I'm a little obsessed with Microsoft Excel, and as a consequence, when I'm not using it for something useful like the psychology of dreams or the statistics of taekwondo forms, I make silly little games and novelties. Excel is fun to play around with once you become comfortable with basically how it works, and if you have any interest in boosting your spreadsheet skills, playing around with the different functions in fun and interesting ways like this is actually a great way to do it. Below, I've linked some projects I've made over the years, in case you want to play around with them yourself. Some are more game-like, while others are simple experiments and novelties.
I am unable to host Excel files directly, so you will need to download the file as an Excel file (.xlsx or .xlsm), NOT as a Google Sheets file, as I cannot guarantee the functions will work in Sheets (or even the OneDrive preview, as I use Excel 2016, not Office 365), and I know for a fact that some of them do not. Some of games require macros to work, so you will have to enable macros in those workbooks (.xlsm). (Despite what your computer may tell you, it's not a virus; if someone wanted to give you a virus they'd do it in a way more sophisticated and far less fun way. Also, I suggest using a computer for these, rather than a phone. A tablet may work.)
Do feel free to play around and experiment with these, if you want. Hopefully you'll find something interesting.
You can click on the picture next to each entry to be taken to the OneDrive preview version of each game, where you can download your own copy. Or, you can click the Download button above to be taken to a Google Drive folder with all the games and novelties inside, for you to download as you wish. (The Twine version of the Dungeon Game can only be accessed by clicking on its picture.)
GAMES
Farm Game
The Farm Game is beautiful in its simplicity and surprisingly enjoyable in its playability—really ideal for the Excel game engine! Everything revolves around your ability to place five farms in the most optimal, fertile positions. A macro enables rapid replayability, so you can strive to beat your personal best. Or, if you're not quite feeling it, I've also included an automatic solver tab that analyzes the current game and suggests the optimal solution to any randomly-generated layout.
[You will need to enable macros for the reset button to work!]
Dungeon Game
By far the most sophisticated Excel game I've made, the Dungeon Game (v5.1) is a basic dungeon-crawler making heavy use of random numbers and simple macros. Because it's randomly generated each time, it's quite replayable. There's even a customizable loot table! Read the "Instructions" tab to get started adventuring!
[You will need to enable macros for the whole game to work!]
Dungeon Game [Twine]
Because Excel might be slightly limiting in its game design mechanics, I eventually decided to rewrite (and improve) the Dungeon Game in another unlikely program: Twine, typically used for interactive fiction. I like Twine a lot, and if Excel isn't your think, this version is far more game-like, and even includes classes and custom difficulty settings. Also, it's playable in a browser, and doesn't require Excel at all.
Click the picture to go to itch.io, where you can play it.
NOVELTIES
Geometric Corner & Border Designs
Certainly one of the more useful Excel novelties, this spreadsheet randomly generates fascinating border and corner designs in a variety of styles. Feel free to use any of these in your own projects, and have fun playing around with the parameters.
Use F9 to refresh and get a whole new design!
Letter Drawer
This is quite silly, but while playing around with =rand and =vlookup, I realized you could use them to write block letters in grids of different cells, and that's exactly what this program does. Not the most exciting thing by itself, but I wanted to share this technique in case anyone found a better use for it.
Use F9 to refresh and get a new set of random letters!
12-Tone Generator (Music)
If you're a musician or composer, you may be familiar with 12-tone music. Maybe you'd even like to write some 12-tone music, but creating those tone rows is just so difficult. With this Excel workbook, the creation of tone rows (plus reverse, inverse, and reverse-inverse rows) can be done at the hit of a button (F9 to be exact). In fact, literally all you need to do is press F9, and both melodic and rhythmic rows will be automatically generated, free for your compositional pleasure.
(If for some reason the rhythm font [Segoe UI Symbol] doesn't work, just replace the rightmost rhythmic lookup column with your own rhythmic shorthand.)
NOTE:
If you'd like to get behind the scenes and figure out how I made any of these, you should know about a few things. First, familiarity with =rand and =vlookup are essentially, because you may have noticed I make extensive use of them. Second, you may have to do some unhiding of columns and rows, and/or some unhiding of cell contents. I often make certain things invisible by changing the text format from "general" to ";;;"—a helpful trick, but you can just change it back. I also use a lot of conditional formatting, which can be analyzed under "Manage Rules" (under "Conditional Formatting"). The "Evaluate Formula" tool under the "Formulas" tab can also be handy for making sense of lengthy equations.
Have fun!
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