Get it here! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wordvoyance/id1672135719
Wordvoyance is the world's first scrabble game playable by blind and sighted users alike, at the same time. For the global launch, we've added single player modes, a tutorial, and several quality of life improvements for screen readers and braille displays.
Comments
Who goes by SuperLeja?
Good morning,
I just downloaded the Wordvoyance app & found a friend request from someone, who goes by the username Superleja.
Does that ring a bell to anyone on here?
I didn't recognize it, which is why I'm asking.
Thanks!
I know that user.
I've played many games against superleja. One of our first enthusiasts during beta.
Not good withgreeds
When I try to make it work, they tell me to put the letters on outline. I might sound stupid, but how does a line work?
English is not my first language.
But I think you get the idea.
Letters in a line
If I understand you correctly, the game is telling you to place your tiles in a line, one after another, to form a word on the game board. You probably have one of your other rack tiles placed randomly elsewhere. I suggest tapping the Recall Tiles button at the button to return your tiles to the rack. This way, you can try again from the start.
Awesome news!
I am super adicted to this game. I mostly play single player games with the beginner bot because the second two bots out of the four just make me mad. LOL! Thank you very much for creating such a fun and challenging game.
Thank you!
That means a lot to me. If you'd like to challenge a human opponent with no pressure, send a friend request to themis_ben
I just might do that
When finances permit, I can see myself buying the life-time subscription to this game, but God only knows when finances will permit. In the mean time, I'll just enjoy one game at a time.
We're doing something withā¦
We're doing something with subscriptions we haven't seen anyone else do yet. Subscribers can make unlimited games with free users without affecting any user's free game limit. For instance, a parent can have a single subscription and make games with all of her children. Meanwhile, subscribers make it possible for all free users to enjoy the game without ads. It makes me feel good to hear you say you'd find it worthwhile, but in the mean time I hope our strategy gives you plenty to play until then.
great game!
After partially working through the demo, I! am! hooked!! However, there is a problem, and it is not yours. I have been a braille reader for many years, and I find that examining the board using speech is very difficult. As an example of my issue, when playing chess, I must use a phhysical chess board and men to figure my next move. Going through the board layout, square by square, would be an absolute nightmare. It is the same with this game. Any suggestions are welcome. I am using an iPhone 14 pro and IOS16.6. Voice-Over is the screen reader. If I can conquor this issue, a life time subscription is in my future, as this is the only Scrabble type game I have found, and it! is! great! Thanks.
Good evening Charlesā¦
Good evening Charles. Scrabble is a complex game by any standard, blind or not. Research into screen reader play is ongoing, but we and our beta testers have made some good progress:
First, take some time to skim over the game manual. We collect most of our findings there as documentation.
Second, I like your chess idea. You could similarly pick up a braille scrabble set and use it as a scratch pad for organizing your thoughts. Our board is 13 by 13 instead of scrabble's 15, but it could help.
Finally, we've added a number of features to help with navigation and planning. On iOS and desktop, you can cycle through the beginnings of words played in turn order with a shortcut. Three finger swipe left and right on iOS, and control left and right on desktop when focusing the board.
On iOS in particular, you can also set your own custom landmarks. Three finger swipe up to switch to custom landmark mode, and swipe down to set your place. Left and right switch between placements.
The Go To button at the bottom also houses some location shortcuts you might find useful for anchoring yourself as you theorycraft.
I personally like to use VoiceOver or TalkBack's drag and drop. Double tap and hold a rack tile to pick it up, and dragging it around the board will announce what's underneath with haptics firing for each board square. This allows me to scan the board quickly without the need for swiping.
Of course, all of this can and will be improved with user feedback. If you imagine some way I can change the game to suit your style, I can probably make it happen. This AppleVis thread, email, facebook, discord, and a number of other places are set up to receive this feedback and provide real time assistance for playing the game. Just let me know.
Struggling with the same issue as Charles
I always have this issue when a game has a sort of grid, or gameboard. Without being able to put my hands on the actual board (which is literally impossible in a case like this), I can't visualize the board and just end up frustrated. I'm going to keep working at it, because I love playing Scrabble. I was always told I'm a visual learner and have always learned better with Braille; I'm seeing now what everyone has meant over the years.
E-mail when it's your turn
Oops. Emails aren't supposedā¦
Oops. Emails aren't supposed to be sent by bots. I'll be fixing that. For now, email notifications are in the options screen. I recommend using the mobile apps as they provide proper push notifications anyway.
