iPhone Screenshots Lose yourself in the world of QatQi (pronounced cat-key), a gorgeous and meticulously crafted word game that pleases the senses and tests the limits of your lexicon. Frustrated with the lack of innovation in other word games, indie designer Chris Garrett developed QatQi to freshen up the genre with never-before-seen gameplay, an elegant interface, dazzling art, and otherworldly music that changes as you play. In a word, its INSPIRED (161 points.) QatQi offers more than just laying down tiles and reaping the rewards. Game puzzles form a map for players to explore, uncovering bonuses and avoiding barriers as they link letters together. Its easy to learn, but offers a new kind of strategic depth for the genre. Bolstered by robust statistics and enticing social features, QatQi is a complete package for word game lovers eager for something new. Beyond the innovations in gameplay and scoring, QatQi is an audiovisual tour de force with art and music that can be appreciated even without words. The games puzzles will have you racking your brain, but its ethereal aesthetics will leave you in a state of zen. QatQi features: ➣ Novel map mechanics Explore each puzzle by laying out tiles to spell words across increasingly intricate rooms and corridors. Special squares offer big bonuses, but require some smooth wordsmithing to reach. ➣ Smart, scaling difficulty Sunday levels can be brutal, but QatQi eases players in with simple puzzles and an intuitive tutorial. If youre backed into a corner sometimes literally take another try with an Undo. ➣ Size up your spelling Compare your performance with players in your city or across the globe using QatQis cater-made scoring system. Post automatically and view full breakdowns all without disruptive logins or passwords. ➣ Vaunt your vocab When you top the charts in your area or drop a high-scoring word like MOUNTAINEERING (461 points), QatQi will make a personally framed screenshot for you to boast over Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS all from within the game. ➣ Data to die for To boost your scores, explore a beautiful interactive stats page that provides key metrics after each puzzle. Even as a novice word-slinger, QatQis granular breakdowns will give you something to aim for. ➣ Fresh content, always QatQi offers new levels every day of the week, scaling up in difficulty from Monday to Sunday. Past levels are archived for access anytime. ➣ Audiovisual bliss Artist Kun Chang, who created the artwork for the hit game Osmos, lends a striking sensibility to the game board and menus. Complementing the looks is an original, spectral score that builds in complexity as you move through more difficult puzzles. QatQi ZWorkbench, Inc. "I had not thought that a word game could be so beautiful. Beautiful to see and hear, but also the stern, unyielding bea… TouchArcade Rating: Free Buy Now Watch Media Details"I had not thought that a word game could be so beautiful. Beautiful to see and hear, but also the stern, unyielding beauty of logic." - Matt Thrower, GameZebo "Another week, another new word game. QatQi...is, if anything, better than Letterpress." -- Shane Richmond, The Telegraph "COMPELLING" ... "It’s a very simple idea, but a good one. QatQi offers a different type of word game challenge, and flourishes for it. All the better for being free to download, and exceptionally easy to dive into for short or long sessions." - Jennifer Allen, 148Apps "Just when you think there can't be much more new ground to be broken in the word-games genre, along comes something like QatQi with an inventive take on letter-based puzzling." - The Guardian Lose yourself in the world of QatQi (pronounced “cat-key”), a gorgeous and meticulously crafted word game that pleases the senses and tests the limits of your lexicon. Frustrated with the lack of innovation in other word games, indie designer Chris Garrett developed QatQi to freshen up the genre with never-before-seen gameplay, an elegant interface, dazzling art, and otherworldly music that changes as you play. In a word, it’s INSPIRED (161 points.) QatQi offers more than just laying down tiles and reaping the rewards. Game puzzles form a “map” for players to explore, uncovering bonuses and avoiding barriers as they link letters together. It’s easy to learn, but offers a new kind of strategic depth for the genre. Bolstered by robust statistics and enticing social features, QatQi is a complete package for word game lovers eager for something new. Beyond the innovations in gameplay and scoring, QatQi is an audiovisual tour de force with art and music that can be appreciated even without words. The game’s puzzles will have you racking your brain, but its ethereal aesthetics will leave you in a state of zen. QatQi features: Novel “map” mechanics — Explore each puzzle by laying out tiles to spell words across increasingly intricate rooms and corridors. Special squares offer big bonuses, but require some smooth wordsmithing to reach. Smart, scaling difficulty — Sunday levels can be brutal, but QatQi eases players in with simple puzzles and an intuitive tutorial. If you’re backed into a corner — sometimes literally — take another try with an Undo. Size up your spelling — Compare your performance with players in your city or across the globe using QatQi’s cater-made scoring system. Post automatically and view full breakdowns — all without disruptive logins or passwords. Vaunt your vocab — When you top the charts in your area or drop a high-scoring word like MOUNTAINEERING (461 points), QatQi will make a personally