WORDCRAFT is a new prototype from indie studio All Day All Night, and it’s not your typical parser game. Instead of typing commands like look or go north, players find themselves trapped in a series of strange, word-built rooms. Their only hope of escape? A magical backpack — and the ability to collect words, rearrange their letters, and create new meaning.
It’s an experiment in storytelling that treats language as both tool and terrain. Each room is a linguistic riddle, every letter a potential key.
Behind the project is All Day All Night, a small, two-person studio run by Henrike “Riker” Lode and Cukia “Sugar” Kimani — a creative partnership that stretches across continents and design philosophies.
Henrike, an artist and educator, first made her mark with Machineers, a beautifully crafted puzzle adventure from her former Danish studio Lohika. After years of teaching and making games in Europe, she relocated to South Africa, where she now lectures in Game Design at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Cukia, better known as Sugar, co-founded Nyamakop, the Johannesburg-based studio behind the acclaimed indie platformer Semblance — a game where the world itself could deform and reshape. Together, under the banner of All Day All Night, the duo bring those same ideas of play and transformation to language itself.
“WORDCRAFT is about making meaning literally — shaping it from what’s already there,” says Riker. “It’s a puzzle about language, but also about creativity.”
The project is still in early prototype form, but it already showcases the pair’s flair for thoughtful design and experimentation. Sugar handles programming, Riker leads art direction, and both share game design duties — a true creative duet.
With WORDCRAFT, All Day All Night seem poised to remind players that words are more than just narrative tools — they’re building blocks of possibility.
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