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Show HN: Word Slicer
Hi. I created a small word game and would love someone to give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks!
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- koch 2y agoI want to be able to type instead of clicking on letters
- NoArcher888 2y agoGood point. How would you want to control it?
- whiterook6 2y agoYou would just start typing, and it would try and select each letter in turn, or show a little blip if you didn't have that character available
- NoArcher888 2y agoThat makes sense, thanks for the idea.
- fuzzythinker 2y agoarrow keys & highlight
- NoArcher888 2y agoAlso a good idea :-) Thanks!
- fuzzythinker 2y agoMore request/advice f you're still reading. On mobile: - The UI takes like only 25% of the screen. Enlarge it at least 3x. - Tried to flip to landscape to see if it'll at least make it slightly bigger, nope.
- NoArcher888 2y agoI am always reading :-) and thanks for taking the time to give feedback! I agree that I have a challenge with real estate use on mobile and that I have to find a way to improve it. What device are you using?
- fuzzythinker 2y agoNo worries on upvote, you didn't need to. Android, samsung browser.
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks. What is the screen size?
- fuzzythinker 2y agogalaxy note 10
- dotancohen 2y agoAlmost the same here - Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite.
- NoArcher888 2y agoDo you also think that the letters and sliders are too small on the phone?
- MrZander 2y agoFun game concept! Some improvements I would request: * An option to disable the "success" sound in the settings. It is quite loud. * There is no way for me to go back and see what my time was once I left the page. I only have the option to replay the game.
- NoArcher888 2y agoI agree - I will add a mute/unmute option. Right now the results are only shown for registered players. Given that most people do not sign up, then I think it would make sense to make a scoreboard for all players.
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks for the feedback. Finally weekend, so now I have time to look into the feedback. I have added a "Mute sound effects" configuration. Enjoy :-)
- NoArcher888 2y agoOn the second point, then all of your games results are stored if you have signed up for an account. You find it under your profile: "Game Activity"
- chungus 2y agoThat was fun. Wasn't able to get the hints, it just said "reveal word". But I got most of them. Be aware that swiping can trigger page back on phone browsers
- NoArcher888 2y agoOh. Good catch about the swiping. I wonder if it is possible, or even desireable, to override the browser swipe behavior.
- dotancohen 2y agoNever override default UI behavior.
- owenpalmer 2y agoNot never. I think games are an exception.
- NoArcher888 2y agobut best to avoid.
- 6510 2y agogood game, I'm terrible at it
- NoArcher888 2y agoGlad you liked it. When you get a hang of it, then it becomes a bit easier. I have made experiments to figure out to make it not too easy and not too hard - not sure if I succeeded :-)
- wonger_ 2y ago- I like how the alphabetical order of missing words acts as a small hint - The difficulty felt challenging yet doable - The UI looks polished - I agree with others that the word-forming UX could be improved; maybe by typing letters, or maybe by more generous drag behavior
- sam_perez 2y agoYeah, it's a bit clunky. Maybe plays better on mobile?
- NoArcher888 2y agoIt works best on mobile as a PWA. I am considering moving to a native Android and iOS app - would that make sense?
- ineptech 2y agoThe vertical bars don't seem to be draggable on desktop, took me a while to figure out you have to click on letters.
- NoArcher888 2y agoYou are right and I will look into improving that as around 38% of todays visitors are using desktops.
- whiterook6 2y agoWhen the vertical bar is very short, like two or three letters only, it is hard to find space to tap and drag the bar up or down. A more generous vertical tap-and-drag region, or handles, or up/down arrows, would be nice on a phone.
- NoArcher888 2y agoI like that thought. I will look into extending the touch area.
- d0100 2y agoThe touch/scroll area should be the full columns height. This allows for minimal hand movement across the screen
- NoArcher888 2y agoGood point, I will work on getting that implemented.
- omoikane 2y agoIt did not register "SIR" as a word. https://imgur.com/a/EkuQ2be https://imgur.com/a/EkuQ2be The sliders were "TQSF", "KWRI", "RNIV". I found FIN, FIR, SIN, TIN. It rejected SIR.
