Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/words-master/id1503254593 Words Master Small Bedroom Studios LTD Do you like playing games such as, crossword puzzles, trivia games, quiz games, scrabble, word games? Then we think you’… $0.99 Buy Now Watch Media DetailsDo you like playing games such as, crossword puzzles, trivia games, quiz games, scrabble, word games? Then we think you’d love Words Master! Simply make as many words as you can within a time limit e.g. R E _ _ _ _ _ _ Review Reply Replay etc. Words Master is a fun educational brain training word game that will help to improve your mental sharpness, spelling and expand your vocabulary. Words Master also doubles up as a great time killer for all situations. Work or play we got you covered. Warning! This game may disrupt your sleeping pattern until you set a high score. Brain training has never been more fun or relaxing, once you start playing you won’t be able to put it down. Features: • Brain training - word game • Vocabulary builder • Increases the recall speed of your vocabulary • Increase your active memory usage of vocabulary • Boosters – to enhance your gameplay • Think you’re a word master? Prove it with your high score. • Cross platform leaderboard Stats: Track key statistics such as • High score • Highest word entered • Most words entered Coming soon: • Average scores • More data insights Information Seller:Small Bedroom Studios LTD Genre:Arcade, Word Release:Apr 08, 2020 Updated:May 31, 2020 Version:1.1.9 Size:241.0 MB TouchArcade Rating:Unrated User Rating:Unrated Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Ryan Robinson likes this. Collin Well-Known Member Jul 29, 2010 719 46 28 Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Art Director Colorado Springs, CO https://www.theislandsofmisfitcreativity.com/ #2 Collin, Jul 21, 2020 Last edited: Jul 21, 2020 Playing on an iPhone 11 Pro Max running iOS 13.5.1 Upon launch you are greeted with a ToS saying how your info will be collected and used. After clicking "Yes" I went to the shop to see what the IAP is like: I do that with any game that has IAP. There are three packs for coins, but for some reason the prices are in GBP pounds: £0.99 for 100 coins £1.99 for 400 coins £4.99 for 2000 coins That's all that can be bought with actual money. The power ups (Freeze Time - 20cn, Add Word - 50cn, Hint - 10cn) are each bought with coins. The backgrounds and keyboards also cost coins, but are priced much higher at 400 - 600 coins. From a gameplay perspective I see problems already, assuming you are someone for whom scoreboards matter. With the power ups being so much more affordable than the cosmetics – and depending on how your coins are calculated after a game – I would expect people to use their coins primarily on power ups in order to increase their scores and get more coins or to rise higher on the leaderboard. That could lead to a "pay-to-win" situation. Luckily for me I don't care about scoreboards. Is there a scoreboard that excludes any games where power ups were used? It doesn't look like it. Also, at this time, I'm not seeing anyone on the leaderboards. (edit) After I played my first game the scoreboards populated. Note to dev: You misspelled "Leaderboard" under the button at the bottom of the screen, and the "d" is dropping a line: Also, the bar to swipe out of the app isn't hidden, so it's cutting across the words "Stats" and "Home". (edit) and I just realized that "Shop" on the shop page is being cut off by the wonderful iPhone notch. Oh, snap. I guess I started with 500 coins because I just accidentally bought a keyboard while trying to scroll through them. That was a surprise. Oh well. I guess I have the blue keyboard now. On to my first game... Man, time does fly. That said, the game was fun except for one thing. When it starts, it starts. A three-second countdown to allow you to get your bearings would be nice. The first round was several seconds in before I realized it was on. The other thing that will take getting used to is typing out a word without the starting letters. Oh, and I got 25 coins. I don't know what determines how many coins you get. I'll play one more time right now to see if it's 25 every time. Note to dev: This playthrough I think I accidentally hit the "redo" button instead of the next when the round was over. I would recommend having the "next" button larger and closer to the results box – maybe even overlapping it somewhat since there's a fair amount of room at the bottom of the results box – instead of in the bottom right corner of the screen. eg: Note to dev: Nope, I guess not. It's just each round was only two letters this time for some reason. Also, I got "CO" again, and every word I had entered the first time I got "CO" in the previous game wouldn't count... but I also don't have a list of words I've already used, so THAT was annoying. If it stores every word I've entered and won't let me use them again in future games, I expect I'll be finished with the game before I earn enough coins for another keyboard or background. Not only is it not 25 coins each time, I got one more word than the first time and 11 fewer coins. So it must have to do with the total score, and longer words are worth more points. Final note to dev: the stopwatch looks nice, but it's hard to gage the remaining time at a glance. The option to have a digital time