Weirdo Words by SimplePotential
My LD51 Compo Entry is called "Weirdo Words"
I've spent my allotted time for this Compo and I'm pretty happy with the results.
High level, this is a word jumble game. You have 10 seconds to guess a word. I took some inspiration from Wordle but implementing a static set of words each day. So each day you play you will get a new set of words (changes as approximately midnight your local time). You can type, drag-drop, or simply click the letters to place them. Gain points for correct guess, lose them for incorrect guesses. A wrong guess with a letter in the correct spot awards a couple seconds of extra time. Bonus points on correct guesses for each second left on the clock.
You can see your attempts in the left pane. Underlined letters are in the correct place. If you miss a word entirely, it'll show up in italic letters.
I have a huge document outlining new modes and features I want to add, so I fully expect to make this my current free time project.
https://simplepotential.com/projects/LD51/game.htm

Made entirely in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
| Link | https://simplepotential.com/projects/LD51/game.htm |
| Link | https://github.com/SimplePotential/WeirdoWords |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/weirdo-words |
Ratings
| Given | 0🗳️ | 0🗨️ |
I'll come back after midnight to play again and rate!
Nice entry!
I like the graphics and animations for getting things right + wrong.
Feels super responsive and complete! Good Job!
@anxiousgamedev - Great feedback and something I'll consider for future updates. I kind of agree that 10 seconds isn't enough time, I think in a release I'd probably do at least double that or maybe a timed mode that is Easy/Medium/Hard where the only real difference is time limit. The last word today is really difficult for 10 seconds :joy:
@thebmxeur - I worried about non-native english speakers. Given a different theme, 10 second limit wouldn't have even crossed my mind. You do gain 2 seconds if you guess wrong but have at least one number correct. Implementing something like @anxiousgamedev idea would probably help that situation as well.
also my score was shite so I'm not posting it :P
@arkinrev - I ended up liking the timer as well but 10 seconds is way too short
@soshjam - It shouldn't completely reset the timer though it could look like that if you are making your guesses within the first 2-3 seconds. Basically a wrong answer with a letter in the correct position results in +2 seconds to the timer.
@snesgaard & @actuallythemoon - Thanks! I tried to make it as intuitive as possible. You can drag & drop too and I added Tap clicking the letters near the end so would work for mobile devices too (though a bit more work on resizing needs to happen for mobile I think).
@jeppetp - Completely agree and thanks for the feedback! I think at least 15 seconds maybe 20 or 30 event. I have a semi-functional version where it will accept any anagram that exists in the dictionary. On a large library it is a bit slower than I'd like. Thinking of maybe reducing points if you get the anagram but not the real word or possibly have it as a "hard mode" type option.
Apart from loving word games in general, I especially liked that this one is controlled by clicking, so I don't have to move my eyes (or even scroll) back and forth between the game at the top and a keyboard that's often way too far down in other word games.
I'd like to play more of it, but I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow...
I like the idea with the daily play inspired by Wordle, so you can compare your results with other people. I wish it actually showed your highscore for the day somewhere!
I really like that you considered different input methods. That's often an overlooked aspect in game jams. It was very intuitive that you could either user the keyboard, drag the letters or click on the letters. But I think because it's so intuitive the text in the beginning wouldn't have to be that long and it would have been nice if the correct letters would have been shown directly on the word and not only in the word list.
Overall it's really cool game, I would love to see how the post-jam version would look like (a non-timed version would be appreciated haha)
E P E K
Can be: KEEP and PEEK
i want both of them be accepted because both can be correct.
but in general it's very cool and challenging. Good usage of jam theme.
@barret - Thanks! I'm hoping others feel the same after I get a release out there
The game itself is good : it is a simple idea but well executed! Well... English is not my main language so I sucked really bad at it but it's still quite fun and stressful!
You could have added some color and feed a make playing the game more exciting however.
One more thing, I liked the idea of daily challenge! That is great to motivate us to keep on coming back to your game!
There are some issues to iron out - I personally wasn't a fan that words automatically "entered" when they were full - I lost points to a last second switchup of letters (goign instead of going, for example) and that could be frustrating.
There also is the issue that I found a few actual words that weren't the "right" word and got penalized for it.
Dealing with this issue though is, I'd imagine, far beyond the scope of a game jam game.
Those issues aside, the game is fun, it's well executed, and I had a blast.
Thank you. :D
@otterfaelure - Excellent feedback on the word immediately being entered. I initially forced you to hit "Enter" but that ended up meaning I needed a "Submit" or some such on screen button for those playing without a keyboard so I abandoned it for the jam. I'll keep it in mind for the release version.
@dxk2294 - Glad to hear it, thanks for playing!
Although "English" is not my native language, I was able to solve 9/10 words. Thank you for the kind of vocabulary lesson :laughing:
Good job!
Impressive that you didnt use a game engine like 99.9999% of the others (us included)
@der-finski - In the past I used Unity for these almost exclusively but that last couple I've used just raw HTML/JS to do it all. My job as a full stack dev has come in handy since JS is fresh on the mind. Not sure I could do anything for dyslexics, but if you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks for playing!
https://youtu.be/QIpXIi-tPWM
Hitting some specifics from your video:
The production release will take any valid word in the game's dictionary, I planned it for the jam too but it was causing odd lag, so I cut it. I have it working locally just fine now. The dictionary for the jam was a bit small too (~500 words). It picks the words using the current date as a seed.
Time limit will move to a Hard Mode, I shoehorned it in to fit the theme. I was thinking about removing it entirely but comments suggest they really like it and so do some play testers. But I think 10 seconds is to little in any case.
Score absolutely is weird, probably dropping completely and just give the number of guess for each word, the lower the guesses for the daily round the better you did. For context though, the 1455 score you received would be 100 x 10 = 1000 points for get all words in one guess, plus 5 bonus points for each second left on the clock for each word. So it took you about 9 seconds to guess all 10 words netting you 5 x 91 = 455 + 1000 = 1455. Like you said, doesn't feel right or even needed.
Rules are a mess, written out at end of compo and meant to be part of a "Help" screen rather than the title screen.
It actually works even better for mobile play in terms of placing letters. You don't have to drag, you can just tap the letters to place/remove them. Generally faster than typing even. But the resizing is a bit funky and need play with that some more.
Again, thank you for the detailed and honest feedback! It is immensely helpful. It isn't something I see getting as popular as Wordle by any means though the traffic on my site has been through the roof, that particular page having >2300 views versus the ~50 ratings I've received and there are 412 unique visitors. So somebody is coming back for seconds (or 5ths in this case).
Great entry!
I think allowing anagrams would make a good 'easy' mode, but I like the idea of having to guess the correct word (like it is now) for a 'hard' mode.
To make it more 'fair', you could give some wordle/mastermind style feedback on an incorrect guess. Obviously none of the guessed letters won't be in the word, so maybe something like a heatmap based on how far away it is from the desired position would be better (e.g. green = correct, yellow = 1 off, grey = 2+ off). And maybe the timer could paused for some amount of time for each letter you got right.