Ratings and Reviews by Vivienne Dunstan

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 10 Sep 2024.

This is very short parser game, where you are in a world with no names, and need to get out. It is - as the blurb says on the competition website - heavily inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass.

There are very few puzzles to solve, but I enjoyed my time. I think there could have been more clueing re one of the items you encounter. Though patience pays off. And I liked that the ending had various options, depending on what you do.

The game has a reduced parser, even disallowing QUIT. Which can make it extra challenging, but I was pleased that some alternatives were coded (e.g. (Spoiler - click to show)“ESCAPE”).

A slight piece, and very short, but nevertheless fun. It is always nice to see another work inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 9 Sep 2024.

This is a time-lapse game to be played over a number of days (don’t have to be successive), where you take on a job as an assistant in an apothecary’s shop, and aim to work a minimum number of shifts over the coming weeks. Along the way you are given light puzzles to solve, as well as a series of cryptic puzzles.

Initially I was puzzled by how time worked in the game. But found if I closed the browser tab and reloaded it on a later day it would move the game on, and let me play another session in the shop. There isn’t an advance time facility within the game interface eg a “go to next day” link you can click. Instead you need to open it afresh in your browser. Reloading an existing browser tab didn’t work for me.

Note apparently you are supposed to be able to play more than once a day, but I could never get this to work on my Mac.

The tasks that you are given by the shopkeeper are fairly easy spot tasks. Though some would be a problem for visually impaired people. The author hopes to fix that.

I was not expecting the cryptic crossword puzzles to pop up. I am not good at cryptic crossword puzzles! Over time you are given multiple pages of them to optionally solve. Helpfully the game links to a page of advice/tips/techniques/practice for solving such puzzles. And, surprisingly, I got quite adept at them! I did encounter a slight bug in Safari on my Mac, and in iOS browsers, but the author fixed this after my original review, which is great. Getting things working fully reliably on Safari (all versions) and iOS browsers can be extra complicated.

I was happy with the quasi ending I reached. Though I think I’d have preferred to play the game over a much shorter period. Repeated daily tasks like Wordle don’t generally appeal to me. And I felt constrained by the need to come back repeatedly over a long time. It also made it harder to remember plot elements from earlier days on returning. However the world is charming, and the tasks that you are given to do are satisfying.

The game has a built in mechanism for gifting to charity, where you can optionally gift some of your in-game earnings to several real world causes. A nice touch.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 26 Sep 2024.

This is an ambitious but well written parser game, that immerses you in a complex story spread across different time zones, uncovering a mystery involving Edgar Allan Poe, plus musings on the nature of writing, authorship, and identity.

The two time zones are the present day and 1849. The former episodes are a series of vignettes, light play throughs, with little in the way of the puzzles. The 1849 scenes, by contrast, are a much more sprawling puzzle based world to explore. Which gradually opens up, as you get further into the story.

The way the world is expanded organically by the game as you play is one of its neat tricks. I also greatly appreciated the journal system, which automatically keeps tracks of the clues you find. In the absence of any scoring in the game, that helps give you a sense of progress. Because you know the total number of clues available to find from early on.

Many of the game’s interactions involve conversing with NPCs and showing them objects you have found. This works well, and the game has some neat in built techniques to keep it smoother, for example suggesting topics you might talk about.

I did occasionally have some fight the parser moments, which was a shame. But in such a large game these were few and far between. And it otherwise felt very smooth.

I also struggled a little with unfamiliar words in places. I sometimes have transatlantic challenges with IF. But I was not expecting to be puzzled by (Spoiler - click to show)gibus or (Spoiler - click to show)toper. Admittedly very much of their time. But I did need to google for those.

The absolute ending was great, but I found the toing and froing re reveals before that overly complex. Partly this is me, struggling to keep up with (Spoiler - click to show)who was who and what was going on. I wonder if a slightly simpler resolution might have been better. At least for this concentration challenged player!

However overall I loved it. I only needed to look at the walkthrough occasionally, though I used the built in hints a little more often. But I had a marvellous time playing, and felt totally immersed in the world.

Best of all I really want to learn more about Edgar Allan Poe’s life story. So that’s something to follow up. I have enjoyed many of his stories, in print or movie version. Now I think it’s time for me to learn more about him. Thanks to the author for some post-game leads to follow up on this topic.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 23 Sep 2024.

