I would like to announce that I have released the second and biggest update of synonymy yet: Synonymy 3.0. Not much looks different, but behind the scenes, the engine has been totally reimagined. When showing the game at E3 and GDC, there were two consistent complaints:
1) The game is too difficult, even on the easiest setting
2) Getting close to your goal word and then having to scour for exact synonyms is far less enjoyable than manipulating meanings of words and exploring homonyms etc...
To address these issues, I did the following:
Before, the order of synonyms on pages were organized randomly. This made digging for the right word a lot more difficult and labor-intensive. Now there's a sophisticated algorithm that, depending on the difficulty level, organizes these synonyms for you to make the game clearer on lower difficulty settings.
When you are two or three "levels" or moves away from your goal, this algorithm is kicked into even higher gear, so the game becomes easier as you get closer. This way, the challenge is more consistent across the entirety of the game.
Everyone I've shared the new build with agrees it's a much more fulfilling experience. It was important for me to not dumb down the game or sacrifice anything in my effort to make it more successful and I think this new build accomplishes that.
The scoring system has been reworked to reflect this new engine. Many bug fixes and performance improvements have been made, and I hope to have a free demo out shortly. A quick note -- the challenge code system still works as intended but result in different words now, a consequence of rebuilding the database and making it more accurate. That's why this week's challenge had two different paths :)
I really can't thank you enough for all your support of the game. It's been such a wonderful experience for me being able to make this and share it with all of you.
My very best,
- Chris