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madmonk
Show HN: I made a math puzzle game. Hope you like it madmonk13.github.io

I've been playing with this for quite some time and I think it's finally ready for public consumption. All feedback welcome.


wes13506 days ago

I'd prefer the rows, columns and diagonals to have their current sums visible next to the desired totals. Right now, it's tedious to have to add all the numbers up for each one.

prawn6 days ago

Tried a couple and didn't mind the concept, but agree that summing things gets tedious enough that I wouldn't continue, return or recommend it.

If the interface doesn't present an obvious way to add the current totals, it could be colour-coded in a way that experienced players possibly learn how far off they are. Use cool colours for under, and warm colours for over?

voisin6 days ago

This, 100%. I enjoyed it but as soon as I moved up to more challenging levels and found myself just repeating addition I got frustrated by the tedium.

koiueo6 days ago

To me that was the point of the puzzle.

Your suggestion would kill the challenge, turning the game into a casual dopamine inducer.

madmonkop5 days ago

Good suggestion!

wes13506 days ago

A nice feature would be "locking" black squares, or otherwise marking them somehow, to distinguish them from squares you may still switch in the future.

snarf216 days ago

Agreed. The black squares should turn white once a row AND column are correct. Otherwise, you just spend you time scanning right and down checking if that row/col is right again. It is tedium and not enjoyable.

ajjenkins5 days ago

Yeah, you should be able to manually lock or they should lock automatically once it’s guaranteed a tile is in the right place. Like if there’s only one black tile in a row and that row is correct.

poopsmithe6 days ago

It's frustrating how sometimes my clicks on the black tiles go unhandled.

ajjenkins5 days ago

Yeah, it feels like there’s a slight delay when you tap on a tile. I’m playing on an iPhone.

chabska5 days ago

The HTML structure is very problematic. You use a <table>, even though semantically the game grid is not a table of data. I would have used a <div> with display:grid , though this is not a big deal. The active cell is a <div> with onclick, which means the cursor doesn't show it as clickable and I can't even tab to it so keyboard play is impossible. There are ways to make a <div> look clickable, but it's easiest to just use <button> .

madmonkop5 days ago

Good point.

koiueo6 days ago

I liked the game as it is in terms of hints and assistance.

The only thing I at one point missed was the undo action. I accidentally fat-fingered two correctly placed squares, and although it was frustrating at first, in the end I appreciated the additional challenge.

throwaway6753095 days ago

It's a fun little game - the minimalistic UI/UX suits it well. I'd consider lowering the volume on the music. It doesn't really feel like it suits a casual puzzle game either.

geuis6 days ago

The audio stops my audio that's already playing.

anenefan7 days ago

Nice educational puzzle - I think possibly good for kids teaching them to add up in their own head.

galuggus6 days ago

Great music. Did you make it?

madmonkop5 days ago

Thanks! Yes, I made it with Auxy.

[deleted]8 days agocollapsed

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