About the Game
Spellsurge is a spelling-based arcade defender where players type words to cast spells and dispel incoming waves of enemy orbs. The core loop is intentionally minimalist - letters appear on screen, orbs advance, and the player must form valid words quickly enough to survive. Speed and vocabulary both matter.
The game draws from a curated word list, so players do not encounter dead ends when trying to spell words. Longer words get rid of more orbs, rewarding players who can think fast under pressure.
My Process
Spellsurge was inspired by spelling games such as Bookworm Adventures and the NY Times Spelling Bee. I wanted to make my own spelling game that made the player feel both pressure and satisfaction as they try to conjure up words to clear orbs.
Early prototypes tested different ways of presenting available letters to the player. A random selection approach was tried first but made valid word formation feel too luck-dependent. The final design queues letters based on words it draws from the game's word bank dictionary, keeping the experience fast-paced and balanced without being purely random.
Enemy wave scaling was tuned through extensive playtesting to ensure the difficulty ramp felt fair - early waves allow ample time to find words, while later waves pressure players to gamble between acting on shorter, faster words, or hunting for longer ones that may allow them to clear out more orbs.
The surge mechanic was also implemented to help create more dynamic and oscillating difficulty. Every so often, a surge occurs which causes more orbs to spawn at a faster rate, which keeps gameplay freshin combination with multipliers, freeze states and orbs that lock you into spelling words that include a specific letter.