This is a third-party script/app and is not created by the WaniKani team. By using this, you understand that it can stop working at any time or be discontinued indefinitely.
Kanjiroids, a.k.a. 漢字ロイド, a simple, free web game made by me!
name inspired by Asteroids
Have you ever seen Japanese characters falling from space and been powerless to stop them before they crash into Earth?
Then this simulation is for you!
They fall up because, what is down in space?
Has your mind ever shut down at the sight of a wall of Japanese text?
Do you want to increase your reading and/or typing speed?
Then this game is for you!
I cheated to get this screenshot
Phase: Alpha Testing
Feedback? Suggestions? Questions? Recommendations? Love? Hate?
Let me know!
Post here, or email kanjiroids@gmail.com
Features
- Items are spelled vertically so you can practice reading in that orientation
- Items fall upwards so you can read the first character first
- Hiragana readings mode
- Katakana readings mode
- Wanikani kanji and vocab readings modes
- Game will pause automatically if you hit Esc, leave the textbox, or go to a different tab/window
- Load your kanji from Wanikani
- Load your vocab from Wanikani
- Kana input (with WanaKana.js)
- End game results screen with list of missed items
Planned
- Combined kana mode (hiragana + katakana)
- Eliminate item overlap (lanes)
- Options for romaji and external IME input
- Option for horizontal spelling
- Meanings mode for kanji and vocab (using synonyms from Wanikani)
- Fancier graphics
- Improved mobile support
- Add pause button and/or make auto pause feature more obvious
- Other kanji lists
- Other vocab lists
- Sentences
- High score tracking
- Missed item tracking so they can appear more frequently
- Option for Japanese menus/interface
- Music and sound effects
What about monetization? At the most, maybe a non-intrusive ad and/or a donation button - eventually. I would love to be able to make stuff like this for my primary job, but I’m not expecting that to be anytime soon!
Updates
2022-01-10 Speed Selection
- Added speed menu before mode menu
- Added speed multiplier display to scoreboard
2022-01-09 Improved WK level loading
- Improved Wanikani level data loading efficiency
- Added loading percent progress for Wanikani levels
2021-11-04 WK modes without API key, Infinity level updates
- Added full WaniKani items (all 60 levels) without requiring API key
- Made Infinity levels increase difficulty faster
- Every 5th Infinity level is now an EXTREME level
2020-08-19 API v2 bugfixes, more rare Katakana, spacebar fire
- Fixed bugs in Ordered Vocab and Kanji levels due to API v2 switch
- Added more rare katakana to Katakana levels 9+
- (Technically 2020-08-20) Made Spacebar also work to fire, as alternative to Enter key
2020-05-17 Switched to Wanikani API v2
- Uses Wanikani API v2 instead of v1
- Removed holiday theme
2019-06-21 Results Screen added
- Your misses are now shown at the end of each game
- Results are highlight-able so you can copy-paste as needed
- Click “Done” to return to the title splash screen
2019-02-09 Ordered by WaniKani Level (new modes)
- WaniKani Kanji Readings - Ordered by Level mode added
- WaniKani Vocab Readings - Ordered by Level mode added
2018-12-09 Dark Theme + Christmas Theme
- Changed to Dark Theme
- Christmas Theme added
- That’s it
2018-11-10 Kanji and Vocab Readings added
- WaniKani Kanji Readings mode added
- WaniKani Vocab Readings mode added
- Bonus lives every level when remaining lives are less than 3
2018-11-01 gameplay improvements
- Made items “warp” onto screen (items move faster until fully visible)
- Added delay when item hits top of screen
- Improved spawning pattern to reduce overlap
- Bonus life gained on every level that’s a multiple of 5
2018-10-28
- Testing kana input method using wanakana.js
- Added mode name to scoreboard
- Added level name to scoreboard
- Scores now bigger and better (like an arcade game!)
- Hits tell you exactly how many you got right
2018-10-23
- Improved backend design of modes/levels system
- Added level between 1 and 2 to reduce jump in difficulty
- シツソン now don’t appear in Katakana mode until level 2
- Reorganization of rare kana (ぢづヂヅヲ etc.)
- ゐゑヰヱ are temporarily removed (they had a chance to appear starting at level 8, I plan to re-add them in a higher level as legendary kana)
2018-10-22
- Small visual improvements to buttons on Mode screen.
Before this thread
- Created falling hiragana
- Implemented clearing items by typing and hitting enter
- Added pausing when cursor not in text entry box or tab/window unfocused
- Added levels, lives, and score
- Added missed item info quick display
- Added Mode screen
- Added Katakana mode
Conception
I’m a programmer/web developer, and for a while, it has been a dream of mine to make and host web games/Japanese learning tools as a hobby (and potentially future career).
I brought up some ideas in @Corbayne’s Keeping it Fun thread in this post, and was inspired to make the very first barely functional version and post a link to it the next day in this post. Thanks for inspiring me Corbayne!
There was also a poll and early feedback in the POLL thread, which is a super cool place to hang out.
Testers
I'll tag the people here when I post an update so they get notified.
Let me know if you want to be added to/removed from the testers list!
upwards movement is much better!
