As many of you may know, in addition to being the writer and letterer here at Megami, I’m also a type designer.  That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to find out about this little game, Type: Rider (it’s also available for iOS and Android; check the app stores for those links.)

Long story short: the game is an art game, created by Channel Arte (France’s version of PBS), and it goes into the history of fonts and type, from cave paintings to…well, I’ll let that last part be a surprise for you.  It covers a selection of history’s fonts, including some of people’s favorites, like Gothic, Didot, Times New Roman, Helvetica and others.  It’s also a nice educational lesson on the history of the written word and typography, from the Gutenberg press to today’s OpenType.

But it’s also not some dull history lesson.  The game is actually a platformer and a fun one at that; the levels are beautiful and accompanied by some of the nicest music in a videogame (actually wrote the programming team to see if there was a soundtrack; it’s available for free on SoundCloud.)  The game plays well, and like any videogame will both frustrate and delight you; the last level in particular was worth it.

Kinda hoping there’s a sequel to this, somehow – I’d be happy to volunteer some of my fonts for the level editor!