If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out WORDEMIC

[Jason Roberts]

Just updated Wordemic with a new Build... 1.2.0.0

• Achievements Added! You can see them on the main page, and earn them by playing! Good Luck!
• Bug Fixes
• UI Enhancements
• Location Based Ad's (I do not save nor use your location for any purpose except for the ad's being

Wordemic | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

Wordemic is a word game you play with the world. Drag tiles to create words, and use double and triple modifiers to increase your score. Select the Validate Words button to confirm that your words are in the dictionary and get new tiles! Once the 2 minutes of time are up, your final score will be the number of points you had after the last time you clicked the Validate Words button. Try and get to No. 1!

I have been working on this game for while now and finally just got it released to the market place in time for the "app-star" contest that Microsoft is having. Please check it out! Tell your friends that have a windows phone and review if you enjoyed it.

Enjoy the game and hope to see your score at the top of the scoreboard!

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Looks pretty interesting. I'm downloading it now.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

You rock. thanks!

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Sure thing, I TRY to give at least a short run of any game a developer posts on here, so long as it has a trial or is free (not one to buy games without trying them). I get a nice, hour-long stretch today where I take my brothers to karate, so I'll get a nice chance to give this a proper test run. I'll make sure to leave a review on my phone and post here later.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Thanks!

I have gotten some great feedback so far and will be implementing some of the ideas.

• Personal Bests
• Show Top 10 scores from any game.

Current Top 5

Points	Words	Name
251	14	prometheusgr
211	10	Cornholio
208	9	Katie
206	11	prometheusgr
198	16	prometheusgr

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

I didn't get much of a chance to try the game yesterday, sorry. I sent the DL from my browser to my phone, only to find out that it didn't send. I then installed it, and it apparently didn't install properly. After I pressed "Play," it said "loading" for several minutes, then I just closed the game out. Once I got home, I reinstalled it and it worked, but I only had time for one game. I have mid-terms tonight, but then I have the following week off.

Hopefully I can get some decent time into the game over the next week or so, we shall see. Just an initial thing though would be the ability to change the coloring of the board and/or tiles would be nice. Oh, and is there a way for the players to see the overall high scores? I don't see a means to do that.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

If it just stayed at loading it was probably a bad data connection. it keeps retrying till you get a connection.
Right now the colors are based off your current phone colors, so if you are using Green as your main color the tiles will be green.

After every game it shows the top 5 of that game after it shows your stats, and I am working on a global overall high score list that should be in the next update.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

How were you able to see those high scores then that you listed? Is it just that you were playing at the same time as those folks, or is there something that reports it back to you?

Oh, and two additional things that I thought that I should mention:

1. Allowing for offline play would be nice. Maybe have settings for 1- 3- and 5-minute games, just as practice or a way to entertain yourself without a data connection.
2. I noticed that you can start words without connecting then to the current group of words. Is this an intended thing, or not? I think that it should be removed, but didn't know if it was a bug or an intentional feature of the game.

As for the color thing, I'm not a fan of that. Wordament does the same thing, but I don't like its theme (orange with blue tiles) on my blue tile settings. I also just like to change up visual settings at times, so being able to have red or orange or whatever without changing my theme color would be a plus, in my book.

And, of course, if you were able to get Xbox LIVE functionality for the game, it'd be awesome, but I'm not expecting it, as I've read that it's a pain to get the certification, and I'm sure it's something that would be very time-consuming for you.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Great suggestions. Thanks.

I got those scores because Its all saved in a database that I can look at. Actually the top 5 has already changed since I last posted it . Next update will have this feature to see the top scores.

I'll look into a more single player setup as well as allowing more themeing options than your current Windows Phone Theme.

As for the words that aren't connected. Once you hit the validate button it should be giving you an error. I do want to allow moving tiles anywhere on the board because sometimes you just create a word 3 letters away that once you are done putting tiles down it will be linked.

I've read horror stories getting x-box live certified. But it is something i wouldn't mind doing once i get more people enjoying the game.

 

[IamHappyDog]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Man, Seems like the time flies! Reminds me of Wordament but with a scrabble (instead of boggle) mechanic. Cool!

Happy Dog Approves of this game :?P

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Points	Words	Name
251	14	prometheusgr
228	8	lil frier
211	14	Jason
227	11	lil frier
218	10	Cornholio
211	9	Katie
208	11	prometheusgr
206	6	lil frier
205	11	prometheusgr
203	16	lil frier

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

New update just got pushed to be certified. If all goes well it will be in the store in a few days.

