Show HN: I built a new word game, Wordtrak

(wordtrak.com)

28 points | by qrush 2 hours ago

8 comments

  • vessenes 0 minutes ago
    Are opponents autopets-style opponents (e.g. recorded and replayed so you don’t have to wait?)

    I’m confused about a lot of things about the game; I guess most particularly the letter draws — do I and my opponents get the exact same sequence of letters when traded in? Do we draw from the same (replaceable? Non-replaceable?) bag?

    When I went to sudden death I saw very different words — in my case, I drew a J — was that it, since my foe only used a word with a G, I was basically guaranteed a win. Was that poor word choice on his part, poor or no trading, or a different tile set the foe had?

    I think it would be nice to see all the possible letters in the ‘bag’ when we’re looking at trading.

    Finally, is there a time component? It would be nice to get some indications about the opponent - maybe showing where they are hovering / clicking, or a clock countdown.

    Also - fun!

  • roxana_haidiner 2 minutes ago
    Looks really good, are you in the first photo? How old are you? Good luck for your future projects!
  • jimnotgym 20 minutes ago
    One problem for me, apart from sucking at word games...

    I started with a load of vowels in my hand, just two consonants. I found a 3 letter word OK, but got a consonant and vowel back. I traded two vowels and got two more back. Couldn't make a 4 letter word, game over. I suppose the difference in scrabble is that if I had passed, someone else may have put a consonant down that I could use...

    • qrush 17 minutes ago
      Yeah sometimes the draws are tough, and especially without a shared board. I've addressed this by adding more tiles than scrabble to the bag (I'll be doing a followup post about dictionaries, tile distributions, point testing, and more), but definitely not done tuning this yet. Would welcome ideas on how to smooth this out!
  • ludovicianul 1 hour ago
    I've built a simple word game with my kids recently. It's fun to add stuff quickly even if they are used only by the family. It has only 5 players now and they have their own group, the family, but open to anyone if interested.
  • RNanoware 1 hour ago
    Wonderful example of using AI thoughtfully as a creativity multiplier, rather than diluting the artistry of the end result. I love the human elements you scattered throughout the game: your children's initials in some of the navigation icons is an especially nice touch!
  • oezi 16 minutes ago
    406 browser not supported (opera mobile). Come on...
  • fred_is_fred 1 hour ago
    I don't know if it's my adblockers but your page loads an insanely large picture of your face and then people playing scrabble. Like I have to scroll two directions to see the whole picture large...
    • qrush 1 hour ago
      Oops - my son's face is large though! I'm not seeing it on my devices or Chrome/Safari...
  • NickC25 1 hour ago
    I love this.

    I'm also building a simple game using Claude, so this is quite inspirational. Keep going!