framed screenshot for you to boast over Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS — all from within the game. Data to die for — To boost your scores, explore a beautiful interactive stats page that provides key metrics after each puzzle. Even as a novice word-slinger, QatQi’s granular breakdowns will give you something to aim for. Fresh content, always — QatQi offers new levels every day of the week, scaling up in difficulty from Monday to Sunday. Past levels are archived for access anytime. Audiovisual bliss — Artist Kun Chang, who created the artwork for the hit game Osmos, lends a striking sensibility to the game board and menus. Complementing the looks is an original, spectral score that builds in complexity as you move through more difficult puzzles. Information Seller:ZWorkbench, Inc. Genre:Puzzle, Word Release:Nov 15, 2012 Updated:Jan 14, 2015 Version:1.2.6 Size:55.7 MB TouchArcade Rating: User Rating: (3) Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal Fractalrock Well-Known Member Sep 30, 2010 117 0 0 #2 Fractalrock, Nov 15, 2012 This looks really interesting. Any chance for a gameplay trailer? slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #3 slewis7, Nov 15, 2012 I found a interesting video demo of the game narrated by the developer here: http://pockettactics.com/2012/11/12/igf-nominee-qatqi-coming-to-app-store-this-week/ Since the game is free, I presume it includes IAP to unlock all the features. I can't wait to try it. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #4 slewis7, Nov 15, 2012 Last edited: Nov 15, 2012 This game is pretty interesting and has a very cool aesthetic. The word game play seems very fresh to me. Everything appears to be unlocked for free; the IAP is for extra undo moves, which at least for the easy puzzles I have been playing so far appears to be totally unnecessary. The detailed statistics in this game are great. There are leaderboards for every level and if you provide your location, they are broken down by various geographical regions. Unfortunately, there is no Game Center support in QatQi. Highly recommended! czgarrett Member Jan 2, 2009 6 0 0 Pleasant Valley, NY USA #5 czgarrett, Nov 16, 2012 QatQi feedback Hi all, Dropping in to join the conversation. Thanks for the positive feedback! Game Center support is somewhat tricky. High scores aren't possible, because there are so many levels and Game Center only allows 25 different high score lists. We effectively have tens of thousands of high score lists, because each puzzle has its own list, and that is in turn broken down into geography. That said, we could probably use Game Center just to show friends who are playing the game, and tie it into our own score server somehow. We're going to be talking about it this weekend when the team gets together for our launch party. Glad you're enjoying the game! Chris Garrett slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #6 slewis7, Nov 16, 2012 Thanks for popping in, Chris! You could do some cumulative totals with Game Center. For example: stars collected, levels completed, highest score for each difficulty level. In any case, it will be a plus to be able to see which friends are playing. Other then Game Center support, there is little you can do to improve this game. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #7 slewis7, Nov 16, 2012 Last edited: Nov 16, 2012 Contradicting my prior post a bit, it would be nice to be able to see the number of unplayed letters remaining during a game (counting both those in hand and to be distributed) as well as how many Undo moves are left. Edit: I just noticed the display does show the letters left! Great!! Fractalrock Well-Known Member Sep 30, 2010 117 0 0 #8 Fractalrock, Nov 17, 2012 Downloaded earlier today and have been playing for awhile now and I have to say this is an amazing game. Love everything about it. The possibilities while playing are amazing and sometimes daunting. Great job slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #9 slewis7, Nov 18, 2012 A minor suggestion for the developers: I just got a high enough score to make me the leader in Texas for a level and the game congratulates me for it and generates a certificate. However the certificate shows the scores for the United States when it would be better to show them for Texas. Also, while it indicates the level's date, it would ideally also show the level's difficulty. On another subject, if anyone here owns an iDevice in Galveston county Texas, start playing QatQi. I need some competition and more folks need to be enjoying the fantastic word game! Fractalrock Well-Known Member Sep 30, 2010 117 0 0 #10 Fractalrock, Nov 18, 2012 Just saw that qatqi received a great review at touchgen. Hope it gets reviewed here as well. outqube Well-Known Member Oct 28, 2012 53 0 0 App Developer Canada http://www.twitter.com #11 outqube, Nov 18, 2012 the design is very nice, I will give it at try, although I'm not a huge puzzles fan It looks intriguing . slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #12 slewis7, Nov 19, 2012 The whole "undo" thing The following review is very positive about QatQi, but knocks it for the need to use "undo" moves. http://www.gamezebo.com/games/qatqi/review QatQi provides you with a fixed number of undos when you start and you earn more as you play. However, if you use a lot of undos, you can buy more as an in-app purchase. That is the sole funding method for QatQi. I bought a batch of undo moves simply to support the developer, but I have really seldom used them. Frankly, I just