Monday 31 October 2016

Touch Typing Games- Typing Asteroid 2

Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Typing Asteroids 2.

Now this is one of many meteor themed touch typing games and so the best way of finding it is to search on Google for “Typing Asteroids 2” and you will find it.

Typing Asteroids 2 is a game in which you practice your typing skills by typing the words on meteors that are travelling towards you.

If you type the words correctly in time, you destroy the meteors.

If you don’t, the meteors destroy you.

Now by watching the 2 minute video of the game itself, we can create a list of good points and bad points about it

Good Features

The game has three difficulty levels to choose from.

The space theme will be motivating for a lot of people- children and adults alike.

The graphics and sound effects are very simplistic. I think that will shorten the time that anyone would want to play the game.  

There is no advert to watch before playing the game.

It shows a score and how many lives you have left.

You can turn the sounds and music on and off.

Bad Features

This game is not very accessible to visually impaired people.

The design is too cluttered and the contrast is too poor.

The game has no lessons within it or ways to alter the complexity of the words written on the meteors.

Although the game might appear to be quite large on the screen, I change its size to make a better recording.

On an ordinary website it will only take up about a quarter of your screen.

The Bottom Line


This game has its limitations because there aren’t any lessons or difficulty levels built in.

I think that it is too simplistic to keep a viewer engaged for very long.

And I will be making video demonstrations of the best ones over the coming days!

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.



ZType- The Coolest Touch Typing Game


Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called ZType.

Now this is one of many meteor themed touch typing games and so the best way of finding it is to search on Google for “ZType touch typing” and you will find it.

ZType is a game in which you practice your typing skills by typing the words on meteors that are travelling towards you.

If you type the words correctly in time, you destroy the meteors.

If you don’t, the meteors destroy you.

This video is a rarity for me as I don't speak in it. In the video, you just get to watch the game and listen to its sound effects.

Now by watching the 2 minute video of the game itself, we can create a list of good points and bad points about it

Good Features

The space theme will be motivating for a lot of people- children and adults alike.

The graphics and sound effects are very attractive. I think that it is very well designed and the music really adds to the game.

There is no advert to watch before playing the game.

It shows a score and when you finish you will see a full page of statistics.

You can turn the sounds and music on and off although you need to press the pause button in the left hand corner of the screen to do this.

Bad Features

It is not very visually impaired friendly. 

The design is too cluttered and there is not enough contrast.

There are no difficulty levels in the game.

The game has no lessons within it or ways to alter the complexity of the words written on the meteors.

Although the game might appear to be quite large on the screen, I change its size to make a better recording.

On an ordinary website it will only take up about a quarter of your screen.

The Bottom Line

This game has its limitations because there aren’t any lessons or difficulty levels built in but I could play this game for hours.

There is something deeply compelling and attractive about it!

And I will be making video demonstrations of the best ones over the coming days!

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.



Meteor Typing Blast


Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Meteor Game.

Now this is one of many meteor themed touch typing games and so the best way of finding it is to search on Google for “meteor typing blast” and you will find it at freetypinggame.net.

This video is a rarity for me as I don't speak in it. In the video, you just get to watch the game and listen to its sound effects.

Now by watching the 2 minute video of the game itself, we can create a list of good points and bad points about it

Good Features

The space theme will be motivating for a lot of people- children and adults alike.

The graphics and sound effects are very attractive.

The instructions are clear- just press the letters on the keyboard that are on the rocks racing towards you.

It allows you to select from a range of levels; beginner, intermediate and advanced and

It has 40 lessons that break down touch typing skills into smaller steps.

I like the fact that not all letter groupings will hit you and destroy you.


It shows a score.

You can have the sounds turned on and off.

Bad Features

It is not very visually impaired friendly. 

The design is too cluttered and there is not enough contrast.

You have to watch a 30 second advert before you can play it.

Although the game might appear to be quite large on the screen, I change its size to make a better recording.

On an ordinary website it will only take up about a quarter of your screen.

The Bottom Line

Although this game is at first fun, I think that it’s lack of flexibility would soon make it quite boring to play.

Sorry but there are better meteor games for touch typing out there!

And I will be making video demonstrations of the best ones over the coming days!

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.



Touch Typing App- Meteor Game


Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Meteor Game.

Now this is one of many meteor themed touch typing games and so the best way of finding it is to search on Google for “meteor game sense lang”.

Sens language is the name of the website that the game is hosted on.

It is only one of a number of games that are hosted on sense lang.

This video is a rarity for me as I don't speak in it. In the video, you just get to watch the game and listen to its sound effects.

 Now by watching the 2 minute video of the game itself, we can create a list of good points and bad points about it

Good Features

It is free to play. 

