Show HN: 2048 without numbers

[oneeyedpigeon]

By far my favourite version of this game. I seem to be able to build up more of a 'rhythm' and, for once, it doesn't feel entirely like I'm just randomly pushing blocks around in the hope that things will work out OK. I feel like I've built up a system. Having said that, I'm still no master - I just don't think my brain is wired for this game genre.

Really weird effect: having stared at the screen intently for several minutes playing this game, then flipping to another tag, my vision seems to be 'zoomed out' ...

[glanotte]

The zoomed out thing happened to me too... I was wondering if my resolution had changed, but I always have my resolution turned all the way up. Interesting effect.

[nicholassmith]

I liked this one, but I also found it much easier. Which makes me wonder if that was by design, I certainly hit the win condition quicker than I have on any of them.

Also it's interesting to see what people have done with the concept since the original, I imagine a few people are bored but how often do we get to see the community focussed around one thing?

[Geee]

I think it ends at 1024?

[kylec]

The score is still a number. It would be interesting if the score, too, were a color.

[giarc]

My favourite version so far. Most people are sick of all the 2048 clones but I for one enjoy seeing the creativity.

[kachnuv_ocasek]

So it's basically the same as the doge version (http://doge2048.com), only less hilarious?

[jboggan]

The doge version is by far the best of all the iterations.

[davepm]

This is awesome! But, for me, totally unplayable! Being colourblind I just cannot differentiate the different shades of the lighter greens and the yellows. I so wish I could play this as it looks and feels amazing.

[51Cards]

Fascinating that I did far better on this version (if the score is tallied the same) than I have on any version with the numbers. It seems that sets are much more obvious using colours than numbers and as a result I missed fewer positive moves, especially as the board filled up.

This makes a very interesting UI lesson.

[old_sound]

And interesting UI/UX lesson would be to keep in mind colourblind people. Almost every time someone posts some graphs or stats I can't read the graph at all. I think having numbers and colours helps a lot.

[daGrevis]

This is cool and I somehow find it less confusing than version(s) with numbers! Plus points for it working with touchscreens!

[Stealth-]

I agree! I found this version to be much easier for some reason. Possibly the brain is quicker to recognize and match the colours than when I'm forcing myself to look for numbers?

[prezjordan]

Numbers are important because you can plan out where to slide particular blocks to form "chains." It's difficult to predict the various levels of blocks with colors, whereas numbers are simply powers of two.

[LandoCalrissian]

It's the same thing really, beat this right away with the way I play 2048.

[oneeyedpigeon]

But the colors are just as much 'in order'

[cavemangeek]

Cool version but it needs the "continue playing" option like the original 2048 game has once you reach the end. I finished this one on my first try.

[Whitespace]

Obligatory "doesn't work in firefox" quote here.

As an aside, ever since I switched off Chrome (google is oppressive with google+) for safari/firefox a lot of newer, smaller sites have rendering issues. I guess it's the price I have to pay to be free of the beast that is Google.

[blueblob]

Mostly works for me in firefox, the far right column of the grid does not show, but all of the functionality works. It is a little annoying that you have to click and drag instead of using the arrows, but I guess that's because it is made for touchscreens.

[austinhallock]

Heh, checked iOS, Android, even Windows Phone... but not Firefox - doh! Should be fixed

[alco]

Could you point out what is oppressive about Chrome? I don't see any G+ in here.

[scelerat]

For some reason I'm able to focus a bit better on the task of building up blocks when it's just colors. At first I thought I wouldn't like it, then I got into a few games and it felt subtly better.

[Zolmeister0]

Source: https://github.com/Zolmeister/prism

[Torn]

I was about to start working on a 'candy crush' / match 3+ 2048 and this is really similar :)

[erickhoury_com]

You can actually sort of "hack" it by just clicking randomly very fast at the buttons. I don't know what happens technically tho.

[Falling3]

You're simulating a swipe.

[kzrdude]

This is nice, a much better looking version of 2048. No way I'm upvoting it though, there's been too much of this already.

[claar]

Obligatory color-deficiency comment goes here.

[NoodleIncident]

This one doesn't spawn the 4's (lightest blue) 10% of the time. I think that that makes it much easier.

[delgaudm]

The first of all versions that I won. For some reason I found this much easier than the number original version.

[old_sound]

This is totally unfriendly to colourblind people like me.

edit: to be clear, the game usability is unfriendly