For beginners?

[Butthead]

Does this game start with the super basics, teaching where to put fingers on home keys and starting with letters "AS" and "JK" then work up from there (like adding one letter in each level), or does the game assume one already knows the fundamentals of typing? I want a typing game that will teach my son to type from scratch, but unfortuntaely the game description seems to omit this critical information.

[Lightning]

No, it's not. This game is not particularly a teaching game. Indeed it starts with an alternative control layout which require you to lay your fingers on the FD and JK buttons, but that's all.

The game starts with some simple words with 4-5 letters, the monsters are 3-4 letters, and force you to put up your typing speed in some scene, but no they're not teaching you how to type properly.

[The Shadow of Death]

TBH, I don't think steam has any 'teaching' typing games. In point of fact, there are only about a half dozen games with the 'typing' category on them. I've played a few of them, including this one, and I don't recall any of them really being 'teaching'. The one with the mythology seems most suited for that, as it seems to have stages that repeat certain key sets in order, like 'chest, chase, etc.'. That might sort of work, as I recall that sort of stuff way back when I took a typing course in high school.

EDIT: It's the 'God of Word' game. Again though, it's not really a teaching game, near as I can tell, and Steam just doesn't have a typing game for teaching, it seems.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/467320/God_of_Word/

EDIT: Never mind, I was only looking at 'whats popular'. I don't see a proper game that's also good for typing, but I didn't really look either.

[Butthead]

Wow, that's kind of mind blowing. 30 years ago, I learned to type using Wiztype on a Tandy 1000 computer, when there were probably only 20 games to choose from at Radio Shack. Now there are hundreds of thousands of games to choose from on Steam, and not a single game that teaches a kid to type. Insane!

[TheThibz]

The main reason is probably that the "teaching" part isn't very engaging. If I only answer your "title question", yes, the game difficulty can get pretty low (we've seen kids play successfully at conventions). It's primarily designed as a game, so it doesn't teach anything (finger placement and so on). However, it's a good practice tool.

[The Dude Abides]

I got this in hopes that it would progress slow enough to help teach my 6 year old the positions of the keys at least. Unfortunately, there's battles very early on that, even on the easiest setting, are waaaaaaay too difficult for my 6-year-old. It's too bad because the game was extremely engauging to him up until the first battle.

With a community mod, perhaps it could be made simple enough (creatures moving at a snails pace and when they reach her/the fox, only do a little damage...). Any mod out there like that?

[Butthead]

For that matter, why not just add a simple tutorial mode that 1) starts with J and F, 2) each level progresses by adding just one letter, and 3) passing each level simply requires 20, 25 or maybe 30 words per minute. Every level could be the same, and you don't need a story for it. Just show a simple picture in each level of whatever finger pressing whatever key on the keyboard with the new key colored red.

I honestly don't understand the motivation to create a typing game to improve on typing skills, but without a tutorial mode that takes the typist from the very beginning. I type 90 words per minute, so clearly the game is not for me. My son doesn't type, so clearly the game isn't for him. The game is only for a very specific human being - namely my daughter, who currently knows how to type from school but could improve on her speed. It seems to me that you are targeting a really, REALLY small audience. Create a tutorial mode and you have probably tripled your market, opening it up to parents like me looking for a super fun, engaging way to teach students HOW to type and then ALSO (after that) improve on their speed by playing a single player campaign.

[Briggy]

This is a game, not a course to learn how to touch type/type faster. If it was, there would be more people with the advanced typist archievement ;-). There are plenty other engaging courses for kids. I don't know the age of your kids but google "Nessy fingers touch typing" if you are looking for a game like typing learning tool. That looks like a fun way for kids to learn how to touch type/type faster.

[Butthead]

Yes, it's a game. Exactly. That's my whole point. I'm hoping the coders read this and are motivated to expand their market and do 5% more coding to turn it also into a course. The line dividing "typing game" from "typing course" is not a dramatic line - there is no reason any typing game couldn't also EASILY include a tutorial mode with just a little more programming.

[Zeruel]

It's not THAT hard to learn. So, I'd say you should still play it and even though you might die more than others, you'll still push through and learn faster typing in the process :)

[Satan]

Originally posted by The Dude Abides:

I got this in hopes that it would progress slow enough to help teach my 6 year old the positions of the keys at least. Unfortunately, there's battles very early on that, even on the easiest setting, are waaaaaaay too difficult for my 6-year-old. It's too bad because the game was extremely engauging to him up until the first battle.

With a community mod, perhaps it could be made simple enough (creatures moving at a snails pace and when they reach her/the fox, only do a little damage...). Any mod out there like that?

This exact thing happened to my 7 yr old daughter as well, super engaged in the game until the first battle.

I understand that this game was not designed or intended to be a typing teacher, but I can also see how a very simple dictionary mod could alter the game into a very effective typing teacher and I think that that is what I, and a few other people here it seems, are lamenting.

I've never modded a game on steam before and I don't know exactly what it would entail, but I'd be very pleased and interested to find a mod for this game like the one I just described.

[Cockroach Queen]

I think it'd be a great teacher, to be honest. I type really fast and I learned just from using instant messengers a lot and going into chatrooms where you had to keep up with the chat as it scrolled. lol
I think if a kid really liked this game, the desire to win would drive them to type much faster and they'd eventually learn. Maybe, maybe not, though.

On a side note, you say you type 90 a minute so it's not for you. I think you should try it out. The game adapts to your skill. Like I said, I type fairly fast, and the game set itself to get fairly quick. I haven't gotten hurt, yet, but I've had close calls. lol

[Butthead]

I'm not interested in this game. I prefer tower defense when I actually have time to play games. But I'm interested in my kids using it to learn to type.

Reposiric: I don't want them to learn to type incorrectly, so I either want them to not learn anything until they learn to type in school (i.e. 5th through 8th grade), or if they learn before then, I want them to have a guiding tutorial that teaches them home keys and correct finger numbers on various letters off of the home keys. If I just buy this game for my son and set him loose, he's going to develop bad typing habits.

[Asif233]

This game doesn't teach you how to type. But I really recommend a website: https://www.typingclub.com/. I used it to learn to type myself, very useful and children friendly. It has interactive children's book that progress as you type. Also hand gesture on screen to keep you from looking at keyboard and remind you of which finger to use at the same time. On top of all that, it's completely free. Hope it helps

[Butthead]

Thanks - a very impressive looking website! I will definitely show it to my kids.