←back to thread

Thank HN: The puzzle game I posted here 6 weeks ago got licensed by The Atlantic

(www.theatlantic.com)
976 points brgross | 2 comments | 08 Apr 25 15:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
brgross ◴[08 Apr 25 15:11 UTC] No.43622720[source]▶
I posted Bracket City to HN on February 24th and the game went live yesterday on The Atlantic (!)

The game will stay free to play (and not require logging in). Also, I'm still making all the puzzles!

HN provided the first real infusion of players that weren't my mom's friends. So thanks everyone.

FWIW The Atlantic's team is amazing and got this live exactly 2 weeks from when we signed the deal.

This happened quick and I feel very lucky. The HN community of solvers keeps me honest with much helpful technical and editorial feedback. I love it all -- here or at mayor@bracket.city

T[Tom who befriended a volleyball] HN

PS my original post! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43160542

replies(21): >>43622917 #>>43622937 #>>43622955 #>>43623089 #>>43623453 #>>43623604 #>>43623637 #>>43623677 #>>43623702 #>>43623724 #>>43623904 #>>43624021 #>>43624153 #>>43624373 #>>43624746 #>>43624781 #>>43624987 #>>43625674 #>>43625924 #>>43627235 #>>43633629 #
InitialLastName ◴[08 Apr 25 15:30 UTC] No.43622955[source]▶
Congrats! My only feedback is that it's irritating to be counted "wrong" for naming a correct answer whose clue hasn't been simplified completely yet.
replies(9): >>43623005 #>>43623192 #>>43623493 #>>43623526 #>>43623881 #>>43624032 #>>43624858 #>>43630211 #>>43631380 #
SamBam ◴[08 Apr 25 17:08 UTC] No.43624032[source]▶
I had the same thought, but agree with others that it's the core part of the game.

I've played about a dozen of these now, and very often I can see what one of the big outer clues is way before I've worked out the inner clues.

If I just solve the big outer clue, the game is done in 20 seconds or so, and I'm not sure I'd keep coming back.

Rather, the challenge is to use what I've understood to work out the inner clues. This is tricky because I've got to keep more in my head at the same time, Towers of Hanoi-style. Or I sometimes write it out.

I have my notes in an open notepad from yesterday, so I can reproduce my thinking without spoiling today's:

[scold, with "at"]: hmmm, no idea.

[something golfers' apparently [scold, with "at"]]: not sure...

["there[something golfers' apparently [scold, with "at"]]]: Ah, ok, got it: [there[X]] has to be "therefore." So I see [something golfers' apparently [X]] is going to be "fore."

So if "fore" = "Something golfers apparently [X]" and X is [scold, with "at"], I can see that innermost one must be "yell."

replies(1): >>43624517 #
4rt ◴[08 Apr 25 17:48 UTC] No.43624517[source]▶
i think they're saying it shouldn't be counted as a fail, rather than it should be accepted as an answer at that point.

if not i agree with you. it'd be nice if it flashed green or something around the entire set of brackets but made you still answer all the sub-clues though.

replies(2): >>43625470 #>>43626551 #
1. echelon ◴[08 Apr 25 19:13 UTC] No.43625470[source]▶
Eat it and make the user think it's a failure, but don't count it negatively towards the score.

"If you answer early, we'll ignore your guess without letting you on."

replies(1): >>43625606 #
2. PebblesRox ◴[08 Apr 25 19:28 UTC] No.43625606[source]▶
Or maybe it could give some kind of extra credit for guessing a clue early. Or it could accept it, but still make you guess the interior clues, but when you get to the one, you already guessed, it shows it as already solved.