The space theme will be motivating for a lot of people- children and adults alike.

The graphics and sound effects are attractive.

The instructions are clear- just press the letters on the keyboard that are on the rocks racing towards you.

You can select from a range of international keyboards.

It shows a score.

You can have the sounds turned on and off.

Bad Features

The pace at which the letters come towards you is very fast.

You have to watch a 30 second advert before you can play it.

It is unclear if you can restrict your practice to specific groups of letters- such as the home row.

The game does not have different levels of complexity, such as a beginners and intermediate level.

Such flexibility would enable speeds to vary and have a different size of letter “groupings”.

I don’t think that the contrast in the game makes the letters easy to see.

Although the game might appear to be quite large on the screen, I change its size to make a better recording.

On an ordinary website it will only take up about a quarter of your screen.

The Bottom Line

Although this game is at first fun, I think that it’s lack of flexibility would soon make it quite boring to play.

Sorry but there are better meteor games for touch typing out there!

And I will be making video demonstrations of the best ones over the coming days!

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.



Monday 24 October 2016

Ninja Cat and Zombie Dinosaur

In this 8 minute video, I demonstrated the typing game Ninja Cat & Zombie Dinosaurs.

As the Ninja cat you need to destroy the zombie dinosaurs by typing letters, words and numbers correctly.

The strengths of the game are that;

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

It has a sophisticated “game” feel to it. The graphics are quite modern, the music haunting.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate quite a wide age range of children

Three difficulty levels (mostly based around speed of reaction) typing different letter and number combinations.

If you like your statistics, when you finish a game, you are given bucket loads of them

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser.

The weaknesses of the game are that;

The size of the graphics are too small. The character Ninja cat is too small as are the target letters.

I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

Although the game has lots of difficulty levels, it is still quite limited.

Although there are different levels, these don’t appear to have much structure to them apart from speed.

For instance, there is no specific focus on just the home row or just numbers.

The video comes with a full set of subtitles but if you want to read from a full transcript, please find one below.

Start of Video Transcript

Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Ninja Cat and Zombie Dinosaurs which has been designed for children but is also entertaining enough to be loved by adults to!

The best way to find it is to search for “Ninja Cat and Zombie Dinosaurs” in Google.

It can be found on the website typing.com.

Because of sound effects, it is difficult to describe the game as I am playing and so I will try to either play the game or describe it.

Now, onto the game itself.

If we have a quick look at the settings, there are three levels of difficulty in this game; Easy, Medium and Hard.

You can personalise it by typing in your name.

You can adjust the volume- the sounds and the music.

Click on back and then click on start.

Let’s have a look at the easy level.

I am having to type two letter combinations and these come at me from every direction. It includes having to type in capital letters. But the pace of the game is quite slow.

Let’s have a look at the medium level.

the letter combinations appear more quickly- the pace of the game has increased.

They include some capital letters and numbers, words and phrases.

And finally, the hard level.

On the hard level, the pace is even faster and the words phrases and combinations are more complex.

So that is my quick demonstration of Ninja Cat.

Thinking about the game in terms of pros or cons.

Pros

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

It has a sophisticated “game” feel to it. The graphics are quite modern, the music haunting.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate quite a wide age range of children

Three difficulty levels (mostly based around speed of reaction) typing different letter and number combinations.

If you like your statistics, when you finish a game, you are given bucket loads of them

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser

Cons

The size of the graphics are too small. The character Ninja cat is too small as are the target letters.

I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

Although the game has lots of difficulty levels, it is still quite limited.

Although there are different levels, these don’t appear to have much structure to them apart from speed.

For instance, there is no specific focus on just the home row or just numbers.  

Thanks for watching my video tour of Ninja Cat.

I am not a keen fan of this game but  I think it will appeal to children who like to play games on their computers.

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.


End of video transcript

Keyboard Ninja



This is an 8 minute video of the typing game Keyboard Ninja in which you slice up fruit by pressing the correct keys on the keyboard.

The game's strengths are;

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate younger children. It has a real sense of fun.

Five focused areas; All letters, home row, top row, bottom row, number pad which is terrific.

Three levels; easy, medium and hard.

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser.

The game's weaknesses are


 I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

There are not lots of statistics at the end of the game.

Can’t pause the game for any reason.

As the game focuses on keyboard rows, you do not type words, just random letters and punctuation.

The video includes a full set of subtitles but if you would prefer to read a full transcript, please find one below.

Start of Video Transcript

Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Keyboard Ninja which has been designed for children but is also entertaining enough to be loved by adults to!

The best way to find it is to search for “Keyboard Ninja” in Google.

