Post by Tahnan in Solabra comments

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What are my takes on this. Let's see.

As someone who does a lot of word puzzles, and has for decades, I found the daily puzzle and the first couple of levels pretty basic. A lot of words like "ARO_ND" where there was only one option; a handful where there was more than one and it just needed to wait to see what letters got eliminated.

I didn't keep playing after the first two; I was curious to see what harder levels looked like, but not curious enough to play through potentially a lot o easy levels.

The main problem I noticed was that a given letter and a filled-in letter looked identical, so when I did have to go back and change something (I'd mistyped the "U" in the above word for an "O", as it happens), it was hard to see which letters I'd added and thus which ones I could change or remove.

colinagos7 days ago

Thank you — this is extremely useful feedback, especially coming from someone who plays a lot of word puzzles.

I agree with the distinction you’re pointing out: Level 1 still needs to be gentle for new players, but the early ramp should not make experienced players feel like they have to wait too long before the game becomes interesting.

I’ve updated the public beta so the opening puzzle remains approachable, but Levels 2–10 move into more thoughtful patterns sooner. I also made the full collection browsable during the beta, so players who want a stronger challenge can jump ahead instead of playing through every early level first.

Your note about prefilled letters and player-entered letters looking too similar was also very helpful. I’ve changed the board styling so entered letters are visually distinct while keeping the quiet look of the game.

Really appreciate the directness here — this is exactly the kind of feedback that helps shape the game.

itch.io

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