Ian Marsh

07 Jan, 2009

Textropolis

Posted by: Ian In: iPhone

Textropolis-1   Textropolis-2   Textropolis-3   Textropolis-4   Textropolis-5

Travel word-wide and build up your Textropolis by finding the words hidden in each city. Play through 30 different cities in this free-play word discovery game. Stumble across a new word? Textropolis includes definitions for every word in the game. Watch each city grow as you discover its words and add to your total Textropolis population! Shake your phone or iPod to get a helpful hint when you are stuck! You can even send postcards from your best cities to a friend via email to show off!

Available for iPhone and iPod Touch on iTunes

With 30 starting words and thousands of possible words, this $1.99 game offers plenty of gameplay. Without time limits, it can be a rather relaxing experience that you can pick up and continue at any time throughout your day. - Touch Arcade

The best puzzle games will keep you thinking about them long after you’ve stopped playing. I found out too late that Textropolis is one of these games. I made the mistake of playing it at around 2 AM the other night, intending just to give it a quick try, and ended up spending a good hour on it. Afterward, all I could think about while lying awake in bed was how many words I missed in the last puzzle I played. Damn you, Textropolis. - FingerGaming (4.5/5 stars)

In the end I found Textropolis to be a very clean, polished, and educational game with a challenging and addicting objective. It’s a pleasure to find games that challenge the mind, and get you into the game. This is one of those titles that should be on everyone phone. - appVersity

Textropolis is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable word games I have played on the iPhone… word game lovers won’t want to miss out on this globe trotting fun. - TouchMyApps.com

Textropolis should be a mandatory download for anyone who loves wordplay. - 1UP.com

Compared to Wurdle, Textropolis is a much more zen-like game. It has no time limit, nothing exploding, and there’s no real pressure to muscle through it. Instead, you’re pleasantly trying to form as many words as possible from the letters that comprise various city names. - Untold Entertainment

This game is well designed… The coolest feature of the game has to be the scrolling definitions that fly across the screen when you correctly spell a word. - Appletell

Learn new words and have fun, that’s Textropolis in a nutshell. - OSX Reality

I’d recommend this game for any ‘word’ junkie out there. - Macgasm

Developer Ian Marsh has created some gems in the past, but this has to be his finest work to date. - Loot Nina

45 Responses to "Textropolis"

2 | BrushMyNoseOff

January 11th, 2009 at 9:55 pm

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Must buy if you’re a word-greek and want to play a very relaxing game of this genre.

3 | Alex Bratu

January 13th, 2009 at 7:52 am

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I LOOOOOOVE this game. My one wish is that you could click a word above that is scrolling and have a plane fly by again with it’s definition.

Absolutely worth buying and a steal at 99 cents.

4 | Ian

January 13th, 2009 at 9:28 am

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You can re-spell a word at any time and tap on it and it will re-fly the definition for you. Glad you like the game!

5 | Appletell reviews Textopolis game for iPhone, iPod touch - LiveAM - Your morning news 24/7

January 13th, 2009 at 10:41 am

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[...] iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Features, Reviews Category: Games Developer: Ian Marsh Requirements: iPhone 2.0 software Compatibility: iPhone and iPod Touch File Size: 1.0MB Version [...]

6 | Phil

January 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

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Great game! You are obviously a responsive developer… I saw a few of your posts on Touch Arcade. Not sure if this has been address yet, but I’d like to see the words that you have already submitted alphabetized. For example, I am in Kingston and want to see the words I’ve already made beginning with “K”, so I push “K” on the keypad and there is my list. Currently it is not alphabetized nor is it in the order that I entered them ( I know this because king & kings and knit & knits are not next to each other). Not sure why they are ordered the way they are, but it would help me greatly if they were in alphabetic order. This way I could systematically figure out what words I am missing. Hope that was clear? Thanks again for a wonderful diversion.

7 | Ian

January 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

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I’m glad you like it Phil! That list is currently sorted by word length (longest to shortest) I’ll have to try alphabetizing it and see what the performance hit is.

8 | Chris Dang

January 13th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

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I don’t know if this would be asking too much, but I think it would be cool if you could differentiate between the buildings between the cities. Like the buildings in Amsterdam will look like buildings from the Netherlands and so on… Different people and different clothing styles would be cool also but as it is, it’s a pretty addicting game. Thanks!

9 | Ian

January 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm

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I attempted that, but found out it was going to take me a month because I’m not much of an artist.

10 | Chris Dang

January 13th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

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Is it possible to do it in future updates?

11 | Ian

January 13th, 2009 at 10:44 pm

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Yes, it would be possible to add in an update. Something I would love to do but I’m not promising anything yet!

12 | Chris Dang

January 14th, 2009 at 1:31 am

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Haha, cool. Well thanks anyways!

13 | Alex Bratu

January 14th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

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Even better idea. When you type a word already submitted, the button changes from submit (since it already was) to plane or define so that the plane flies by again with it’s definition.

