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Lookdle is the latest edition to join the ever-expanding roster of Wordle spin-offs. The viral phenomenon impressively continues to inspire new variations even six months after its peak popularity in January. This new iteration is an image-guessing game, as opposed to its more popular word-guessing spin-offs.
Wordle, the game that dominated everyone's social media feeds worldwide, was the brainchild of Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. It was released to the public in October 2021. The word-guessing game's simplistic charm and adaptable structure rendered it ideal for innumerable spin-offs spanning a number of niches like music (Heardle), film (Moviedle), geography (Worldle), and more.
Guide to playing Lookdle and the story behind its conceptualization
Lookdle derives its inspiration from a spate of other Wordle spin-offs on the internet. It aims to entertain players with a novel image-based approach, challenging them to guess the famous celebrity in 5 tries. However, the catch is that the image on the screen is pixelated. The mystery person is selected from a roster comprising thousands of popular personalities from TV, movies, and the music industry.
Since the game deviates from Wordle's well-worn word-guessing formula anyway, it also does away with the green, yellow, and grey color scheme of informing players about how close their guess was. Instead, with every incorrect guess, the pixelated image becomes a little more discernible, allowing players a greater chance to guess correctly. As with the original game, players only get one new puzzle to solve per day.
The web-game was developed by two friends from Manchester, United Kingdom, who are both self-proclaimed TV and film buffs. A full-time developer's (Lee) lifelong friend (Carl) conjured up the idea one day while he was "otherwise indisposed." Lee, who loved the novel concept, jumped at the opportunity to tinker around with an idea outside of his manic work schedule.
Lookdle's 'About' section delves deeper into the development of the game:
"They are but are a two-man band, with the implementation and maintenance of the site falling to Carl (Mr big idea) and Lee (Mr techy-boots). Carl being a big Wordle fan, became inspired by the idea after noticing a lack of picture-related games."
It continues:
"He then worked with Lee, who began to sculpt it in his spare time away from work. Within a day a rough build was created and started to be shared amongst friends, who all suddenly became quite obsessed. Over the following weeks, it was refined into a more user-friendly web app."
The website takes pride in the fact that, despite Lookdle's limited budget and time constraints, it's quickly gaining traction on social media. It has also accrued a regular player base, boasting over 50,000 players across the globe till date. The two developers have ambitious future plans for expanding the game modes, incorporating time trials and varying difficulty levels, and adding a PvP option.
Other potential goals include expanding into other subject matters such as cartoon characters, historical figures, and sports personalities. The developers are also considering localized versions for different regions of the world, and maybe even a junior/kids' edition. There will soon be an extensive archive section where individuals can play previous Lookdle games.
