Twitter API support has been removed. This means no more posting directly to Twitter from within Typerspeed.
Session logs now have a more accurate date and time.
Typerspeed will no longer crash if the auto updater can't connect to the update server.
3.6C, Sunday, 15th January, 2023
The menu system has been completely rewritten. Instead of using numbers to represent menu options, all menus in Typerspeed will now use letters of the alphabet. For instance, P for plsy game, S for Settings, C to check for updates, etc. This should hopefully make the menu system more logical and easier to understand and navigate.
A new words per minute mode has been added to the game. In this mode, each side lasts 60 seconds (1 minute) instead of 35 seconds. This effectively turns Typerspeed into your standard, run-of-the-mill words per minute calculator.
the auto updater has been patched to work with the new seedy.gq domain. houseoffireseed.ml is no longer in use.
The auto updater is now a hell of a lot faster at checking for updates.
4 new words have been added to the word bank, taking the total to 670.
3.6 (Friday Thirteenth Release), Friday, 13th May, 2022
the Word Lookup feature, introduced in 3.5C, has been renamed to Cloud Define (CD).
CD can now define words outside the word bank. This effectively means that CD is now a full blown dictionary!
Six new words have been added to the word bank. These are as follows.
flower
replied
replies
reply
replying
obscene
This takes the grand total to 666!
Typerspeed's file save location has changed. Performing actions such as generating a session log and exporting the word bank will now write files to your documents folder instead of your desktop.
A bug where the outro scene would still play even after being disabled in settings has been fixed.
For Windows XP users, a potentially game-crashing bug regarding the automatic updater has been fixed. If you run Typerspeed on Windows XP, and you encounter issues trying to autoupdate to this version, please manually download the update.
3.5C, Wednesday, 17th November, 2021
The Windows 2000 style Typerspeed 3.1 intro sound, which I'm now referring to as Sepia 2000, has been restored. It's shorter, it's quieter, and it makes the game feel more retro in my view.
If you try to select an option in a yes/no prompt or some other menu, and you happen to have caps lock enabled, you will no longer get an invalid option error.
A word lookup feature has been added. This feature, powered by the WordNet database, allows you to search for any word within Typerspeed's word bank and instantly get its dictionary definition.
3.5B, Tuesday, 2nd November, 2021
Fixed a bug where the game would crash if a user tried to tweet without either a live internet connection or an authorized Twitter account. Now, instead of crashing, the exception is logged and an error message is shown to the user.
Error messages now show the path to Typerspeed's error log file, so the user can find it and more easily pinpoint when the error was and why it happened. This can then be used for debugging/diagnostic purposes.
Both the intro and outro have had their volumes slightly turned down.
All game play sessions are now stored in 1 log file, rather than the session log file being overwritten every time a session log is created.
3.5, Friday, 29th October, 2021
The Twitter API implementation has had a massive tidy up. It'll no longer try to reinitialize on every function call. To the layman, this is just simple programmer speak. Some unnecessary stuff was going on behind the scenes when Typerspeed was talking to Twitter, but all that stuff has now been sorted out.
Items in the main menu have been moved around to make the menu more logical. Quitting the program should be the very last item in the main menu, not the third to last.
Typerspeed's full version and build number are now shown in the programs title bar.
At the end of a game, you are now shown the total number of correct words typed during all 5 sides, as well as the average number of correct words typed. This information is also included in clipboard copies and tweets. Previously, these details were only included in session logs.
The settings menu, as well as the way settings are handled within Typerspeed, has been completely rewritten. As a result, the settings menu will now show the state of each setting in the menu. Before, it would only say
toggle setting
, without telling you whether that option was on or off. Settings saved in previous versions of Typerspeed are not compatible with this version, and will therefore be reset back to default.
Typerspeed will now display a warning prompt if you return to the main menu from the settings menu without saving your changes. Factory resetting Typerspeed won't go unchecked anymore either, so make sure you're absolutely certain you want to go ahead with the action before you do so.
Code has been added to find and remove junk files that haven't been used by Typerspeed since version 3.0.1.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 4 long, hard years, Typerspeed now has an automatic updater! This means that Typerspeed will check for, download and apply program updates for you at startup, rather than you having to browse to the Typerspeed home page and do it all manually! Of course, you'll still have to download this version manually; this will be the last version of Typerspeed to require a manual download!
