Novelo
A daily word-association game with an expanding web and a visual challenge editor that exports files without accounts or a database.
Novelo is a word-association game organized as a web. An initial word opens paths: finding an answer reveals related words and moves the player through the daily challenge.
I developed the project with AI assistance, defining the rules, making product decisions, and reviewing the behavior and code. It is designed as a short challenge to play and compare results with friends. The project is being prepared for its first public release.
The playing experience
- Draggable nodes let players arrange the web using a mouse or touch.
- Clues show letters and word counts for the available words.
- The server validates guesses and unlocks new connections.
- Progress stays in the browser without requiring an account.
- Completed results include time, errors, and hints used for sharing.
Browser and server responsibilities
The interface uses Next.js, React, and TypeScript. The browser handles web navigation, positions, and local progress; server routes read the configured challenge and validate answers. The solution catalog stays on the server while the interface receives the graph it should display at that point.
This keeps visual interaction separate from selecting the challenge answers. Shared results support a personal challenge between friends; the product does not have a verified competitive leaderboard.
Authoring challenges without accepting submissions on the site
The visual editor creates words, alternative answers, and connections, and marks the initial words. Before exporting, it checks for conflicting answers and words that cannot be reached from an initial word.
Editing happens in the browser. JSON preserves the web and its positions for further editing or sharing by email or message. TypeScript export prepares a challenge for review and inclusion in the game's source code.
This workflow was a product decision: contributions can arrive through external channels and be reviewed manually, without building a file submission service, accounts, or storage for submitted challenges.
What this project demonstrates
Novelo combines graph interaction, touch support, local state, input validation, and an authoring workflow. The work covers both discovering words and the tool needed to maintain a sequence of new challenges.
The next step is publishing the first version and preparing the following challenges. The screenshot above shows the current game interface.