Hi. I am an actuary who has taken up the hobby of creating games for IOS. If you have an iPad/iPhone and like crosswords and/or word search, please check it out. If you like it, ratings and reviews on the App Store really help. Please let me know what you think.
Cross Search - Download Here
Interesting game. I like a lot about it. Didn’t realize there was a control for being able select any word, not just those tied to the clue, so even though it was enabled, I didn’t use it. One small issue, the touch control on selecting letters felt too restricted and I ended up having to very carefully select the starting or ending letter. Most answers took multiple tries to get the right letters selected. You might want to consider a help screen as well.
Thanks for the feedback. I agree that the touch control can be a little challenging on the phone especially. It is easier on an iPad. Also if you have thick fingers like me. I have improved this some, but will keep it on my list to keep looking for ways to improve. I will add a help screen in my next iteration which will probably be a month out. Thanks again.
I’m not much for word games but this one was fun enough. I’ll keep it on my phone for a while. We’ll see how much use it gets. If it doesn’t need an online connection it will be something to use when on a plane.
As OT said, It would be nice to have a help screen or an introduction to what’s going on/how it works. It wasn’t until 1/2 way through that I knew that the “hints” screen would give me the crossword clues. It wasn’t until the very last word that I noticed that it showed me information at the very bottom of the screen for one of the words to search for. I just jumped right in and started searching for words.
I’m on an iphone 12 pro max. I had no troubles with the controls.
Thanks. I am thinking about having a few little pop ups that point out key features the first time played.
1 Like
Forgot to mention that it does work offline.
1 Like
While in game there was no way to see how many hints I had left (or that I even had a limit). I was just tapping the “hint” button a bunch on the same word because I was curious to see how much it would bounce around but then I was suddenly out of them. Reveal Letters/Hints being from the same bank was surprising too, as they felt like different levels of helpfulness. I felt like you could just play this wordsearch style at first without paying attention to the clues at all, and only use the clues after you had gotten all the words you could see - maybe forcing you to only be able to select the word based on the clue below would help make it more difficult. Could be a “hard” mode or something.
Controls were fine on the phone, though I did occasionally have to retap to get the right first letter I wanted.
Also - to be honest I expected “reveal letter” to reveal the first letter of the clue, not necessarily show me where it was, which is fine, but helping with the word itself instead of just where in the puzzle it is might be an interesting hint.
Thanks for your feedback. There is an option in the settings screen that allows you to only be allowed to answer the current clue. I agree on having a hint total on the game screen. I just need to find a place to put it. Not a problem on an iPad but very limited space on a phone. I purposely allow people to use their hints to narrow down the search area or reveal a letter. I do differentiate when you run out as you can watch an ad for the hint box, but have to purchase for the reveal a letter. Have to make money somehow! Thanks again. I am glad I posted here. This has all been the best feedback I have gotten just in the few replies so far. I agree with your follow up. Will consider that as a future option.
Maybe “show all clues” could be shortened to “show clues” and then “hint” elongated to “hint - 2”. Disclaimer: I am not a developer/UI guy.
Good
idea
I believe this is standard app-game pricing:
Handful of clues 5 = $0.99
Basket of clues 55 = $9.99
Barrel of clues 555 = $99.99
What a deal!
Played this a few times now, I like the game and idea. I do wish the words overlapped a bit more often. It seems like most words just run parallel, making it a little easy.
FYI one clue I had said Montana Capital but the answer it wanted was Lincoln, so I think you meant Nebraska.
The pricing doesn’t make a lot of sense for a lot of apps, but you would be surprised how many people still buy the stuff. Being an actuary, mine makes a little more sense. If you want to see a sticker price shocker, see my Easy Business Case Financial Calculator app. People still buy it though.
The game levels are automated. You tend to get more variation when the answers are smaller. I have noticed in playing myself if you get more than a couple of 6+ letter words, they all get lined up next to each other. I can look into putting some constraints by word directions. Thanks for the feedback.
Forgot to mention I corrected the Montana Capital, but it will take until next release to show correctly in the game. Thanks.
Getting off topic a bit, but what the heck…
Indeed.
I didn’t even see your pricing structure when I made that comment. I was just going for the joke of how the various levels of numbers of clues are described. Add in “Boatload of clues 5555 = $999.42”
I was floored when I first heard about the revenue of a company like SuperCell. It’s unreal.
:yikes:
:yikes:^2 I suppose if you’ve got a great idea but not the financial wherewithal to put a business together it might be quite helpful.
Also, good for you.
How about making some stats available? Fastest game, average time to solve come to mind.
Thanks for the suggestion. I do have that on my list and I would expect that coming from an actuary. I didn’t put it out in the first versions because not that many people view the stat pages of my other apps. Of course, being an actuary, I have a tendency to overdo it. My Wordscraper game has so many stats that it makes a non-actuary’s head explode on sight of it. I will incorporate the two you suggest. Besides the stat’s page I do want to add banners when the game is finished to show new best times. I also will have a cute puppy telling you that you did a great job as opposed to the generic apple pop up box at the end of the game.