Rootle

Where word origins become your daily challenge!

Comment

Inspiration

I have my queue of daily puzzles - Wordle, Xordle, Connections, Worldle, Travle, Globle, Linxicon, just to name a few. I’ve become proficient in identifying country outlines, world capitals, and flags from my obsession with daily puzzles. I have a growing interest in etymology and word origins but couldn’t find a daily puzzle to add to my routine to supplement my learning! Thus, Rootle was born.

What it does

The puzzle challenges users to guess a word of the day. After each incorrect attempt, hints about the word's prefix, root, and suffix origins are revealed, guiding players closer to the correct answer.

Gameplay Logic

  • The app tracks user input and validates it against the word of the day.
  • Points are awarded to reddit users based on how quickly the word is guessed: 10 points on the first attempt, 8 points on the second, and so on, that contributes to their position on the leaderboard

Reddit-y-ness

To enhance engagement, I implemented a persistent leaderboard where users earn points for their guesses. Scores accumulate indefinitely, encouraging long-term participation and fostering competition.

Reddit trophies are awarded to the top 3 players, aligning with Reddit's leaderboard culture.

After a user surpasses 150 points, the user gets “Rootle Enthusiast” flair. After 300 points, “Rootle Master”.

How we built it

I built this interactive daily etymology puzzle using Devvit, Reddit's developer platform.

I designed a clean and visually appealing interface with a calming color palette (light beige, sage green, charcoal gray) to enhance focus and readability, dynamic text scaling to ensure UI components fit on the screen no matter the screen size, and smooth alignment of input boxes for seamless interaction.

I implemented dynamic word fetching logic using a date-based algorithm to ensure the word changes daily.

The app uses JavaScript to handle user input, guess validation, scoring, and hint displays.

What we learned

Besides getting used to the Devvit Developer Platform, I got to brush up on and learn a lot of Javascript.

What's next for Rootle

Next steps for Rootle is to refine various bugs that were left and add enhancements that were left out due to the time restriction of the hackathon. Currently, for the demo version there is only 15 words that can be possible solutions, so after 15 days, the solutions will repeat. Lastly, I’d love to improve from the feedback that’s given after submitting this project for a more polished daily word puzzle.

I see Rootle being a hit in etymology-related subreddits!

Built With

Share this project:

Updates