utwordSystem v3.25.7
Decisions

Resting tiles are solid

A real player read the outlined resting tile as unfinished, so a tile at rest is a solid object, and selection got a state of its own.

D-005 · Undated

Context

An earlier version drew a resting tile as a transparent outline: an edge with the ground showing through. A real player read that look as unfinished, a placeholder rather than a tile.

The sources record the change and its reason, but not the release it shipped in, so this record has no version.

Options

OptionResult
Transparent outline at rest (the earlier look)Read as "unfinished" by a real player
Solid fill at restChosen

Decision

A resting tile is a solid fill: --tile fill, a 2.5px edge in the same --tile, and a --tile-ink letter, so it reads as a tile, not a placeholder.

Once rest was no longer empty, selection needed a state of its own. A lit tile takes --select fill, a --select-stroke edge and a --select-ink letter. The edge width never changes between states (box-sizing: border-box), so lighting a tile never shifts the grid.

Dark
Light
Resting and lit the solid rest, and the lit state selection needed once rest wasn't empty

Evidence

One player's reading, recorded in the spec ("A real user read the old transparent-outline resting look as 'unfinished'") and in the code's own note on .tile. There was no wider test.

PairDarkLight
--tile-ink on --tile
the letter on a resting tile
12.70AAA12.70AAA
PairDarkLight
--select-ink on --select
the letter on a lit tile
12.70AAA12.70AAA

Consequences

  • Lit needs a different colour and an edge. In dark mode the resting fill is already the light colour, so selection needs a genuinely different fill. A fill change alone wasn't enough: in dark mode it was a close shift that was easy to miss, and in light mode a tile without a defined edge could merge with the grid gaps. So every lit tile carries a stroke.
  • Fill, edge and opacity change together, never one without the others, or the edge snaps while the fill fades.
  • The solid tile became one of the board's three states that the rest of the system borrows: the podium's 1st column is a solid tile (D-007), and so are the confetti's plain pieces.
  • See Tile for every state.