Global Game Jam 2020: Letter Lab

“Letter Lab” by Luke Thompson & Pete West.

“Repair the name of each level using a hilariously complex system of machines[.] […] Place waypoints to control the direction of the continuously spawning basic parts. Guiding them through the right machines to process them into the correct letterforms. Get them to the missing gaps in the level title to complete each level.”


You could see “Letter Lab” as a miniature version of “Factorio”, but instead of producing important structures and goods to escape an hostile planet, you only have to figure out the best transportation and crafting system to complete the name of a level to progress. Also, all the system parts are already placed for you, so you ‘only’ have to figure out where to place the waypoints. That will not be as easy as it sounds.

You will find that the level design of “Letter Lab” has a great focus on forcing you to think strategically and prescient, as there are often are not many tiles usable around the system elements that are vital for your success. These parts work as object transformers: For example, you can ‘stretch’ a dot into a line, while ‘binding’ a line into a semicircle, the semicircle into a circle and so on. You will also face combining machines, which will fuse characters together, while others will cut something off. Another neat mechanic in “Letter Lab” are the flipping spaces, as they can flip an object upside-down or sideways, depending on the direction it was sent from. [PLAY]