Numzzle Devlog: part 1
# 🎮 Numzzle Development Diary Part 1 – The Working Title Was Sugongjae
1. During Game Development, I Didn’t Keep a Diary
I’m someone who normally keeps a diary, but during the game development period, I didn’t write in it at all. Still, I want to record this before I forget.2. Essential Research Before Making Games – Are There Similar Games?
I always decide on a concept before making a game and research whether similar games exist. If there are similar games, I give up before making it. That’s because I’d just struggle without being able to release it.So I researched math-related games and asked ChatGPT, but there was nothing similar to my idea. I also investigated existing math games, but they were in a format where you had to solve many problems within a time limit, so they were just math problems, not games.
3. Making Arithmetic Practice Fun – Creating Target Numbers with Cards
I thought about making arithmetic practice fun by presenting numbers and operation symbols as cards to create a target number.4. The Game’s Working Title ‘Sugongjae’ and the Disappeared Character ‘Sukongi’
Like someone naming their child before birth, Numzzle’s working title was actually Sugongjae. Sugongjae is short for “math study made fun” in Korean.I also imagined a lovable character – a bean-shaped character wearing a doctoral cap called Sukongi. However, there was already an otter character named Sukongi, so I decided to focus on the game and thought that if the game was fun, a cute character wasn’t necessary.
5. Dreaming of an International Game – Finding an Easy-to-Pronounce Name
Then, with my grand dreams, I imagined it becoming an international game and decided to choose a name that foreigners could pronounce easily. So I wondered: Is Sugongjae easy to pronounce? Is it too long?For naming games, ChatGPT is the best.
6. The Birth and Abandonment of Suwung3030
ChatGPT would suggest several names and I would choose from them. I picked Suwung. Suwung is short for “math hero”… Plus, at that time I decided the target number would be 30, so I named the game Suwung3030. (Sounds like Fifty Fifty somehow?)Originally the target number was 30, but when the target number gets smaller the game becomes easier, when it’s appropriate it becomes harder, and when it’s too large it also becomes easier, so later I made it possible to adjust difficulty by changing the target number. The game wasn’t even finished yet, but I had decided the game name would be Math Hero, when my youngest daughter said becoming a hero just for solving some math problems seemed like an overstatement, so I gave up on Suwung and suggested going back to Sugongjae.
7. The Miracle on the Bus – Three Game Names Born in One Day
Anyway, we discussed game names while riding the bus, and it seems both ChatGPT’s condition and my condition were very, very good that day.While deciding the game name, I wondered whether to attach something meaningless like Wordle to Math or Number or Cal for calculation, or maybe attach a fruit name. Eventually I attached puzzle to create the name Numzzle, and on the same day on the bus, Worpuzz was also born.
It was such a touching day – 1 minute before arriving at work, the name Trinkle was also decided. It was a day when I created three game names.
8. The Meaning of ‘Numzzle’ – So Enjoyable
The name Numzzle is such a perfect fit. In Korean, it sounds similar to “so enjoyable,” which also has the meaning of making studying as fun as a game.9. What If You Can’t Make the Target Number Exactly? – The Proximity Scoring System
Anyway, back to the game story. Since users can’t make the target number exactly with the given cards, does it mean they failed if they can’t make the target number? I thought that’s not right. So I decided to give points if they get as close as possible to the target number.Thanks for reading. This post is getting long, so I’ll cover the details next time.
**[Numzzle Devlog: part 2 ]**
- English(영어): https://soosooland2025.blogspot.com/2025/08/numzzle-devlog-episode-2-2.html
- Korean(한글): https://soosooland2025.blogspot.com/2025/08/2_4.html
“Want to keep learning while playing? 🎮 Check out SoosooLand for educational, word, math, strategy, and mystery games!”
🪄 Dev log originally written in Korean | Translated with ChatGPT
Fun puzzles, Soosooland : https://soosooland.com/
Read in Korean 한글로 읽기
Fun puzzle playground · Soosooland
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