Reviews by MathBrush

This game was entered in the Single Choice Jam.

In it, you play as a robber who has picked the absolutely wrong house to rob--or maybe the absolutely right house.

You've found a witch's home, and there's a lot to grab. But you only have time to pick one item.

What this turns out to be in the end is a series of witty short stories, essentially, with each option giving a page or two of some dramatic development.

Fun overall, but fairly brief.

This entry in the Single Choice jam works as either a short story or a part of a broader setting.

In it, you play as a human witnessing the end of the universe as an inevitable, encroaching force approaches and begins to slowly devastate earth.

There's some nice storyline and characterization here. Given the brevity of the game I think the surprising revelations didn't have time to build up quite enough, to provoke investment in the characters. To me, while the story was good, I felt more like 'I would read this book!' rather than 'this feels like the whole story'.

This game has disjointed and poetic imagery of you as a person that exists across multiple worlds and dimensions.

It was written for the Single Choice Jam, so it only has one choice at the end, deliberately in(?)consequential.

The imagery evokes kaleidoscopic existence and hints at a deeper backstory for the 'main' protagonist (if there can be said to be one).

This game was part of the Single Choice Jam. It features a low stakes card game that suddenly becomes much more dangerous when a stranger walks in.

This is a classic story, and I've seen at least two other takes on the general concept this year. What I like about this one is its nice character development, showcasing well-thought-out people with interesting traits.

It's short and kind of cuts out, a straightforward but well-done implementation of the 'single choice' prompt. Would read more by this author.

My feelings went up and down as I played this Single Choice Jam game.

It looks really nice, with good pictures, transition, etc. I felt like it was setting up a pretty cool scenario.

Then it turns into kind of a tech demo sort of thing; the game has you click at exactly the right time. There's also timed text; I found myself doing other stuff in real life while waiting for the game to finish, until I found I could click through...most of the time. Other times there's more requirements.

To me, the story never really broached established tropes, or really defined what was going on. I don't think it was AI generated, but it had a similar vibe, a cobbling together of pre-existing ideas without specialization into something unique. As a tech demo for the engine it's advertising, though, I think it's successful; it looks easily as powerful as Twine, and works well on mobile. I wonder if it works good for screenreaders, as I've heard complaints about Twine related to that.

This game was entered in the single choice jam.

There is only one choice, of course: make toast, or not?

Each gives you a pretty silly story, each connected to the other. Each is very short. It was pretty funny, but there was at least one typo (windowcill vs windowsill).

This game was entered into the Single Choice Jam.

The concept is that you are invited to a dinner party where you have the choice to win an inimitable item, one that can change your destiny forever.

Your only choice is whether to participate or not. Doing so requires some self reflection.

There are strong scraps of worldbuilding and an interesting thought experiment, although I felt like those two facets didn't mesh very well. The interesting parts of the worldbuilding were the individual human stories and their mundanity, while the 'twist' of the game invites more personal introspection. I'd be interested in seeing some more of the setting/people in another game.

This game is written for the Single Choice Jam.

It depicts a single passage from which many other links branch out, each giving a disjointed dreamlike narrative.

I think the game succeeds admirably in its design, being dreamlike and disconnected. However, that very disconnectedness works against its lasting impact, for me. I almost wish that either things had been more connected (hidden narrative) or much more disconnected.

This game was entered into the Single Choice Jam, and uses the format well, I feel.

It's a beautifully styled short Twine game with one choice at the beginning followed by 'dynamic fiction' (just click to get to the next part).

It talks about a certain kind of trauma, specifically (Spoiler - click to show)secondary traumatic stress. It hit home, for me.

The concept is a big part of different cultures, including mine. In my religion, we believe (Spoiler - click to show)Jesus basically experienced everything in the game, but willingly, as a big sacrifice that was extraordinarily painful(Spoiler - click to show). When it's not so willing or the person doing it not so capable, it can be very painful. Very interesting read.

This game was made for the Single Choice Jam.

In it, you play as a knight on a chessboard (with a framing story), and have to do a knight's tour. The path is completely predetermined; all possible movements are highlighted but only one is clickable. However, you can choose initially between three such paths.

The paths basically teach you how Knight's tours work. I enjoyed the 'stick to the edges' one best.