Suggestion.
I think a chat system would be nice.
Agreed. We have plans toā¦
Agreed. We have plans to make a "guided" chat and reaction system, but a full unmoderated chat kind of scares us. Words With Friends famously had or has creepo problems with theirs. What are your thoughts on the kind of chat system you'd find useful?
It depends on what you want.
Although I was thinking, a chat with one player to another, a.k.a. a conversation. Or groups. Who can be created and administrated by the players.
Or maybe
Both.
Put your usernames here
Hi,
Iām a huge fan of this game.
Iād also like to take a second to thank the developer for his hard work & generosity!
Since I've been helping with beta testing from the beginning & provided such helpful feedback, he gifted me a lifetime pro subscription.
I think after two years youā¦
I think after two years you earned it. Thank you for making this project at all possible!
Life hack for Braille users and tactile learners
This is going to work best with a Braille display or notetaker since you'll be modifying and editing as the game progresses (I used my ancient Humanware Braillenote Apex which I literally only keep around these days for reading and writing), but you could technically use a Perkins Brailler or slate and stylus if push comes to shove. Build a 13x13 grid using full Braille cells, and fill it in as new words get played. You'll have to keep tabs on both the in-app board and your tactile representation, which isn't ideal, but it's definitely prevented me from going nuts keeping track of where all the new letter connections on the in-app board are being made.
Life hack
Well, what if I added a text-only output you can pull up at will, formatted for braille readers? If you could give me an example format, I can make it happen.
I honestly think, and I knowā¦
I honestly think, and I know it's not what anyone wants to hear, it's a matter of practice. I don't think this is a game most blind people are going to be able to pick up and be brilliant at. Grid games are hard for most of us, there's no getting around that. As someone who just downloaded this a couple of days ago I freely admit I'm terrible at it, š.
For me, I find an iPad in landscape mode is a lot nicer for these types of games. Explore by touch on an iPad for me at least is pretty close to a hard copy board.
At least with this game you can take your time and think and explore without other people impatiently demanding you take your turn or accidentally moving tiles or something.
Text only output!
That sounds awesome!!! Lol I have no idea how it could be implemented, but I love the idea. I'm going to get my old BrailleNote out, create a grid on there, and give this another try.
getting a Scrabble set
I've been meaning to get one anyway, and found one for roughly $60 at Maxi Aids. After it arrives, if I can use it for a board that I can explore, Ben's getting my money, probably next month. I'll be able to work with this game for the rest of my life! I'm hooked on this unique game.
I only just recently got myā¦
I only just recently got my own braille display for development. Even made my own little braille alphabet learning game on themisgames to teach myself how to use it. Players had always reported braille working with Wordvoyance, at least for repeating the VO, but now I can really dig into supporting it specifically.
only in english?
I know you say it's in all regions, but it doesn't look like i can change the language from english.
The game is only playable inā¦
The game is only playable in English at this time, but it is available worldwide yes. If anyone can point me to usable word lists in other languages, I can begin the process of supporting them.
Rotor actions?
I wonder if a rotor action to jump between starts of words might lessen the load on understanding the grid? I am another really struggling with this, and it would personally help me to be able to just quickly swipe to the start of any word on the board. Then, between swiping left and right and vertical navigation I could see where the free spaces were. I recognize it might get to be a lot to swipe through as the game progresses, but if you were somehow able to limit it to words that are open for play, it might be something to consider! I'm not sure how practical this is--I need to spend more time with this game--but just a thought from what little I've seen and the reading of this forum thread.
I really love the idea of this, and we desperately need more multiplayer word games, but my own frustration with grids may end up keeping me from this one, long term. I have tried many times and even with a physical board I struggle. Still, I'm extremely grateful for your thorough development of something that can be very hard to make accessible. Thank you so much, and well done!
I can answer the part aboutā¦
I can answer the part about swiping between the starts of words. This feature is already implemented on iOS and desktop. Swipe with three fingers left or right to go between words, and control of left or right on desktop.
Very helpful, thank you!
I don't know how I managed to miss this, but I very much appreciate it!
You can set your rotor toā¦
You can set your rotor to headings on iOS (I believe) and quickly go between sections including the board and rack. I prefer tab and shift tab on desktop, though, as it keeps your place per section.
