Introduction to WordFlipper

Inspired by a love of word games and carnival fun, WordFlipper is a fast-paced word finding game that will challenge your inner lexicon and your dexterity!

A Few Words from WordFlipper Players

“Sort of Boggle meets Dance Dance Revolution with a carnival twist!”

“Flipping is really fun. Takes a game or two to get the hang of it, but then it’s really addictive.”

“This is really different, in a good way. Love the use of the accelerometer.”

“I still don’t believe Jamie scored 2,739 points. He’s a total freak.”
   [Jamie: Behold the power of the Double-Double Zone!]

“It’s all about that last 30 seconds. Great game!” ~ Bruce Fenton aka @Jooser

“So odd to have something so physical directly connected to something so cerebral. Think, think. Type, type. SHAKE! SHAKE! :)” ~ Crystal Williams aka @BigBrightBulb

 Get WordFlipper from the iTunes App Store

Press

The most-awesome Lonnie Lazar reviews WordFlipper on Cult of Mac!

…”it really must be played to be appreciated.”

My interview with the wonderful crew from The App Show:

The App Show – Episode #29 from Coefficient Media on Vimeo.

Rob Barton reviews WordFlipper on App-lesauce:

This game has two features that I really like:

1) the use of the accelerometer in a word game is great.
2) the ability to reuse letters as many times as you can opens up longer and longer words.

WordFlipper QuickStart

1. Play: Find all the words you can using any combination of letters. Letters can be used more than once.
2. Scoring: With Flips ON, shake your iPhone/iPod Touch in the direction indicated by the arrow at the center of the wheel. With Flips OFF, tap the SAVE button at the center of the wheel.
3. Backspace: Tap the word field. You can also get rid of a word by “flipping” it out or hitting the SAVE button.
4. Hint: Save your longest words till the last 30 seconds and score big points in the Double-Double Zone!

That’s it. You’re ready to play!

Known Bugs

White Screen Of Death – So far, I’ve had three reports of WordFlipper failing at launch and putting up a white screen. This is out of several thousand downloads, but I take this sort of stuff seriously. I believe the issue is with the OpenFeint social gaming add-on and the fine folks at OF are looking into it. In addition, I’ve gone ahead and updated to the latest version of OF and pushed a new binary to Apple. This will be version 1.2. Hopefully, this will resolve the issue.

New for Version 1.1

• Two modes of play! – By popular request, you can now turn off the flipping action and play WordFlipper like a straight word game. With Flips OFF, the center wheel becomes a SAVE button.
• Multiplayer and Replay! – WordFlipper now allows you to play a new game with the same letters you used in the last game. This feature is great for pass-and-play multiplayer or just going for the next big score!
• Online Leaderboards! – WordFlipper now has global, online leaderboards. Leaderboards track high scores for each time option (1:30, 2:00, 3:00, and 5:00). Local scores are still available as well.
• Awards! – When you finish a game, WordFlipper not only tallies a score but hands out awards based on how well you played. 1.1 includes five awards, and new awards will be released in upcoming versions.
• Vowels, vowels, vowels! – Now you’re guaranteed to get at least two vowels per game.
• Facebook and Twitter! – Now you can stream your scores to Twitter and Facebook!

Thanks to everyone who downloaded version 1.0! Your feedback was great and I’ve worked hard to add in your most requested features plus a few others.

If you’re new to WordFlipper, welcome aboard and thanks!

To Flip or Not to Flip…

When I created WordFlipper, I wanted to make a game that combined my love of word games with the fast-moving action available on the iPhone/iPod Touch. I still love playing with the Flips ON, but I heard from a lot of people who wanted the option to turn it off. So that’s just what I’ve done for version 1.1!

I’m really pleased with the result as it makes WordFlipper two games in one. Also, with the addition of Awards, I’ve created achievements for both modes of play which extends the fun!

Leaderboards, Awards, and Flipping With Friends!

WordFlipper now has global, online leaderboards, awards, and connections to Twitter and Facebook. There are also chat rooms where you can talk with other flippin’ friends live online.

All online services are provided by OpenFeint. OpenFeint powers a number of great games and I’m proud to add WordFlipper to the list!

There are two ways to launch OpenFeint: Tap the Scores & Awards button on the Home screen and select Global Leaderboards when prompted or tap Game Settings and then OpenFeint.

