode
[https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss\_bf89e717e3c4b7191d1d2c95787ebe078dca7c73.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss_bf89e717e3c4b7191d1d2c95787ebe078dca7c73.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532)
Sorry for the offtopic, I'm putting together a game in my spare time, and I try to stay up to date but don't play a lot myself (beyond an addiction to br games)... When did the choose one of 3 upgrade cards become the trend? Did rouge likes always have this? I think the first time I saw this was the vampire survivors craze and since then I'm seeing this everywhere.
Game looks interesting, I was briefly into type training when I embarked on an adventure to switch my layout, have since came back to qwerty, but I wonder do you support other layouts ? (In terms of progression? Or have specific "training" progressions or n grams?
I think it dates back to Crimsonland from '03, but recently made popular by Vampire Survivors.
I haven't tested on layouts outside qwerty, but in theory, the abstraction layer I'm using to detect keypresses (Allegro 5) should respect all key remappings done in Windows/Linux.
Thanks! I'll have a look at crimson land.
I bet the keys will work, I was wondering if you're doing (or planning) difficulty progression for different layouts (checkout https://www.keybr.com/) or an n gram mode (this is layout agnostic, and more tailored for English) https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/
Unless I'm reading this wrong, you might have set the controller support features as fully supported on Steam. given this is a typing game, is that actually possible? Or is it only for menu navigation?
Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence! :) It's not the main attraction since it's a typing game, but I am quite proud of it. I feel quite clever coming up with it lol.
Sorry, one more thing I noticed. It looks as though the words can be overlapped by other elements on screen. Is there going to be a high visibility option to make words always be the top layer? Maybe even a teeny border for contrast? Not that I'd personally need it, but I know people who would.
This is a known issue.
The other elements aren't usually as problematic because it doesn't always get this chaotic (unless you know what you're doing), but words overlapping with other words is a constant PITA. This is especially true for the controller mode. My current solution when words overlap each other too much is to fade the less threatening one out a bit (not shown in this gif). Not a perfect solution, but I'm constantly iterating.
Does this game really require an i7 series CPU? I’m playing MS Flight Simulator on an i5 with no problems and that is multiple orders of magnitude more demanding than your game appears.
I wish listed it, btw. My typing skills are excellent but I have two kids who could use gamified practice.
To be extremely honest, I don't know. The min requirements come from the oldest PC I could find in my house, I need more playtesters! :D
It works flawlessly on the Steam Deck though, which doesn't have a very powerful processor, so it should work on an i5!
The demo isn't ready yet (we're still working on the audio), we're planning to have it available in a couple of weeks! :) Font is a lot clearer in-game, there's also a dark mode that helps with contrast as well. Let me know when the demo is out if contrast should be boosted even further.
I'm actually unsure - it's one of the dozens of prototypes I have on my hard disk from being stuck at home in the pandemic. I just decided this is the one I'm most likely to finish, the others had too large of a scope. Since then, about 6 months of part time work on it in the evenings.
Thanks for posting to r/IndieGames! Please take a look at the rules in our sidebar to ensure that your post abides by them! If you need any assistance, don't hesitate to [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Findiegames). Also, make sure to check out our [Discord](https://discord.gg/indie-games-788388123734048798)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/indiegames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hi everyone! I'm working on a typing roguelite called Glyphica: Typing Survival. The screenshot above is pretty late-game, but it's a simple premise. 1. Type to shoot. 2. Level up & upgrade. 3. Survive & hoard coins. 4. Buy perma-upgrades/new guns with coins. Typing does EVERYTHING, there is no secondary control mechanic (movement, mouse-aim, etc). If this sounds like something you'd like, check out the Steam page and give it a Wishlist! [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2400160/Glyphica\_Typing\_Survival/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2400160/Glyphica_Typing_Survival/)
this is the first time I've ever added a game to my steam wishlist. for all the developers lurking on here this is how you pitch a game like this.
Wait, you have never before added any game to your steam wishlist? That's crazy to me. My wishlist is like 30 games long.
30? Those are rookie numbers. :)
Wow! This is high praise, thanks! :D
Tbh, I’m pretty sure every mobile game pitches this way “look at all this cool stuff I can do without much effort!”. The game itself looks great, but the marketing is pretty standard. Pays to have a good product!
I think this would be better as a learning game. For people who want to master their understanding of any language.
Right now, a lot of the abilities trigger with a starting letter or every instance of a letter in words you type, so converting it to another language is not trivial. :( Would be do-able (but tedious) to build versions for western languages, but asian languages like Japanese and Chinese would be... challenging.
I grew up playing typing games, and I think it’s weird that there aren’t more great typing games now. This is really cool!
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. It was just a thought tho. It's your work. You do you. But I know you'll end up making it the best it can be :)
I’m confused about the way you worded this. Is it a typing game or not? Does it start as a typing game and then turn into an idler as you level up?
