Letterpress
A five by five grid contains red and blue squares.
App icon for iOS devices
Developer(s)Loren Brichter
Publisher(s)Atebits, Solebon LLC
Designer(s)Loren Brichter
Programmer(s)Loren Brichter
Artist(s)Loren Brichter
EngineOpenGL
Platform(s)iOS, macOS, Android
Release
October 24, 2012
  • iOS:
  • October 24, 2012
  • Mac:
  • July 20, 2016
  • Android:
  • August 25, 2017
Genre(s)Word game, turn-based strategy
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Letterpress is a 2012 turn-based word game developed by Loren Brichter and published by Solebon LLC. Using Game Center for multiplayer matchmaking, players take turns creating words to cover the most territory on a board with 25 letters.[1] The gameplay was inspired by Boggle, color wars,[2] and SpellTower,[3] the lattermost of which is a word game produced by indie developer Zach Gage. With his wife, Jean Whitehead, as the first beta tester, the rules of Letterpress gradually evolved.[3]

The game was released on October 24, 2012, for iOS and under Solebon on July 20, 2016, for the Mac App Store[4] and on August 25, 2017, for Google Play.[5] Being critically acclaimed for its design and strategic gameplay, Letterpress was ranked second place in the App Store's Best of 2012 list[6] and won the 2013 Apple Design Awards.[7]

Gameplay

A grid of letters is below the word "play". The letter A in the word play is askew, with other letters below it falling down.
Grids showing past games are stacked vertically.
Promotional artwork (left) and post-game screenshot (right)

In Letterpress, two players compete to take over the most tiles on a grid with 25 letters. Each player must assemble a word using tiles to create words at least two letters or longer. Players cannot reuse words or create words from the same word family.[8][9] When a player finishes their turn, their selected letters change into their color.[8][10] If a player's tiles surround a letter, the opponent cannot claim it.[1][8] Players may choose to pass a turn. Once every square is occupied, or if both players pass their turns in the same round, the player with the most tiles wins.[1][8]

Development

Loren Brichter smiling.
Loren Brichter developed Letterpress.

After leaving Twitter, Inc. in November 2011, developer and founder of Atebits 2.0,[lower-alpha 1] Loren Brichter, began developing side projects that he had little time to work on before leaving.[2][12] Brichter had previously developed Tweetie and the pull-to-refresh function. While he and his wife were out for dinner, waiting for a table, they played SpellTower, Zach Gage's word game.[12] The game inspired Brichter to develop a multiplayer version, as he wanted "a fun little word game" to play with his wife.[2][3] He cited Boggle and color wars as influences for the gameplay.[2] His wife, Jean Whitehead, was the first beta tester and helped him spot flaws in the game's rules; in the first version of Letterpress, players could indiscriminately create long words, as tiles would only turn into the player's color.[3] Noticing an insufficient amount of strategy, he incorporated a feature that gave a player bonus points for surrounding tiles.[2] However, Brichter realized that with this feature, games would be endless because players would avoid using leftover tiles; to fix this, surrounded tiles were modified to be unclaimable.[2] He took inspiration from the Windows Phone while designing the graphics and user interface.[3] The game was written in OpenGL, and Game Center handled the multiplayer matchmaking service.[3] He developed the sound effects by spitting in his microphone and determined the game's name based on what the player did: pressing letters.[3]

Release

Brichter marketed the game as freemium and avoided using screenshots of his game with "tacky"[3] catchphrases. The game was released on iOS on October 24, 2012.[13] On the first day of release, the game was downloaded 60,000 times.[12] Initially, players could only compete in two games at once.[14] After Solebon LLC bought Atebits 2.0, Letterpress was released on the Mac App Store on July 20, 2016,[4] and on Google Play on August 25, 2017.[5]

Reception

Letterpress has a Metacritic rating of 89 based on eight critics.[15]

