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Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

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Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#61

Post by TeaVMFan »

twobitshifter wrote: post #29
TeaVMFan wrote: post #15

Having implemented my own 5-letter word game, I can agree that much finesse lies under the covers. Wordii is for the impatient, letting you play more often if you choose: https://frequal.com/wordii/ The many subtleties of this genre make it a great programming challenge. I encourage developers to try making their own version. I think you'll come away with a healthy respect for Mr. Wardle.

I have a reasonable vocabulary but I just got the word “copra”. I did get it on the sixth try but only after guessing cobra and realizing there were no letters left that produced words I knew. According to Wikipedia “Copra is the dried coconut kernels of which coconut oil is expelled.” It might be a blind spot in my vocabulary but I haven’t had this happen with wordle. The accessible word list could be considered ano…

Oh, I almost forgot, after a Wordii game is over, the word is shown as a hyperlink below the puzzle. The link takes you directly to the definition of the word.

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#62

Post by function_seven »

nemo44x wrote: post #16

Fun game but becomes fairly automatic when you know the best words to start with.

So don't start with those words. Or, force yourself each day to start with one you haven't used yet. That's what I do. I now forget what the "optimal" word is (STARE? AISLE?), but my first guess usually has something like a B or F in it. While it's not optimal generally, it is satisfying when you get the word in 2 or 3 guesses because you lucked into the right initial guess.

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#63

Post by d--b »

You can’t explain its success by product greatness only.

I mean sure wordle is fine. But the no-ad and once-a-day features are what the new york times has been doing for years (and yes it works really well). There are probably _thousands_ of other mini games that are no-ad and once-a-day.

The sharing part is pretty cool. It does encourage bragging and probably played a big role in its virality. But yet again, there must be plenty of other games that do that well (and we’ll likely see an awful lot more of them).

Again I do think that wordle is pretty good, but its success is more easily explained by lucky timing and reaching some big influencers early rather than amazingly smart design.

The reason I am posting this is that I think people shouldn’t think that if they build something as good they will have the same success. And I find it a bit dishonest to say “oh of course it had some success, it’s so great” after the fact.

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#64

Post by xiphias2 »

benrapscallion wrote: post #34

An important aspect isn’t mentioned: the words are five letter words that even my six year old kid can attempt.

Also us secondary people (the majority) whose English is not native. My first thinking when I tried wordle was that for sure it's a word that I don't know...but all the words in the main list are known by us as well.

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#66

Post by hyperpallium2 »

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordle

mechanics are nearly identical to the 1955 pen-and-paper game Jotto and the US television game show Lingo

He had created a similar prototype in 2013, the prototype allowed for endless play, with players able to play puzzles immediately after each other, and its wordlist was unfiltered.

In mid-October 2021, he made it public after it "rapidly became an obsession" with relatives

The game became a viral phenomenon on Twitter in late December 2021, after Wardle added a sharing element to the game, letting users copy their results in the form of a grid of colored square emoji. The feature was inspired by a group of friends from New Zealand

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#67

Post by marricks »

bobthepanda wrote: post #35
mcenedella wrote: post #7

The OP does a terrific job detailing the simple beauty of Wordle. Is it OK if we like it more because it was born out of love?: ‘Wordle is a love story’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-ga... And in the space of a month went from ‘introduced in NY Times’ to ‘bought by NY Times’? ‘The New York Times Buys Wordle’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-t... In many ways, I th…

Stardew Valley doesn‘t have nearly as short of a timeframe but is another labor of love success.

I think it's an even better personal success than Wordle, or at least different. It was a man's labor of love for years, which tied together all his interests: music, art, programming, games.

And better yet he built a career out of doing all of those things and still owns and maintains it years later. Presumably still loves it too.

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#69

Post by NicoJuicy »

bobthepanda wrote: post #35
mcenedella wrote: post #7

The OP does a terrific job detailing the simple beauty of Wordle. Is it OK if we like it more because it was born out of love?: ‘Wordle is a love story’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-ga... And in the space of a month went from ‘introduced in NY Times’ to ‘bought by NY Times’? ‘The New York Times Buys Wordle’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-t... In many ways, I th…

Stardew Valley doesn‘t have nearly as short of a timeframe but is another labor of love success.

If you looked at the engineer of worldle, he tried a lot of similar games before eg. On mobile.

Dating back since 2013.

So, while it could be created in a short timeframe. A lot of experience/thinking went into it.

Edit: changed 2016 to 2013

Re: Wordle is pretty damn smart in many subtle ways

#70

Post by glandium »

mcenedella wrote: post #7

The OP does a terrific job detailing the simple beauty of Wordle. Is it OK if we like it more because it was born out of love?: ‘Wordle is a love story’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-ga... And in the space of a month went from ‘introduced in NY Times’ to ‘bought by NY Times’? ‘The New York Times Buys Wordle’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-t... In many ways, I th…

MKBHD interviewed Josh Wardle, the author of Wordle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_e2IEaR4aA&t=1008s
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