14 | Alex Bratu

January 14th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

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Didn’t see your post about touching the word. Awesome! So love this game, really.

15 | Alex Bratu

January 14th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

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There’s a small bug where as the text is scrolling, the left most word seems to hit a bump and pause and the words to the right keep scrolling. It’s kind of funny actually.

I also think the different building and clothing designs would be a huge addition to this app that would take it into a higher category. The more attention to detail and app has, the better. People notice it, especially Mac users.

The loading cloud is a couple pixels higher than the play cloud that appears so you see that difference in height when the screen changes.

You should add a preference if you are going to change the word order as I really like the way it’s ordered now. (Add that preference to system settings instead of in the app if you do).

Also, I think “submit” and “last” should be spelled with a capital S and L. As well as “empty” on the play menu with a capital E. And “World pop” with a capital P. Or whatever. Just a little more consistency with that. I’m just nitpicking now. It’s so good, I want to see it perfect! LOL

16 | Review: Textropolis | FingerGaming

January 16th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

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[...] Official Site: Ian Marsh [...]

17 | C-O

January 19th, 2009 at 9:35 am

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Hi Ian,

Great game - I am definately hooked.

However, I wanted to bring something to your attention. In the first city “Kingstown” you can enter the word “wogs” which is the plural form of a derogatory slur in the UK.

I don’t know if anyone has brought this to your attention as of yet, so I thought I would let you know.

-co

18 | Ian

January 19th, 2009 at 9:40 am

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Thanks, I did take out any word flagged as (derogatory) or (vulgar) in the definition, but that word was not? Being from the US I had never heard it before, my apologies!

19 | C-O

January 19th, 2009 at 10:02 am

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I didn’t know either at first. A friend of mine who lived in the UK recognized it, so we looked it up to verify and we didn’t find any other definition.

Again, I love the game and am looking forward to trying to finish all the cities.

-co

20 | Review: Textropolis (iPhone/iPod Touch) - Loot Ninja

January 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am

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[...] any effect on the overall experience of this insanely polished and simple word game.  Developer Ian Marsh has created some gems in the past, but this has to be his finest work to date.  Log on to the App [...]

21 | Autumn

January 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm

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This game is amazing!! It is my favorite game on my iphone. I really enjoy it. Really good job in making it! Best word game every! Probably the best game available on the ipod/itouch. Great Job!!

22 | Textropolis - iPhone Apps, iPhone 3G apps and iPod touch Applications Gallery appsafari.com

January 24th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

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[...] the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category. View the developer website here Download Textropolis at iTunes App Store Price: [...]

23 | mark

January 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

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i came here to request a way to delete an entire word (as opposed to one letter at a time). but as i was about to post, it occurred to me to tap and hold the delete key — and voila! a hidden feature, but nicely done. thanks!

the game is darned-near perfect, but i’m not sure how words are selected. i’m still on “kingston,” and several words were not accepted (example: “snog”). surely, that’s not vulgar, is it?

also, having found 73 of the 95 words, the list of found words at the top is getting long. if i type “s,” there are 17 words listed (!), but they are so small as to be essentially unreadable.

suggestion: since the list of found words does, in fact, serve a purpose, how about splitting long lists into two rows of a more readable font size, instead of one row? :-)

24 | Ian

January 28th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

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@mark I have been looking into a way to do that with the previously guessed word list.

25 | sean

January 28th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

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@mark Thanks for the heads-up on how to remove all the letters at once! I too came here hoping to see that feature implemented… Maybe this should be added to the game’s instructions?

@Ian Any chance of adding a setting to enable/disable sound effects within the game?

26 | Ian

January 28th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

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@sean thats on my todo list, just curious are you on an iPod or iPhone, and in what situations do you need the device to make noise but not the game (considering there are minimal sounds in the game)?

27 | sean

January 28th, 2009 at 8:25 pm

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@Ian Good to hear… I’m on an iPhone. I have a tendency to keep my ringer loud so that I can hear when someone calls/texts, but this often make sound effects overly loud when I play games.

I do like that this game’s sounds are muted if the phone is set to silent ringer, but sometimes I want to play games without sound while keeping the ringer turned on: while watching TV, listening to music, playing in the car, when others are in the room, etc. In these types of situations, I would find an “enable/disable sound” setting to be quite helpful.

28 | mark

January 29th, 2009 at 4:10 am

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@Ian:

thanks!

29 | chaosdollheads

February 2nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm

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love textropolis, but loathing the lack of in-game volume control. since downloading the game yesterday, i’ve managed to sleep through an alarm (this morning) and miss one phone call (this afternoon) as the only way to turn the volume down (instead of mute) is to turn the ringer down. both options have left me in a lurch. i’ve also run into metric tons of unrecognized words, from “gar” to (surprisingly) “raise”. i haven’t kept a list, but i would imagine i’ve hit a good dozen common (to u.s. english) words that are missing. inlcuding plural forms of words that -are- recognized. still, i’m having a blast - love that i can go back to cities and chip away (hoping my cities aren’t obliterated in the updates).

