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Slick Math
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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The day before yesterday I was driving to Massachusetts, and since I had time to kill (I really hate driving long distances) I got thinking about some really fun and interesting math problems with really "slick" solutions. By "slick" I mean, simple and elegant solutions.
I decided it would be nice to have a place on The Problem Site for problems like that, so last night I created a new resource for the site: Slick Math!
If you enjoy math problems with surprisingly easy solutions, you'll enjoy these pages.
 Labels: slick math, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Games and Quizzes for Younger Children
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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A month or two ago I started work on The Problem Site: Junior Edition, a section of The Problem Site specifically designed for younger children. The games in this section deal with topics like estimation, attribute comparison, and spelling.
Since the last post here, two more games have been added to this section of the site. They are Guess It! (an estimation game) and Spell It! (a spelling game).
The spelling game is brand new; the programming was just finished this morning. So if you experience any glitches or problems with the game, please drop me a comment!
Thanks,
DougLabels: junior edition, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Games For Young Children, Browser Update
Friday, April 11, 2008
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Good morning! There are two purposes for this post. One is to tell you about a new section on The Problem Site, and the other is to tell you about an available browser update for Internet Explorer users.
The Problem Site: Junior Edition
Over the years that The Problem Site has been online, many people have commented that they wished there were games designed for younger children - a little bit "flashier", and addressing more simple thinking skills.
As response to that request, a new section is being added to The Problem Site. It is The Problem Site: Junior Edition. This section is still in its infancy - although there are several games under development as I write, only one is available for play: Colors, Shapes & Sizes. This is a game which helps children recognize attributes of shapes they see.
Several more games will be added by September 2008.
Browser Update
If you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer, you are probably aware that a couple years ago Microsoft had a legal battle which resulted in them having to change their browser to include a "Click To Activate" feature on all plug-ins like Java and Flash applications.
This was a serious annoyance. Many sites used javascript and other means to bypass this restriction. I chose not to do so on any of the puzzler sites, for a variety of reasons. Primarily because, unlike other sites which had flash animations scattered willy-nilly throughout their site, making their pages look like a virtual minefield of unactivated content, the puzzler sites only had flash applications on its game pages, and one extra click was not a serious inconvenience for people who were going to have to click the game anyway.
The good news is, Microsoft has obtained the necessary licenses to remove this annoying feature from their web browser. So if you've still got the "Click to Activate" message, you should seriously consider getting the Microsft updates.Labels: browser, junior edition, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Updated Sidebar - New Easter Egg
Thursday, April 3, 2008
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Not much to say today, except the right-hand sidebar at The Problem Site has been updated again. A little bit nicer graphically, and I went back to displaying all the games, so once again the sidebar functions as a site map.
In addition, I made a minor tweak to the styles of links, which will make it easier for people to recognize which games they have and have not played.
Finally, in the process of updating the sidebar, I did add a new Easter Egg, so if you've been on a quest to find all the Easter Eggs, there are now twelve on the site.
And if you want hint where to find the new egg...
...all the hint you need is right here in this post. :)Labels: easter eggs, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Game Level Editor - Fizziks Tilt
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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A few weeks ago I posted that the Fizziks Tilt game was available to play. This is a game in which a marble is rolled around a maze, following the laws of Physics, including friction forces and gravitational forces.
At the time I mentioned that there would eventually be a "Level Editor" which members could use to create their own levels. Then I sent out emails to a few members, inviting them to try out the level editor.
What I discovered was very interesting; for most people, figuring out how to create an interesting and challenging level was not intuitive. It took several tries for most people to come up with a level that was good enough to post on the site.
It's a whole lot different than Tile Puzzler, in which creating a difficult puzzle is easy.
Since then I've been debating how to handle the editor. After all, I don't want to spend all my time telling people "No, this is not challenging/interesting enough."
Finally I've opened the level editor to the public. EXCEPT - in order to use it, you first have to demonstrate that you're familiar with how the game works and good enough at it that you can solve several of the hardest levels on the site. Once you've done that, you can begin creating levels.
GIVE THE LEVEL EDITOR A TRY!Labels: fizziks, theproblemsite, tile-puzzler
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Planning Ahead, New Games
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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Good problem solvers plan ahead, right? They anticipate potential problems and head them off at the pass before they even happen, right?
Yeah. So, when I created the Trio Match, I didn't do that. The game gives the player a series of 25 colored blocks to drop into a well. Under certain circumstances the players can earn "bonus" blocks, and the longer you can keep the game going, the more blocks you earn.
How long can you keep a game going? Well, it never occurred to me that anyone would keep the game going long enough to earn 200 or more blocks - that's a pretty long game! And since I didn't think anyone would keep a game going that long, I didn't allocate enough space in the game for blocks.
Bad Doug!
So, a couple weeks ago MrDuctTape40 emailed me and asked "How come the game stops working after you hit 35 thousand points?"
Well, I had no idea that was happening. So I went back to the drawing board to fix the bug. It appears to be resolved now. If you have any problems with the new version of the game, let me know.
Oh, and I also reset the high score lists...which I felt kind of bad about, since Debby finally hit the top of the high score list, and then I deleted all the scores.
On another subject, there are two new games on the site: The Telephone Game and The BlackBerry GameLabels: trio match, word games
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Tile Puzzler, Adders
Friday, February 8, 2008
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Good morning,
Updates on two other segments of the Puzzler family of sites...
Adders! got an overhaul this week, and the new version was posted last night. There were a few bugs which have plagued the game since its beginning. One of these bugs was the ability (under certain circumstances) to run your snake right through walls. There were a few other similar issues. I don't know that I've resolved all of them, but some should be taken care of now.
And, FYI, for all the "addermaniacs" out there...the new version of the game has a feature that has been requested several times. I hope you like it.
If you have any problems with the new version of the game, please use the site's contact form to let me know!
Tile Puzzler had some minor tweaks this morning. When you create puzzles, each puzzle piece must be made up of at least three blocks.
Once again, if this change causes any problems, please let me know!Labels: adders, tile-puzzler
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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