Reviews by Isaac Buckley

I'd never heard of this game until today, but I'm glad that I stumbled upon it; the story is well written and has an encouraging message, with a fascinating and charmingly unique premise that's supported by the game's mechanics. The player character is an autistic diplomat in the future going through different scenarios in their head, in preparation for their meeting with an alien ambassador; the story is immersive but still concise, with the game finishing once all of the different scenarios have been exhausted. It's exciting getting to see more games with autistic protagonists, and as an autistic person I thought that this game's portrayal of autism was particularly convincing; the protagonist is treated as a fully human character with a unique skill set, without brushing off the distinctive challenges they face. I especially liked the narrative's focus on sensory issues; in fiction, if explicitly autistic characters are included at all, I've noticed that they are often only portrayed as lacking social grace (and that typically from an exterior, neurotypical perspective), without mentioning things like sensory issues and executive functioning, which can seem a lot less convincing when you experience the reality of those things being all related to each other (like, for an example from own experience at least, I'm much more likely to have difficulty communicating when I'm overstimulated, sometimes to the point where I can't speak with my voice at all for some time; or, for another example, autistics sometimes being perceived as a little antisocial when avoiding social situations that are likely to be in very loud or otherwise painful environments). I'd actually say that one of the strengths of Scripting Diplomacy is that it uses the protagonist's sensory issues as an opportunity for further immersion, and it makes the game feel much more grounded than you'd expect from a setting that includes descriptions of alien races and cybernetic implants.

I don't know whether or not this is the author's first foray into published interactive fiction, or if this is just the first of her works to be listed on the site, but either way I'm impressed and looking forward to seeing more of her games in the future.



-Isaac````

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