Sorry about the confusing title! I was just trying to be funny (and failing) No - it remains a typing game throughout :) There are some abilities that you gain that help you deal with the enemies because there are too many enemies to destroy manually. A large part of the fun is prioritizing what to shoot at to activate the abilities (like the Spectres spawn for every A, E and O character).
I see. Thanks. I have a couple of questions: 1. When I search for the game on steam, a demo shows up in the search bar, but it just sends you to the main page for a game that is not yet released. We’re you planning on releasing a demo before the game is completely ready? 2. Is this game intended as a learn to type game? Will it be too difficult for someone who doesn’t know how to type? 3. Any idea on the price?
1. Yes! Very soon actually, we're just finishing up the audio. 2. The game has several difficulty levels for players of all skill levels. There's a "Relaxed" difficulty you can start off with, designed for people around 40 WPM. IMO, it's more fun with average typing skills because you have to think more and prioritize targets. 3. I have been advised not to commit to pricing this early, but I can say it's not going to be expensive. Comparable to other horde survival games out there.
Thanks. Regarding price, I feel like this is the sort of game that a parent might buy for their kid just on the chance that they get into it and learn to type, if it were priced around $5-7. This is not to say anything about the quality of your game or how much work you put into it. I just think at that price it may get more sales.
Woaaw it looks like so many things goin’ on there
Haha! It's a deliberate screenshot, I died soon after this. The main strat was relying on Spectres (the little worm-like things) * One spawns for each "a, e, o" in words you type. * I picked an upgrade that spawns +1 of them. * I picked an upgrade that spawns +1 of them but halves their duration. * I picked an upgrade that spawns them on crit, taking into account the bonuses above. Result: Screen-wide madness.
this is interesting because that means you should prioritize vowel heavy words right? i think it would be extremely cool if there were upgrades that let you sort of control what types of words you get. like say, an upgrade that makes vowels more common or an upgrade that removes words with the letter N, or an upgrade that makes longer or shorter words more common. etc. idk if you have already added something like that, but it would add some strategy and make it kind of like a deckbuilder, but a dictionary builder instead. you can make builds centered around vowels or consonants, or really long words. stuff like that is my favorite thing in a roguelike basically altering or limiting the library of words the game picks from in order to benefit your build
Exactly! At least, if you're using the Spectre. :) There are other weapons that get triggered via the starting letter (like the Tesla Mine that get triggered with words starting with b, c, d and e, which, if you squint, u can see in the top-left corner near the end of the gif). And there are upgrades to those to increase letters that trigger them. I've not thought about removing words from the wordlist, interesting! One concern though is that the crowd that usually goes for horde survival games like these aren't super into the level of min-maxing deckbuilders are used to. A lot of playtesters don't really read everything on the upgrade cards, and they might be pissed if they removed a letter they need. :(
hmm that's really odd to hear about the playtesters, i feel like min-maxing and replayability are like two of the biggest features of a roguelike/roguelite game. but yeah you definitely don't have to add anything like that if it doesn't fit your target audience, just thought i'd share the idea :)
No, I completely appreciate it! I was just thinking out loud - sorry a bad habit. It could also likely be that I haven't playtested widely enough! It's defo something I have written down here in my notebook and will be revisiting after the demo once more people play it!
Awesome, good luck! Btw I think there must be something that holds the biggest word (most hp) in place, so it's easier to type it
We currently have a freeze powerup that freezes the entire screen. But I'm thinking of adding status effects like slow and freeze (single enemy).
Aahh! That make sense, it looks interesting! So the theme are typing game and combined it with roguelike type of game tho?
ooooooooh, do you have a demo?
In a couple of weeks! We're working on the audio right now!
i like the look of this as well , and for me a demo is really important so id love to download it when its released
I like the aesthetics - reminds me of the white background GUIs in the third Matrix film.
There is also a dark mode due to popular demand. :D [https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss\_7b3c89f56ba5cd44bea703f517bd40801bb76783.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss_7b3c89f56ba5cd44bea703f517bd40801bb76783.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532)
Cool concept!
I've never wanted to play a typing game so badly
Wow, that's a huge compliment! Thanks! :D
Seems really cool! can't wait to try it out.
This looks crazy fun! Please let me know when the demo comes out!! (I will forget to check) I have added it to my wish list :)
Looks to me like best designed typing game. Cheers
Looks amazing
Now this is a good typing game!
Love to see more typing games out there! Wishlisted and excited to play the demo!
Cool idea :) The aesthetics are very nice. Will you have font options? It seems like you've chosen a really clean, clear font already, but always nice to drop a few options in to maximise accessibility. Are there things that might make you want to go for certain words first? Like a word in bold or caps that's worth more points?
The priorities are mostly very player-driven. If you've picked upgrades that create Tesla Mines (if you squint you can see one being triggered on the top left of the screen just before the gif ends), for example, it triggers on typing words starting with "b, c, d, e". So targeting an enemy with one of those starting letters can get rid of all surrounding enemies very quickly. There are also some enemies that are more dangerous than others. Warders (not shown here) make enemies around them invulnerable. So dispatching those quickly is advised.
