@jakecrump this is actually the 2nd version of the game. I built the first version back in 2011 for Mozilla's GameOn competition, where it won the Community Choice award. The biggest inspiration probably was the Typing Of The Dead Arcade cabinet - one of the very few typing games that provide good feedback.
This new version was primarily build for mobile devices, but I used this opportunity to completely overhaul the game in every way. My colleague and friend @sgerhard did most of the UX work, while I concentrated on the game graphics, sound and feel for the on-screen keyboard. The on-screen keyboard for mobile was especially difficult to design. I wrote a blog post about the challenges a few weeks back:
http://phoboslab.org/log/2015/07...
Interestingly, the iOS and Android versions of this game never gained much traction. It's the web version again that hits sites like Product Hunt. Marketing for Apps is hard – or nobody want's to play a typing game with an on-screen keyboard :)