Type Dreams

PC, free

Apologies for the brevity of updates at the moment. My mental health is really struggling, and I’m working to get that under control at the same time as co-looking after a five-year-old 24/7. Normal service shall resume as soon as I’m able.

Even after playing it for a while, I’m not entirely sure what Cart Life creator Richard Hofmeier’s Type Dreams actually is. But I do know I think it rather splendid.

It’s very definitely a tool to practice your typing skills, delivered in the strangest way. Pixel-drawn, with a pleasingly cluttered design, this is all about typing in words as they appear on a character’s typewriter. At the end of a session, it’ll report your number of errors, typing accuracy, words-per-minute, and the record number of words you typed correctly in a row.

What you’re typing makes this so interesting. It’s deeply peculiar extracts from fictional and real-world works of fiction and non-fiction. There are short stories that are entirely written on the top row of your keyboard. There are bizarre poems to transcribe. There is the wonderful Devil’s Dictionary to practice from.

Alongside this are competitions, where you take on NPCs who type against you, as you attempt to improve your speeds and accuracy to out-perform pro-typists on stage. You know, like happens.

It’s all tremendously fun, and delivered in such a fantastically peculiar way. A combination of Victorian publishing styles, complete with the random appearances of bare-bottomed ladies, broadly moustachioed gentlemen, and the splendid clatter of typewriter keys. And, perhaps most of all, it’s now completely free. And since it’s on Itch, that means you can of course choose to pay as much as you wish.

  • Hofmeier
  • Itch
  • Free/pay what you want

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5 Comments

  1. No need to apologise, John. I don’t know you personally but from what I’ve seen here and on RPS I do know that you’re a brilliant writer and a brilliant father, and I’m sure none of your audience would begrudge you a little break. I’ve got GAD and these are – to put it mildly – trying times. And I know you already know all the tricks, but exercise, real heart pounding, shortness-of-breath exercise, is really the only thing keeping me sane. It hurts all over and it’s as boring as hell, but it really makes a difference and at the end of the day it’s an hour I well and truly had available to waste.

    But anyway, enough condescension. Good luck. Stay strong. We’re in this with you.

  2. Thanks so much for this bump and for taking a look at these type dreams, Mr. Walker. I really appreciate you engaging it with so open a mind, and then sharing the best of that experience with your readers; thank you again. Best wishes during this time of flux.

  3. This review is perfect timing for me. Thanks John and good luck with the head stuff you’ve earned my Patreon about 10 times over already!

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