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Show HN: Three Magic Words

threemagicwords.app

31–40 of 143 posts

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#31
post #15

I really like the execution on this. One piece of feedback is that the timer gave me anxiety and I closed it. I do puzzles to phase out from stress not to challenge myself in a time bound environment

I hear you. I personally found the game less interesting before I added the "threat" of losing stars — it felt to me more like trial-and-error work. However, I think there is value in embracing its more meditative side and offering untimed (and I supposed, star-less) play as well.

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#35
post #33

This is cool, but there's a bug when there's multiple possible correct solutions https://i.imgur.com/S56AWWj.png

Not a bug! There are three specific words it’s looking for. I will find a way to make that more explicit.

Do you think there'd be a way to generate the puzzles that make a case like this is impossible? Like with this puzzle it's a 50/50 gamble whether you get it all in one guess or not

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#36
post #15

I really like the execution on this. One piece of feedback is that the timer gave me anxiety and I closed it. I do puzzles to phase out from stress not to challenge myself in a time bound environment

I agree... I think there are actually a couple of niggles that work together:

- there's a timer

- solutions are not always unique

Often in Wordle, you'll have three or four green letters, which leaves several possible answers, and you just have to guess which one is correct. Some days you'll be lucky, some days you won't! But it feels OK because you're not working against a clock; so you have time to mull over the possibilities and decide which one feels better.

In Three Magic words, because you're racing against the clock, once you see a solution you immediately want to put it in. But sometimes it gets rejected! For example, on Tuesday's puzzle:

Gur pbeerpg fbyhgvba jnf CRRYF naq OHYXL, ohg V gevrq CRRXF naq OHYYL juvpu V guvax jbhyq nyfb unir orra inyvq.

Somehow that feels more unfair than the Wordle case. I wonder if it might be better just to accept any valid solution that uses known common words?

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#38

Very nice! It's a fun game, and looks really nicely implemented. Congratulations especially on finding the energy to push through and finish this. It must have been a bit disheartening to see Wordle's massive success, and it could have been an easy excuse not to bother finishing your own game (or at least to radically re-think and simplify it into yet another me-too Wordle clone).

Thanks! I was mostly worried that Wordle's initial press tended to give the impression that Wardle had invented the game (and I grumbled about that here and elsewhere) — so I feared I would be accused of copying his work.

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#39
Playing on latest Firefox, Windows 10. Was doing the easiest one, and at 1:14 in the fifth round after I typed in the letters for the third row, it just froze up. Didn't say I won or ran out of time. Not sure if that's how it ends or it bugged out.

I personally prefer games without time pressure, and I kept trying to type the whole word, not just the missing letters. But it's still a neat idea and an overall great execution.

Re: Show HN: Three Magic Words

#40
i appreciate the challenge this offers compared to wordle.

NYT's spelling bee has a feature that i think you should consider implementing: a button and/or key press (e.g. space) that shuffles the remaining, unused letters.

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