The chat box I did not build
Eight preset phrases, sent as an index rather than as text, so free chat is unrepresentable on the wire rather than merely refused.
How it is built
I am Ari Hlynsson, and I write every game on Deckchair Games myself. These are notes on the decisions behind it: the things I left out, the ones that cost nothing and work anyway, and the limits I decided to live with.
Each piece ends on what the design does not do, because that is the half most write-ups leave out and the half worth reading.
One puzzle for the whole world, no database
Everybody gets the same daily board and nothing is stored anywhere. Two functions turn today's date into a seed, and each browser generates the puzzle for itself.
The friend list my server never sees
A green dot telling you which friends are online, drawn by a server with no database connection and no way to learn who your friends are.
Who writes this
One person, in Iceland, who designs the games, writes the code and answers the email.
More about the site and how it is funded