Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

playspindle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 44 posts

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#31

Post by codingdave »

abbm wrote: post #27
spuz wrote: post #20

Could you give more details about the rules? You said "it has to be a recognised English word for it to spin" but what does this mean? Are you talking about the word(s) formed before or after the spin? It seems completely arbitrary when it allows me to spin two letters at the moment because seemingly none of the words before or after the spin are valid 5 letter words.

Sorry for the confusion! The word you spin must be a valid word. So if you had a row like AEBUG, you could tap B then G to spin BUG, and the row would end up as AEGUB. Or you could tap B then E to spin BE, and the row would end up as ABEUG. (Because BUG and BE are both real words)

I'm agreeing with everyone who says this is terribly confusing.

It also is flawed in that if I wanted to spin, for example, BED, I could not - it would spin once BE was clicked.

Edit: I see in other places you explained how to do longer words. But that just proves the point. This needs a serious refactor of the UX.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#32

Post by eps »

abbm wrote: post #28
eps wrote: post #24

Beautifully designed, very clean, but frustrating to play due to being unpleasantly difficult. I gave up after 5 minutes. It would help to have an unlimited undo in a dedicated button. I realize that the undo can be done by spinning words in reverse order, but that's inconvenient and I really wouldn't remember what I did beyond last 2-3 words.

Thanks for trying it! Do you think undo would be okay if it “cost” you a turn? Part of the fun (for me at least) has been the competitive nature of it (ie, competing on getting the lowest turn count)

No, imo that won't be okay. Competition is not in a picture if one can't even finish a round :)

Perhaps you can have competitive and casual modes? One with the score and no undo, another without and with respectively.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#33

Post by abroun_beholder »

Congrats on releasing this. Having played through and reached the target word, my suggestion would be to try to find a way to lower the difficulty for new players. With Wordle as a new player you can just type in words make some progress and then work out more advanced strategies later on. With Spindle for me it felt frustratingly hard and not much fun at times I'm afraid.

After checking back here a few times I eventually got that I could only spin valid words but they were hard to find so I ended up relying heavily on 2 letter words to reach my final score of 35. Assuming that you support valid Scrabble 2 letter words https://scrabblewordfinder.org/two-letter-scrabble-words you end up spinning words that sound like gibberish most of the time so it seems a bit arbitrary when you can't spin titles like Mr or Ms. :P. Perhaps allow a few free spins to help people unblock the board? Or allow people to skip past problem letters every now and then so that they can spin longer words?

All the best with further development!

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#34

Post by matsemann »

abbm wrote: post #17
nextaccountic wrote: post #16

why sometimes I can't spin? (it blinks in red) and why can't I spin more than 2 letters?

It has to be a recognised English word for it to spin. And to spin a longer word, you tap the first letter then the last letter. I’ll be updating the instructions soon, but hopefully that helps in the meantime!

I'm trying to spin CAT as in the example. I press C, A and then it just blinks red before I get to T. I don't get how to play this.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#35

Post by kgdiem »

> (I gather PHP does have types now, but perhaps I’m using the wrong IDE or need a specific VS.Code plugin…)

It does! In PHP fashion, checks done runtime and there’s no compile step to check your code. Can be quite a trip!

I picked up laravel again recently it’s let me work at a feverish pace, love it. Happy to see you were able to get something shipped with it as well.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#36

Post by Terretta »

abbm wrote: post #17
nextaccountic wrote: post #16

why sometimes I can't spin? (it blinks in red) and why can't I spin more than 2 letters?

It has to be a recognised English word for it to spin. And to spin a longer word, you tap the first letter then the last letter. I’ll be updating the instructions soon, but hopefully that helps in the meantime!

If updating, remove any reference to Rubix Cube since it doesn't "spin" a row, that reference is adding more confusion about how it works than it clarifies.

Other words better than spin: reverse, mirror, or flip. Word reverser, word flipper.

Arguably more a mix of wordle and boggle or scrabble than Rubix.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#37

Post by bionsystem »

tcmb wrote: post #29

Looks nice, but the instructions are confusing me. I've read the 'How to Play' and still don't know how to play. First of all, I need to 'spin', but how do I do that? By clicking, dragging, typing...? Any or all of these? And if so, clicking/dragging what? And what is it that is being spun? Rows, columns? Apparently it's words, but that is mentioned nowhere. Second, in the 'How to Play' there are these two examples:…

I get it now. If you have a word like "CAT" you click on the C and the T ; because TAC is also a word it can "spin" and write TAC instead.

By rearranging existing words on the grid you can map new words including the "target" word. It's actually pretty hard I find...

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#38

Post by Contortion »

bionsystem wrote: post #37
tcmb wrote: post #29

Looks nice, but the instructions are confusing me. I've read the 'How to Play' and still don't know how to play. First of all, I need to 'spin', but how do I do that? By clicking, dragging, typing...? Any or all of these? And if so, clicking/dragging what? And what is it that is being spun? Rows, columns? Apparently it's words, but that is mentioned nowhere. Second, in the 'How to Play' there are these two examples:…

I get it now. If you have a word like "CAT" you click on the C and the T ; because TAC is also a word it can "spin" and write TAC instead. By rearranging existing words on the grid you can map new words including the "target" word. It's actually pretty hard I find...

Except I'm trying to spin letters to make words and it's flashing red telling me it's not possible. I have SGET and I'm trying to switch the S and the G. Am I missing something?

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#39

Post by pixxel »

Just to give you feedback:

Personally I find this game too difficult to be pleasurable. It’s like the difference between playing an easy-medium sudoku and a real hard sudoku. The former is relaxing whilst the latter is frustrating, time consuming and requires 100% concentration.

I like to relax while playing games :)

I am intrigued and will return. Perhaps it’s a skill to learn.

Best of luck and congratulations on the release.

Re: Show HN: Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

#40

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

Contortion wrote: post #38
bionsystem wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it now. If you have a word like "CAT" you click on the C and the T ; because TAC is also a word it can "spin" and write TAC instead. By rearranging existing words on the grid you can map new words including the "target" word. It's actually pretty hard I find...

Except I'm trying to spin letters to make words and it's flashing red telling me it's not possible. I have SGET and I'm trying to switch the S and the G. Am I missing something?

You can only spin a whole word. One of "SG" or "GS" would have to be a word.
Post reply on HN