big defect, repeated anagrams!

[rothman]

now that my wife and i have played this for an hour, we see major
problems. i realize this is a new product, and you are learning. i
think these may be easy for you to fix, but they are major in
affecting the user's enjoyment. please consider my comments and
suggestions. thank you.

1. in phase one, there are many repeated anagrams! we use 6-letter
anagrams, and see repeated words now on almost every round. obviously
this must not happen, it defeats the game play. please fix this
asap. we are about to delete the game, because it is distressing to
be given the same anagram over and over.

2. time is critical to the score, so please show a timer during the
play (on both screens, for phase one and two). without knowing the
time (a countdown to 3 minutes, or a count up of total seconds), the
user does not know what strategy to employ, it affects choices that
can be made. please provide a timer.

THEN NEXT PARAGRAPH IS WRONG, READ IT AND THEN I'LL EXPLAIN
3. phase two is keeping us playing, because it is "satisfying" to
challenge ourselves to use all the letters. but, your scoring does
not give this much credit (merely 400 points), compared to the timing
bonus (about 16 points per second). i know this may seem trivial to
you, but a game is tricky to get just right, it must be challenging in
the right places. here, in phase two you present a puzzle which many
word-players may find, as we do, pleasing -- and then discourage the
player from solving it by giving it such small credit.

3. (corrected) i just went back to the game to check on your time
bonus. it appears that the 16 points per second is *only* given when
all the letters are used in phase 2. is this true? if some letters
are not used, then the time bonus is much lower, maybe 2 points per
second, instead of 16? if so, then you are properly rewarding the
solution of phase two -- but it's very important for you to tell the
user how you are doing this! not many people are going to realize it,
unless you explain the scoring idea.

[Derrek Leute]

I'll respond to each issue separately.

1. We agree completely. One reason we limited the words is the
original version uses hints. We don't have hints for a lot of words.
However, we are changing the hint system so the game can use any words
in the dictionary. This has the side effect of making the game *very*
hard (Do you know what a kevel is? Cause I didn't, and that was the
first word I got with that system). My guess is it will be an option
in the game settings.

2. We actually debated this extensively. We wanted the initial version
to be easy to pick up for *anyone* and completely stress free. Timers
create a sense of urgency that some people find frustrating. That's
one reason the timer counts *up* not *down*. However, it could be an
option to show during play.

3. I believe some of this is explained in the help section. You are
correct in the second version. But the simple explanation is the time
bonus is a multiplier of your base score. That multiplier is
determined by the % of seconds below 3 minutes that you solved the
game *and* the minimum letter level picked. That is why you have some
games get really high scores. If you have a large base score that you
accomplished on 4 letter minimum in a short time, the multiplier can
triple or even quadruple your score. It's not a simple sliding scale,
I would have to demonstrate with examples.

ON that note, would you like to beta test new versions? These are all
things we debated thoroughly before releasing the game. There are a
number of other ideas we would love to have feedback on.

--Derrek

[rot...@aol.com]

DERREK,  thanks for your quick, thorough and thoughtful response!

yes, we'd like to beta test, provided that by "beta" you are not distributing anything that could damage the other files on my iphone -- or maybe you beta test on the internet?  a word about me:  i've been a Mac developer for years (since 1987) and am a systems analyst.

we also play "Worder" which has just been upgraded, from user suggestions.  i wonder how they do this:  the first version used only common words, they said about 35% of the dictionary.  the new version expands to more words.  it is definitely possible to make a word game uninteresting by using words no one knows (almost no one).  to protect the playability, maybe the level of difficulty can be set, using your present limited list, or a more and more extensive list.  is there a method for choosing common words in phase one?  STEVEN  ("Appleseeding")

ps  sure, the timer ought to be an option (and please don't use hundredths of seconds, as some games do, this is distracting; in fact, as i consider this, counting by 5's or 10's would be sufficient, or even 30 seconds).

---

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[Derrek Leute]

DERREK,  thanks for your quick, thorough and thoughtful response!

Thank you!

yes, we'd like to beta test, provided that by "beta" you are not distributing anything that could damage the other files on my iphone -- or maybe you beta test on the internet?  a word about me:  i've been a Mac developer for years (since 1987) and am a systems analyst.

I don't think I *can* damage anything on a normal iPhone or iPod touch. The sandbox is pretty locked down by apple. :) But, no, it would just be new versions of konstroo. Can't promise they'll work. And the occasional restarting of your phone is sometimes necessary. It might not remember your high score and game settings. But that's as bad as it gets.

Hey, maybe you can develop it! I'd love a vacation! ;) Do you work in objective-c?

we also play "Worder" which has just been upgraded, from user suggestions.  i wonder how they do this:  the first version used only common words, they said about 35% of the dictionary.  the new version expands to more words.  it is definitely possible to make a word game uninteresting by using words no one knows (almost no one).  to protect the playability, maybe the level of difficulty can be set, using your present limited list, or a more and more extensive list.  is there a method for choosing common words in phase one?  STEVEN  ("Appleseeding")

This has been a constant problem for discussion here. We have an *excellent* word list now. But we need to either let people at the full dictionary or mark words as common/not common. We also need to not randomize to words inappropriate for children (as much as I don't like censorship I can't build and release a product that disregards others views on the topic. So censoring it is.) One more issue, is there was a performance problem when randomizing form 160K words.

ps  sure, the timer ought to be an option (and please don't use hundredths of seconds, as some games do, this is distracting; in fact, as i consider this, counting by 5's or 10's would be sufficient, or even 30 seconds).

Also a good point. I'll have to try the different variations for the timer. Should be simple. I just need a place to put it.

[rot...@aol.com]

Hey, maybe you can develop it! I'd love a vacation! ;) Do you work in objective-c?

DERREK, yes, now developing a custom iphone app for doctors.  

if you are serious in asking, yes, i did note your emoticon :-)

you could take a look at the website for my new company, to get a sense of who i am... 

(website is rather primitive so far, with emphasis on content, soon to be jazzed up).

in any, case, i do appreciate Konstroo, and 

am interested in making it a "standard" game for the iphone -- 

by the way, what word games do you play or recommend?  STEVEN

-----Original Message-----
From: Derrek Leute <dle...@allofzero.com>
To: konstrood...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:03 am
Subject: Re: big defect, repeated anagrams!

DERREK,  thanks for your quick, thorough and thoughtful response!

Thank you!

yes, we'd like to beta test, pr ovided that by "beta" you are not distributing anything that could damage the other files on my iphone -- or maybe you beta test on the internet?  a word about me:  i've been a Mac developer for years (since 1987) and am a systems analyst.

[Derrek Leute]

> DERREK, yes, now developing a custom iphone app for doctors.
> if you are serious in asking, yes, i did note your emoticon :-)
> you could take a look at the website for my new company, to get a
> sense of who i am...
> (website is rather primitive so far, with emphasis on content, soon
> to be jazzed up).

What's the web site? OR did the link just not come through? Did you
look at my other app? (The app formerly known as iScale?). It's called
iNeedAName and it's health related. I'm re-vamping it for version 2
very soon.

What are you developing?

I actually could use at least a sounding board for development issues.
being the only true tech person on the team can get rough.

Should probably take this discussion off list! ;)

> in any, case, i do appreciate Konstroo, and
> am interested in making it a "standard" game for the iphone --
> by the way, what word games do you play or recommend? STEVEN

I actually like wurdle a lot. And word freak is growing on me. I want
to re-make it with my drag and drop interface. Word freak's interface
is horrendous. ;) I'm working on schemes to help make it a standard
word game.

We also have quite a few other apps in various stages of planning.

--Derrek