Ratings and Reviews by WidowDido

The definition for IF is broad enough to cover a lot of games. Yet, if it is broad enough to cover this piece, nearly every RPG with a storyline told in written dialogue and that allows for a measure of interactivity would be IF. I'm for a broad definition, but at a certain point the term IF ceases to be useful.

The game seems to be a very short parody of RPG conventions. Shockingly, what is customary behavior in games can be seen differently in real life. Most players will do a first playthrough, (Spoiler - click to show)following the established expectations. Then, after learning from that first experience, try it again. (Spoiler - click to show)But will find this ending ain't any more satisfying.

Unless there's something I overlooked, there's nothing really new in this work. Many other games deal with this in their own way. Even serious games may give a humorous or self-aware response when a player tries a conventional action that conflicts with the type of realism the designer is trying to establish.

For anyone interested in how game designers can mess around with genre conventions, it may be worth the short amount of time it would take for a couple plays. But anyone looking to just play some IF will likely be disappointed with this work.

A quick game concerning the relationship between immigrants and their first-generation children (in this case, a Filipino mother and her child). The conversation plays out over a series of text messages, with the mother teaching/explaining a few phrases and words of Tagalog.

The game is not effective at learning language--which is perhaps part of the point. Even if you get the majority of the questions correct, the player comes away without any real grasp of Tagalog. Likely what a real person in the position of either the mother or child would feel.

I think the medium is perhaps the most innovative element of this piece. There are countless pieces of fiction and social science addressing how a new country, a new language, and modernization change the relations between parent and child, as well as how the child will relate to their own ethnic group. I don't think that too many new things have been said on these tropes in this work. But, the author does succeed in placing old wine in a new bottle by forcing the player to communicate through texts--rather than writing a Twine piece that takes the form of a phone call or a parser game where the same information is discovered through recovered memories. Not only is texting probably more representative of contemporary communication, but it is quite effective at heightening the distance between mother and child.

Not an amazing game, but good. People interested in exploring issues of immigration, language and identity should certainly play through this piece.

A nice parser game with no obvious flaws or bugs on my first playthrough. Probably very good for a newcomer to IF: only about a dozen rooms, not too many items, well-defined goals, and an Invisiclues style hint system if necessary.

For anyone looking for a solid, light-hearted game with a handful of pretty simple puzzles and a bit of humor, there are many worse ways to spend an evening. The interactions between the PC and the NPCs--a village idiot and the family he rents a "room" from--are cute and well written. The first couple puzzles involving animals are not all that challenging, but the responses detailing what the PC is thinking as he solves the puzzles is great.

I wouldn't say the game was exceptional, but the end game does provide a "Did You Try?" list with enough things for me to replay.

A solid IF Comp 2020 entry. Given the tone and genre, it's hard to think of any complaints.

From a number of different beginnings, the player eventually hears one or more stories from Dadi--a grandmotherly character who through her language and storytelling maintains a link to a fading tradition.

I thought the structure of this narrative was pretty interesting. (Spoiler - click to show)I believe essentially the same stories of Dadi are available regardless of any choices made in the first part of the piece. The game seems to be more about choosing a beginning than the ending.

I found some fault with the prose style, but the author has a good grasp on addressing some significant ideas in an interesting narrative structure. By continuing to write, workshopping, and editing, I imagine the author will put out works of increasing quality.

Written for the Commodore in 2020, the game seems to be a joke or criticism on world-building, marketing, and player/designer expectations in games, esp. games of that era.

I think the nature of the game requires reading the bundled documentation before play. So don't ignore this for the full gaming experience.

The player controls a ship on its way home, able to make y/n decisions on its attempt to reach home safely.

(Spoiler - click to show)The Y/N options seem to be calculated based on probability or are random. You can get two different responses by answering Y to the same question, or you can get the same response for a Y then a N.

The documentation states the player will enjoy the immersive world by making such weighty decisions. Yet, it is more like pressing a button that is hooked up to nothing. I played through 4 times: mixing y/n, then all Y and then all N. No discernible difference each time.

If one desires to see how a short game and its promotional material can parody the activity of gaming (or, perhaps more narrowly, a genre/era of gaming), then go ahead and give this ten minutes.

Presumably an educational game about teaching simple math. On that front, I'm not sure of its success--as the game (at least on its simplest mode) repeats the same questions numerous times.

There is some information on electricity and solar arrays which will allow the player to answer some practical math questions. But I found the instructions rather unclear on how to "optimize" the array. (Spoiler - click to show)Playing it by ear and just assuming bigger is better seemed to work.

Because events are randomized, I'm not sure if a winning state is possible on any given playthrough. (Spoiler - click to show)Because of the %-mood loss is so great for going a night without using a heater, I never managed to survive a game if I was not able to purchase or review a heater before winter.

I won by (Spoiler - click to show)buying a lot of new batteries at least once during each winter. I am doubtful if this is what the takeaway should be for a game trying to encourage a minimalist living.