I, like most artists, am pretty horrible at self-promotion. This extends to games that I have created, which is likely why I haven't yet mentioned Phrase Shift on this blog.
Phrase Shift is a word puzzle game that I created for Hyper Hippo Games. It's already shown up on Android and iOS, and is launching on Steam this week.
Sample puzzle. To solve, you slide the words in the definition left or right until the answer is spelled down the center line. To answer "Jam's glass container", you spell JAR down the center. Simple enough, right?
So, here's the thing... I really want this game to work. But the game industry is telling me the following things:
- The game should be free, and then you sell level packs.
- Word puzzle games don't sell well. Most of your audience will just see them as edu-tainment.
- If you wanna make a popular puzzle game, for heaven's sake, don't make the user think! Make it as easy as possible to solve, until the solution is just out of reach, and then charge them more money to be able to solve the thing.
I hate this. I just want to go back to simplicity: you buy the game, you play the game. No unfair tactics, no shady business dealings. I also would really like to believe that there are a few of you out there that enjoy word games.
If this is you, please purchase Phrase Shift. I'd really appreciate it. The Steam version is launching with 600 puzzles (and the mobile versions will be updated to have those puzzles soon as well). It's less than a penny a puzzle!
Thank you for your time.