Shape Type

November 10, 2011 1:39 PM

Shape Type is a letter shaping game, created by the same people that made Kern Type (previously).
posted by Memo (14 comments total)

Where typography and oncology combine! All I've managed to do is give my letters massive tumors.
posted by phunniemee at 1:45 PM on November 10, 2011

I just reticulated the shit out of those splines.
posted by theodolite at 1:45 PM on November 10, 2011 [5 favorites]

Protip: You can click in the brown area outside the letter to see it without all the little handles. My score went up about 15 points per letter once I figured that out.
posted by theodolite at 1:50 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

I just reticulated the shit out of those splines.

Second best part about The Sims games? Watching all of those hilarious "loading" phrases whiz by on startup.

Best part about The Sims games? Making your guy go swimming then deleting the exit stairs from the pool. What.
posted by phunniemee at 1:52 PM on November 10, 2011

This doubles as Illustrator training.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:58 PM on November 10, 2011

This is just a cover like that arcade game in The Last Starfighter. If you get a perfect score, they invite you to join a secret cabal of type designers.
posted by Wemmick at 2:08 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Where do you see the scores? I already find I'm having trouble with my small 11" Air screen: if a handle gets too close to any of the text, I can no longer grab it.

I finished them all and was pretty close (or exact) on many, but I never saw a score.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:31 PM on November 10, 2011

Consider yourself lucky, oneirodynia! I can't see anything at all on my phone except part of a giant S and a Twitter button...
posted by clorox at 2:53 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

77/100 but I have to say I much prefer my versions and I think the original type designers would agree.
posted by mazola at 2:58 PM on November 10, 2011

I found Kern Type to be a natural thing and did extremely well on it. This one, not so much. I think mine look perfect then compare and I'm like 30%. I think that's interesting.
posted by Edogy at 3:10 PM on November 10, 2011

Edogy: "I found Kern Type to be a natural thing and did extremely well on it. This one, not so much. I think mine look perfect then compare and I'm like 30%. I think that's interesting"

Yeah, I agree. Fixing the kerning felt a lot less subjective than this game.
posted by Memo at 3:45 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

I got a 58, but that's with completely fumbling the first one with a score of 1 because I didn't realize the Compare button would start scoring. I was probably helped out a bit from my old Illustrator/CorelDraw experience. (I know a tiny bit of a hundred different programs.)
posted by JHarris at 4:33 PM on November 10, 2011

I got an 89.

Being a font nerd, I gotta say this was fun. And proof that all my years of dicking with bezier handles has not been in vain. This is where the rubber meets the road in fontery; it's all about pleasing lines and arcs.

The trick on most of them is to adjust the inside curve first. Get a nice, consistent arc with no points or flat areas and then adjust the outside curves using the inside ones as a guide.

I need a life.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 7:22 PM on November 10, 2011

71/100, but I would have scored even higher had I discovered it sooner that you can hide the pink circles by clicking in the brown area.

I also found out that I'm a lot better at guessing what a beautiful letter shape looks like is than I'm at guessing what good kerning is.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:53 PM on November 10, 2011