BabyType

## Description

_BabyType_ is a multi-language educational game aimed at teaching fast touch
typing skills. While its title suggests that the game it was created for
younger audiences, adjustable difficulty levels and friendly design make it
suitable for all ages.

The game is divided into levels that correspond to the number of keyboard
characters that the player must type, with the lowest being three (two letters
and the space bar). Each successive level adds two more characters, so level 3
is followed by level 5 etc. The player may freely choose the starting level of
the game, which effectively defines gameplay difficulty.

Every level is divided into several progressively more difficult stages, all
of which have the same structure, and the objective is always to type a
randomly generated sequence of keys within a time limit. In each stage, the
main character (a cute fuzzy creature of some sort) moves across the screen
from left to right, followed by some kind of peril, like a monster, a crusher
or disintegrating floor, moving at a constant speed. To escape this threat,
the player must remove obstacles ahead of the protagonist, which are
represented by blue blocks with keyboard characters on them. Pressing the
matching key removes a block. Failure to type fast enough, or typing wrong
keys, results in the character being reached by the monster/peril before they
can escape. While there are no lives in the traditional video game sense,
failing a stage adds to the mistakes meter that, once filled up, means the end
of the game.

Stages within a level grow progressively more difficult as more different keys
are used. The first stage will always be the two new keys plus the space bar,
then their number will increase up to the current maximum, so the end stages
of level 15 for example will include up to 15 different characters in the
sequence that must be typed. Stage backgrounds and monsters are selected
randomly and only have an aesthetic function.

The game awards points for each successful keystroke but also keeps track of
mistakes the player makes when a key is pressed that does not match the
current block. Once a game session is finished the high score table is
displayed that tallies score, average typing speed (in strokes per minute) and
the percentage of mistakes made during playing.

The game supports several different languages (English, Russian, German and
French) as well as different keyboard layouts including UK, US and Swiss
variants.

BabyType