1. For a version without the timer what would you like to happen if you are just completely stuck on a word? Hints to reveal letters or skip the word?
2. For those who like the timed version would you prefer to continue when you miss a word and then get a final score out of 18?
With the countdown, you more want to care about the high level stuff: Keep your brain agile enough to get the next one, figure out more general patterns, ensure you "cover" the promising patterns, notice tough spots (with tons of patterns) where you you'll need to lock in. That stuff is more fun to focus on than speed.
Everyone wants to fail less, sure. It's not surprising people's feedback focuses on the mechanic that made you fail! That doesn't mean changing that bit will make the game more fun.
So a timer needs to either accept that a lot of interested parties will be turned off by it - or must be designed in a more accommodating way.
As for the second, that's more suggestive and I don't care as much either way. Personally me for me I've just been going down the archive trying each day. I enjoy competitive games, so once I miss a word I don't have much interest in continuing on.
^parent's #2 tip is great too, as I was sad to cut the fun short when I couldn't guess EXAMPLE today.
Just minor notes though really. The game was fun and seemed nice and polished. And obviously allowing playing using the keyboard was a great idea that I appreciated.
You click next and it goes to the next word.
I don’t want hints but I can see how others might want that. But you still don’t get credit for hints. Or it shows “x hints used”
Final score can show that you got the first N words in <30s (as it is now), and you can have other stats:
* Total number of consecutive words (even if over time)
* Total number of words
* total words <30 seconds
* Plus whatever hint based metrics you want
Perhaps it is intentionally part of the design, but being a bit of a perfectionist, I failed a couple of times, and found that actually the longer words were (often) easier than the shorter ones...
Be careful about applying all these complaints and suggestions. Most people here aren’t game designers.
What you have is quite successful (timer, losing, red countdown at 10 seconds, etc.). Unusually so. Too many changes could ruin it.
I suggest real testing with players of any tweaks, or having a completely separate mode where you test something more casual.
Otherwise touch nothing about the current game and give it time to gain popularity.
But I'd like to propose allowing keyboard input. Losing because of your mouse skills in a pattern recognition game is annoying.
2. add a multiplier depending on the number of seconds until solved. [30s / [taken]s = score
eg.: 10s solution gives x3 score
30s = 1 score (1x1)
40s = 0.75
60s 0.5
-1pt for timer running out.
-1pt for 1 letter hint.
-1pt for 2 letter hint.
-1pt for skip (only available after the above).
That should let players aim for top points, but still feel like they get some reward for figuring it out, and keeps players in the game even if they can't figure one word out.
I would like the option to continue when you miss a word, but I also like the "miss a word and it's over" nature for the actual daily game.
You're not going to please everyone here. You might simply need to let the player pick a difficulty level, for example:
- Relaxed - No timer, keep going when you miss / Hurried - Timer, keep going when you miss / Rush - Timer, stops when you miss (default daily)
I think you really have something here! I love word games, and a new one that I would play daily doesn't come along often. Nice job!
Maybe a few different modes? How many can you get out of 18, how long can you last (unlimited), and just a chilled relaxed mode.
Fun game, thanks for sharing!
I also like some of the comments about the non-timed version to just chill and play without stress. Having a back catalog of timer-less puzzles would be a fun way to use my brain and kill some time.
a) the timer would be cumulative, so that solving the early words faster gives more time for the harder words,
b) going negative wouldn't end the game, it would just turn the time red or something, with the goal being to finish all of the words with the highest time-remaining possible, rather than just to win/lose.
So I would say No to #1 and yes to #2.
Some suggestions people have made around being able to shuffle or place letters - maybe. But the game is pretty perfect as it is.
Just reduce the final score, as someone else here also suggested, but I'd like to at least always get to try all 18 words.
Instead of just revealing letters when completely stuck, it would be cool to get a hint showing where or how the word is used.
Also, on completion or failure, instead of immediately loading the next challenge, it would be great to have an option to 'learn more' about the word and its usage. It would be amazing for learning new words, and you can just add a 'next' button for those who want to keep playing!
