Show HN: Alphabet Soup, a multiplayer game, build the longest word to win
alphabetsoup.clubI've been working on a simple multiplayer word game called Alphabet Soup.
It's a bit like NYT Spelling Bee, except it's multiplayer and only your best (longest) word counts toward your score. So, instead of trying to find as many words as possible, the game is more about finding one unusually good word.
You can play with friends in a private match, or, you can join a public Arena match to play against other players who are online. If no one else is around, you'll be matched with a bot.
The game works well with just 2 players, but, also works with bigger groups since the game isn't turn-based.
Would love to hear any thoughts or questions :)
Idea: it would be more interesting/competitive if you could immediately see others' submissions, and if those words were then "taken" and can't be reused.
Currently you're just kind of twiddling your thumbs after you submit and run out of ideas.
It was also not immediately obvious to me that you can submit multiple words, so I was wasting time entering and deleting attempts before finally submitting the best one.
Finally, instead of fixed timers between rounds, you might want to have a "Ready!" or "Go!" button.
This is a lot of fun! I'm pleased that I was able to defeat "hitler1488", but you may want to add some auto-moderation for the name choosing step.
Good idea. And thanks for checking it out!
Nice!
Needs a chat space to say "gg" at the end. It could even be just a button that does just that, if you're worried about unmoderated chat. Competitive games feel unfinished without it!
I was in second place for the first three rounds and then swept to the front on the last round.
Adding chat is a good idea, thanks for the input. Thanks for checking it out!
As well recommend but make it limited chat.
A way to salute and say well done does make the experience more fun.
I'm the horrible kind of person to go off and use an AI-assisted cheat that can be pasted into the console. Very fun game, nonetheless!
A word got denied with the error "Word was already used". I had in fact not used it already, neither had any of the others. That caused me to lose the game, very unsatisfying. (nice game otherwise)
I think I know what went wrong. Right now, even unscored words are not allowed to be reused. Will post a quick fix. Thanks for the precise bug report!
Gentle and fun. Reminds me of isketch back in the days of flash.
I look forward to playing this with my mother.