do not see the need to do so unless you have placed your last letter and want to end the game differently. Other then after that last move, QatQi allows you to remove your last placed tiles one after another; in other words in the reverse order you placed them. I believe you can back up as long as you want and that is how I explore the game space. If the developer is still following the thread, hopefully you will chime in and tell me what I am missing. ilStugots Well-Known Member May 27, 2009 196 0 0 #13 ilStugots, Nov 19, 2012 The gameplay in this is fantastic. I have issues with the UI however. It's like the game is trying to look and operate like a Flash site from the late 90s early 2000s. The stats this game tracks is impressive, but the way it's all presented is over the top and really hinders the experience a bit. Also, a lot of times I dont know what I'm supposed to tap on to get to the next game. The wheel you have to spin that takes you to previous weeks' games sometimes bounces back for no reason. A lot of times, hitting "next game" will take you back a week or two, then the one after that jumps to the current week, etc. It's all very confusing. I never really know what week or difficulty the next game is going to be. It seems so random. czgarrett Member Jan 2, 2009 6 0 0 Pleasant Valley, NY USA #14 czgarrett, Nov 21, 2012 Glad you're enjoying QatQi! I'll explain how the main menu works. I've had a few support emails from people asking about it, so we're making some improvements there to help the flow a bit. In the meantime... The key thing to know about the game menu choices is that the days of the week and calendar are really a way of organizing levels and difficulty more than anything else. When you first start, only Monday levels are unlocked. After three Mondays, then Tuesday unlocks. You'll need to complete three Tuesdays to unlock Wednesdays, and so forth. So the game will bump you around between weeks because it's taking to what it thinks is the option you're most likely going to want to play. I hope this clarifies things a bit! If it's not working as above, it's possible you've encountered a bug, so please let us know about it if so. czgarrett Member Jan 2, 2009 6 0 0 Pleasant Valley, NY USA #15 czgarrett, Nov 23, 2012 Thanks! We've noticed this as well. We'll fix it so it keeps you on the proper list for the certificate. Anders Well-Known Member Feb 3, 2009 1,634 0 0 Co-owner and CTO at Color Monkey Sweden http://www.colormonkey.se #16 Anders, Nov 23, 2012 I did some beta testing of this game and it's a lot of fun and very polished! If you're into word games, and liked the aesthetics of Osmos, I can highly recommend this lil gem! slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #17 slewis7, Nov 24, 2012 Last edited: Nov 24, 2012 I just started playing my first "Nigh impossible" level. It was going great until I got to a one column hallway 7 letters long. That means I need to find a 9 letter word or larger to make it through! The level difficulty name says it all here. Edit: I failed! I had figured out a word that would get me through the long hallway, but I needed to generate two letters that I did not already have. I placed the unneeded letters around unused areas of the board generating new letters. I was able to keep doing this for over 50 letter placements and generated one of the remaining needed letters but I could never get the final letter for my word, P, to generate. The only way to proceed from where I am currently at would be to expend a lot of undo moves. Is there some trick to generate specific letters? slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #18 slewis7, Nov 24, 2012 To follow up my own posting, I restarted this level and got through the first long hallway quickly this time. I encountered a second long hallway where I targeted a word requiring me to get 3 more common letters to complete it. I used the same strategy to play my few extra tiles and the new ones that playing them generated. I got 2 of the 3 needed letters right away but it took about 50 more tile plays to get the final letter, an I. I was down to just 4 letters when I finally got it. Can anyone suggest a better strategy? sweetdiss Well-Known Member Jun 15, 2009 1,743 5 38 #19 sweetdiss, Nov 28, 2012 Wow, loving this! Any chance we can get iCloud support sometime? Fimb Well-Known Member May 12, 2010 364 0 0 #20 Fimb, Nov 29, 2012 Very, VERY good game, highly recommended. IPhone 4 & iTouch users: the dev says on his/her site that a fix is on its way. Anyway, the game is absolutely playable as it is (I play on an iPad and iPod 4 at the same time). Seriously, everyone should give it a chance. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) 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I found a interesting video demo of the game narrated by the developer here: http://pockettactics.com/2012/11/12/igf-nominee-qatqi-coming-to-app-store-this-week/ Since the game is free, I presume it includes IAP to unlock all the features. I can't wait to try it.
This game is pretty interesting and has a very cool aesthetic. The word game play seems very fresh to me. Everything appears to be unlocked for free; the IAP is for extra undo moves, which at least for the easy puzzles I have been playing so far appears to be totally unnecessary. The detailed statistics in this game are great. There are leaderboards for every level and if you provide your location, they are broken down by various geographical regions. Unfortunately, there is no Game Center support in QatQi. Highly recommended!
