Brailliance - a new game by Wordvoyance

By Ben Ritter, 4 March, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS Gaming
We made a new game called Brailliance! Count the dots and guess the word to win. It's simple and addictive, and also fully accessible. It's also a lot of fun for sighted people. It might even teach a little bit of braille along the way. You can play it in your web browser on our site: https://www.themisgames.com/brailliance/menu We could really use your feedback. Our next step is to create an iOS and Android app of the game.

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Comments

By TheBllindGuy07 on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 10:42

Some bug I'll detail later on, but this game is very original and actually fun to play! Thanks.

By Paige on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 10:42

I am loving this game so far. My only issue is trying to input guesses with a Braille display. Sometimes I can get the letters to register, but most of the time it's not working for me.

By Ashleigh Piccinino on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 10:42

Hello,
I guess the dot numbers are spoken by JAWS for everything in the word? I also assume you use your same account you created for the word game? I'll have to find my password if my own account's still up--probably not as I've not played in a while ... months, that is! I would think it would be easier with a Braille display, but what if the word/s--say there were more than one word to find--were more than 20 cells in length? Of course, a word for each cell/part of cell if they're spread out as dot numbers.

By David Standen on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 10:42

I started playing this game tonight and love it. It's fun and challenging. Since I am employed as a Braille proofreader, I am going to share this with colleagues, as I think they will also enjoy playing.

By Ben Ritter on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 10:42

Thanks for all the praise! This has been a fun project.

We just made a tweak to the gameplay. Players suggested the game was too difficult starting out, so now we allow guesses up to the dot limit. I think this opens up the possibilities for early guesses, even though you still have to count and figure out the correct word at the end. Try it out and let us know if you like this better.

Paige: I'm using the perkins keys on a Focus 40. I think like in Wordvoyance, I have to use 8-dot input mode for it to work. The Focus products buffer other forms of input before sending it to the browser. In 8-dot mode, it doesn't have to do that. Let me know if that works.

Ashleigh: Brailliance does not require logging in. At least, not yet. Eventually, it will be tied in with Themis Games accounts, and anyone who already bought Wordvoyance will get Brailliance at no extra charge.

By Kevin Shaw on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 10:42

I just tried the web version and it's very nicely done. Is the app a native app or this web version in a native wrapper?

By Ben Ritter on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 10:42

We're still deciding what to do with the app version of Brailliance. Since we already had an app wrapper for Wordvoyance, we repurposed it for Brailliance as well. The app wrapper gives us several capabilities the webview can't provide by itself, and it allows us to lean on the accessibility features built for the web. We currently have an Android app testing the waters in a few countries, and will likely do the same for iOS next week.

However, we are also considering porting Brailliance to Unity. Accessibility controls there are finally worth looking into, and it would provide a better experience over time. I don't like jumping through hoops every time Apple decides to rip away accessibility features from us (like vertical navigation in Wordvoyance), and being able to recover from low connectivity situations would be easier.