Typerspeed

Introduction

Welcome to Typerspeed, the game that puts your typing to the ultimate test! How many words can you possibly type in just a 35 second time period without making any mistakes? Play this addictive game and find out!

This is version 2 of Typerspeed. Version 1 was released in 2018. It was merely an experiment to see if I could make a PC game. The project died pretty quickly, having disappeared off the face of the earth within a matter of months. I lost interest in it pretty much immediately after that. It remained dead and buried for about a year until I had a sudden energy burst during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic which reignited my passion for the project. Since the original source code was nowhere to be found, I had to rewrite the entire thing from scratch. Now, 6 months later, Typerspeed has been restored to life, bigger and better than ever!

Change Log 2.5C, Sunday, March 21st, 2021

• This version introduces silent mode. In this mode, all background tracks are disabled, meaning you will hear nothing in the way of background music during the game. It's just like Typerspeed 1. You will be asked if you'd like to enter this mode upon launching the game, right before the intro sequence. To enter silent mode, type a lower case y at the prompt and press enter. Otherwise, type a lower case n.
• The game now features 2 game play modes. In standard output mode, the game acts like any ordinary computer program, printing its output to the screen. Or, as us software developers call it, standard output. In speech output mode, the game's output is piped to a screen reader such as NVDA or JAWS, or a system speech synthesis engine if no screen reader is installed or running. It will even work if your screen reader is in sleep mode! Also in this mode, braille output will be provided where possible. Braille output requires a compatible screen reader and braille display to work.
• There is now an option in the main menu that allows you to export the game's word bank to a text file and have it stored on the Windows desktop. This option is useful for those who struggle with spelling, or non-native English speakers who have problems with certain words. By reviewing each word in the bank line by line, you can take note of the word(s) you struggle with most, learn them and memorize them.
• Windows XP is now the minimum version of Windows the game will run on.
• The "Visit the developer's website" option in the main menu is now smart, and knows which version of the developer's site to open based on the version of Windows on which the game is running. On XP, the HTTP version is loaded. On Vista and higher, however, the HTTPS version is loaded. Don't worry about the HTTP version, though, as nowhere on the site are you required to enter any personal data or login details, like usernames, passwords, credit card information etc. If I was dealing with that kind of data, I wouldn't have an HTTP version in the first place; it'd be HTTPS all the way!
• 10 more words have been added to the word bank, making for a seizure-inducing total of 660!
• Sound events have been added for performing certain successful actions, such as exporting files.

2.5, Friday, 5th March, 2021

• Text prompts have been added along with the audio to support those who are deaf/hard of hearing or playing without sound. Though playing without sound is an option, you will get a much better experience if you play with sound.
• Session logs are now much more detailed, giving you a full breakdown of the number of points you scored and correct words you typed during each side, as well as a total and average number for each stat.
• The game no longer relies on speech generated by an artificial intelligence algorithm for its voicing. Instead, the game is now voiced by a real, live human being.
• The fatal TSB20210304 bug, which caused the game to quit abruptly after the first side when the user selected yes at the try again screen after completing a game, has been fixed. I sincerely apologize for 2 things. 1. The inconvenience and frustration caused to anyone who was affected by this bug. 2. Taking 3 months to find and fix the bug. Yes, that's right, this bug goes way back to version 2.0!
• The game has both a new intro and a new outro sequence, featuring background music and sound. Yes, the outro is no longer just a boring block of text!
• The game now harnesses the power of UPX to further reduce its file size and reduce download and installation time. The file size reduction isn't as massive as it was from 2.0.2 to 2.1, but hopefully it's still noticeable.
• Tired of typing the same old boring words? Well, yawn no more! 501 new words have been added to the word bank, taking the total number of words up to 650!

2.1, Thursday, 4th February, 2021

• All sound files have been converted to Ogg Vorbis format, reducing the game's file size by just under 80%, allowing for much faster download and installation!
• An option has been added in the main menu to visit the developer's website in older, non-HTTPS-capable web browsers. Don't worry, though, as nowhere on the site are you required to enter any personal details, such as passwords, credit card information, telephone numbers etc.
• The game now keeps track of how many words you're typing correctly during a side, and shows you the total number of correct words typed at the end of the side.
• The game has a new intro sound.
• You now have the option to have a log of your game play session written to a text file which will be saved to your desktop for easy access.
• Thanks to 15.ai, the game is now self-voiced. Though the voice is a little meh, I might keep it if it sits well with users.

2.0.2, Wednesday, December 30th, 2020

A major code flaw has been patched that allowed the program to accept any user input, including no user input at all! This meant that a user could cheat the game by simply spamming the enter key and racking up thousands of points without even doing anything! How this one went through testing, I have no idea!