3.1, Friday, 30th July, 2021
A new option has been added to the main menu that will take you to Typerspeed's feedback submission page on the web.
There's a new, upbeat intro sound.
You now have the power to tweet your final scores after a game. Who said bragging was for losers?
When you launch Typerspeed from its executable file, the program window will now show the actual name of the program, rather than the path to the executable file.
references to Typerspeed Sepia's version number have been removed from the intro as well as other parts of the program. I.E. Typerspeed Sepia instead of Typerspeed 3, Sepia.
3.0.5, Friday, 2nd July, 2021
Hearing Impaired Mode users will no longer experience a time lag between the end of a side and the revealing of their score for that side.
The sound you hear when you type a word correctly has changed. It's now much calmer and quieter. The previous tada sound is quite loud on older versions of Windows, so screen reader users might have struggled to hear the next word for the sound.
Singulars are no longer pluralized. That is to say, in the (hopefully) very rare case that you only type 1 word correctly, Typerspeed will say: "You typed 1 word correctly in this side." instead of: "You typed 1 words correctly in this side.".
In the rare case that Typerspeed can't generate a log of your game play session, the program will no longer crash and die. Instead, an error message will be shown and an error log will be generated and saved in the program's installation folder. You'll then be asked if you want to open the log in a text editor or not.
There is now an option in the main menu to show the version of Typerspeed you're currently running. Press 9 to activate the option.
3.0, Sunday, 20th June, 2021
Typerspeed is now on its 3rd major version. Here's all the things that are new in this version of the game
Starting with version 3.0, a name will be given to each new major version (3.0, 4.0, 5.0 etc) of Typerspeed. This version is named Sepia.
The input system for menus, confirmation prompts etc within the game has been improved. You no longer have to press the Enter key after typing something. Just type the number or letter, and the action will be performed immediately! A telephone IVR service wouldn't keep asking you to press Pound after pressing an option number, would it?
The background beats that you hear during sides have been replaced with 5 brand new ones! Note that when I say brand new, I mean brand new to the game, not brand new as in they've just come out.
There is now a settings menu within the game where you can configure a variety of options including Silent Mode, Speech Output Mode etc. There are also 2 brand new (there's that phrase again) modes in the game that you can set from here, which I'll talk about in a little while. You can access the settings menu by pressing 6 in the main menu.
The aforementioned Speech Output Mode, introduced in Typerspeed 2.5C, will now work across the entire program, not just within the game itself.
I mentioned 2 new modes earlier. The first one is an accessibility feature called Hearing Impaired Mode. This is an improvement upon Typerspeed 2.5's ability to have text displayed alongside audio prompts for events such as the start of a new side etc. Instead of the game just assuming that everyone can't hear properly and displaying text with audio automatically, there's now a dedicated mode for it that can be toggled in the settings menu with the number 5.
The second new game mode is Manual Side Mode. When Manual Side Mode is enabled, instead of just giving you 5 seconds to sort yourself out before swiftly moving on to the next side, you will be asked to press Enter to go to the next side. If you need to pee, check your messages, or just get a longer break between sides, this mode is for you!
This version includes something I've been trying to implement since, like, version 2.1. Ladies and gentlemen, Typerspeed now has a high score system! A perfectly working, fully functional high score system! If this won't boost this game's competitiveness factor by, like, 5000%, I have no bloody clew what will!
2.5C, Sunday, March 21st, 2021
This version introduces silent mode. In this mode, all background tracks are disabled, meaning you will hear nothing in the way of background music during the game. It's just like Typerspeed 1. You will be asked if you'd like to enter this mode upon launching the game, right before the intro sequence. To enter silent mode, type a lower case y at the prompt and press enter. Otherwise, type a lower case n.
The game now features 2 game play modes. In standard output mode, the game acts like any ordinary computer program, printing its output to the screen. Or, as us software developers call it, standard output. In speech output mode, the game's output is piped to a screen reader such as NVDA or JAWS, or a system speech synthesis engine if no screen reader is installed or running. It will even work if your screen reader is in sleep mode! Also in this mode, braille output will be provided where possible. Braille output requires a compatible screen reader and braille display to work.
There is now an option in the main menu that allows you to export the game's word bank to a text file and have it stored on the Windows desktop. This option is useful for those who struggle with spelling, or non-native English speakers who have problems with certain words. By reviewing each word in the bank line by line, you can take note of the word(s) you struggle with most, learn them and memorize them.