QatQi feedback Hi all, Dropping in to join the conversation. Thanks for the positive feedback! Game Center support is somewhat tricky. High scores aren't possible, because there are so many levels and Game Center only allows 25 different high score lists. We effectively have tens of thousands of high score lists, because each puzzle has its own list, and that is in turn broken down into geography. That said, we could probably use Game Center just to show friends who are playing the game, and tie it into our own score server somehow. We're going to be talking about it this weekend when the team gets together for our launch party. Glad you're enjoying the game! Chris Garrett
Thanks for popping in, Chris! You could do some cumulative totals with Game Center. For example: stars collected, levels completed, highest score for each difficulty level. In any case, it will be a plus to be able to see which friends are playing. Other then Game Center support, there is little you can do to improve this game.
Contradicting my prior post a bit, it would be nice to be able to see the number of unplayed letters remaining during a game (counting both those in hand and to be distributed) as well as how many Undo moves are left. Edit: I just noticed the display does show the letters left! Great!!
Downloaded earlier today and have been playing for awhile now and I have to say this is an amazing game. Love everything about it. The possibilities while playing are amazing and sometimes daunting. Great job
A minor suggestion for the developers: I just got a high enough score to make me the leader in Texas for a level and the game congratulates me for it and generates a certificate. However the certificate shows the scores for the United States when it would be better to show them for Texas. Also, while it indicates the level's date, it would ideally also show the level's difficulty. On another subject, if anyone here owns an iDevice in Galveston county Texas, start playing QatQi. I need some competition and more folks need to be enjoying the fantastic word game!
the design is very nice, I will give it at try, although I'm not a huge puzzles fan It looks intriguing .
The whole "undo" thing The following review is very positive about QatQi, but knocks it for the need to use "undo" moves. http://www.gamezebo.com/games/qatqi/review QatQi provides you with a fixed number of undos when you start and you earn more as you play. However, if you use a lot of undos, you can buy more as an in-app purchase. That is the sole funding method for QatQi. I bought a batch of undo moves simply to support the developer, but I have really seldom used them. Frankly, I just do not see the need to do so unless you have placed your last letter and want to end the game differently. Other then after that last move, QatQi allows you to remove your last placed tiles one after another; in other words in the reverse order you placed them. I believe you can back up as long as you want and that is how I explore the game space. If the developer is still following the thread, hopefully you will chime in and tell me what I am missing.
The gameplay in this is fantastic. I have issues with the UI however. It's like the game is trying to look and operate like a Flash site from the late 90s early 2000s. The stats this game tracks is impressive, but the way it's all presented is over the top and really hinders the experience a bit. Also, a lot of times I dont know what I'm supposed to tap on to get to the next game. The wheel you have to spin that takes you to previous weeks' games sometimes bounces back for no reason. A lot of times, hitting "next game" will take you back a week or two, then the one after that jumps to the current week, etc. It's all very confusing. I never really know what week or difficulty the next game is going to be. It seems so random.
Glad you're enjoying QatQi! I'll explain how the main menu works. I've had a few support emails from people asking about it, so we're making some improvements there to help the flow a bit. In the meantime... The key thing to know about the game menu choices is that the days of the week and calendar are really a way of organizing levels and difficulty more than anything else. When you first start, only Monday levels are unlocked. After three Mondays, then Tuesday unlocks. You'll need to complete three Tuesdays to unlock Wednesdays, and so forth. So the game will bump you around between weeks because it's taking to what it thinks is the option you're most likely going to want to play. I hope this clarifies things a bit! If it's not working as above, it's possible you've encountered a bug, so please let us know about it if so.
Thanks! We've noticed this as well. We'll fix it so it keeps you on the proper list for the certificate.
I did some beta testing of this game and it's a lot of fun and very polished! If you're into word games, and liked the aesthetics of Osmos, I can highly recommend this lil gem!
I just started playing my first "Nigh impossible" level. It was going great until I got to a one column hallway 7 letters long. That means I need to find a 9 letter word or larger to make it through! The level difficulty name says it all here. Edit: I failed! I had figured out a word that would get me through the long hallway, but I needed to generate two letters that I did not already have. I placed the unneeded letters around unused areas of the board generating new letters. I was able to keep doing this for over 50 letter placements and generated one of the remaining needed letters but I could never get the final letter for my word, P, to generate. The only way to proceed from where I am currently at would be to expend a lot of undo moves. Is there some trick to generate specific letters?
To follow up my own posting, I restarted this level and got through the first long hallway quickly this time. I encountered a second long hallway where I targeted a word requiring me to get 3 more common letters to complete it. I used the same strategy to play my few extra tiles and the new ones that playing them generated. I got 2 of the 3 needed letters right away but it took about 50 more tile plays to get the final letter, an I. I was down to just 4 letters when I finally got it. Can anyone suggest a better strategy?
Very, VERY good game, highly recommended. IPhone 4 & iTouch users: the dev says on his/her site that a fix is on its way. Anyway, the game is absolutely playable as it is (I play on an iPad and iPod 4 at the same time). Seriously, everyone should give it a chance.
