Feature Progress / TODO List / Open Thread

This post is linked from the sidebar, so that it remains accessible for a long time. It has three purposes related to game features: keep you updated on which I am working on now, show you all of the suggestions, and provide a single place for new suggestions and discussion.

Evan is currently working on: Ensuring that everyone is able to play.

TODO List (will do, eventually) (no particular order yet)

• Interface options: "Classic", compact, large fonts
  
• Team-relative list of words found/not found/only I found
• Facebook application
• Google gadget
• Alternate scoring options: "no errors" bonus; only unique (or <=X%) count; 1 point per word; unique bonus; only N+ letter words
• Extended score display: # of words guessed, # of valid words, percentages found
  
• Clean up word list
• "Private" games
  
• Other languages (German, Italian, and Norwegian have been requested)
  
• Statistics / rankings / hall of fame
  
• Snapshots / game history.
  

Suggestion List (may do, if enough people support)

• Audible end-of-round clicks (option)
• Allow players to attach personal info to their name (location, IM, email, etc)
• Casual games: 5+ minute rounds, longer intervals
• Allow "Qu" cube to be treated as just "Q" (option)
• Alternate word lists (Scrabble, simplified, etc) selectable by player
• Press a key to submit the guess but not erase it, so it can be extended/edited.
  

Debating Deluxe Account Aspects

In response to the many insightful and helpful comments I've received, I'm going take a moment to lay out my basic principles with respect to the game, and the options that arise from those principles.

First, you will always be able to play for free. Always. Deluxe accounts will get extra features that (I hope) will enhance play, make the game more varied, and encourage donations, but people with those accounts will still be playing the same game. There will be no wall, no segregation of the masses from the elite. Right now, there's a temporary hack to improve performance that invisibly divides the game into "arenas". This will go away, for everyone.

Second, I want everyone to have a chance to experience Deluxe features. But I also want to encourage and reward supporters. These goals conflict. Free Deluxe accounts stand at one extreme, with sky-high fees for short account terms at the other. Balance is tricky. The easy part is lifetime accounts for certain extraordinary generous supporters I've mentioned in prior posts.

Now for the options. These aren't alternatives to each other, there more a sort of mix-and-match grab bag of idea. Please give feedback! All dollar amounts have been pulled out of thin air to provoke discussion - I'm not committed to any of them.
(edited to reflect feedback:)

• Lifetime accounts for $100
• Yearly accounts for $24 (working out to $2/month)
• "Calling plan" accounts for $5, giving 30 hours of Deluxe play. Only game time spent playing with Deluxe features turned on would consume the account's hours. Designed for infrequent and cash-strapped players.
• Deluxe days: free Deluxe features for all players, for a day, at either random or announced intervals.
• Hardship accounts: tell me that you love the game but plead extenuating circumstances (unemployed, law student, held prisoner in a fortune cookie factory, etc). But this has the potential to both eat into what little precious time I can devote to the game and force people to grovel. How can I avoid those drawbacks? Allow non-monetary donations of some sort, such as mailing me a nice bit of original art or a nice letter about how the game changed your life, or writing me in as a presidential candidate in 2008 (just kidding)?
• Free trial: Two hours of Deluxe play just for registering an account, then pay-only.
  

What do you think?

Snail Mail and Development Priorities

Although I have nothing profound (or even visible) to present to you, I want to keep you up on what's going on in my head. Also, donations by US mail began to arrive last Wednesday; Several people sent cards and/or wrote nice letters to me. If you mailed anything to me, please also send me an email with your real name and city so I can match up email addresses with letters. I need email addresses of donors so I can create accounts for you all when I roll out "Deluxe WEBoggle"; I have them already for all PayPal donors.

My first priority is a set of client-server changes that I've had in mind for quite a while. I've already written a new server, but the client-side is lacking because I was trying to combine the new functional code with a complete re-design of the site. Now, I'm going to back off on the re-design and simply adapt the current client code to work with the new server. This change should allow me to eliminate the "separate arenas" hack that is currently and arbitrarily dividing up players, yet still support several hundred players with ease. It should also completely eliminate "Too Late" words and other Internet bugaboos; Under the new plan, every word you guess within the time limit will be scored, and the only effect of Internet lag (or even complete loss of connection!) should be that other players might not see your full score and all your guesses.

The new code will also pave the way for "Deluxe" features. These will include the ability to "ban" other players (really just hiding them from you), play "private" games (only see players who have typed in the same game name), customize the scoring rules, and keep play statistics. I plan to make these features available to anyone who donates (or already has) by automatically creating "Deluxe WEBoggle" accounts. There will be lifetime accounts for those who have donated truly staggering amounts, yearly accounts for substantial donations, and some other kind for all other donors. The obvious "other kind" is monthly, but I don't feel completely comfortable with requiring monthly donations to keep an account alive. Any suggestions?