I am with the people asking for a scramble/ shuffle button. I have to do anagrams all the time in cryptic crosswords and sometimes it requires seeing things in a totally different order to unlock the answer.
2. I don't have a preference.
Very cool and well done.
I really like everyone's idea of finding some way of letting the player play all 18 words. Either count up time, and use total time as the score (while allowing pausing). Or else just count the total score at the end, and if someone fails a word it's reduced from the score. So you got 16/18 word or something.
2. Yes
3. I got stuck and couldn't get past RILGUN -- it'd be nice to know what the word you were going for actually was.
Maybe distinguish perfect/timely runs with the "trophy" you mention, or a "rank" from a scale (Bracket City's [0] "offices in a hypothetical city government" scale is cute). Or even a simple daily score. But I prefer to complete the daily puzzle even if I don't do it perfectly—and I find that "streak" oddly motivating despite myself. I dunno: "completed" and "completed perfectly" are two different flavors of reinforcement, both motivating.
As it is now, it feels like the game is punishing me for getting stuck on a single early puzzle, by withholding the other X puzzles in the set. And I feel like a consequence is that the game doesn't have a fixed "serving size" in my mind: it's either a 30-second single-clue game, or a 9-minute 18-clue game, and I don't know going in whether I'm getting the single cracker or the full afternoon tea today. I have to make 9 minutes of potential time for it, but I might only get 30 seconds of fun if I screw up.
As to your question 1), I'd like to see two things:
* A "shuffle" button. Often rearranging the letters helps me see it. I feel like I should be able to hit shuffle as much as I want with no cost in terms of the game mechanic--kind of analogous to playing with my (physical) Scrabble tiles.
* As far as a more helpful/"costly" chickening-out for when you're stumped and ready to give up... With Bracket City fresh on my mind, I like their approach with a single, progressive "help" mechanic. Hit it once, you get the first letter; hit it again, you reveal the full word and move right on (at some cost to your score, but blunting the disappointment by immediately giving you the fresh energy of the next clue).
[0] https://bracket.city , now at The Atlantic Magazine. Bonus feature I didn't know about until recently: they have a public-facing puzzle builder ("suburb builder") at https://builder.bracket.city . Thank you @brgross! [1]
[1] Bracket City's Show HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43160542
2. Yes being able to continue would be great, it's frustrating that the game just stops.
Great work anyway!
Nice game!
My vote would be no countdown, but you could have a hidden timer and use that for ranking at the end, so that there's still and incentive to think fast.
If you can have infinite time on each turn, then I think hints may not be as required.
That would also let you scale to any arbitrary word length.
Absolutely, I had to reopen it a bunch of times in incognito to make it to the end xD
Very fun!
I immediately liked the game and was inspired to try multiple days,
my single biggest frustration was that once a day is attempted, it's locked, and, you can't continue after a single failure.
The "single point of failure" having heavy consequences would likely make me bounce off and not return.
Might I suggest an alternate design to try:
Keep the incentive to speed, but reduce the punishment.
Proposal:
Score is points-per-word as a function of time to complete.
With a non-linear asymptomic point curve.
Bonus for very fast, long tail decreasing from 1.x points to 0.x, after 30s you get 0 points...
...but critically you are not loocked out of the game and can take as long as you like.
Bonus for caching this state so you can return later
There are variations, e.g. a total time budget for all words... perhaps you retain a sense of tier, with players able to select a "league" which gives higher reward for fastest responses but more quickly drops you to zero for the rest of the game...
You can still have a leader board (implicit or explicit) where points are fungible.
You could even then have a "no stress" league which gives a flat 0.25 points per success with no timer at all or something.
and the whole thing is timed counting up, and how long it took is the score.
the way it is now with a countdown timer for each word, the player doesn't get a reward for solving something quickly
"Baith" is incredibly esoteric.
I'd keep the timer but make it an hour. I like its simplicity; I'd keep it without hints.