display would be nice. I also didn't notice either game if there was an audible cue that time was running out. I'd recommend either the music were to speed up, or something – but not something too jarring, just enough to give the player an idea that time is running out. Maybe start it at 15 seconds remaining? ---- My verdict after two rounds of the game: I like it, and for me it was easily worth the asking price even with the bits I didn't care for, but if it hangs on to every word I've entered in previous games it will have limited lasting appeal for me. My vocabulary is large, but it's not infinite, and for "CO" to have already appeared as the prompt in two games is concerning. --- (edit) Final edit. I tried to send a message through the game's built in Feedback form and everything locked up, so I have no idea if it sent or not, and had to force close the game. sebgo, aussiepaul and Ryan Robinson like this. Ryan Robinson New Member Jul 21, 2020 3 2 3 Male #3 Ryan Robinson, Jul 21, 2020 Awesome review Collin, thank you for taking the time to leave such a detailed reviewed. This not only serves as vital feedback for myself the dev to improve the game, but offers useful insight to other people thinking about buying the game. I have made a note of the issues that you have mentioned, and I plan to fix them within the upcoming weeks. I really liked your take on the pay-to-win element by having the pricing of power-ups being more affordable than the designs. This was something that I missed during development and testing. Overall I hope you enjoyed the game Collin likes this. Collin Well-Known Member Jul 29, 2010 719 46 28 Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Art Director Colorado Springs, CO https://www.theislandsofmisfitcreativity.com/ #4 Collin, Jul 21, 2020 Last edited: Jul 21, 2020 You're welcome. I am enjoying the game, and not being a score chaser I'm not worried about people buying the top slots on the leaderboard through purchase and use of the power ups. I'm no longer in my prime, so my mind doesn't move as fast as it used to. Still, for people who might want to play on an equal footing, I'd strongly recommend an indication of when scores were accomplished with power ups, or a separate set of boards that are exclusively "no power ups" – since the ones who use power ups are likely going to force the others off the bottom. I'd also like to suggest a "Zen" mode, where there isn't a timer and the player can focus on recalling as many words that fit the prompt as they can. Then, instead of a "next round" button, they can hit a "new prompt" button that starts a new round. No leaderboard for that, of course, but you could track personal bests for Zen mode. sebgo and Ryan Robinson like this. Ryan Robinson New Member Jul 21, 2020 3 2 3 Male #5 Ryan Robinson, Jul 22, 2020 Fantastic, really good ideas once again. Zen mode is a great idea, definitely adds another dimension to the game. sebgo Well-Known Member Dec 26, 2010 836 399 63 Male 95% leisure. Somewhere in a town amidst the Amazon jungle. http://www.google.com #6 sebgo, Jul 22, 2020 Crashes after round 3 is over, unless the game is played while connected to the internet (probably in order to comply with ToS and their data gathering). I only play games completely offline, mostly due to constant connectivity issues, unless I'm aware from the start that I'll need an active internet connection all the time (games like Trivia Crack or Golf Blitz, for which I actually play at kinda specific times when I know internet access is more stable), but they're usually free. So, uhm, is this gonna be fixed? Ryan Robinson New Member Jul 21, 2020 3 2 3 Male #7 Ryan Robinson, Jul 22, 2020 hi Sebgo, Thank you for the feedback. I can confirm this is an unintentional bug that makes the game unplayable while offline, please accept my apologies and I will get an update to fix this shortly. Thanks sebgo likes this. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Show Ignored Content Share This Page Tweet Your name or email address: Password: Forgot your password? Stay logged in
Playing on an iPhone 11 Pro Max running iOS 13.5.1 Upon launch you are greeted with a ToS saying how your info will be collected and used. After clicking "Yes" I went to the shop to see what the IAP is like: I do that with any game that has IAP. There are three packs for coins, but for some reason the prices are in GBP pounds: £0.99 for 100 coins £1.99 for 400 coins £4.99 for 2000 coins That's all that can be bought with actual money. The power ups (Freeze Time - 20cn, Add Word - 50cn, Hint - 10cn) are each bought with coins. The backgrounds and keyboards also cost coins, but are priced much higher at 400 - 600 coins. From a gameplay perspective I see problems already, assuming you are someone for whom scoreboards matter. With the power ups being so much more affordable than the cosmetics – and depending on how your coins are calculated after a game – I would expect people to use their coins primarily on power ups in order to increase their scores and get more coins or to rise higher on the leaderboard. That could lead to a "pay-to-win" situation. Luckily for me I don't care about scoreboards. Is there a scoreboard that excludes any games where power ups were used? It doesn't look like it. Also, at this time, I'm not seeing anyone on the leaderboards. (edit) After I played my first