It can be found on the website typing.com.

Because of sound effects, it is difficult to describe the game as I am playing and so I will try to either play the game or describe it.

Now, onto the game itself.

You are a monkey who is slicing up fruit.

Each piece of fruit is a different letter on your keyboard.

If we have a quick look at the settings, this game has sections that focus on different areas and rows on the keyboard as described above.

There are three levels of difficulty or speeds in this game; Easy, Medium and Hard.
You can control the volume of the sound effects and music.

The screen displays how many lives you have.

Watch out though as the game includes bombs that randomly appear with letters and you must not type these letters.

Let’s have a look at the easy level

And the hard level.

Pros

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate younger children. It has a real sense of fun.

Five focused areas; All letters, home row, top row, bottom row, number pad which is terrific.

Three levels; easy, medium and hard.

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser

Cons

I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

There are not lots of statistics at the end of the game.

Can’t pause the game for any reason.

As the game focuses on keyboard rows, you do not type words, just random letters and punctuation.

Thanks for watching my video tour of Keyboard Ninja.

I like this game and think that it is great fun. I hope that you will enjoy it.

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.

End of Video Transcript


Baron von Typesfast


This is a 10 minute video demonstration of the fun typing game Baron von Typesfast.

In the game, you are a fighter pilot looking to destroy airships by typing the words on them correctly.

Pros

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate quite a wide age range of children

Multiple difficulty levels (in terms of length of words and speed of reaction) focusing on different touch typing skills.

The game has a solid structure. You can focus on different rows of the keyboard.

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser

Cons

Although the design is attractive I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

The contrast is poor on the airship- trying to read the words, but the font is clear.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

Although the game has lots of difficulty levels, it is still quite limited.

The video includes a full set of subtitles but if you prefer to access it via a full transcript then please find one below.

Start of Transcript

Hello everyone. It is James from the Visual Impairment Team in Devon.

In this video I am going to demonstrate a touch typing game called Baron von Typesfast which has been designed for children but is also entertaining enough to be loved by adults!

The best way to find it is to search for “Baron von Typesfast” in Google.

It can be found on the website typing.com.

Now, onto the game itself.

If we have a quick look at the settings, there are three levels of difficulty in this game; Easy, Medium and Fast.

As well as that, there are 5 different word lists; easy, hard, home row, top row and bottom row.

It is very hard to describe whilst at the same time trying to play the game and so I will only do one thing at a time.

You are a fighter pilot (on the left hand side of the screen) and from the right hand side comes airships  with words on them.

As the airships appear, your job is type the words on them as quickly as possible.

At the bottom of the screen is your score, how many waves of airships that have arrived and a health reading- which reduces with each word that you incorrectly type.

In the top left hand corner you have the option to toggle the sound on and effects on or off.

On the easy level with an easy set of words, you have to type 3 or 4 letter words for the most part.

Let’s have a look.

On the easy level with a hard set of words, you are having to type 5, 6 and 7 letter words.

Let’s have a look.

The airships also move faster than on the easy level.

The options for the home, top and bottom rows involve typing letter sequences involving letters from those rows.

Let’s have a look.

I won’t demonstrate any of the games on the medium level. Instead I will look at the games that are available on the “hard” level and then having shown you the easiest and toughest levels you can work out what the middle one offers.

On the hard level with the easy words.

You have the same number of letters in each word (3 and 4 letters mostly) but the airships are moving much faster.

Let’s have a look.

On the hard level with a hard set of words, you are having to type 5, 6 and 7 letter words with the airships moving towards you very quickly.

Let’s have a look.

The options for the home, top and bottom rows involve typing letter sequences involving letters from those rows this time with the airships moving very quickly.

Let’s have a look.

At that is a very quick overview of the different levels and settings in this game.

Pros

It is free and can be accessed in any browser.

Entertaining animations and sounds that will motivate quite a wide age range of children

Multiple difficulty levels (in terms of length of words and speed of reaction) focusing on different touch typing skills.

The game has a solid structure. You can focus on different rows of the keyboard.

The game can be made larger using the Zoom facility in a browser

Cons

Although the design is attractive I think that it is too busy or complicated for a child with a visual impairment.

The contrast is poor on the airship- trying to read the words, but the font is clear.

Also you might have to watch a video ad before you play it.

Although the game has lots of difficulty levels, it is still quite limited.

I think that this is a game that is a lot of fun.

Thanks for watching my video tour of Baron von Typesfast

If this video has helped you, please share it with your friends, colleagues  and family.

I have created lots of other videos relating to touch typing and there is a link to my playlist below.

If you have any comments or questions or anything to add to the discussion, please leave them below.

End of Video Transcript