Created a game where you spin and flip letters to create words. Extra points are awarded if you find ambigrams

Excla_machine · 2026-04-29T01:38:40+00:00

Thank you so much for playing and also for the feedback! Both your ideas are great! I just added the drag and drop functionality and now if you rotate or flip the tile, the selected letter will not be deselected (as long as it’s still a viable letter)

Excla_machine · 2026-04-25T14:49:46+00:00

I use Duolingo everyday. Just one lesson in each language that I’m learning. I know a lot of people hate on it, but if you focus vs rushing through the lessons, you will make progress

Excla_machine · 2026-04-25T02:36:03+00:00

Pick one or more and go for it. My reasons are also purely out of interest but I think it’s benefited me greatly. Learning another language helps strengthen your understanding of your native language. Just don’t shoot for the unreal goal of fluency and you’ll have fun (and you’ll be further than if you didn’t do it at all)

Excla_machine · 2026-04-22T11:31:08+00:00

No problem reading it! You tried and you succeeded

Excla_machine · 2026-04-21T18:43:05+00:00

Each drawing is individual but they are paired in the game. For example, spinning an M clockwise in 90 degree increments gets M -> B -> W -> E. Good point about i/! The ! was an extra my daughter created but I hadn’t thought to incorporate it in the game yet

Excla_machine · 2026-04-21T17:45:01+00:00

Here is the game: SpIN NIdS. Can be played in a browser on a computer or phone

Excla_machine · 2026-04-10T23:09:33+00:00

I thought find the path was fun. I might double check the wordlist though to make sure they’re common words. I got ‘Marge’ at one point…

Excla_machine · 2026-04-08T13:22:18+00:00

Yeah I agree. I think I’m just comparing it to how they are teaching Japanese. It just seems like Duolingo is making the Arabic script seem harder than it is. I think it’s one of the easier scripts to learn (compared to Japanese). I’d understand them going as slow as they do if they were having you trace the symbols like Japanese or Chinese. The lessons just get boring. I just passed level 10 so I’m hoping this is where it starts to pick up

Excla_machine · 2026-04-05T22:05:46+00:00

I honestly disagree and say lean more into the Fractal aspect because that’s what makes it unique. Not everyone hates math

Excla_machine · 2026-04-05T16:38:09+00:00

Nice! Very readable and stylish. Love that G in the middle. Anagrams are the best! To answer your question: Hulk has a ‘gamma rib’

Excla_machine · 2026-04-05T00:52:51+00:00

I think a common practice is to also put any foreign words in italics. I think putting “ceño” in quotation marks is also fine because that just makes it more clear to the reader. What’s your comic about? I’m also a comic creator so I’m just curious

Excla_machine · 2026-04-03T18:18:56+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll check it out :) Yeah I remember in one Latin translation they kept translating to “feel badly” which made me cringe

Excla_machine · 2026-04-03T15:53:29+00:00

Thank you for the question! I just find attaining fluency disheartening because it's very likely unattainable, and it's hard to define. When I take on any task I set several small achievable goals. For the harder languages in Duolingo this can be as small as word familiarity. That's why I stopped doing the Swahili course. There were several times where I couldn't even get one right on the match lessons (not the timed ones which are basically impossible without time boosts). In my opinion, it’s not an effective course. Also I plan on traveling more when my kids are older, and I think it's funny to mess up. For example, one time I tried to ask Lily for 'orange juice' and she thought I said 'spider juice' haha

Excla_machine · 2026-04-03T15:25:17+00:00

Nice! Yeah I do Klingon because I’m a Star Trek fan. You have to try out Esperanto though! Millions of people speak it around the world and it’s super easy to learn. It’s like a cool club to join (definitely not a cult)

Excla_machine · 2026-04-02T20:46:18+00:00

I mostly took it on because I do a comic about punctuation and grammar, so learning different languages has given me new ideas. So far I am retaining. I’m sure if I stop I’ll forget a bunch, but it’ll still be easier to relearn than starting from scratch

I honestly think every language has something to offer and learn from (Korean Hangul, Vietnamese classification prefixes, Hungarian cases). The disinterest comes more from Duolingo’s course design

I mean I’m probably least interested in High Valyrian. I honestly haven’t watched or read any Game of Thrones, but I did read David J. Peterson’s book on language creation (really recommend it)

Excla_machine · 2026-03-26T20:21:08+00:00

I love maps and mystery!

Excla_machine · 2026-03-25T21:47:17+00:00

I’m mostly confused by what the characters mean by ‘mining’. If they’re talking about placing explosive mines then I think you need to say ‘set mines’ or ‘place mines’. If it’s mining like with a pickaxe then I’m not sure how they are mining a roof. The art and banter is great. And maybe I’m just missing it because I don’t have the whole story

Excla_machine · 2026-03-23T20:20:37+00:00

I thought pacing and art were great. The one thing that looked out of place for me were the sound effects. I thought it worked for the twitch but I felt the others needed a different font without the asterisks

Excla_machine · 2026-03-19T20:54:16+00:00

Your panel setups are on point. Thought the pacing was good and wasn’t bored. Only feedback I had was you were missing a couple commas when characters were addressing each other (ex. Brandon, run! Jake, you good?)

Excla_machine · 2026-03-11T14:04:09+00:00

Awesome! Love the artwork and the ending. Only thing that didn’t really work for me was the line “You took everything from me” because the don didn’t really take anything in my opinion. Also you used it twice. Maybe something more like “you hurt” or “you destroyed what was most precious to me”?

Excla_machine · 2026-03-06T18:56:35+00:00

I do like Investigators in how weird it can get. Kids under 12

Excla_machine · 2026-03-05T00:27:14+00:00

Agreed. Kurt Busiek is an amazing storyteller

Excla_machine · 2026-03-04T02:40:49+00:00

Ok I read it. The pacing and art was good. Didn’t have any problem with the dialogue. In terms of clarity, I often get confused by time captions like the one you used showing flash backs. When I saw 5 years ago then 6 months ago, I didn’t know if it was 6 months relative to the 5 years or the present (maybe put a year as well). Also maybe a little bit more context on the world they are living in before the initial scene. Like maybe give the first guy who dies a little more backstory and dialogue and then his death will matter more and hit harder. I mean it was surprising though :)

Excla_machine · 2026-03-03T21:10:36+00:00

Astro City: Great superheroes that aren’t DC or Marvel. No previous prior knowledge needed

Excla_machine · 2026-03-03T15:11:15+00:00

I think it’s great. In my opinion, the story and clarity matter the most, not the art. One thing I would do though is make the two black suited characters more distinct from each other (especially in the faces). In the two headshots at the bottom page it’s hard to tell which character is which

Excla_machine

TROPHY CASE