• New Leaderboard
• Bug Fixes.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

I know it's a little silly to ask for a comprehensive list, but is there any kind of major bug that existed and is being fixed?

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

The major one was that the old version of the AD framework i was using from Microsoft would cause random crashes where you would be playing for 1 second then at your home screen the next. I upgraded the framework and used the XNA ad's instead of Silverlights to be specific and have yet to see the random crashes.
Another was a flash of tiles that you see when you enter a game.

I also added a countdown for when the next game is going to start (not a bug but its a nice thing to know);
I want to change the way that looks but for now i think just saying when the next game starts is good. (not a bug but i didnt mention it in the other post)

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

I agree, that's something that I thought should be added, in response to the timer. I personally felt that the wait was fairly long, but I know some people want a break to do whatever (though that hardly matters when I'm playing by myself at 2:45 AM, haha).

Oh, something I would recommend in the future is the rating alert. Sometimes, when I start the game up, it prompts me to rate the app, though I already did.

 

[MaxPower203]

RE: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

I'm sorry but why does your app need access to our photo, music and video libraries?

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Max: It doesn't need any of those. By default it added those to the project. I will see what i can do to remove it.

Keith: its about 10 seconds looking at your stats and 40 seconds looking at the that games leaderboard. Would 30 seconds sound better? a new build does not need to be created for that. I'll push that out tonight to see how it feels.

Oh and Keith, Microsoft does not allow you to check if someone has reviewed your app or not. So i have to do that manually, If you Hit the ok button and back out of it, it will set the flag that you reviewed it. so if you review the app outside of the ingame notification you will get notified every 3 times you turn on the game, The next update changes that to 5. And an update after that i will add another option to never display again.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

All right, good to know. As for the time, I think 30 seconds is better, though with what is typically a 1- or 2-person leaderboard at this time (until we hopefully get more folks playing), it's still a rather long wait. Maybe some folks look at opposing players' words, though I don't myself. It's not a big deal for me really, so whatever you think is comfortable for you, because I personally just want to burn through the game as quickly as possible.

I'll also mention (I might have before) that as the game grows, it might be good to make long and short lobbies or something. With the static time like that, I feel like I've essentially plateaued in my performance in the game. Every round is basically going to be in the 180-210 range for me it seems, meaning the high scores are probably going to be what they are for a long time. It's really something kind of restricted by the gameplay, but I don't think that there is a rational way to improve that.

What I mean there is that individually dragging each tile is a bit of a slow process, then you have to confirm the word as well, so it's a limiting style of play when it plays that slowly. It's not really something I can think of a simple solution to, but I think it has the potential to limit the interest of the game because it restricts improvement and varied results, as compared to a game like Wordament (where you go at your own pace and you can see yourself vary from 70% to 90% in performance).

I really like this game though, and I hope it continues to improve and get more players.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

Glad you like it! And thanks for your feedback. It's most appreciated!

Yeah trying to get more people playing it (That's the goal!). More high rated reviews and downloads help it get into the new/top section and get more visibility so more people see it and play!

The market place is an interesting beast. Things in New aren't actually new anymore, its more of a "new and rising". But yeah... I'll mess with the time's to see which works for everyone.. 20 seconds might be better.. maybe even 10!

Different lobbies will be nice once the game grows..

I wanted to have a Challenge your friends option. which will be in an update. You can challenge any number of friends and play a game at any time with any time limit. But it didn't get into the initial release.

As long as people enjoy the game I will update it!

So basically this is the current release plan.

• Leaderboards(Pending release now)
• Achievements(Next major update)
• Personal Bests(Next major update)
• Challenge friends a game with any time limit they specify(TBD).
• Theming(TBD)
• Offline mode(TBD)
• Sound/Music(TBD)
• Paid Version with Ad's Removed(TBD)

I also wanted to play with the idea of getting bonuses for doing special things. like creating a 10 letter word or using 3 triples in a single word. It's something i want to play with and see if it feels good enough to be in the actual game.

and anything else people would like to see in the game.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Re: If you like Scrabble and Bananagrams check out

I was able to recreate your issue with being able to create words outside the block of letters which is unintended and will be fixed in the next update. Thanks!