Reviews by Kinetic Mouse Car
subQjam 2019
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What comes to mind when someone says that a game is "cozy?" There is no single answer to this question, but Marshmallow Nights certainly qualifies. Cozy inside and out.
It’s a short Twine game about spending time with your best friend on a cold, brisk night. It begins outside where you and your friend are sitting on a hill. Your friend pulls out a bag of marshmallows and challenges you to a contest. I can't really discuss the game further without spoiling everything but just know that this is a friendly contest. Regardless of what you choose in the game, it always ends on a soothing, cozy note.
The visuals enhance the overall quality. It features a cream-coloured background with large grey text and light purple links. At the top of the screen is an animated graphic of a moon above a mountain landscape. The graphic’s purple/grey colour scheme harmonizes with the rest of the game's appearance, cementing the cozy effect.
My rating stems from the fact that it could be a little longer, even as "micro" game, but it does make the most of what it has to offer. There is a potency in the writing and how it sets the scene for us. No matter what, Marshmallow Nights will lead to a satisfying outcome.
You are an A.I. of a maternity ward. You’ve calculated that humanity is on the verge of being wiped out by human-driven climate collapse. But today, a child was born. Somehow you just know that this child will be the one to save the human race.
Tabula Rasa is a Twine game that revolves around a single action: inputting numerical values to create the “perfect” family for the child. If the child is going to save the world they need an adequate family, right? It’s all up to you!
Gameplay
The child’s family is defined by four qualities, such as wealth, that you set by typing a number from one to five into a text box. Then you press enter.
(…25 years go by…)
The game then reveals if the child- now an adult- succeeded in saving the planet. The end.
There’s not a lot going on here. It begins and ends in a matter of seconds.
Characters
Despite the child’s status as the “Chosen One,” we don’t know anything about them. As for us… Look, I realize that this game most likely isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Even so, I found the A.I.’s entitlement to be extremely off-putting.
Never mind the child's biological parents.
Wait a minute. There’s no moral consideration to this whatsoever. No acknowledgement of what the parents may think. No follow up, nothing. (But humanity is on the line!) Nope, it still bugs me.
Story
I don’t even know where to start. The game is too short to truly have a story.
By your calculations, this child is the absolute last chance for humanity.
Out of all the A.I.s on the planet, the one that steps up to save the day is some random A.I. in a hospital that (somehow) has the foresight to know that this specific child will be the Chosen One to save humanity? The logistics of it all. Make. No. Sense.
??? You’re an A.I. who took a child from their parents because you thought you knew what was best for everyone. What makes you the expert on what the “right” family would be for this child? Everything in the game is underscored by this outrageous fact.
Perhaps the author intends this to be a silly game. If so, it misses the target. The player is more inclined to fuss over the details than to find it humorous. And if the goal is to share a message about saving the planet, the endings have no basis for discussion.
Your child grew up happy, healthy, and well-adjusted! And also uninclined to do anything about global warming.
What kind of message is this? Being well-adjusted means you won’t do anything about global warming?
Endings
I will say, I was motivated to find all six endings. The column on the left side of the screen keeps track of the endings you’ve reached. For example, if you reach Ending 2, a “2” lights on the column. Something about this really made me want to see all six numbers light up. No gaps between numbers. I had to find all six.
And I did. (Spoiler - click to show)Ending 1 is the “win” ending.
Visuals
I appreciate that Tabula Rasa offers more than Twine’s default appearance. A black and white image of a forest is used as a backdrop. The image does look a bit like something you might find in a horror game. However, it does an excellent job at making the white text stand out. It’s noticeable enough to keep things interesting. And yet, you hardly notice it’s there. The seafoam blue links were also well-chosen.
Final thoughts
Do I give Tabula Rasa one or two stars? The gameplay is non-existent, and the story is pretty much the same way. I really can’t tell what kind of experience the author had in mind for the player. Everything about it seems to fall short.
What gets me (aside from the child-snatching A.I.) is that the central gameplay mechanic is reduced to the player punching in numbers to see what sticks rather than engaging the player in any meaningful way.
On the other hand, it did have enough of a draw for me to want to find every ending. And I must admit that the design choices elevate the overall quality. There are plenty of ways it could be worse…
What the heck. Two stars.
You were only a courier until you agreed to run deliveries for the resistance and even then, you had no further involvement.
And yet, here you are, trapped in a lab with law enforcement closing in…
Masks is a short Twine game about protest and defiance in the face of brute force. You play as a courier in the middle of a delivery gone sideways. It brought you to a university campus lab, but the recipients have vanished. Meanwhile, city-wide protests prevent you from leaving.
Gameplay
Gameplay is linear and involves waiting for the inevitable raid by law enforcement. It begins in the lab where we've been hiding for several days. Equipment in the lab monitors the air quality and sound levels in the room. We soon learn why: law enforcement’s go-to tactic against dissenters is tear gas and loud noise.
Every night the police blast a playlist of weaponized sound through the streets below.
There's not much for us to do than to look out the window and wait. The turning point occurs when (Spoiler - click to show)we decide to open the package we were tasked to deliver. Inside are some masks. The player selects a mask to wear and waits as the door is torn down. Game ends.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. While it’s a suspenseful way to end the game, it also leaves the player wanting more from their experience.
