Septagon

Septagon is NYT Spelling Bee for speedrunners! Players chain together letters to create words with a required letter. Septagon adds a unique Letter Unlock mechanic at specific intervals.

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Inspiration

I was inspired by NYT Spelling Bee but I didn't like that I had to know archaic words in order to complete it. I was more interested in quickly finishing a Spelling Bee with some sort of compelling game loop. I landed on something inspired by Old School Runescape, where progress unlocks new "tiers" of gameplay.

What it does

Septagon is a daily word building game with a unique twist. Players chain together letters to create words, with one letter being required. Unlike Spelling Bee, Septagon adds a unique Letter Unlock mechanic at specific intervals. This rewards dozens of new words for players as they progress through the game.

The core gameplay loop follows this pattern:

  • Letters are presented, with one being required (denoted by royal purple highlight).
  • Player combines letters into a valid word.
  • Player receives points and a potential Letter Unlock should they pass the threshold to unlock the new letter.
  • Repeat.

For example (this game is illustrated in attached mockups):

  • Player begins at the Diamond Tier and is presented with four letters (example: S, P, O, A - with A being the required letter) They are prompted to create a word* in order to unlock the Pentagon Tier, which comes with an additional letter.
  • Player creates a word (SOAP).
  • Points are awarded for the 4-letter word, are promoted to Pentagon Tier, and a new letter, L, appears.
  • Player is prompted to create 5 words* in order to progress to Hexagon Tier, which unlocks a new letter.
  • Player creates five new words (OPAL, ALSO, LAPS, SLAP, and OPALS).
  • Points are awarded for each along the way, and they are promoted to Hexagon Tier, and a new letter, E, appears.
  • Repeat until they reach Septagon Tier (7 letters). At this point, they are trying to find the Septagonal word or compete for unique badges.

Note. The number of words required to unlock a tier depends on how many possible words are available to unlock that tier. It may not always be 1 word moves you from Diamond to Pentagon or 5 words moves you from Pentagon to Hexagon. This would be done algorithmically - i.e. if the player enters 40% of possible words, elevate them to the next tier.

How we built it

I built this with a Vue 3 stack.

Challenges we ran into

I had built a much more challenging game in the past (blockables.app) so this was a much easier walk in the park. Challenges included getting the game design right, working on some eye candy, and making it feel good on mobile and desktop.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Everyone I show this too is obsessed with it. My friend Josh said that it's the only game that has encouraged him to take his phone into the bathroom with him! I'm also really proud of coming up with a game with a simple algorithmic puzzle generation system as opposed to handmade (Blockables puzzles took like... 15 minutes to make EACH).

What we learned

Complexity doesn't make a good game (see Blockables). Simple mechanics, implemented thoughtfully can be just as, if not way more, compelling.

What's next for Septagon

Not sure! Hopefully it's the next big game on Reddit :)

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