This is a short choice piece written in Ink, where you go on a camping trip.

I was surprised how long it took to get to the camping. The game opens with a work situation, and a sense of jeopardy, but this was rather left hanging and unresolved.

A major part of the game is trying to decide what to shop for before your camping trip. Very much a resource management thing. I wasn’t sure if I should keep money back for the trip. Or quite how much food I needed!

Unfortunately I ran into a nasty bug here, where in one of the shops (in the (Spoiler - click to show)camping store) the clickable prompt to leave the store vanished from the screen, so I couldn’t leave and move the game on. I restarted a few times, and it happened again. Eventually I managed to play through this bit. Though minimising my time in that shop! By this point I was also repeatedly saving, in case it crashed on me again.

When you get to camping there’s cooking to be done, and various activities you can do that night and next morning. It’s quite atmospheric, but hindered sadly by an awful lot of typos. Which with a text game really do jump out and distract the reader from enjoying the story. This game would very much have benefited from more proofreading by other people in advance. Either get family or friends to proofread, or perhaps even better ask for volunteers on this very forum to help before the competition. We are very happy to help! Because the typos were a major issue here.

I did enjoy the activities I chose to do during the camping trip. I felt as though I was packing quite a lot in to the time, and was getting some good vibes about the experience. But the immersion would too often be interrupted by typos.

At the end the camping trip is over, and you head back home. And it then just ends really suddenly. I’d like to have returned to the work plot, maybe the player has a new perspective after camping. Or something.

So a nice idea, but I hit a nasty bug, and there were way too many typos. Playtesting and proofreading are really worth doing, even for choice pieces. But I liked the concept. Still not sure how much I’d want to go camping though!

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 23 Sep 2024.

This is a very large parser game, sort of X-Files meets Slow Horses meets a weird 80s film with lizard people wandering around! Oh and add a touch of Douglas Adams for bonus. I also liked the repeated references to another fictional work!

I liked a lot about it. It’s very bizarre, but in a good imaginative way. And it has a good variety of puzzles, using a clever map layout to work within. Slightly sprawling - especially in one area - but manageable.

The game’s noted as merciful on the Zarfian Forgiveness rating. I don’t think you can get it into an unwinnable state. Though you may get very stuck.

There are hints in game, but they weren’t complete enough for me. They’re very generous early on in the game, but in the large mid section I sometimes looked for help in the hints, and there wasn’t anything relevant. I think this needed beefing up.

I also had a bit of fighting the parser to contend with. There were lots of things I would never have managed without the walkthrough or hints. And there were some unimplemented things. Though equally other stuff I especially loved.

As I say I liked an awful lot about it. I just think it needed smoothing. And the hints needed some hefty extension into other areas people might get stuck.

But well worth playing!

There’s not very much I can say about this one. On plus it’s short (though that’s a downside too). And it’s better than Toiletworld. Sort of. But erm, yes. A quick game to try.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 16 Sep 2024.

This is a short but exasperating (in a good way!) Adventuron parser game. Where you’re driving in a British car, trying to exit right from a car park into busy traffic. As a fellow Brit who passed my driving test too many years ago, this is a scenario I can relate to oh too well. Even if I haven’t driven for many years for medical reasons (my license was eventually revoked on medical grounds). I can still remember the anguish of trying to drive right out of a car park into never-ending traffic. And still experience it today as a front seat passenger.

As you try over and over to get out of the car park into traffic the game repeatedly confounds you, racking up the tension and frustration. And the sense of constant near accidents. This writing is strong.

I especially liked the visual display at the top showing the road. Very Frogger like! But, like another reviewer, I wish this had updated to show the other traffic as you play the game. That would have been awesome, and enrich things so much.

The downside with the game for me is that I’m the type of player who can repeatedly type a single command over and over and over and over and … I have no quick limit on that one. And what was most rewarding about this game, as I found on replay, was trying other options. If you’re willing to blindly type the same command over and over, you don’t necessarily get the full sense of immersion that you might otherwise.

One option I really wanted to try was to hoot my car horn. And the game wouldn’t let me. This was the one case where I battled with the parser: HOOT HORN and SOUND HORN didn’t work, but HONK HORN did. Well it recognised it, but wouldn’t actually let me sound the horn. Which I really, really wanted to do. I was also a bit disappointed that when other drivers hooted their horn in game I didn’t hear them. I would have loved to have jumped out of my seat on hearing that!

