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Forbidden Island JavaScript App: An Experiment in Creation

March 21, 2022

First of all, a necessary disclaimer: If you came here expecting to find a ready video game version of the popular board game, Forbidden Island, I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you. This post does show my efforts in creating a Forbidden Island JavaScript app, but I can’t share the program with you. I can’t even share the JavaScript code with you.

You see, the game is – obviously enough – copyrighted. It would be both illegal and unethical to the creator of the game, Matt Leacock, to offer anything I’ve made (even for free).

However, worry not. Not only will I describe my thought process behind turning Forbidden Island into a JavaScript/PHP app – which might help you code one yourself, if you so wish – but, more importantly, I’ll share with you a discovery I’ve made.

This discovery is useful to all of us, gamers or not, coders or not.

I discovered that the most genuine form of creation comes when not only do you have no expectations, but when you can’t even have any expectations. In other words, the most genuine way to create something artistic is a result of knowing it will only be made for the sake of making it.

Here’s what the main screen of my Forbidden Island JavaScript app looks like. Notice that neither images nor (most) of the locations correspond to the actual game.

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Word Journey – Gaming Meets Infinite Narratives

June 14, 2021

Programming

game, home for fiction, literature, programming, video games

If you enjoy word games, you’re going to like this. If you enjoy word games and you’re fascinated by the idea of a semi-randomly generated narrative that continues “forever”, you’re going to love this! Word Journey is my latest game – and program; and literary effort – that bridges these two aspects together.

The game goal of Word Journey is very simple: You are given the definition of a random word, and you must guess what the word is, gathering points and racing against the clock. But that’s not all! Every time you correctly guess the word, a sentence relevant to the word is added to the stack, generating a theoretically infinite semi-random narrative! When you run out of time (there is also a “Zen Mode”, without time constraints) you can export the text to a file.

Sounds great? I think so too 😉

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Worder: a Word Puzzle Game for Android

March 31, 2019

Programming

Android, app, computer, game, programming, worder, words

Note: If you’re interested in word puzzles, also take a look at my newest game, Word Journey.

Please note that none of my Android apps is any longer maintained – and they’re not even available on Google Play anymore – for reasons you can read about here. If you still have any of the Home for Fiction Android apps installed on your phone, you’re advised to uninstall them. The post below should be seen purely as a snapshot of history.

I’ve been enjoying programming lately – more than usual, that is. When you enjoy something, you become better and more productive. That’s why we need Universal Basic Income instead of jobs making us miserable. But let’s leave that aside for now and talk about Worder, a word puzzle game for Android that I made.

Worder is a word puzzle game. You must create words from randomly appearing letters before time runs out. As you move through a beautiful environment, letters begin to fly in front of you. Pick them to form a word recognized by the app’s dictionary.

Each word adds seconds to your timer and points to your score. But strategy is important! Should you wait for “A” and “L” to form the word “Mor[al]”, or play it safe and just wait for an “E” to form the word “Mor[e]”? Longer words means more points, but the clock is ticking!

Worder - word puzzle game for Android — Worder is a word puzzle game. It’s a bit like Tetris, only with words!

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