Visually and conceptually, the game is perfect. It is also very addictive. Unfortunately, in terms of gameplay, it is either unfair or lacking.

The math part is so obviously cheat-friendly right now this is no fun: you can get megascores by adding zeroes and dividing by ones, not to mention just adding and subtracting (or multiplying by and dividing by) the same number.

The word part is more fair, but it is far too rewarding for using short words. This is especially harsh because of the current block drop system - where they drop is completely random, and the speed depends on your word length and score, so if you take your time and come up with a longer word, chances are, you will suddenly get a flood of blocks on one side of the scales, then BAM game over.

As long as you don't run out of vowels, you can pretty much make up any 3-letter combination to count as a valid word and get rid of explosive / heavy blocks. On the other hand, trying to come up with longer words seems to be a waste of time, especially that - chances are - they won't count; neither "sudoku" nor "Norse" classify as valid words - but that's to be blamed on the dictionary.

The score system right now is fine and balanced as far as word length is concerned. It's the rapid and random block drop that offers a problem. Oh, and the appearance of explosive and eavy blocks should depend more on gameplay time, and less on your score.

My suggestions:

- Fix the math. Somehow. Anyhow. Or, if need be, get rid of it or at least have it use a separate score system…

- Change the block fall system and speed. The chance of blocks dropping on either side of the scale should be random, but it should also be slightly less or more depending on the weight of the other side.

- Perhaps adjust block fall speed depending on the length of inserted words… long words should buy you some peace and quiet, while short ones should increase the fall speed or reset it to default.

- If all else fails, use total word length as a score modifier.

- Make e's drop more ;)

Thanks everyone!

@ Xxypher: Did you not submit your scores online?

Now Cesque, I was going to wait till I got home to post. But you've got a lot of great feedback so I'll catch it now So I can get a few more detailed points from you.

- Nice points about the math I'll work on that.

- I do have a system like this in place. I guess your saying the system is to hard? EI: If the left side gets just a little bit down it seems to always drop them there?

- The problem with that is, If you just spelled a longer word there's alot less letters now. So My system drops more to make up for it. I guess it mght seem as a bit of a punishment for spelling longer words, but how to I get extra letters down there?

- What exactly do you mean by that?

- Thanks! I'll go ahead and do that.

Thanks for all of the awesome feedback. I'll work on alot of those things. Awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to edit the game and get an updated version out before the weekend. Did you submit your scores online?

-Elmernite

I had a floating block.. It collided to the one right of it, somehow…like

xxx

x_x

Thanks for taking my comment into account :)

What I meant is that the blocks should have a slightly bigger chance of falling on the side which is higher, the bigger the more the difference between both sides is.

Or at least everytime a block drops on one side, the chance for dropping on that side again should be slightly decreased.

Heh, I can understand this - but you could at least decrease the time it takes for these blocks to make up for used letters (it would still be faster than regular, but not that very much).

The thing is, I think if you make up for every block used, you take out a lot of motivation to spell longer words. The chief idea behind coming up with them is to get rid of more blocks, and if the balance is always kept, the extra points are hardly a compensation - sure, you get more points, but the game becomes harder to win (as you typically lose more time).

I mean that, at the end of the game, you could multiply the score by some value based on average word length, eg. by (average_word_length - 2). This way, you would get more points if you consistently kept spelling longer words, as it is currently hard to win the game by doing so, and using shorter words can get just the same score, over time.

Of course, this could be pretty imbalanced, especially for short games.

Only once, as "bob", for testing purposes for the spelling part ;) I couldn't submit the score in math part, after that - I assumed this was taken out :/

Yep - that's the fault of interior GM calculation system, but I guess you could disable using zeroes after division signs. I've also seen another bug message, but I can't exactly remember when…

@ contrendo: What Cesque said.

@ Bryan: Thanks I'll see what I can do.

@ Cesque

It seems to me that this would almost keep the game playing for too long. There's not much of a struggle if the game almost helps itself balance.

Point there, but I guess I didn't discribe the system well enough. What the game tries to do is keep a minimum of thirty blocks out at all times. When it gets below thirty it drops them a little bit faster. If it gets below fifteen it drops them really fast. Thats to make sure that theres enough blocks to spell more words. Thats the way the game currently works. Any thoughts on that?

So you don't thing the point difference is enough between shorter words and longer words?

30 - 3 letters

160 - 4 lett…

250 - 5

360 - 6

480 - 7

640 - 8

810 - 9

1000 - 10

Thats the point spread. You don't think thats enough incitive to spell longer words? If not, a system like you mentioned is a good idea. (Or I could simply change it so that 4 and 5 letter words give a little less and raise the others.)

Couldn't submit, as in the game wouldn't let you? As in a bug! Darn…

Thanks for the great feedback again! This is great!

-Elmernite

oh crap someone mentioned the div by zero error before I did! Ruined my huge highscore too..

I think this game is very proffesional but I really dont know where to place it in the comp… I guess we'll find out. The music is very awsome.

You need to make it seem more urgent when the player is about to loose. like the music going faster (if thats even possible) or flashing lights or something to make the player more nervious.

overall pretty nice.