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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: 0.864s | source
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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

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purple-leafy ◴[08 Apr 25 22:49 UTC] No.43627235[source]▶
Hey congratulations!

Did you approach Atlantic, or did they approach you?

I’ve had a word game in-mind for years, and several attempts to implement it. It’s a tricky one but I’ll crack it one day :)

My plan is to be acquired by a news company.

So, how did you go about this? I have some ideas myself

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1. no_wizard ◴[08 Apr 25 22:53 UTC] No.43627260[source]▶
>My plan is to be acquired by a news company.

I feel like this is going about it the wrong way. This puzzle game licensed by The Atlantic for example, was made because they wanted to provide a fun game experience for their patrons.

With games, the best games come from an organic experience. Its almost worse to have a preset plan.

Not to mention, making a game is work - you have to have approachability, rules think through alot of scenarios even for "simple" games to make sure things make sense etc - and if you haven't even done it before I highly suggest you actually try and make a game first

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2. purple-leafy ◴[09 Apr 25 00:45 UTC] No.43627871[source]▶
Thanks for your comment, I’ve toyed with this game idea for about 7 years, no preset plan from the get-go, but within the last year see an opportunity with aligning with a news site.

But I had all the game logic and flow mapped out long before I thought about platform.

Yes games are tough to make, I’ve made a few so far and it’s always a struggle