Kanji Kami Demo
Updated!
As promised, the Demo has been refreshed and is now available for download at the same link as the previous build (I replaced the file online). Updated informations are found in red.
It's done. Built, debugged, packaged, and shipped. Last Thursday night at approximately 12:30 AM, I put the finishing touch on the Kanji Kami Demo. The Demo was shown at the Sendai City ALT Art Show and appeared to impress viewers. A bug came up during the demo and has since been squashed. Playtesting in action, folks!
Here's the goods:
System Requirements:
I have only tested on my computer and can't guarantee anything. The game should run fine on the following hardware, however.
No Windows version is available yet. I have to figure out how to build it on one of the school computers here as none of my machines are currently running Windows in any capacity.
Personal Requirements:
Kanji Kami shines when the player has at least a basic knowledge of the Japanese written system. Those entirely unfamiliar with Hiragana, Katakana, and the basics of Kanji will likely be confused by what's going on in-game. This will not, however, stop you from playing the game. Feel free to experiment!
How to Play:
The goal of the game is to sort Kanji by radical type. Radicals are essentially building-blocks for kanji. The Kanji "休" has two main radicals: "人" on the left and "木" on the right. In the Kanji Kami demo level, you are to collect all kanji featuring the "土" radical. They can be stacked, to the left, to the right, etc. As long as you see the radical in a kanji in the game, you want to get it.
The Kanji are hidden, however. Scattered throughout the level are readings for the kanji. By getting close enough to them, the kanji is revealed. As they approach you you must decide if you want the kanji or not. Kanji are collected by physically touching them. You have the ability to push kanji away by rejecting them. Note that using the rejection ability rejects all nearby kanji, good and bad.
The sun in the upper right corner of the scroll is your Reject ability well: it dries up as you use the ability. Use too much and you won't be able to reject at all. The sun refills after a brief pause when you let go of the Reject button.
Controls:
Demo As Playground:
In the demo you are not severely docked for poor performance. Touching incorrect kanji will reduce the size of the sun, thus reducing your ability to reject. Touching correct kanji will increase the size of the sun, thus increasing your ability to reject. There is no way to die.
The level ends when the main music section loops three times. After the third loop, a level-end music cue is started. When the audio finishes, the game will return to the menu screen.
Download:
The Mac OSX PowerPC/Intel safe version of the game is available here.
Non-Game-Related:
Things are finally slowing down a bit on the development side. I'm going to try to build a Windows version of the game in the coming weeks. I've also had a few other game design ideas whizzing around in my head and I hope to prototype/write down the ideas to get them out into the open.
Hopefully, however, posting will return to a normal pre-crunch-time frequency. I also hope to catch up on the blogs of my friends which I have been unable to peruse of late. Please forgive me, I need three times the hours a day currently provides to get through even half of what I intend the instant my eyes open in the morning.
Short life update: Things Are Good.
As promised, the Demo has been refreshed and is now available for download at the same link as the previous build (I replaced the file online). Updated informations are found in red.
It's done. Built, debugged, packaged, and shipped. Last Thursday night at approximately 12:30 AM, I put the finishing touch on the Kanji Kami Demo. The Demo was shown at the Sendai City ALT Art Show and appeared to impress viewers. A bug came up during the demo and has since been squashed. Playtesting in action, folks!
Here's the goods:
System Requirements:
I have only tested on my computer and can't guarantee anything. The game should run fine on the following hardware, however.
- OS: Mac OSX 10.3+, PPC & Intel
- Memory: 256 MB, 512 recommended
- HDD: 30MB
No Windows version is available yet. I have to figure out how to build it on one of the school computers here as none of my machines are currently running Windows in any capacity.
Personal Requirements:
Kanji Kami shines when the player has at least a basic knowledge of the Japanese written system. Those entirely unfamiliar with Hiragana, Katakana, and the basics of Kanji will likely be confused by what's going on in-game. This will not, however, stop you from playing the game. Feel free to experiment!
How to Play:
The goal of the game is to sort Kanji by radical type. Radicals are essentially building-blocks for kanji. The Kanji "休" has two main radicals: "人" on the left and "木" on the right. In the Kanji Kami demo level, you are to collect all kanji featuring the "土" radical. They can be stacked, to the left, to the right, etc. As long as you see the radical in a kanji in the game, you want to get it.
The Kanji are hidden, however. Scattered throughout the level are readings for the kanji. By getting close enough to them, the kanji is revealed. As they approach you you must decide if you want the kanji or not. Kanji are collected by physically touching them. You have the ability to push kanji away by rejecting them. Note that using the rejection ability rejects all nearby kanji, good and bad.
The sun in the upper right corner of the scroll is your Reject ability well: it dries up as you use the ability. Use too much and you won't be able to reject at all. The sun refills after a brief pause when you let go of the Reject button.
Controls:
- Up Arrow: Use the Reject ability
- Left Arrow: Move Left
- Right Arrow: Move Right
- Spacebar: Jump
Demo As Playground:
In the demo you are not severely docked for poor performance. Touching incorrect kanji will reduce the size of the sun, thus reducing your ability to reject. Touching correct kanji will increase the size of the sun, thus increasing your ability to reject. There is no way to die.
The level ends when the main music section loops three times. After the third loop, a level-end music cue is started. When the audio finishes, the game will return to the menu screen.
Download:
The Mac OSX PowerPC/Intel safe version of the game is available here.
Non-Game-Related:
Things are finally slowing down a bit on the development side. I'm going to try to build a Windows version of the game in the coming weeks. I've also had a few other game design ideas whizzing around in my head and I hope to prototype/write down the ideas to get them out into the open.
Hopefully, however, posting will return to a normal pre-crunch-time frequency. I also hope to catch up on the blogs of my friends which I have been unable to peruse of late. Please forgive me, I need three times the hours a day currently provides to get through even half of what I intend the instant my eyes open in the morning.
Short life update: Things Are Good.