Introducing WordsAmok 2, a most irksome word game!
The player is given 19 letter-tiles, arranged in two hexagonal rings around a central tile. He or she has three minutes to make as many words as he or she can by stringing together adjacent letters, but with a twist – every time a new word is made, the rings of tiles rotate. And to make matters worse, each can rotate in either direction, at random! This means one can never be sure what words one might be able to make on the next turn, but at the same time, new possibilities open up with every spin.
Words are scored based not only on length but on uncommonness – thus, “bane” is worth more points than “bean”. This helps to highlight interesting and unusual words, and (hopefully) makes the game more surprising and fun.
The next steps of development are aesthetic (adding opening animation, sound, and slightly less spartan graphics, possibly also heightening urgency as the clock ticks down) and functional – adding a leader board for all players, as well as personal high scores. Additionally, players will be asked to make a poem from the words they’ve formed, to be displayed next to their score.
My hope is to accomplish these over the winter, with an eye towards making it into an Android and/or iPhone app, as I think its true home is on the subway, an airplane, or anywhere else that people are looking to escape for a time into their own little worlds.
Play it here: http://www.gemuse.org/WA2W1/
Or check out the code here: https://github.com/jareddfriedman/WordsAmok2/blob/master/mainCodeDec16