ONK WOT DRS

May 4, 2022 6:19 AM

Knotwords (iOS, Android, Steam) (trailer, review) is a new daily word game from Zach Gage, creator of games like Ridiculous Fishing, SpellTower, and Really Bad Chess. It's probably not going to get Wordle-famous, but Josh Wardle likes it, and, if you like word games and/or logic puzzles, you might too.
posted by box (25 comments total)

(Don't shoot the messenger: there's no browser version.)
posted by box at 6:20 AM on May 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

I've been playing this for a few days now. It's lovely.
The daily puzzles get harder as the week goes on, so start with Monday's game if you're just figuring it out.
posted by a complicated history at 6:41 AM on May 4, 2022

I have also been playing for a few days and enjoy it. It is just challenging enough, only once a day. If you start playing work the older puzzles they allow you in order to get feel for the game. Then there is one free per day.
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 6:46 AM on May 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ooh I am still addicted to Spelltower...definitely will try it out.
posted by toastyk at 7:25 AM on May 4, 2022

This is fun and an interesting twist. I'm also enjoying wurdweb on Apple Arcade, if folks are interested in a second new word game option.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:46 AM on May 4, 2022

I really gotta try this one out; Zach Gage makes good games.
posted by cortex at 8:01 AM on May 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I tried this and, for me, it wasn’t fluffy enough for a one-a-day diversion but also wasn’t meaty enough to really get into seriously. That’s probably not just a function of my tastes, but also how busy I am and a bunch of other factors, so I certainly don’t blame the game for it (I blame the player)
posted by aubilenon at 8:47 AM on May 4, 2022

I've been looking for another daily game. Couldn't really get into this. I might be missing something but my brain doesn't like it.
posted by mokeydraws at 8:52 AM on May 4, 2022

Pfft, brains! What do they know?
posted by aubilenon at 9:24 AM on May 4, 2022

I have Really Bad Chess on my phone. Sometimes it's fun. Usually it's really bad. :)
posted by Splunge at 10:11 AM on May 4, 2022

What's the difference between the Twisted games and the regular ones? It doesn't seem like there's a way to try even one Twisted game without paying first.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:21 AM on May 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cool! As a fan of Typeshift (also by Zach Gage) and Wordle, I'm eager to play this.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:26 AM on May 4, 2022

(Ridiculous Fishing isn’t by Zach Gage, it was by Vlambeer, who were Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman)
posted by parm at 11:51 AM on May 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

What's the difference between the Twisted games and the regular ones?

The Twist games tell you how many vowels can be in each row and column and you win when all the words are valid and all the vowels satisfy the conditions.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on May 4, 2022

I don’t often resort to gross hyperbole but I LOVE THIS and everything about it. I have settled cozily into my word game niche, every crevasse of it. Thanks!
posted by BlunderingArtist at 3:59 PM on May 4, 2022

Is anyone else finding the Android version crashes their phone? I get stuck on the splash screen an there is nothing to do but restart the phone.
posted by hoyland at 4:18 PM on May 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

hoyland, I think it just takes a lot of time to start up for some reason. On my tablet with 3GB of RAM it takes about 20 seconds from start to main menu. It's rather frustrating.
posted by JHarris at 4:32 PM on May 4, 2022

Also: there is a puzzle in the free May batch that uses the word WITHING. What the heck? Merriam-Websiter defines it as the present participle of withe, which certainly clears things up. If that appeared in Wordle there would be a revolt.
posted by JHarris at 6:03 PM on May 4, 2022

(Unless it's a case where I found an alternate solution. I can understand it might not be possible to eliminate all of those.)
posted by JHarris at 6:04 PM on May 4, 2022

I have since done a puzzle that had an ambiguous solve, so it seems single unique solutions are not guaranteed.
posted by JHarris at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’ve played about 15 puzzles so far and while I’ve enjoyed them, there’s a certain inelegance about solving them that’s been nagging me. Many times I’ve faced the choice of choosing between a common word and a pretty obscure yet valid word and every time I’ve gotten away with guessing the common word and plowing ahead.

It’s like playing Sudoku, finding yourself stuck and thinking, “We’ll, it’d be convenient if this square were a 4, so let’s go with that.” You’ll get into trouble pretty quickly in Sudoku if not every square is solved logically.

But guessing the convenient answer here usually seems to be the way to go.
posted by alidarbac at 1:51 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah alidarbac, that fits in with my discovery about ambiguous solves. Evidently the puzzles are created by starting with a generated solution then deciding whether the borders are. It doesn't check that only one answer is possible, meaning, there is probably one answer with all common words, then a small number in a cluster around it where rare words that are recognized but not used to make puzzles will also be accepted.

Another qualm I have is the upsell factor. If the puzzles are all autogenerated then the $5 "subscription" seems like rent seeking. Also there's that nag factor where hitting the statistics button doesn't tell you stats but throws another upsell at you. Joy. I'm not opposed to people earning a living (I still hope someday to get one of those myself) but it's the age old problem, how much to ask for. For me at least, it's too much.
posted by JHarris at 12:32 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

This feels like a pretty humane monetization scheme to me (though of course you can argue the price is too high). Just like on PC, it has a price to purchase it outright (11.99), and then mobile has a separate $5 per year option, if, say, you don't think you'll still be interested a couple years from now (as well as 2 out of the 3 daily puzzles being accessible on mobile for free). I think the puzzle here was to figure out how to set something up that would be friendly to mobile expectations while still simultaneously releasing on PC.

As for ambiguous solves, what I've gathered is that they focused on making sure there wouldn't be instances where a whole large well-interconnected block of squares could be successfully filled-in, and yet would all need to change to an alternate solution in order to work with the rest of the puzzle. And they specifically sacrificed making sure that there weren't alternate solutions around the fringes, where, say, a couple letters could be swapped and still form a valid solution with all else staying the same.
posted by nobody at 1:10 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

As always, YMMV, but I finished the May Puzzlebooks and am sitting on a couple 33-day streaks, and I absolutely feel like I’ve already gotten my $12 worth. Mobile gaming, a thing that is very near and dear to my heart, is heading toward a place where it’s either subscriptions (e.g. the really-pretty-good Apple Arcade) or microtransactions, and I’m happy to throw a few bucks at somebody who sees a third path.
posted by box at 4:57 PM on June 3, 2022

Another qualm I have is the upsell factor. If the puzzles are all autogenerated then the $5 "subscription" seems like rent seeking. Also there's that nag factor where hitting the statistics button doesn't tell you stats but throws another upsell at you. Joy. I'm not opposed to people earning a living (I still hope someday to get one of those myself) but it's the age old problem, how much to ask for. For me at least, it's too much.

This drove me away too. The game is fun but the upsells felt obtrusive with things like the UI around streaks. I don’t mind paying - I’ve actually spent more than their yearly on expansions for other games like TTR - but being reminded so often changed the way the game felt.
posted by adamsc at 6:02 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]