- daemonologist 2y agoIt was probably looking for "SKI". I think it could benefit from having two dictionaries - one with common words to draw answers from and one with _everything_ to exclude possibilities. (So, generate sliders which allow for `n` words to be created from the small dictionary but zero additional words from the large dictionary.)
- NoArcher888 2y agoHi. I worked quite a lot on the dictionary part when designing the game. What I came up with was to only use common nouns, like "river," verbs, like "dance," or adjectives, like "bright." Also all words are in their base or dictionary forms, like "happy" instead of "happier".
- omoikane 2y agoI am saying I thought this was a "make 5 valid words" game, and not a "guess a specific set of 5 words" game. This ambiguity could have been avoided if the solutions were unique.
- NoArcher888 2y agoYou are right. Thanks for the feedback.
- michaelmior 2y agoCool! Minor feedback, when I went to sign up, I got "Secure sign-up code is on it's way" Seems to be some escaping issue.
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks. I will fix that.
- NoArcher888 2y agoFixed :-)
- Shoop 2y agoPuzzmo Typeshift is a similar game: https://www.puzzmo.com/play/typeshift/ https://www.puzzmo.com/play/typeshift/
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks for the link. This is the first time I have seen something similar. It is so hard to come up with new unique ideas.
- azthecx 2y agoThis looks as fun as the game you replied to but the mobile usability is nowhere near as good. Smaller letters, the scroll is not as satisfying (maybe because it does not feel anywhere as accurate) Still both are very fun games, also you don't need to have a novel idea for it to be a worthwhile idea.
- NoArcher888 2y agoI agree on the mobile experience in a browser is not too good. As a PWA it is much better. I am considering building a mobile app, but want to see if people like the game before I put in the effort :-)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- esperent 2y agoWordle wasn't original and that seems to have done well.
- NoArcher888 2y agoThat is right. Hacker News is driving a lot of people to Word Slicer the last couple of days. Now the real test is if people are coming back again. Fingers crossed.
- deleted 2y ago
- synthoidzeta 2y agoCan we reject all cookies? I only see the option to reject optional cookies
- NoArcher888 2y agoI will look into that.
- synthoidzeta 2y agoGreat game, btw. I'm hooked!
- NoArcher888 2y agoI am so glad to hear that
- Waterluvian 2y agoVery cool. Took me 2:38 and felt fun. Nice ergonomics. Note the z-index of the close X button on the results page was too low. It hides partly behind the card inner frame.
- NoArcher888 2y agoGood catch. Thanks
- alexliu518 2y agoVery comfortable and simple UI
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks. Sometimes I wonder if it is too clean and should be made more “Candy Crush” style
- s1mn 2y agoNice! Lots of fun, I'll be coming back. Is it a new game each day?
- NoArcher888 2y agoGreat to hear. There is a Daily Slicer every day, and then there are "free to play" games that you can play as many as you want :-) Three levels of difficulty for the "free plays": 3, 4 and 5 letters.
- tyleo 2y agoI thought the author did a great job on the sound design here.
- NoArcher888 2y agoThank you very much. One of the things I am considering is how to use the screen real estate better. Right now I prefer the experience when the game is installed on the home screen of the phone as a progressive web app. Perhaps the better option is to develop an iOS and Android app. Any thoughts on that?
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks. I will add a mute option in case it becomes annoying or if you just enjoy silence and want to focus on solving the Daily Slicer.
- NoArcher888 2y agoDuring yesterday Word Slicer got quite good traffic due to getting on the first page of Hacker News again. The post got back on the first page with it hit 50 points. I am tracking two goals: "Start game" and "Complete Game". This is what I got yesterday: Goal: Start game Returning visitors conversion rate is 10.98% , New visitors conversion rate is 6.79% Goal: Complete game: Returning visitors conversion rate is 8.54% , New visitors conversion rate is 4.29% Total disaster or quite ok? Let me know what you think. Thanks!
- no_news_is 2y agoShare link is a redirect to sms: URL I don't have a handler for that (on desktop) and I wasn't expecting it anyway, I'd want a copy-to-clipboard type of action Just shared the website link instead, hope you get some traction
- NoArcher888 2y agoThanks for pointing that out and good idea to fallback to copy to clipboard. Thanks for sharing :-)