30 | Ian

February 2nd, 2009 at 2:51 pm

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@chaosdollheads Version 1.1 was submitted today and includes the ability to mute game sounds independent of ringer volume. I’m sorry the word list isn’t perfect, but I’ve done the best I can. Always be sure to perform a backup of your device before updating just in case the device decides to wipe your data.

31 | chaosdollheads

February 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 am

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will you be adding more robust dictionaries in the future? every city i come to i’m finding loads of common words that aren’t being accepted. clearly this hasn’t stopped me playing, still more than worth to cost of the game for sure, but i would say no improvements made compare with that of a better dictionary (as the gameplay itself is already quite compelling)

32 | Ian

February 3rd, 2009 at 11:13 am

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For many reasons it is difficult to modify the dictionary at this point. Removing words people have already guessed or adding words to cities and changing people’s star count would be fraught with problems.

33 | craig

February 5th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

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I Love this game!
Actually, I love all of your games.
My kids are addicted to Scoops.
I’m addicted to textropolis.
I have 4 and 5 stars in most of the cities.
Can you add more cities so I can keep on playing?

You rock! Keep up the great work!

34 | Barb

February 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

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Please add rachet to Bucharest

And “kist” is really a word? If so it not the past tense of kiss…but “chest of money, hence, a store or cache of money”

Pretty darn good game that is keeping my interest for the most part! Actually…addiction is what I am experiencing…

35 | Suzanne

February 6th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

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I really do enjoy this game - however I have one word left in Stockholm and the hint does nothing for me. What the heck is the term for a dome or domed building - it is driving me crazy.

36 | ipodtouchme

February 6th, 2009 at 3:39 pm

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Your website advertises $1.99 for the app, but links to the iTunes store where it’s $2.99. What’s up with that?

37 | Ian

February 6th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

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@ipodtouchme thanks, changed it.

38 | craig

February 6th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

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I upgraded to the v1.1 but when I try to play Kingstown the game crashes and I go back to the application selection screen (or whatever it is called).
All the other cities seem to be OK.

Thanks!

PS THIS GAME ROCKS!
But I said that in comment 33.

39 | mark

February 7th, 2009 at 1:26 am

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this is really a fantastic game. well done!! now, some observations….

• a few unrecognized words:

snog
woks
isnt (isn’t)

(there’ve been several others, but i wasn’t previously keeping a list.)

• the definition for “kist” is incorrect. :-)

• in “kingston” i currently have a score of 84/95, which is 88.4%. by most accounts, shouldn’t that warrant more than 3/5 stars? how are the stars calculated? …which reminds me:

• the help page is missing quite a bit of pertinent info. :-) it should mention:

- how stars are calculated.

- that 3-letter words aren’t allowed. (this is mentioned nowhere and caused me quite a bit of consternation, when i first started playing; i thought the game was defective.)

- if contractions aren’t allowed (such as “isn’t,” mentioned above), that should be mentioned.

- word-types that aren’t allowed (proper names, offensive, etc.)

- tap and hold backspace key to delete entire word

- retype any word, then tap it to re-display definition

• above, you mentioned concerns about adding missing words to the dictionary. while i understand your point, with all due respect, i don’t think concern about people’s scores for in-progress games is valid-enough reason for allowing errors in the dictionary to go uncorrected. i suggest simply adding an explanation to the “what’s new in this version” text, explaining that upgrading will have these effects.

if a game is in progress, when the dictionary is updated, you might consider just giving the user credit for the added words, so he doesn’t have to go back and start re-entering words he may have already tried that weren’t accepted previously.

• finally, an awesome feature to consider:

a word the game isn’t accepting can be sent to you automatically (for consideration) by double-tapping the grayed-out “submit” button.

40 | Drew

February 8th, 2009 at 12:36 am

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I love this game - both my wife and I are addicted! (give me my iTouch back!!!).
However, I started playing with one name, then restarted with a different name - how do I delete the original player (so leaving an empty player slot)?

41 | jim

February 17th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

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High scores? Currently at 506K

42 | Carl

March 3rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm

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Ian, I absolutely love this game, as does my wife. Is there a complete dictionary available for the given cities?

43 | Ian

March 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm

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Nope, sorry!

44 | alka

March 9th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

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IAN!!!!
THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING GAME!!!!!!
i have completed Amsterdam, but i cant get the 5 th star in other city names. its just one word in each city name… is there any way i can get some key or something??? for example S-word for drunk(slung) in kingstown. i have looked everywere i could. so i am stuked with 94/95.

sorry for my english - i am russian.

Comment Form


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  • John GIBSON: Hi Ian; Once again, congratulations on Scoops. The game truly epitomises everything that the iPhone stands for. I understand you starting this