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Show HN: 18 Words

18words.com

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Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#131

Post by pompomsheep »

tclancy wrote: post #127
pompomsheep wrote: post #100

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Two questions 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?

As someone who definitely gets worked up when there’s a timer (still got all 18; top 1% really? Might be good to show a rough number of total players), I don’t really get it without a timer. 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.

According to my analytics only 32 people out of 12,145 got all 18 in todays puzzle so far!

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#132

Post by PaulRobinson »

Waterluvian wrote: post #28

The timer makes it not enjoyable for me. It seems necessary to the game design and I’m not being negatively critical. Just sharing an additional perspective. I’ve been playing Zanagrams and the ability to hide the clock really improved my enjoyment of that game. If I could magically get a feature by request, it would be to give me infinite time even if that meant my score came with an asterisk. Maybe just call it Rel…

All games should have the option to have the timer turned off.

I regularly do cryptic crosswords (so this sort of game is in my wheelhouse). My goal is to complete the puzzle, not do so in a particular time. Completing it is often hard (depending on which paper I've picked up). There is no timer when I'm say with paper and pen, so it baffles me that every online newspaper cryptic has a timer on by default, and in some cases it can't be disabled.

It's also the thing that "ruined" the LinkedIn puzzles for me. They're generally fun puzzles, but timing it against my PB or - worse - people I'm connected to on LinkedIn just wrecks the experience. I opted out of leaderboards, because I don't really want to know a guy I worked with years ago trashes me at Queens every morning.

Strong agreement that a "relax" mode is needed here - at longer word lengths its becoming a test of recall and anagram ability, and that's fun in its own right. The timer just makes it a bit "meh", and I won't be returning as a result. Shame.

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#133

Post by forbiddenvoid »

This is great. The speed aspect reminds me of the old AOL chatroom word scramble games. I personally love the timer, but I also do the newspaper anagrams without a pen, so I'm certain to be out of the majority on this.

A shuffle button would be nice (especially if it's keyboard friendly). I've found it useful for me with the NYT Spelling Bee. Sometimes my brain just gets stuck on a letter combination because two letters are close together, and the rearrangement helps.

It would be kind of fun to have an endless mode too, that just pulls words from the dictionary. Maybe not quite in line with the "daily word game" premise, but something I would personally find enjoyable.

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#134

Post by ffsm8 »

pompomsheep wrote: post #100

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Two questions 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?

1. keep the timer counting up

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
3. add button to give up

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#136

Post by curiousObject »

This a good game. It’s fun, simple and quick. It’s self explanatory and clear what you need to do.

The UI is almost perfect, it’s seamless on mobile and desktop.

I made some criticism in other comments therefore I also wanted to make a comment saying what I liked.

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#137

Post by pompomsheep »

nickcw wrote: post #121

I didn't realise at first that you could choose letters which weren't adjacent which made it very hard! Guess I've been playing too much https://zanagrams.com/ (which was also posted here recently).

My other game! Thanks for playing

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#138

Post by groggo »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #111
pompomsheep wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you find a word that wasn't accepted you thought should be? I do have another version where it accepts ANY word but I found it quite unsatisfying when I survived by randomly spamming combinations and finding a really obscure word. So am currently running it against a 20,000 word wordlist instead of my larger 300,000 wordlist

I've built a some word games over the years (e.g., wordwhile.com, omiword.com), and one thing I've discovered is that players find it very unsatisfying when they enter a real, valid word and the game rejects it. I imagine that the timer would amplify that sense of unfairness. Granted, there are also people who get annoyed when the game seems too accepting of unusual words, but if you can point them to a valid diction…

I'm one of those people who get annoyed if it's too loose. But I can just impose that restriction on myself and look down on people who rely on obscure words.

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#139

Post by groggo »

elxr wrote: post #51
pompomsheep wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you find a word that wasn't accepted you thought should be? I do have another version where it accepts ANY word but I found it quite unsatisfying when I survived by randomly spamming combinations and finding a really obscure word. So am currently running it against a 20,000 word wordlist instead of my larger 300,000 wordlist

"braze" is a very common word, especially if you like bicycles. Definitely not any less valid or unsatisfying than "zebra".

I would argue it's less satisfying. I like bikes and I still had to look it up.

Re: Show HN: 18 Words

#140

Post by moontear »

darepublic wrote: post #130
pompomsheep wrote: post #100

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Two questions 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?

I would like a chance to play a puzzle I failed on to just practice what comes next. I don't need rewards or anything after the initial fail. Fun game, thanks for sharing!

Same! I did it by using private browser windows, this way I could see all the words.
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