Cipher
Cipher is a daily word puzzle game built around a simple constraint: unscramble an eight-letter word by swapping two letters at a time. Each move challenges players to reason about letter placement while minimizing mistakes, with scoring and shareable results encouraging repeat play.
Technologies
Problem
Daily word games tend to rely on familiar mechanics like guessing, spelling, or anagrams. I wanted to explore whether a simple constraint could create a different kind of challenge, one focused less on vocabulary recall and more on spatial reasoning and strategy.
The challenge was to design a mechanic that was easy to understand, difficult to master, and simple enough to support a quick daily puzzle.
Solution
Created a daily word puzzle where players decipher a scrambled eight-letter word by strategically swapping two letters at a time within a limited number of moves.
Contributions
- 01 -
Designed the core word-swapping puzzle mechanic and gameplay rules.
- 02 -
Built the game using SvelteKit and TypeScript.
- 03 -
Developed letter selection, swapping, move tracking, and completion logic.
- 04 -
Created performance-based scoring and shareable results.
- 05 -
Implemented persistent daily-game state using localStorage.
- 06 -
Built automated tests for core gameplay and interactions using Vitest and Testing Library.