The Internet is one of the greatest tools at man’s disposal today – endless reams of information at only a click away. So what do we do with it? We cram it full of porn, games and pirate copies of 80’s cartoons, blockbuster movies and music. It’s not all bad though, there some gems out there and they don’t involve any of the above… well not all of them do.
Captioning other peoples photographs, company adverts and screenshots has long been a pastime for many an Internet user and it has spawned some really famous spinoffs including LolCats, Paedo Bear and the Demotivational posters and now one man has turned captioning images into a proper game! Wordsthatfollow.com is the work of Kenneth Shook, a game programmer from the US and as the game sees increasing popularity with players being draw to the site from all around the world we grab the man for a chat…
Can tell us a little about yourself?
I am a hobbyist game programmer from Florida with an unhealthy obsession for Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (I have nearly every Sci-Fi Channel era episode recorded on VHS and have constructed a working Tom Servo puppet) and Nintendo games (yes, I purchased an e-Reader–and liked it. I am not proud of this).
What is ‘wordsthatfollow‘ all about? Where did the idea for it come from?
Words that Follow is all about people getting together to come up with witty, clever captions for a series of photographs, and then voting on the best.
I wish I could say that the idea was all my own, but I essentially stole it from another game that I used to love back around 2000. The original game was called “Get the Picture.” It was made by the same developers as the “You Don’t Know Jack” series, if I remember correctly, and could be played on WON.net. I used to play it fairly regularly, but then one day, it was gone. The game displayed ads at the midpoint and end of games, but I guess the ad revenue was not enough to keep it running.
Soon after “Get the Picture’s” demise, I began attempting to recreate the game, simply so I could play it again. Unfortunately, I lacked the programming skills to pull it off. Years later, a friend of mine mentioned that he was starting a web site called side-quest.com to feature some web comics, game reviews, and whatever other nerdy pursuits our friends were undertaking. At this point, I had gained some programming experience and used this opportunity to host what I hoped would be the spiritual rebirth of “Get the Picture.”
In December of 2004, the first version of “Words that Follow” came online. Side-quest.com is gone now, but Words that Follow lives on in its latest incarnation on wordsthatfollow.com.
How do we play?
First, you choose a name for yourself. Then, you join an existing game room or start your own. Once three or more players arrive, the game begins. Each game is broken up into 7 rounds, each featuring a photo to be captioned. Players have 60 seconds to create a caption then each player is shown the captions for every other player and must vote on one. Votes are tallied at the end of each round and points are awarded based on the number of votes each caption received. If a player did not vote, any votes he received are ignored and he scores no points. The final round features a special rule or theme that should be followed. It isn’t a requirement that this rule is followed, but not following it may result in the other players passing on that caption.
Is there any sort of censorship for the game, how far can we push the lines before we get in trouble?
When creating a new game, there is an option to turn on some minimal censoring. It replaces some of the more offensive words with random breakfast items, which often has hilarious results. Most people, I’ve found, do not bother with this option when creating their games.If most people find your captions offensive, they are not going to vote for them, and you are not going to win or prevent anyone else from winning.
What’s the funniest caption you’ve got to read on the site so far?
That is a difficult question. I have seen some really good ones over the years. This is one of the reasons I think that adding the captions to the front page of the website was an especially good idea. It lets me see what some of the more popular captions have been. One of my favourites on there so far features an image of a kitten and puppy adorably sniffing each other’s noses while frolicking in a bright, colourful meadow with clear blue skies. The caption says “New screenshot from Diablo 3.”
Could you caption these three pictures for us?
The Imperial storm troopers finally discover the one target they can hit: Red Shirts
In a moment of enlightenment, Justin realizes that with the help of a mirror, he CAN hear the sound of one hand clapping.
Patches, Snowball, and Mister Whiskers learned a valuable lesson that night: Never cross WizardCat if you value your dignity.
Do you have any more plans to further expand on the game or add more to the site?
Certainly! I periodically add more photos and am looking into Facebook and Flickr integration, though that may be awhile. I am still working on getting the game as stable as possible in its current form.
The site will likely feature any other games that I come up with in the future, though real life has been keeping me far too busy at the moment, so there is no telling when that might be.
If you were stuck in an Arcade for eternity, what one game would you play to pass the time?
If it has to be an actual arcade game, I think I would go with Bubble Bobble, though I’m sure the theme song would begin driving me mad after the first 5 hours. If it can be any video game, then I would go with Chrono Trigger. It is just one of those games that I can always go back to and enjoy
Bored in college? You and your friends looking to do while facebooking? Fed up of boring games then you better check out ‘Words that follow’.To start your own game, just head over to www.wordsthatfollow.com to play one of our favourite games!
