Show HN: Omiword – A daily, sector-based word puzzle

I gave up on the puzzle because it was too hard for my end of the week brain.

But, a couple of UX suggestions:

a) It shouldn't be possible to drop tiles on the grid outside of the word boundaries

b) Dropping one tile on another should swap their positions.

With both of these implemented, it'd make it easier to move all of the letters onto the grid and then try different options, without too much fiddling.

mintplant · a year ago

I agree with B but disagree with A. Allowing dropping tiles outside of the word boundaries lets you arrange your "workspace" for thinking, like placing multiple candidate letters next to the spot where they might appear in the word. It could be useful to have tiles that are dropped within the word boundaries highlighted in some way to distinguish them, though.

My UX feedback: it isn't clear that the icon on the top-right opens up some instructions. Perhaps replace with the more standard question-mark in a circle?

runlevel1 · a year ago

I liked being able to reorder them outside boundaries, but I'd suggest some additional visual cues that might address the same issue:

1. Place an outline around the tile when it's on a word square.

2. Make the quadrant backgrounds a different color, shade, or texture. That will make it easier to see which tiles belong to which quadrant.

Agree on B.

Telemakhos · a year ago

The QU have to mesh, and there is only one pair of them in the upper half. PIQUED fits.

The rest of the upper left only makes sense as SHIN, which gives SHINGLED going down on the left side.

From there, I got ELIXIR on the bottom cross-piece. ELECTION fit going down on the right.

gundmc · a year ago

I noticed on mobile (Chrome on Android) when I tried to drag one of the tiles on the left boundary, my browser executed the page back action instead. You should be able to override this behavior with JavaScript by intercepting the default. I think this is one of the rare cases where that would be appropriate!

jpkw · a year ago

Agreed with this comment and the one above it - I think the difficulty is spot on but the UI was a bit frustrating on chrome/android and I may have given up sooner but for my love of solving puzzles.

DamnInteresting · a year ago

Ah, I am on iOS, which doesn't seem to have this (or I've turned it off). I'll see if I can replicate it on a friend's phone. Thanks!

jodacola · a year ago

Along these lines, I suggest throwing the letters in random order on the word boundaries for the player instead of forcing us to do it.

Dragging the letters to the word spots was the first thing I did to start visualizing, which was busy work I found no value in doing.

Otherwise, interesting and challenging!

DamnInteresting · a year ago

> Dropping one tile on another should swap their positions.

This seems to be a common sentiment, so I plan to implement it. Thanks!

> It shouldn't be possible to drop tiles on the grid outside of the word boundaries

I've heard mixed opinions on this one. About 2/3 of people who have commented on it say that they like that the tiles can be dropped in the outside space, so they can rearrange and sort. About 1/3 dislike it (among those who say anything about it). But it's not a very large sample size, so I'll need to seek further feedback.

hasbot · a year ago

I played the game again today and easily found a solution. It told me I found an alternate solution. It'd be nice to be able to see the official solution.

DamnInteresting · a year ago

Just click/tap on the emoji eyes to see the intended solution.

psolidgold · a year ago

Pretty fun and challenging! That Q really had me stumped for a bit. May I suggest removing the audio all together or making it mute by default? It was a bit startling. Otherwise, good stuff!

bobbylarrybobby · a year ago

The Q is what gave me the solution. A U in an adjacent quadrant? They must be adjacent.

drhodes · a year ago

You did a great job, the game is very polished .. (the misspelling feature!). The cross word constraint makes it a bit easier than the regular Jumble.

fuzzer371 · a year ago

I wish there could be some sort of "reveal hint" button for each sector or something, similar to how a crossword puzzle has clues (With some sort of 'points' penalty or something for using a hint). I couldn't figure out any of the words on my first attempt. But it seems like a neat game overall.

DamnInteresting · a year ago

I think I'll add a hint button that identifies one letter that isn't yet placed correctly, and it puts it in place (and doesn't allow it to be subsequently moved). Thanks!

nucleogenesis · a year ago

Love the game and really like that any valid solution works. Would certainly pay a nominal fee for the archives or a way to randomly generate a puzzle w/ seed so my wife and I can play the same puzzle together. Thanks for sharing!

DamnInteresting · a year ago

Nice, thanks! I'm still working out how much the one-time fee should be (and of course I still need to code the archive access).

mrnicoco · a year ago

I really enjoyed your game during the last 4 days and i'm definitly willing to pay a small fee for archive access and gratitude.

DamnInteresting · a year ago

Thanks! I hope to have the archive feature working within the week.

totallykvothe · a year ago

I absolutely love the sound effects and music. Made me smile. I look forward to more puzzles :)

One thing I'd say is that dragging from the edge of the screen makes it really easy to accidentally trigger the back gesture on my phone.

DamnInteresting · a year ago

Thanks! That edge-of-screen bug is something that several people have encountered. I'll need to find an Android phone to test on so I can replicate it.