SELECTED WORK / CASE STUDY
building DECODER’s first online game.
it's all fun and games...
A little mystery. Every single day.
Meet Decoder, an original daily word puzzle from the Fabric workshop that puts a cryptographic twist on the familiar word game. Letters become symbols, guesses reveal clues, and players race to unravel a series of increasingly tricky words and phrases. Three rounds, a bonus challenge, and just enough frustration to keep things interesting.
We designed and developed the entire experience from scratch—from the game’s mechanics and custom symbol system to its playful visual identity, responsive interface, player statistics, leaderboards, and shareable puzzles. Along the way, we built a flexible little gaming platform with multiple themes, difficulty settings, and an endless practice mode.
Part design experiment, part technical playground, part daily obsession, Decoder brings together a few of our favorite things: typography, puzzles, creative coding, and the peculiar satisfaction of figuring something out.
It’s free to play, a little addictive, and made with love (and an unreasonable amount of JavaScript) in Portland, Maine.
Crack the code. Come back tomorrow.