About CodeDoku
A deduction puzzle with crossing hints — built for casual players who love a fresh challenge every day.
Indie project · V0.10.0-beta
What is CodeDoku?
CodeDoku is a logic puzzle where you fill a 3×3 grid using intersecting clues from rows and columns.
Each cell must satisfy both its row clue and its column clue at the same time. The correct answer is where both constraints overlap.
Puzzles use themes like Animals, Countries, Food, and Sports. The name CodeDoku comes from “cracking a code”: deducing each intersection instead of memorizing answers.
How does it work?
One puzzle a day, generated, validated, and shared by everyone. Same board, same challenge, whether you play at breakfast or before bed. When you want more, More Puzzles is always available.
- Tap a cell, choose the concept that fits, and submit one move at a time.
- You start with 5 lives. Only wrong answers cost a life.
- Correct answers turn green and can be cleared to reorganize the board; wrong ones stay open so you can try again.
- Your progress is saved automatically. Leave and come back anytime.
Why did I build it?
As a software engineer, I wanted to ship a game of my own, not a demo hidden in a repo, but something real people could open and enjoy.
CodeDoku started as an attempt to gamify learning technical concepts. The puzzle mechanics were fun, but the study layer was dull, and that undermined the gamification. I kept the puzzle, removed the learning obligation, and opened the game to anyone.
Watching my wife play daily puzzles brought back the feeling of opening the paper and solving the morning crossword. I wanted that same rhythm in digital form: show up, think, finish, or come back tomorrow, without pressure or performance.
CodeDoku is an indie project that evolves release by release. It's intentionally small, and honest about where it is headed.
What's being built?
There is no fixed public roadmap yet. The project is still evolving as it grows.
If you want to see what's actually been shipped, the changelog has the full list: new themes, UX improvements, daily mode refinements, and everything in between.
Where to find us
The game also shows up on Playlin, Alldle, and DailyDle, three catalogs for Wordle-style daily puzzles. All three link here. You still play on this site.
If daily puzzles are already part of your routine, you may know these catalogs. I was glad when CodeDoku was accepted on all three. For an indie project, being listed there means reaching people who look for games like this every day.
About the author
I'm Fernando Bittencourt, a Brazilian software engineer with a degree in Computer Engineering and a postgraduate degree in Distributed Software Architecture. I've spent more than ten years in tech as a software engineer and hands-on tech lead, building systems in production and sketching side projects in parallel.
CodeDoku is where those two worlds meet: engineering discipline and the joy of building something people actually play.
Outside of work, I spend time with my wife, friends, and our Shiba Inu. I enjoy movies, the beach, traveling when possible, and meeting new people and cultures.
Collaboration
CodeDoku is an indie product in active development. Part of that evolution depends on people who help maintain content quality and game clarity. Carolinne Melo is an active collaborator on the project.
She is a Statistics student in her final year, building a career in Data, BI, and Analytics. On CodeDoku, she works on data curation, testing, and product feedback for a published game played daily.
Her main responsibilities include:
- Curating, creating, reviewing, and validating theme datasets.
- Identifying inconsistencies and ambiguities in categories and concepts.
- Testing new features and game mechanics.
- Providing feedback on user experience and rule clarity.
- Taking part in discussions about the product's evolution.
Contact
I read every message. The best way to reach me is below.
Good reasons to write:
- Something broke. Tell me what you saw and what you expected.
- A hint felt unfair or confusing. Help me improve clarity.
- Ideas for future themes (cities, history, anything).
- Feature requests — quality-of-life, new modes, accessibility improvements.
- You solved today's puzzle and just wanted to say hi.