Story/Themes
While details are kept at a minimum, it portrays a society undergoing a spike in violence against civilian protesters. Most of these protestors appear to be students. Aside from that, all we know is that something is happening. The game was inspired by the Hong Kong 2019 protests but leaves the game’s story open-ended for the player.
The futility of the protagonist’s situation is underscored by the resilience they feel when they discover the masks in the package.
It’s just a mask. But it’ll have to do.
In this case, a single mask is not going to save you from what's coming. But it does allow you to face it on your own terms. The game ends before we see what happens next.
There is only one ending. However, the game always ends with a choice: “Once more or give up?” Choosing “once more” restarts the game. But if you choose to give up, the game does not let you.
You cannot give up.
The game then begins again, reinforcing its point about not giving up.
Design
Overall appearance consists of a basic white screen, large grey text, and blue links. Word-count is kept to a minimum. A creative feature is the use of colour-coded icons on the left side of the screen that depicts air quality and sound levels. This allows us to see when these levels become unbearable for our character.
An acoustic cannon perforates your bones.
It doesn’t take long for the levels to go from green to red.
Masks also demonstrates how timed text can build suspense at key moments. Here, text automatically changes as the situation escalates, emphasizing the inevitable descent of police forces on your hiding spot.
An explosion out in the hallway rocks the lab. They’re here.
The game ends with (Spoiler - click to show)a ten second countdown as the barricaded door- your only exit- is torn down. This is effective in making the player feel just as helpless as the protagonist.
Final thoughts
As an overall concept, Masks is a well-rounded game especially being only 2-3 minutes long. However, the content’s depth is surface-deep. I understand the game limits its exposition to be more open-ended. The downside of this sparseness is loss of the subtly behind the protagonist’s situation, making it difficult to find deeper insights.
Nonetheless, Masks is a game that stands out for both its meaningful subject matter and creative implementation. The author knows how to build a suspenseful scene with a smaller word-count. If you’re looking for an uncomplicated game with themes on protest, try Masks.
You are concerned about THE ENVIRONMENT, and want to do your part!
Individual Action Simulator is a brief Ink game that considers the impact an individual can make when trying to live more sustainably. Save the Earth one step at a time!
Gameplay is organized into days, and each day the player chooses an action from a list.
DAY 1
You decide to...
[Conserve electricity.]
[Take public transit to work.]
[Recycle.]
Points are awarded accordingly and indicate the difference you’ve made.
You gain 1 point(s)! Good job!
Later, this shifts to actions like donating to charity or switching to metal straws.
It doesn’t take long to realize that the game is a lesson in futility. Every few days, a random human-caused event occurs, harming the environment and overshadowing our progress.
Government environmental protection regulations were relaxed again after extensive lobbying.
You lose 1000000 point(s)...
By illustrating this imbalance of positive/negative impact, the point system highlights an important truth: As long as governments and corporations exploit the environment in drastic ways, recycling and going vegan, while sustainable, will not save the planet in the long term.
From here, the game loses traction. The only option we have is “protest.” Meanwhile, the point system falls apart.
You gain 1 point(s)
You gain 0 point(s)
You gain -1 point(s)
Next thing we know, the game is using random values like “??? points” or “0.5 points” that make no sense. The game then asks if we want to quit. Otherwise, we protest until the Earth is destroyed. I suppose the game is trying to send a message about the limitations of protest when saving the environment. However, this part of the gameplay is too sloppy and devoid of context for this message to have any platform to stand on.
Whether you choose to quit or protest until the Earth’s destroyed, a surprising twist is revealed: (Spoiler - click to show)Individual Action Simulator is a game within a game.
(Spoiler - click to show)The entire time, we’ve been playing as a character named Wei and hanging out with some friends and the game’s author, Noor. Having now played it, we’re asked about our thoughts on the game and its ideas. What follows is a short conversational segment where we choose responses to Noor’s questions. Then, everyone agrees to go get free trade coffee, and Individual Action Simulator ends for real.
The game is considerably stronger with this hidden twist at the end because it takes a self-reflective approach to the game’s content and has a more polished appearance. However, while the simulation’s crudeness is meant to reflect the fact that Noor created it on a whim, it still could have been more developed. The final product is a poorly implemented game that detracts from its own message-sharing potential.
Note on visuals: At first, I thought this was a Twine game. Turns out, it’s made with Ink. It uses a black screen, white text, and blue links, except for the (Spoiler - click to show)twist at the end which opts for a light grey screen, colour-coded character names, and cleaner formatting. This sudden change in appearance contributes to the player’s surprise at discovering the true nature of the game.
To conclude, Individual Action Simulator has the right idea but misses the mark in its overall execution. I’m glad that it challenges the view that recycling and other sustainable practices will not offset the ongoing destruction that humanity inflicts on the environment. Sustainable efforts must occur at both the individual and organizational level.
Unfortunately, the potency of this message is diminished by the sparse and sloppy gameplay implementation. The (Spoiler - click to show)twist at the end helps but is not enough to save the entire game. That said, if the author were to revisit this topic in a future game, I’d be interested.
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