Word Games

I have a penchant for offbeat games. Over the years, I have moved away from being instantly dazzled by graphics and sound when game play itself hasn't changed at all. I'm looking at you, most first-person shooters. So during the past couple of weeks, I've had a chance to check out a few pretty amazing little independent games thanks in part to the free games list at freegames.1up.com.

One title with which I've spent more time than expected is Poesysteme. An explanation of the game is somewhat difficult because it's not really a game at all. In the fashion of a simulation game, you are able to place grass, trees, and what look like oil splotches around an isometric grid. In true word nerd fashion, the grass is formed entirely of punctuation marks and the trees display similar theatrics. Then, you can also place words which then wander around the grid breaking apart and combining with other words that you place to form new words. At any time, you can hit the space bar to see a poem made from some of the words you've let run around the world. It always ends up being nonsensical but it can be very entertaining. If I can find a place to freely host audio that lets me embed it here at the Green, I'll make a recording of one of the Macintosh voices reading one of my nonsense poems to put on display here. If you'd like to see the game in action without actually playing it, someone has already provided you an option:



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Now playing: Roy Haynes - If I Could
via FoxyTunes