I don't think that commenter is irritated-- they're making gameplay comments just as you are, comments that you too are free to ignore.
Fair enough, I somehow imagined a wrong tone of voice in their message, shouldn’t have done that.
Readit NewsY444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
>..you are very serious about monetizing it
Ads aside, I'm curious to know what you think would be a good monetizing strategy for this kind of games (simple, online): subscriptions, sponsorship, donations..?
Unfortunately, I think ads is the most realistic way to go.
Sponsorships and/or donations would be a nice “beer money” bonus.
Subscriptions are PITA and too much hassle unless you’re doing them via some third party and they won’t bring a good amount of money at the “online daily puzzle in a browser” scale.
There are more exotic ways like licensing your puzzles to other sites, like online newspaper puzzle pages, Puzzmo is going in this direction IIRC.
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
Thanks for sharing! I found it on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Game-Design-Ernest-Adams...
Also, because the keys "F" and "G" are adjacent in the keyboard layout, I believe you made a typo in the book title where you wrote Fame instead of Game.
Yes, sorry about that.
I’d love to learn “fame design” though haha
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
>There’s no point of having a “Play again” option for a Wordle style daily game, the thinking part is already done, so any replay is just an exercise in dexterity.
What if i'm handing it to a friend/spouse to play to beat my time?
>Consider having some sort of overarching thing in your puzzle, so it’s not just five words on a specific topic to guess, but something more, like a hidden word across all five etc. This makes a delightful discovery moment and sometimes might work as a clue.
That just sounds like your idea for a different type of game. I like his current idea for this game.
>What if i'm handing it to a friend/spouse to play to beat my time?
I generally find it more effective to improve the parts that concern most of the audience, like the timer that is seen by every player. The pass-and-play use case is valid but seems pretty rare.
>That just sounds like your idea for a different type of game. I like his current idea for this game.
Yes, it’s a part of giving feedback, the author might not like any of my comments and is free to ignore them, it’s their game. But why do _you_ seem so irritated about it?
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
This is good feedback. Is there a single resource you would recommend for someone somewhat interested in game design?
If you want a general overview try finding a book called “Fundamentals of Fame Design” by Ernest Adams. It is a sensible intro, after that - just dive into thematic communities and do your own things.
I know nothing about formal game design education sorry.
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Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
Agree that timers suck the fun out of a game like this. I avoid any solitaire game with a timer for example.
Some crossword people like having their timers (see NYT Games app for example), but as I’ve mentioned the timers are counting up, not triggering any negative conditions, and can be turned off completely.
Y444 commented on Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think? whatsit.today/... · Posted by u/mkate
Product manager ex. game designer with a number of puzzle/word game in operation here.
- Having a timer (urgency) is usually not a very good idea for thinky games. If you insist on having a timer consider making it count upwards.
- Additionally as other commenters mentioned is the game is a time trial it needs an explicit “Start” button. Also stop the timer when user is not playing e.g. reading the rules.
- There’s no point of having a “Play again” option for a Wordle style daily game, the thinking part is already done, so any replay is just an exercise in dexterity.
- It’s okay to be US-centric actually, doesn’t matter unless you are very serious about monetizing it, and even then being US-centric will work.
- Consider showing rules for first time users before staring the puzzle.
- Consider having some sort of overarching thing in your puzzle, so it’s not just five words on a specific topic to guess, but something more, like a hidden word across all five etc. This makes a delightful discovery moment and sometimes might work as a clue.
Y444 commented on Traffic spikes are bad for your product andrewchen.substack.com/p... · Posted by u/twapi
The article’s conclusion is that businesses shouldn’t chase big app launches or “going viral”, because that tends to not be valuable for the business, and that instead they should go for gradual, slow growth. In other words, the article doesn’t blame the users, it blames businesses using the wrong strategy.
For me personally this conclusion doesn't mean much, as the author bases it on his single experience with his app that by his own wasn't really ready for real world.