Up or down?

Inspiration

I was inspired by the Higher Lower game where you guess which Google term has more search. It was a very simple, fun and engaging game with great replayability. The Reddit ecosystem and the Devvit API provided a perfect base for the birth of this game.

What it does

It selects two subreddits from a curated pool. You are shown the member count of the top subreddit, and will guess whether the bottom subreddit has more/less members by clicking the up/down-vote button.

How we built it

A lot of playtesting and fast iteration. The concept was simple enough that I was able to explore many different gameplay and UX possibilities to ensure the game is accessible and has depth. I considered multiple ways to "manipulate" difficulty, but ended up realizing that RNG itself is the most fun, given a sufficiently large and well-curated subreddit pool.

Challenges we ran into

It's my first time working with Reddit's native library Blocks. It is not the most mature ecosystem. Eventually, I was able to figure out the best practices given the limited options.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The game being simple and easy to grasp, is really addicting to play. There was always temptation to make it more complex than it should be but simplicity with depth is in my opinion the rarest breed.

I also managed to structure the codebase well enough, that I'd be excited to jump back in any time.

What we learned

Technically, I learned how to make a Reddit app. It is a unique ecosystem that I look forward to contributing in the future. Mentally and creatively, I learned how to keep things simple, and how important playtesting is - it must be fun to play for yourself, first of all. The minimal UI approach is tricky but immensely rewarding.

What's next for Up or down?

Depending on the reception, I do see a possibility that this game becomes a staple reddit game. After all, it interacts with the core concept of reddit. It helps introducing new subreddits to users. It activates a certain kind of intuition that comes with using the product.

Specifically, I'd like to explore difficulty curve, global leaderboard, community challenge, and subreddit rotation.

Built With

• blocks
• devvit
• redis
• typescript