2.0.1, Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020

• Spelling errors in the word bank have been fixed.
• All homophones (words spelled differently that sound the same) have been removed.
• Retro heads, rejoice! Typerspeed now has full support for Windows 2000! No need to extend the kernel or apply complicated hacks!
• The small time penalty imposed on screen reader users by the announcement of how much time is left on the clock has been removed and replaced with a sound letting you know when the side has expired.
• Background tracks 3, 4 and 5 will now play at their correct speeds. Before, the tracks would play at a slightly slower speed than normal. This issue was caused by the sample rate of the respective audio files being a little too high.

2.0, Thursday, December 10th, 2020

• Instead of just being a quick 35 second game, there are now 5 rounds of game play that will make the sparks fly from your fingers even more. Of course, each round, or side, lasts 35 seconds, resulting in a total of 2 minutes and 55 seconds of game play!
• The game now features background music, with each side having its own sweet beat to keep you hooked in the game.
• You can now copy your scoring statistics to your PC's clipboard and show off to your friends. Version 1 never gave you any bragging rights at all. I guess it thought gloating was against the law or something.
• You will now hear a sweet intro sequence when you launch the game. This lets you know that you are indeed playing a Fireseed-made game.
• The sounds you hear when you get a word correct or incorrect are now different depending on the version of Windows on which you're running the game. Back in the days of version 1, a static ding and buzz was all you got.
• If you did bad the first couple of times, you can try again, and again, and again, and keep trying until your typing is absolutely perfect. Version 1 gave you no retries. If you got a bad score, that was it!

System Requirements

This game supports the following versions of Windows

• Windows XP/Server 2003
• Windows Vista/Server 2008
• Windows 7/Server 2008R2
• Windows 8/Server 2012
• Windows 8.1/Server 2012R2
• Windows 10/Server 2016/Server 2019

Both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) CPU architectures are supported.

If you get an error when trying to launch the game, like

the side-by-side configuration is incorrect

or something similar, download and install the Visual C++ 2008 x86 runtime.

Main Menu

When you launch Typerspeed, either by clicking on the shortcut icon created by the installer or manually locating and clicking on the typerspeed.exe file, you will hear the aforementioned intro sequence. As of Typerspeed 2.5C, you will first be asked if you want to play the game with or without background music. Type a lower case y or n to make your choice, and press Enter to apply. A menu will then appear with 7 options. To select an option, simply type the number relative to that option and press Enter

1: Play the game

When you select this option, a secondary menu will appear, asking you to select between 2 game play modes.

• In standard output mode, option 1 in the menu, the game acts like any ordinary computer program, printing its output to the screen, or as us software developers call it, standard output.
• In speech output mode, option 2, the game's output is piped to a screen reader such as NVDA or JAWS, or a system speech synthesis engine if no screen reader is installed or running. Also in this mode, braille output will be provided where possible. Braille output requires a compatible screen reader and braille display to work.

2: See the guide

This option will open the game's readme file, guide.txt, in the good old Notepad text editor.

3: Visit the developer's website

Selecting this option will cause the developer's website to open in your default web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave etc).

4: See the system requirements

This will open the system requirements file, requirements.txt, in Notepad.

5: See the size of Typerspeed's word bank

Reports the current number of words stored in the game's ever-growing database of words.

6: Write the word bank to a file

This option allows you to export the word bank to a text file and store it on your desktop, giving you a line-by-line view of each word in the bank.

7: Exit the game

The game's outro sequence is played, the main Typerspeed executable and its data files are taken out of memory and you are returned to the weird and wonderful world of Windows.

Game Play

The game consists of 5 rounds, known as sides. During each side, a piece of quiet, upbeat background music will play. Getting a word right will cause a tada sound to play. Get one wrong, though, and you'll hear a loud bong sound and a big fat 0 will be added to your score. At the end of each side, the number of points you got during that side, as well as the number of correct words you typed during the side, will be reported to you. You will then have 5 seconds to cool your burning fingers down before the next side begins. When all 5 sides have expired, you will receive your total score and your average per-side score. You will then be presented with a menu containing 3 options. As with the main menu, simply type the number relative to that option and press Enter to select it. Option 1 will write a log of your game play session to a text file and save it to your desktop. Option 2 allows you to have your scores copied to the clipboard so you can paste them all over the internet and act like a total show-off. Or, if you're a modest person, you can select option 3 and nothing will happen. After you've made your choice, you will be asked if you want to try again so you can try to beat your score. Typing a lower case y and pressing enter will restart the game from side 1, while typing a lower case n will return you to the main menu.

Scoring System

For each word you type correctly, you will receive a score equal to 5 times the length of the word. 3 letter words are worth 15 points, 4 letter words are worth 20 points, 5 letter words are worth 25 points etc. 7 and 8 letter words are where all the money is. Get a few of them in the first couple of sides and you're basically set for the rest of the game.

Credits

• The featured music tracks for sides 3, 4 and 5, Battery High, 5 past beat and 3's a crowd respectively, are made by blind UK musician Andre Louis. If you are interested in Andre's work, you can check him out on YouTube.
• The voicing is courtesy of the awesome Sbaughn006.
• "Secrets of the Schoolyard" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• VC 2008 x86 download link provided by i430VX.