Comments on: Review: WordPop — Time To Dust Off Your Spelling Hat

By: dgoldring

dgoldring — Tue, 15 May 2007 00:58:20 +0000

Todd, that just goes to show how much more complicated these games are on the inside than on the outside.:)

Thanks.

Doug

By: Todd Sherman

Todd Sherman — Mon, 14 May 2007 21:45:48 +0000

Good thoughts about the translation. I do want to translate the game, the challenge is the frequency. The english version went through numerous rounds before I was happy with the letter frequency. The letter frequency determines which letters come up each round. I had to keep in mind the number of vowels available, which letters work well when doubled, like “TT” plus a host of otherissues. The is designed so you can clear the boards which is a unique and different than how many words can you make. I wanted the puzzle to be solvable and it is. Now to do this in another language will be a challenge. I relied on my language arts background. I would need to find someone equivalent for each language. Wish me luck.

By: spmwinkel

spmwinkel — Sun, 06 May 2007 15:52:32 +0000

Well I guess that they use a word database, and if they’d want to, they could program their games to support some kind of word database that is in a widely supported format. But that’s just wishful thinking I guess… For companies that focus their product line at wordgames, it might be worth considering though.

By: dgoldring

dgoldring — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:00:59 +0000

That is a good point. Unfortunately, I am not sure how easy it is to translate a game like WordPop into another langauge.

Doug

By: melvynadam

melvynadam — Sun, 06 May 2007 07:57:47 +0000

I loved this game when I tried it months ago. However I didn’t buy it. This is a classic example for the “Pocket PC Program Pricing… What’s your “breaking point”?” thread at:
http://justanothermobilemonday.com/Wordpress/2007/05/04/pocket-pc-program-pricing-whats-your-breaking-point/

Simply put, I like to play games on my PDA but they’re a guilty pleasure. So I find it tough to justify game-related expenditure.

By: spmwinkel

spmwinkel — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:52:52 +0000

I remember that game, we used to have a TV quiz show about that about 10 years ago or something like that. I wondered what happened to it since I always liked to watch it. The problem for me with word games is that when they are based on an English dictionary, there are so many words that I would miss simply because I’m not aware of their existence. When I’m lost, I’d just randomly tap some letters to see if they form a word, and where’s the fun in that… Too bad that the whole world doesn’t speak the same language, would make things a lot easier. (But less amusing too, sometimes )