Emily Short, a prominent interactive fiction author, has contributed to the development of a new browser-based game, Clockwords, which combines the best aspects of the tower defense genre and Bookworm. Set in a “gaslamp fantasy” setting with crazy mechanical inventions, you type words to arm your contraption and shoot down clockwork attackers before they can get to your machine.
I’ve played quite a bit, and the concept of the game is pretty intriguing, not to mention horribly addictive. You get letters that boost your damage if you use them, and they come in different varieties and potencies, but you can type any word you want. Using all your bonus letters in the same shot unlocks another letter chamber, so your vocabulary along with your typing speed is ultimately what determines how much firepower you have. It looks like it should be a lot of fun for kids as well; I’m sure Thomas will love it, as he likes tower defense a la Plants vs. Zombies, as well as Bookworm.
The only irritating thing about it is that Clockwords is microtransaction-enabled through MochiGames, which means a steady stream of annoying ads and shilling for in-game powerups. Set your brain filters on “ignore” and you should be fine.
Emily said that the version that’s online currently is just the Prelude, and that in the future there will be more content and gameplay variations. I look forward to seeing what they come up with!