game the scoreboards populated. Note to dev: You misspelled "Leaderboard" under the button at the bottom of the screen, and the "d" is dropping a line: Also, the bar to swipe out of the app isn't hidden, so it's cutting across the words "Stats" and "Home". (edit) and I just realized that "Shop" on the shop page is being cut off by the wonderful iPhone notch. Oh, snap. I guess I started with 500 coins because I just accidentally bought a keyboard while trying to scroll through them. That was a surprise. Oh well. I guess I have the blue keyboard now. On to my first game... Man, time does fly. That said, the game was fun except for one thing. When it starts, it starts. A three-second countdown to allow you to get your bearings would be nice. The first round was several seconds in before I realized it was on. The other thing that will take getting used to is typing out a word without the starting letters. Oh, and I got 25 coins. I don't know what determines how many coins you get. I'll play one more time right now to see if it's 25 every time. Note to dev: This playthrough I think I accidentally hit the "redo" button instead of the next when the round was over. I would recommend having the "next" button larger and closer to the results box – maybe even overlapping it somewhat since there's a fair amount of room at the bottom of the results box – instead of in the bottom right corner of the screen. eg: Note to dev: Nope, I guess not. It's just each round was only two letters this time for some reason. Also, I got "CO" again, and every word I had entered the first time I got "CO" in the previous game wouldn't count... but I also don't have a list of words I've already used, so THAT was annoying. If it stores every word I've entered and won't let me use them again in future games, I expect I'll be finished with the game before I earn enough coins for another keyboard or background. Not only is it not 25 coins each time, I got one more word than the first time and 11 fewer coins. So it must have to do with the total score, and longer words are worth more points. Final note to dev: the stopwatch looks nice, but it's hard to gage the remaining time at a glance. The option to have a digital time display would be nice. I also didn't notice either game if there was an audible cue that time was running out. I'd recommend either the music were to speed up, or something – but not something too jarring, just enough to give the player an idea that time is running out. Maybe start it at 15 seconds remaining? ---- My verdict after two rounds of the game: I like it, and for me it was easily worth the asking price even with the bits I didn't care for, but if it hangs on to every word I've entered in previous games it will have limited lasting appeal for me. My vocabulary is large, but it's not infinite, and for "CO" to have already appeared as the prompt in two games is concerning. --- (edit) Final edit. I tried to send a message through the game's built in Feedback form and everything locked up, so I have no idea if it sent or not, and had to force close the game.
Awesome review Collin, thank you for taking the time to leave such a detailed reviewed. This not only serves as vital feedback for myself the dev to improve the game, but offers useful insight to other people thinking about buying the game. I have made a note of the issues that you have mentioned, and I plan to fix them within the upcoming weeks. I really liked your take on the pay-to-win element by having the pricing of power-ups being more affordable than the designs. This was something that I missed during development and testing. Overall I hope you enjoyed the game
You're welcome. I am enjoying the game, and not being a score chaser I'm not worried about people buying the top slots on the leaderboard through purchase and use of the power ups. I'm no longer in my prime, so my mind doesn't move as fast as it used to. Still, for people who might want to play on an equal footing, I'd strongly recommend an indication of when scores were accomplished with power ups, or a separate set of boards that are exclusively "no power ups" – since the ones who use power ups are likely going to force the others off the bottom. I'd also like to suggest a "Zen" mode, where there isn't a timer and the player can focus on recalling as many words that fit the prompt as they can. Then, instead of a "next round" button, they can hit a "new prompt" button that starts a new round. No leaderboard for that, of course, but you could track personal bests for Zen mode.
Fantastic, really good ideas once again. Zen mode is a great idea, definitely adds another dimension to the game.
Crashes after round 3 is over, unless the game is played while connected to the internet (probably in order to comply with ToS and their data gathering). I only play games completely offline, mostly due to constant connectivity issues, unless I'm aware from the start that I'll need an active internet connection all the time (games like Trivia Crack or Golf Blitz, for which I actually play at kinda specific times when I know internet access is more stable), but they're usually free. So, uhm, is this gonna be fixed?
hi Sebgo, Thank you for the feedback. I can confirm this is an unintentional bug that makes the game unplayable while offline, please accept my apologies and I will get an update to fix this shortly. Thanks