Reviewers found the strategic elements of Letterpress likable. However, some criticized the absence of a single-player mode, which Jared Nelson of TouchArcade, AJ Dellinger of Gamezebo, and Chris Reed of Slide to Play agreed on.[1][9][14] Although Nelson, who rated the game 4.5 out of five stars, commented that the gameplay was challenging to explain, he speculated that players would become addicted once they had mastered the rules.[1] Lex Friedman of Macworld and Dellinger shared similar views, writing that Letterpress is "alarmingly addictive"[8] and would fit with "word nerds and strategy-oriented thinkers."[9] Rating the game 4.5 out of five stars, Pocket Gamer's Harry Slater compared the gameplay to chess, praised the suspense of a player waiting for their opponent's next move, and wrote that Letterpress is "asynchronous gaming at its finest."[16] Luke Larsen of Paste magazine, concluding that Letterpress is an "incredible achievement" and the "next big thing" of multiplayer iOS games, criticized the usage of Game Center, sharing his worries about player statistics and matchmaking.[17]

Most critics praised the simplistic art style. Some called the graphics "aesthetically pleasing"[1] with "zero clutter."[9] Nelson compared the graphics to Clear, a notetaking app.[1] "The second I booted up Letterpress, I could tell that it was designed by someone with some experience in app development,"[17] Larsen stated. Friedman noticed and praised intricate details, including the sound effects and other user interface elements.[8] Ranking the game as a "must have", Reed said that Letterpress is a "gorgeous example of minimalist design."[14]

Awards and Cheaterpress

Letterpress was featured in the App Store's Best of 2012 list, ranking second place and tying with the platformer Waking Mars.[6] It was nominated at the Worldwide Developers Conference and won the 2013 Apple Design Awards.[7][10] Less than a month after the game's release, an automated program known as Cheaterpress was developed and released. Players could show a screenshot of their game to the app. It would examine and output a list of potential words with their point values.[18]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The previous Atebits was acquired by Twitter, Inc. in 2010.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nelson, Jared (October 24, 2012). "'Letterpress – Word Game' Review – Simple And Awesome". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brichter, Loren (October 24, 2012). "Loren Brichter talks Letterpress for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad" (Interview). Interviewed by Rene Ritchie. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Brichter, Loren (October 24, 2012). "A Conversation With Loren Brichter" (Interview). Interviewed by Federico Viticci. Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Hall, Zac (July 20, 2016). "Letterpress word game lands on the Mac as Skype drops support for older OS X versions". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Letterpress – Word Game". Google Play. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  6. 1 2 McWhertor, Michael (December 13, 2012). "App Store names its 'Best of 2012' games for iPhone and iPad". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  7. 1 2 McElroy, Griffin (June 12, 2013). "Ridiculous Fishing, Letterpress and more take home Apple Design Awards". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Friedman, Lex (October 24, 2012). "Review: Letterpress is an excellent iOS word game". Macworld. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Dellinger, AJ (October 29, 2012). "Letterpress Review". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  10. 1 2 "This year's winners". Apple. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  11. ↑ Miller, Claire Cain (April 9, 2010). "Twitter Acquires Atebits, Maker of Tweetie". Bits. The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 Wortham, Jenna (October 25, 2012). "Letterpress, Game From the Creator of Tweetie, Lifts Off". Bits. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  13. ↑ Wehner, Mike (October 24, 2012). "atebits releases Letterpress for iPhone". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Reed, Chris (October 26, 2012). "Letterpress – Word Game Review". Slide to Play. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  15. 1 2 "Letterpress - Word Game". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  16. 1 2 Slater, Harry (October 27, 2012). "Letterpress". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  17. 1 2 Larsen, Luke (November 5, 2012). "Mobile Game of the Week: Letterpress (iOS)". Paste. Archived from the original on November 29, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  18. ↑ Usher, Anthony (November 8, 2012). "Cheat app for Gold Award-winning word game Letterpress hits the App Store". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
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