Spellstack
| title: | Spellstack |
| url: | link |
| download page: | No link! |
| license: | unknown |
| genre: | Word Games |
| developer: | Ananse Productions |
| platform: | iOS, Android |
| release: | April 2013 |
| features: | text, sound, visuals |
| last edit by: | Pitermach |
Description
The status of this game is unknown. Both it as well as its developers have disappeared from the internet.
Spellstack is a game that combines several addictive and well known game concepts into one bundle. The essential formula of the game is that of the classic word search. Letters are dropped into a 5 x5 grid and you need to make words horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
The first thing that spellstack adds however, is a two player element. Sinse player one first is dropped five letters which she/he can move around to make a word, then player 2 gets five. If however a player is good enough at moving around their letters between columns and forming words in the right places, they can not only steal words and points from their opponent, but also break their opponent's words reducing their score. This makes spellstack a highly tactical game as well as one for those with a good vocabulary.
The game cooperates very well with voiceover, with notifications of which cell on the grid, A1 to E5 is selected, what letters it contains, which player the tyles belong to, and what words they are part of. When a letter is selected, flicking left and right will also give the option to move it between the different columns of the grid. One thing to bare in mind however, is that the game needs to select letters for words successively, so if entering a word like "Bet" it's necessary to first double tap on the b, then the e, then the t to submit a word. Also, remember that the grid is 5 x 5, and each turn new letter tyles fall down from the top, so it's necessary to examine a number of squares before making moves.
Using Vertical navigation can also help navigating by row as opposed to by bolumn.
The game is free to download and play, and contains a comprehensive interactive tutorial. In addition, you can play games against random other players, post to twitter or facebook, play with another person using the same Iphone or try out one of the computer opponents. The game also contains several chapters of puzzles and challenges (in addition to the tutorial), achievements and dayly challenges, though note it's necessary to create a spellstack account with an e-mail and password from within the game to have these logged.
The game is entirely free to download from the ap store, however a number of extras can be bought. These include the ability to remove adds which occur at some game transitions, extra challenges and puzzles, and three tougher computer ai opponents in addition to the Beginner Betty and Medium Marge versions you get in the free version of the game.
Additional resources
Applevis have an audio interview with the developer, Kwasi Mensah, which can be Found here
As usual, there is This page on Applevis for the game.
If a person is having trouble understanding the game or playing through the tutorial, there is This players guide on the Ananse productions website, which can also be launched from within the settings menu of the game itself.
Spellstack, though having something of a learning curve is a very original, and highly accessible take on traditional word games, with some of the tactical fun of two player tetris style puzzle games added in, and therefore definitely not to be missed by those who enjoy a challenge.
Community
Add this game to your favorites.
Extra
Report broken link or news to the moderators
Updates: entry 2 Feb 22 and description 2 Feb 22