Once you’re in OpenFeint, tap the WordFlipper button at the bottom of the screen and you’ll get a list of options, including leaderboards and achievements.

OpenFeint also allows you to hook up with friends across games. So, not only can you see your own scores, but also those of your friends! To turn this on, tap Friends and then connect to Twitter or Facebook.

Awards

Version 1.1 comes with two award categories.

• Flipper X – Flipper X gives you awards (and points on OpenFeint) for the number of words scored in a single game. 1.1 includes Flipper 10 and Flipper 25. The idea behind this award is give those of you with fast fingers and mad flipping skills something to shoot for! ** NOTE ** this award category is only available when Flips are ON!
• Letter Club – The Letter Club rewards you for scoring big words during the game. Letter Club 5 is awarded when you score two or more 5-letter words in a single game. There are Letter Clubs for 6 and 7-letter words as well, and your OpenFeint points go up as you score longer words.

I’ll release more awards (and categories) once every two weeks, so best of luck and keep flipping!

Scoring

Scoring works the same in 1.1 as it did in 1.0.

With Flips ON, longer words need more “flips” to score. You also get more points for longer words, so there’s an incentive to go long.

• 3 Letters – 1 Flips, 1 Points
• 4 Letters – 2 Flips, 2 Points
• 5 Letters – 3 Flips, 3 Points
• 6 Letters and Up – 4 Flips, 4 Points+1 Point for each letter beyond 6

With Flips OFF, you only press the SAVE button once.

Lights and Sounds

When you get a good flip, the direction arrow lights up. If you need to flip again (i.e. you have enough letters to require more than one flip) you’ll also hear a sound like a cowbell. The next directional arrow will appear after that (unlit).

When you score a good word (by flipping or saving), the lights above the word flash green. You’ll also hear a nice ping.

When you try to enter a word that doesn’t exist, the lights below the word flash red. You’ll also hear a ping a few octaves lower.

When you try to enter a word twice, both sets of lights flash. You’ll also hear an off-key ping.

Word Bonus and Double-Double

I wanted to add an incentive to make players think about strategy to increase their scores. That’s where the Word Bonus and Double-Double Zones come in.

The Word Bonus Zone is a ten second period that occurs randomly throughout the game. During the Word Bonus Zone, you’ll get a multiplier bonus for any word you score. The multiplier is also random and changes during the game but it can be anywhere from 2x to 5x the original point value. So, if you score a three (3) letter word during a 4x Word Bonus Zone, you’ll receive four (4) points instead of one.

The Double-Double Zone occurs during the last thirty (30) seconds of the game. During the Double-Double Zone, each word you score gives your score an exponential boost. So, a four (4) letter word will normally get you two (2) points, but in the Double-Double Zone that gets bumped to thirty-two (32) points (i.e. [2*2^4])!

Hey, I know this is a word game and all this math is crazy… so basically, save your longest words for the end to maximize your score. Scoring the big words at the end can mean the difference between a 70 and a 700 point game.

“Can Word Bonus and Double-Double Zones combine to form a giant mega bonus?”

You bet! If a Word Bonus Zone occurs during the last thirty seconds of the game, qualifying words get the word bonus first and then get the Double Double bonus! With a little strategy and a little luck, you can really rack up big scores.

Settings

WordFlipper has a few game settings to allow you to customize the game play.

• Flip Sensitivity – This adjusts the amount of force needed to record a “flip”. The default is Medium. The Easy setting should make it super simple to record the flip. However, it might also be so easy that you end up nudging words before you’re done tapping them! (Hey, we couldn’t make it too simple) The Hard setting is for people who like to break their toys or need a workout.
• Game Time – Adjusts the length of the game. 2:00 is the default.
• Sounds – Turns the game sounds on or off. The default is on.
• Flip Up/Down – This setting changes the orientation of up and down flips.

Thanks!

Thanks for playing WordFlipper! This game was conceived, designed, and programmed by Jamie Grove. It comes without any warranty whatsoever.

** If you toss your iPhone out the window while driving, well, maybe you shouldn’t play WordFlipper while driving. In other words, HANG ON!

Happy flipping!

 Get WordFlipper from the iTunes App Store