Wk4 – Update 1

I finally have my Time Machine.

That was my reaction to playing the first Sixward prototype. Even with limited features, I was shocked by how complete the experience felt. It actually worked.

I had expected considerably less. Thit had asked more than 100 clarifying questions. The conversation had become very long, with plenty of context drift, and I figured the whole thing might have disappeared down a rabbit hole. Instead, playing it brought me right back to the feeling of first playing Ishido (but with different shapes) on Paul’s PS/1 and seeing those “amazing” VGA graphics.

A game I had imagined was suddenly a game I could play.

And it is fun.

I’m starting to figure out the strategy: how to maximize points instead of just placing tiles wherever they fit. More encouragingly, the friends I shared it with kept playing. They weren’t just testing it once to be polite. They kept playing.

Sherry leveled up to Square and could already see how changing the geometry would demand different patterns and a different strategy. That was a satisfying moment. Thwe did it: a game worth playing. One I could not have made myself. Not even close.

My vision, thit’s execution, for the win.

Of course, the prototype came with some prototype behavior. Wildcards weren’t following the rules correctly. That was an easy enough fix, although frustrating while I was playing. I also accidentally swiped my browser a few times and closed a game in progress. Coming back meant starting with a new board. That needs fixing.

Getting the pictures right has been a different kind of challenge.

I recently listened to Freakonomics Radio episode 619, which discussed things AI couldn’t do at the time, including understanding what was in a picture. Thit has become pretty good at that. Keeping the image creation tool focused is another matter. It has less of an attention span than a child: drifting between ideas, seemingly starting over, and leaving out something already agreed upon.

Pictures helped communicate what I wanted. Apparently, they really do say a thousand words, but those need to be exactly the right thousand words. I’m thinking about how to build may way around this. Something to put into the briefcase, or maybe its own project one week. Not sure.

Back to sharpening the axe.

Meanwhile, I got a bit inspired, or maybe it was too much Kraken and Coke.

I should have stuck with Jack, but I can’t argue with the fully working v1.0 that I could play on Monday.

Once thit had several days of project context, it became very easy to ask for huge, complicated features with a few basic prompts.

I can always revert to a working version. Why not reach for the stars?

I ran a few more simulations using my test agent, found a few weird experiences, but it works. I could ship it today, but now I want to make it more than my first game, I want to make something that people will love to play.

There is a lot to polish about the user experience. A whole lot.

I think this is the only update this week, have a funeral to go to on Friday.

I can’t wait to share what thwe built!