What Is Truncate (truncate.town)?

Updated

Truncate is a word-based strategy game in which players spell words to cut off their opponent and conquer their town. The site at truncate.town is the game's page, and it also carries an updates-and-credits section. Truncate was created by Liam Bigelow and Blake McAlevey-Scurr, and both its client and server are available as open-source code on GitHub at TruncateGame/Truncate.

What the site offers

The page is organized around the game itself plus a credits area. The credits section thanks the people and projects behind the game's art, audio, fonts, open-source dependencies, and word data. If you want to know what the game is built on or who contributed to it, that section is the place to look.

The game in one line

The core idea is competitive word spelling with a territorial goal: spell words to cut off your enemy and take over their town. That description comes straight from the site's own summary of the game.

Open source and licensing

Item Detail
Creators Liam Bigelow and Blake McAlevey-Scurr
Client and server Open-source code on GitHub at TruncateGame/Truncate
Sprites Available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license

Because the client and server are both open source, you can inspect the code or see how the game is put together rather than only playing it.

Credits worth knowing

The credits list several asset and data sources, which is useful if you care about provenance or want to reuse components under their terms:

  • Art: contributing artist Joree.
  • Audio: the puzzle-piece-placed-on-board sound by el_boss, under CC0 1.0.
  • Fonts: Press Start 2P by codeman38 under OFL, and at01 by GrafxKid under CC0 1.0.
  • Notable open-source dependencies: egui by Emil Ernerfeldt under MIT, plus all dependencies in the Truncate repository.
  • Word data: the SCOWL Wordlist by Kevin Atkinson (MIT-like), the Wordnik Wordlist by Wordnik (MIT), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0), and Wiktextract by Tatu Ylonen / Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Who this is for

If you are looking for a word game with a strategic, head-to-head twist, Truncate is the game to try. If you are a developer or designer, the open-source repository and the credited asset licenses give you a way to study or build on the project. The site itself does not publish pricing or account details, so check the game page directly for how to play.