Windows XP is now the minimum version of Windows the game will run on.
The "Visit the developer's website" option in the main menu is now smart, and knows which version of the developer's site to open based on the version of Windows on which the game is running. On XP, the HTTP version is loaded. On Vista and higher, however, the HTTPS version is loaded. Don't worry about the HTTP version, though, as nowhere on the site are you required to enter any personal data or login details, like usernames, passwords, credit card information etc. If I was dealing with that kind of data, I wouldn't have an HTTP version in the first place; it'd be HTTPS all the way!
10 more words have been added to the word bank, making for a seizure-inducing total of 660!
Sound events have been added for performing certain successful actions, such as exporting files.
2.5, Friday, 5th March, 2021
Text prompts have been added along with the audio to support those who are deaf/hard of hearing or playing without sound. Though playing without sound is an option, you will get a much better experience if you play with sound.
Session logs are now much more detailed, giving you a full breakdown of the number of points you scored and correct words you typed during each side, as well as a total and average number for each stat.
The game no longer relies on speech generated by an artificial intelligence algorithm for its voicing. Instead, the game is now voiced by a real, live human being.
The fatal TSB20210304 bug, which caused the game to quit abruptly after the first side when the user selected yes at the try again screen after completing a game, has been fixed. I sincerely apologize for 2 things. 1. The inconvenience and frustration caused to anyone who was affected by this bug. 2. Taking 3 months to find and fix the bug. Yes, that's right, this bug goes way back to version 2.0!
The game has both a new intro and a new outro sequence, featuring background music and sound. Yes, the outro is no longer just a boring block of text!
The game now harnesses the power of UPX to further reduce its file size and reduce download and installation time. The file size reduction isn't as massive as it was from 2.0.2 to 2.1, but hopefully it's still noticeable.
Tired of typing the same old boring words? Well, yawn no more! 501 new words have been added to the word bank, taking the total number of words up to 650!
2.1, Thursday, 4th February, 2021
All sound files have been converted to Ogg Vorbis format, reducing the game's file size by just under 80%, allowing for much faster download and installation!
An option has been added in the main menu to visit the developer's website in older, non-HTTPS-capable web browsers. Don't worry, though, as nowhere on the site are you required to enter any personal details, such as passwords, credit card information, telephone numbers etc.
The game now keeps track of how many words you're typing correctly during a side, and shows you the total number of correct words typed at the end of the side.
The game has a new intro sound.
You now have the option to have a log of your game play session written to a text file which will be saved to your desktop for easy access.
Thanks to 15.ai, the game is now self-voiced. Though the voice is a little meh, I might keep it if it sits well with users.
2.0.2, Wednesday, December 30th, 2020
A major code flaw has been patched that allowed the program to accept any user input, including no user input at all! This meant that a user could cheat the game by simply spamming the enter key and racking up thousands of points without even doing anything! How this one went through testing, I have no idea!
2.0.1, Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020
Spelling errors in the word bank have been fixed.
All homophones (words spelled differently that sound the same) have been removed.
Retro heads, rejoice! Typerspeed now has full support for Windows 2000! No need to extend the kernel or apply complicated hacks!
The small time penalty imposed on screen reader users by the announcement of how much time is left on the clock has been removed and replaced with a sound letting you know when the side has expired.
Background tracks 3, 4 and 5 will now play at their correct speeds. Before, the tracks would play at a slightly slower speed than normal. This issue was caused by the sample rate of the respective audio files being a little too high.
2.0, Thursday, December 10th, 2020
Instead of just being a quick 35 second game, there are now 5 rounds of game play that will make the sparks fly from your fingers even more. Of course, each round, or side, lasts 35 seconds, resulting in a total of 2 minutes and 55 seconds of game play!
The game now features background music, with each side having its own sweet beat to keep you hooked in the game.
You can now copy your scoring statistics to your PC's clipboard and show off to your friends. Version 1 never gave you any bragging rights at all. I guess it thought gloating was against the law or something.
You will now hear a sweet intro jingle when you launch the game. This lets you know that you are indeed playing a Fireseed-made game.
The sounds you hear when you get a word correct or incorrect are now different depending on the version of Windows on which you're running the game. Back in the days of version 1, a static ding and buzz was all you got.
If you did bad the first couple of times, you can try again, and again, and again, and keep trying until your typing is absolutely perfect. Version 1 gave you no retries. If you got a bad score, that was it!