SpellTower

SpellTower is a puzzle video game by Zach Gage in which the player creates words from a jumble of letter tiles to clear the screen before it refills. The game has several game modes and a multiplayer battle mode. The impetus for the game—the concept of combining elements from Tetris and Boggle in what was a prototype of the puzzle video game Puzzlejuice—inspired Gage to create SpellTower. The game released for iOS in November 2011 to generally favorable reviews. Versions for OS X and Android followed over the next two years. In 2017 SpellTower Minutes was released. This browser-based Flash game created special "blitz" like modes not found in the mobile releases. A new iOS version released in 2017 swapped out the unnamed dictionary and began using Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. French and Dutch language specific versions were also released.[1] A 2020 release, SpellTower+, added new game modes, cleaner visuals, and a jazz soundtrack.

SpellTower
App icon
Developer(s)Zach Gage
Platform(s)iOS, OS X, Android
ReleaseiOS
November 17, 2011 (2011-11-17)
OS X
July 25, 2012 (2012-07-25)
Android
March 7, 2013 (2013-03-07)
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay
Video trailer and screenshot of gameplay

In the iPad puzzle video game SpellTower, the player attempts to clear the screen of jumbled, lettered tiles by using them to create words. The player can select adjacent and diagonal tiles to create words, which clears those tiles from the screen. If the player creates a long word with five or more tiles, any adjacent tile will be cleared as well. Additionally, difficult characters like X, Q, and J, will remove an entire row when used in a word. Some tiles are blank and can only be cleared by such an adjacent effect.[2]

There are several game modes. In Tower mode, the player has 150 set tiles and tries to remove as many words as possible before running out of options. In Puzzle mode, for each set of tiles removed from the board, another row is added to the screen. The game ends when the tiles fill the screen. While Puzzle mode waits for the player's turn to add more tiles, Rush mode adds new tiles every few seconds.[2] A later update added a multiplayer battle mode, where players can face each other across local Bluetooth connections.[3] In battle mode, each completed word sends tiles to their opponent's screen.[4]

Development
Developer Zach Gage
The concept behind Puzzlejuice (pictured)—to combine Tetris and Boggle—inspired Gage to create SpellTower.

When indie developer Zach Gage was first told about a video game that combined Tetris and Boggle, he had a very specific idea of how the game would play.[5] But after seeing that the prototype of Puzzlejuice played differently, he created—with the developer's permission—the version he imagined as SpellTower. Gage's game eventually released prior to the game that inspired it.[6][lower-alpha 1]

SpellTower released for the iPad tablet computer on November 17, 2011.[9] A month later, Gage added support for iPhone and iPod Touch, and Game Center achievements. In 2012, Gage added local multiplayer support over Bluetooth in a new battle game mode.[4][3][10] Gage later released versions for OS X (July 25, 2012)[11] and Android (March 7, 2013). The Android release is identical apart from the omission of word lookup. It also supports local Wi-Fi multiplayer and high score competition via Scoreloop.[12]

Gage and developer Jack Schlesinger rebuilt SpellTower from scratch to better accommodate changes made since its original release. The new version, SpellTower+, has a revised look, a new soundtrack, iCloud backup, and new game modes.[13]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic.[14] Edge called it a "magnificent ... brainteaser that's nervy, humbling, and strangely energizing".[2] The title was one of TouchArcade's honorable mentions for 2011 game of the year.[19] A year later, TouchArcade said the game remained among the best on the App Store.[20] In 2012, SpellTower was named among IGN's underrated iOS word games.[21]

Edge compared the game's tension to that of Resident Evil's survival horror, though noted that Tower mode was much less tense than the game's Puzzle modes. The reviewer highlighted the role of strategy in both modes, as a small word might fare better than a large word in maintaining the growth of the Puzzle mode tower.[2]

Notes
  1. Puzzlejuice developer Asher Vollmer and artist Greg Wohlwend ultimately decided that the two games were sufficiently different to justify continuing their development.[7][8]

References
  1. Dotson, Carter. "'SpellTower' Getting New Modes and Merriam-Webster Word List on February 9th". TouchArcade. TouchArcade. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  2. Edge Staff (December 2, 2011). "SpellTower review". Edge. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  3. http://toucharcade.com/2012/04/05/spelltower-multiplayer-update-hitting-tomorrow/
  4. http://toucharcade.com/2012/02/20/multiplayer-and-more-coming-to-spelltower-in-new-update/
  5. Alexander, Leigh (November 17, 2011). "Zach Gage Tackles A Genre He Hates With SpellTower Exclusive". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  6. Dotson, Carter (April 17, 2015). "'Skiing Yeti Mountain' Preview - The Alternate Universe Version of 'Dudeski'". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  7. Schramm, Mike (February 10, 2012). "The Puzzlejuice emails document the nitty gritty of iOS development". TUAW. Archived from the original on June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212081247/http://aeiowu.com/365-puzzlejuice-emails-pt-1/#spelltower
  9. https://www.engadget.com/2011/11/17/spelltower-chickon-superman-and-lots-of-other-ios-releases-tod/
  10. http://toucharcade.com/2012/09/21/spelltower-on-iphone-5-adds-ipad-puzzle-mode-looks-great/
  11. https://www.destructoid.com/spelltower-is-out-for-mac-and-it-s-like-crack-231966.phtml
  12. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-05-spelltower-is-finally-coming-to-android
  13. Webster, Andrew (January 30, 2020). "Early iPhone hit SpellTower gets reimagined a decade later". The Verge. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  14. "SpellTower Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  15. http://www.gamezebo.com/2011/12/01/spelltower-review/
  16. http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/SpellTower/review.asp?c=35577
  17. Campbell, Nissa (November 21, 2011). "'SpellTower' for iPad Review – Proof That Word Games Can Be Beautiful". TouchArcade. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  18. https://www.cnet.com/products/spelltower/review/
  19. http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/23/toucharcade-game-of-the-year-2011-superbrothers-sword-sworcery-ep/
  20. http://toucharcade.com/2012/11/02/top-ten-best-ipad-game-classics-for-ipad-mini/
  21. http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/29/six-underrated-iphone-word-games

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