Show HN: Schema – A daily word puzzle with conserved 14-segment "mass"
play-schema.comI built SCHEMA because I wanted a word puzzle that feels like constraint solving instead of guessing. Each letter is a 14-segment glyph; the total number of lit segments across the whole word is conserved ("mass"), and you move segments between letters until you match a hidden target word.
Every puzzle is generated and filtered to avoid ambiguous states: you’re given invariants (segment totals + exact-move PAR + geometric clues) so the target can be deduced rather than brute-forced.
I’d appreciate feedback on:
- Mobile "Precision Mode" (touch UX for slot/segment edits)
- Difficulty scaling (does "Hard" feel fair, or spiky?)
- Onboarding clarity (do the invariants click quickly?) Extra details for anyone interested: - letters are 14-segment bitmasks - moves transfer individual segments under a hand-cap - PAR is the exact required number of placements to go from start to target word - clue tiers disclose geometric facts (counts of diagonals/verticals/horizontals, center spines, etc.) The puzzle generator simulates candidate counts and rejects puzzles that don’t collapse to a single possible solution given the constraints.