So a good and atmospheric game, but I wish it had been a bit more fully developed. And suspect that my own way of playing was not the best for experiencing it to its full potential.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is the latest word based game from Andrew Schutlz. Back to parser this time, and a game mixing a gradually unfolding fantasy world with word based puzzling.

I enjoyed this more than any of his other word based games. Although the core mechanism is still manipulating words, it did feel as though there was a more substantial underlying story world to uncover. I was really intrigued by the fantasy setting that I was discovering, including its variety of NPCs.

In some cases I really struggled to find the next things to type. Maybe I missed a clue, or it was under clued, especially when I came back later to the same location. I also had a few cases where there seemed to be a bug. But otherwise it was a nice game, with a fairly open world, not too steam rollered, and combining a fun puzzle mechanic with a good plot.

I really liked the THINK command, which keeps track of some of the things you’ve found or need to do. Though sometimes it seemed to be missing some clues for me. Luckily there is a walkthrough provided, which I needed sometimes.

Word puzzles can be divisive, and too tricky often for some players - me included! But if you can get past the opening stages of this game I think it’s approachable, and apart from a few clueing issues in places surprisingly accessible.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is a curious mix of text and visuals, where a close family member has recently died. They were an artist, and you are choosing the 7 paintings of theirs that you want to keep. Each choice of a painting unlocks memories for you. And in the end you use elements from the chosen paintings to complete a visual art work by your relative, a process depicted using on screen changing visual representations of the final artwork.

It’s quite moving, and I replayed several times to make different choices. Because you only recall detailed memories after selecting a painting I initially found it a little difficult to know what to choose. Should I choose paintings that I like the sound of myself, or ones that appear to reflect specific feelings, or are painted in a particular style or theme? At this point paintings are only described in words, though you get a summary of the core features and emotions represented before you decide whether to keep a painting or leave it.

One thing I did regret is that after you’ve chosen a particular painting you can’t then change your mind and put it back. Sometimes I wished I could do that, but choices were final.

Each time you dig out another painting it can be new, or one you’ve already looked at. I sometimes pulled out the same painting again and again, even up to 4 times in one game, and on 3 successive occasions in another. I’m not sure that was intended. Maybe the randomisation is too unrestricted.

At the end of the game you get to see some visuals and can interact with them. But I also wished I could see the earlier paintings. I even adjusted my screen to see if I was missing them in my too small-scale/zoomed in default display settings. Nope, only get the nice visuals towards the end of the game.

Thinking about how the paintings and their elements are combined later in the game I wonder if the earlier portion might have done something like this too. Perhaps adjusting the memory recalls, depending on what combination of paintings you’ve chosen. I don’t think it was doing anything like that. But it might have been nice. Preferably with the option to backtrack and decide not to keep a painting after all.

Many different emotions and feelings are depicted by the individual paintings and the memories they evoke. The impression built up is of a multi-faceted individual, depicted with honesty, rather than overly eulogised.

At the end there’s a moving credit, which suggests that this may have been a piece very close to the author’s heart. If so, thank you for sharing it with us.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is a Twine piece, where you are some form of entity who can inhabit other things. Through a series of transfers from one object to another, including people, you uncover mysteries and secrets going on in a medieval version of India.

There’s a very long linear opening with lots of non interactive text. But after that you have more choice about what to do, and in particular what creatures to inhabit. Though through the framework of a largely pre-set narrative. Conversations are often the main choice opportunities in the game.

There are a lot of typos. It needed much more proofreading. I also ran into a number of bugs, for example error messages that would pop up mid text, or blank interaction boxes with no content and nothing I could click on. There also seemed some rough notes that I think were maybe meant to have been finished off / rewritten?

The characters that you encounter are intriguing, though the game takes longer to play - for me anyway - than the estimated half hour time. I’m a very fast reader.

There are lots of fail points, but you can back track and make a different choice.

Until it just suddenly ended for me. And I didn’t know if I’d hit a bug, or something unfinished, or what. It felt like lots of unresolved story strands left hanging.

So an interesting concept, but needed smoothing, especially re bugs and typos. Because those could stop the game flow, and reduce the game’s impact. Maybe more development time and more playtesting would have really paid off here.