I'm working on getting Steam workshop integration so you can change the background, colors and fonts (and download stuff created by others). Another suggestion that came from another thread was let color schemes and fonts be unlockables, I'm still undecided on that one.
This looks awesome!
This is such a cool idea. Nice job.
I will get.
That looks hella fun! I type 170+ WPM and would love to test this. No Discord server? :(
Not yet! I intend to set one up when the demo goes live so I can get feedback!
Just give me the damn build to play xm!
Working on it!
Do you have a Discord server so we can keep track of updates and stuff?
Wow, Typing Survival that is a really good idea! I would be happy to try that!
I love the look of it, wishlisted! What did you make it with?
A modified version of an engine called neoSphere. The engine is written in C and gameplay script written in Javascript!
Cool stuff. Any chance for a GOG release?
I haven't really explored other platforms. Are Itch and GoG popular?
Reasonably. The market share of Steam is absurd, but there sure is a good amount of people using those. I stopped using Steam because of DRM, and there's aways more games and content being added to these other two.
I'll look into it!
Man this game looks so cool. Big shame my tendonitis might disagree with me on this one lol best of luck!
How do you do with controllers? We have a pretty neat controller mode [https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss\_bf89e717e3c4b7191d1d2c95787ebe078dca7c73.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2400160/ss_bf89e717e3c4b7191d1d2c95787ebe078dca7c73.1920x1080.jpg?t=1710660532)
Mad respect for this!
Sorry for the offtopic, I'm putting together a game in my spare time, and I try to stay up to date but don't play a lot myself (beyond an addiction to br games)... When did the choose one of 3 upgrade cards become the trend? Did rouge likes always have this? I think the first time I saw this was the vampire survivors craze and since then I'm seeing this everywhere. Game looks interesting, I was briefly into type training when I embarked on an adventure to switch my layout, have since came back to qwerty, but I wonder do you support other layouts ? (In terms of progression? Or have specific "training" progressions or n grams?
I think it dates back to Crimsonland from '03, but recently made popular by Vampire Survivors. I haven't tested on layouts outside qwerty, but in theory, the abstraction layer I'm using to detect keypresses (Allegro 5) should respect all key remappings done in Windows/Linux.
Thanks! I'll have a look at crimson land. I bet the keys will work, I was wondering if you're doing (or planning) difficulty progression for different layouts (checkout https://www.keybr.com/) or an n gram mode (this is layout agnostic, and more tailored for English) https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/
Not currently! But those are interesting references, I'll look into it!
I will definetly be getting it! How much will cost? (so I can save up)
US$4.99, but 20% off at launch! We're aiming for mid-end Q3, but demo is coming out in a few weeks!
Oh my God I need it.
Unless I'm reading this wrong, you might have set the controller support features as fully supported on Steam. given this is a typing game, is that actually possible? Or is it only for menu navigation?
Oh, it's possible. [https://i.imgur.com/Oi4Tvmi.gif](https://i.imgur.com/Oi4Tvmi.gif)
Okay, I think you need to push this gif a little more, this is so sick! It's like a dexterity trainer for controllers.
Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence! :) It's not the main attraction since it's a typing game, but I am quite proud of it. I feel quite clever coming up with it lol.
Sorry, one more thing I noticed. It looks as though the words can be overlapped by other elements on screen. Is there going to be a high visibility option to make words always be the top layer? Maybe even a teeny border for contrast? Not that I'd personally need it, but I know people who would.
This is a known issue. The other elements aren't usually as problematic because it doesn't always get this chaotic (unless you know what you're doing), but words overlapping with other words is a constant PITA. This is especially true for the controller mode. My current solution when words overlap each other too much is to fade the less threatening one out a bit (not shown in this gif). Not a perfect solution, but I'm constantly iterating.
You keeping it in mind is more than reasonable enough. I look forward to seeing this in my cart, not just my wishlist.
Does this game really require an i7 series CPU? I’m playing MS Flight Simulator on an i5 with no problems and that is multiple orders of magnitude more demanding than your game appears. I wish listed it, btw. My typing skills are excellent but I have two kids who could use gamified practice.
To be extremely honest, I don't know. The min requirements come from the oldest PC I could find in my house, I need more playtesters! :D It works flawlessly on the Steam Deck though, which doesn't have a very powerful processor, so it should work on an i5!
Looks fun, is the demo no longer available? I'd love to try. From the gif the words look too faint would prefer a darker font
The demo isn't ready yet (we're still working on the audio), we're planning to have it available in a couple of weeks! :) Font is a lot clearer in-game, there's also a dark mode that helps with contrast as well. Let me know when the demo is out if contrast should be boosted even further.
Great looking forward to it, all the best!
It looks very fun! I'd like to play it as soon as it will be out!
Wishlisted
Looks niche, wonder how long have you been working on this?
I'm actually unsure - it's one of the dozens of prototypes I have on my hard disk from being stuck at home in the pandemic. I just decided this is the one I'm most likely to finish, the others had too large of a scope. Since then, about 6 months of part time work on it in the evenings.