Reviews by MathBrush

In this game, you call your son to apologize for not picking him up.

The reason you didn't pick him up? That's...complicated. The actual answer depends on your choices. You have a few 'main' choices and then a chance to add details.

The system is interesting, with realist options on what to do with the voicemail once you run out of time.

I played about 3 or 4 times and liked each of them. An expanded version of this would be fascinating, but a lot of the appeal here is from the wild branching, and that would quickly get out of hand.

I like this game, the kind of inherent symmetry it has.

It starts with introducing you to a young trio who have recently escaped from a cult and want to do what anyone would do in that situation: start making a movie!

You have several options on what to spend the money on, like a better monster or better set.

While one early option will lock you out of victory, others will lead you onward to greater glory. I had one ending I loved and another that was pretty good.

There's not a lot of game here, but it has plenty of character.

This parser game for Ectocomp was written in 4 hours or less.

This game really surprised me. I started it up, liked the writing, and decided to start poking around. I found a lot more things implemented in the first room than is normal for a speed-IF, which intrigued me, but I had trouble doing things.

Once I realized the twist, though, I found it to be clever, reminding me of some enjoyable games from the past. Just when I thought I couldn't do any more, I reached the ending, which was a satisfying conclusion.

So I'm not saying more because of spoilers, but I thought this was a good game and a good choice for the scoping and size issues that usually come with having a time limit for writing, like Ectocomp' Petite Mort division does.

This game is a Bitsi game, a platform which has art with minimal palettes and simple responses to movement keys, as well as text. This specific bitsi game provides a new image for most (but not all) lines of text.

There aren't any choices as such. It's just a narrative essay about writing; what is the gap between characters and their author? How does fan fiction come into play?

The writing is good, the art was inscrutable at times but also well done. There wasn't anything wrong with the story/game, but also it lacked many of the elements I most enjoy about interactive fiction without providing a substantially exceptional experience to make up for it.

Overall, short and well done.

I like short, ritualistic Twine games like this. You progress, in any order, through five different sets of body parts, choosing how you will present yourself to the world.

The choices are both physically meaningful and symbolic. Tree arms, for instance, are bad for physical defense, but all growth through painful pruning.

The styling is nice, with a background that is both visually interesting but non-distracting, and good color choices.

Overall, I found the writing strong. I didn't feel a strong need to revisit it, but my personal experience was positive and I would happily recommend the game to others.

This short Twine game was entered in Ectocomp in the Petite Mort division.

It features a father running a food stall who sees his daughter after a long separation. There are supernatural elements, as well as LGBTQ elements.

The food stall descriptions are delightful, with sounds, smells, and sights described with a complex preparation for a meal. The supernatural elements are varied and interesting as well.

There seems to be an Ah Lim Chicken Rice in Singapore, but other aspects could place it in Malaysia, perhaps. There are names that sound Cantonese and names that seem to have Muslim origins.

Overall, a nice blend of culture and human emotion.

This game is based on the emotional true story of the author's mother having deep dementia, causing her to lash out at those around her.

I can't even imagine what that would be like. When I was young, I lived with my great-grandmother in her 90s who had dementia, but she was rarely violent, just forgetful, sometimes thinking she was a little girl, and only occasionally lashing out. I remember it being scary as a kid, but she seemed nice. Now, as an adult, thinking of that for my parents, and much more violent, is terrifying.

As a game, the mechanics are simple. You explore the world around you, which is hostile, and you try to get rid of that which is causing you pain.

I immediately came in planning on giving a score of 5 just from the opening scenes, and despite the typos and the difficulty with implementation, I thought of keeping it there. But I had more and more problems interacting with the game; many commands repeat text that doesn't make sense; many commands return nothing at all, especially when the darkness covers the door. I tried to find a guide, but everyone's comments only talked about the story, so I had to decompile it to find what to do.

In a way, the difficulties with typing commands can simulate the frustration and unfamiliarity of dementia, but I don't think it was intentional.

Storywise, of course the game deserves a really high rating, but this author is of such a high caliber I think that she would prefer a rating that reflects the whole experience (but feel free to message me if I'm wrong, author!). I think this game could be helpful to others in the future who have similar experiences, and smoothing out a couple of the bugs could enhance their experience.

I enjoyed this poem-based choicescript game that was entered in Ectocomp, and was made in 4 hours or less.

The poem is written in verses of 4 lines each, with the 2nd and 4th lines rhyming.

The topic is a haunted wood with a deep and evil pond. You can get various achievements by delving into the pond's mysteries or exploring the woods.

I found deciphering the meaning of the poetry added an extra layer of interaction with the game, which I liked. A lot of poem IF games are very obtuse, but here the meanings were clear enough to understand.

The meter of the poem kept throwing me off; at times it seemed like it had a pattern, so my brain would set it up, but then it'd go off pattern. The number of syllables and the emphasis of syllables varies a lot. Here's an example:

Deep must the pool be,
For its exterior to be black as pitch
Strange the wind does not disturb,
The mirror smooth surface that seems to bewitch.

And another:

What lies 'neath the water,
Where the wind fitfully blows,
Undisturbed and dark with an algae scudded facade,
Surface unreflective in the sun's dawn glow.

There aren't any rules in poetry, of course, and I liked this quite a bit. But I wonder if it might have been good to either lean in harder to a rhyme scheme or meter or to just toss out the rules and go full free verse. But, given that I liked the game, I'm not sure either of those are necessary. Pretty fun!

This is an Ink game entered into Ectocomp, written in 4 hours or less.

It's story-focused, with a well-written tale about a father who has to get up in the middle of the night to help his son get to sleep.

The emphasis in this story is on details and emotions. Little reactions from people, the way that your mind picks out different things, the emotions that don't quite match up with what you'd expect.

There are multiple endings, which is interesting, but I didn't replay because I found mine satisfactory.

A sad game, but a good game.

This game was entered in Ectocomp.

It's essentially a long villain diatribe, first discussing how Christianity justifies cannibalism, then going off on a very long message with slow timed text that explains how they use traditional Vietnamese recipes to cook what is implied to be human meat.

The game has some great music in the background, and a cool (albeit somewhat busy) visual background.

It's hard to identify with straight-up villain stuff like this. When something is one-note, it's hard to feel invested. There is some variation in emotion; it swings between sadness, gruesomeness, and mundanity, but I think having a spark of light or hope, or some indication of true happiness, could have increased the contrast with the horror.

I didn't get frustrated by the timed text because I downloaded the file and edited it out.

The Vietnamese food and culture were the best aspects of the game, for sure, along with the music. Also I'd love to have this quote framed in my kitchen:

ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING RESEMBLING "BREAD" IS BEYOND MY CAPACITY, NOT AS A CHEF BUT AS A "HUMAN BEING" WITH "LIMITED PATIENCE" and "THINGS TO DO, VASSALS TO KILL."