Love Letter is a new platform game created by Jonathan Whiting (author of Jed) for the unofficial TIGSource competition A Game By Its Cover. It doesn't get more simple than this: a blocky pixel main character, a jump button, some spikes, and some hearts to collect. It also doesn't get much more interesting than this, as the game itself is a contest. The first person who collects all 50 hearts without dying gets to change the opening text to show their commitment to anyone/thing, be that your BFF or your favorite pizza topping. If that's not motivation, we're not sure what is!
Use the [spacebar] to jump and the [arrow] keys to move around. Avoid the spikes, of course, and move to the edge of the screen to hop to a new area. Your goal is to collect hearts in this open, non-linear world, and each time you grab a heart you get a special one-time boost to your jump. Use this with some skill to reach the more remote hearts in the game.
The simple game with simple everything still manages to look good even though it's built with three-color chunky pixel artwork. The music is a great public domain song by Virginia Liston released in 1926. Well, it's great if you love old jazz, but if you don't, you can switch it off from the main menu. Your choice.
All in all, Love Letter is a stark yet enjoyable game with a great meta aspect that practically forces you to play it until your spacebar cracks in two. Or... something like that.
Update: Looks like someone has won the game! The opening text has changed, so no more rushing to be the first one to win. Just play and have fun.
Walkthrough Guide
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Well, I played the game, and there is no way I'm going to complete it without dying. For any of you who are up to the challenge, here's a map of the game that I made :)
Click here to see the Love Letter Map
Enjoy!
Posted by: Taylor | July 14, 2010 9:43 PM