Stuck in the settings
I absolutely love this game. I play with my sighted wife. Thereās only one thing. I can not get out of the options screen no matter what i do. Also I canāt tell if Iāve toggled an option on and off. I Iāve tried hitting save but it doesnāt take me out. Any help would be great!
board size curiosity
Just curious as to why the board size is not 15 by 15 as in Scrabble? Not a big issue, just a bit odd. Come to think of it, a suggestion: To make the game easier, how about board size and number of available tiles? 8 by 8 grid using 50 tiles as an easier level option.
Agreed on smaller board size
I can only guess that the 15 by 15 board size might literally not fit? I like the idea of having an option to play using a smaller board size.
Re: Derrick, stuck in the options menu
Re: Derrick, stuck in the options menu: I just re-tested the options menu and found it to be working on the devices in front of me. Of course, Android fails to announce when an option changes on activation, but that's a TalkBack bug and Google is aware of it. Could you tell me what combination of device and screen reader you're using so I can verify your findings?
Re: charles, board size curiosity
Re: charles, board size curiosity: The unique 13x13 board was chosen for a number of gameplay and UX reasons, but most prominently I wanted the games to go a little faster without using WWF's cramped 11x11 board, and I wanted screen reader users to have a comfortable board tile size for scanning with a finger. I am so far happy with these design choices, but custom game modes are planned in the future that would support different board sizes and layouts. Toward your suggestion of an 8x8 board specifically, smaller boards can be unintuitively harder to play than larger ones, but could be fun for that custom rules feature I mentioned. It's also noteworthy that an even number of tiles across would not have a clearly defined center tile.
Figured it out
Hello Ben. It wouldnāt allow me to change any settings unless youāre logged in
Were you playing as a guestā¦
Were you playing as a guest before? I'll go review that code.
I can now announce I'll beā¦
I can now announce I'll be presenting Wordvoyance at the Seattle Indies Expo on September 4th. If you or any of your friends are in the Pacific Northwest, stop by and say hello! https://six.seattleindies.org/
Favorite game
Other than the soccer manager game I play, this game quickly become my favorite game. Thanks to the developer for making an accessible scrabble game my wife and I havenāt stopped playing ever since we downloaded it. Scrabble is a crazy game to begin with because of all the entanglement of words and letters but I found this easy and very much accessible to follow once you figure out the layout. If you know how to play scrabble, the rest is straight forward. The grid is actually perfect for portrait mode. My name is thatboydbrown If anyone wants to play. I have the free version.
Also, my wifeās name is Primereb if anyone would like to add her as well. Dues also free version
High praise, thank you! I'llā¦
High praise, thank you! I'll send a friend request and start a game with you.
Braille update
Just a quick weekend update: the requested feature for a text output mode for braille readers is now in testing. I plan to release this feature next week. Stay tuned to this thread.
Weāre new builds released?
Good afternoon,
Were new builds released, which include this new feature for those of us who use braille displays?
Iād love to test it.
Would love to challenge some people.
Hi. My username is bookwolf. Please throw some friend requests/challenges my way :)
Re: KE8UPE - I've added youā¦
Re: KE8UPE - I've added you as a tester and will continue our DM on Twitter for instructions.
Re: bookwolf - Welcome in! I've sent you a friend request.
By the way
By the way, my username on wordvoyance is firefly85
Firefly - Everything goingā¦
Firefly - Everything going okay in that game we're playing? You've been swapping and passing. I just want to make sure nothing appears broken.
Yes, itās just that
Yes, itās just that I donāt understand some aspects, even though I thought I did. For example, I know how to place gutters, and I know that words cannot overlap with other words, but what I donāt understand is I pick a word and try to put it close to where the other persons word is so the two words connect, but I either get a message, saying that the words are invalid, or, the words need to connect. Do the words need to have something to do with one another? Any explanation on how to lay words out on the grid so they connect would be great. I am brand new on this tried to look up YouTube videos on it that wasnāt much help.
I'd be happy to play aā¦
I'd be happy to play a guided game with you to teach the rules. A DM on Discord, Facebook, or other social net of your choice would be the more appropriate venue for that, but I could advise you on plays with explanations as we go. I'm Ben or "vampirebox" in the Discord.
More generally, though, the rules are simple even if navigating a grid can be complex. Every play must form a crossword, and every crossword must be a valid word. The easiest example would be to make an existing word on the board plural by adding an S tile to the end of it. If that S was part of its own valid word, you get points for both.