Reviews by MathBrush

This is my fourth TrexandDrago Development game and honestly they're out here doing things no one else is really doing.

All of these games are kind of surreal setups for dinosaur-related mysteries or dramas. None of them seem to lead into each other, so it gives the feel of an anthology.

All of these games are fairly short and unpolished, including this one that has elements of Gravity Falls, dinosaurs, and horror.

I've been giving most of these games 1-2 stars because they generally feel short and rushed, but if they were in one big compilation I'd probably give it 3 stars since it has a whole vibe going for it.

This is a Bitsy game, a kind of game that uses arrow keys to control minimalistic pixel images.

In this game, you pass through the mind of someone who is deeply concerned about the world. Passing through the mind once gives one thought, which can stick in your brain (usually only bad things) or pass through. The background images change depending on the person's reaction.

Topics include things like dating, climate change, police brutality, and others.

Overall, the concept works thematically. There's not really any kind of choices, though since it's in the One Choice Jam it might have made sense to have a decision at the end. Overall, everything that was here was well-made, it just felt a bit light overall.

This game is built around a pretty tight set of constraints, with limited words, graphics, choices, and music. But it manages to do some nice worldbuilding and scene setting in that time.

You play as a character who has been poisoned by their lover, a dashing rogue of a man. You have tracked him down, and have one choice to try to secure the antidote from him.

Due to the constraints, there is only one choice, one background image, one character image, etc. but what it comes up with is pretty memorable. It's not in any way a complete story, feeling more like a vignette from a larger work.

This is the third game I've played by TrexandDrago Development. Like the others, this is a shorter story with a bit wobbly English and an emphasis on cool dinosaurs.

This time the dinosaurs are toys named after characters from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but they are only a side part.

The main character is an abused teenager who is covered in bruises and dried blood. The action is all about escaping with the help of a new friend. It's an Adrift game with each action tied to a single letter command, so the game is 'type C to continue' or 'type B to grab the backpack'.

While this is part of the single choice jam, there don't seem to be any choices other than progressing through the story. The game is written in Adrift, but is only available in a downloadable .exe

Overall, as a jam game this was written in a short amount of time so has rough edges; but overall there is a quirkiness and sincerity to the story that I think works well. If there was more time to take these ideas and polish them, I could see it working pretty well!

This game in the Single Choice Jam focuses on a single emotional moment. You are on a space station and are preparing for your mother's delayed funeral/burial ceremony.

You are allowed to bring a single object back with you. Most of the game revolves around looking at objects one at a time and remembering what significance they have to you and to your mother.

My father talked to me before about how sci fi is really about everyday human stories, just placed in an extraordinary setting to bring out different key points. This game is fundamentally about the relationship between a difficult but attentive parent and their adult child. The sci-fi setting serves to strengthen some of the emotions, like isolation and lack of self worth.

The reduction to a single choice makes sense thematically, since you are deliberating on a major decision you can't really go back on. I felt satisfied with my choice and didn't feel a need to play again.

This game was entered into the Single Choice jam.

It's a long choice-based game with an elaborate setup and worldbuilding. You are part of a detective agency, and a couple has reported that something was stolen from their house.

It was stolen by a thief with a clever gimmick: they take an item, and then replace it with a photorealistic painting.

But this time, what was stolen is unknown, and it was replaced by a poem. The couple that hired you was a pair of alchemists.

Overall, the game manages to be engaging despite the 'one choice' limitation by adding a lot of outside-game thinking: what does the riddle refer to? Which clues matter?

On the other hand, it's hard to know what the player's thought process is supposed to be. I made a guess at the end, and it was right, but I couldn't pin down why.

The worldbuilding is rich and detailed. The setting feels extravagant, more like a cartoon than a film, if that makes sense. Could be fleshed out in more games or a revision of this one.

This game was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

I saw this game from two points of view.

In the first, it's a truly awkward situation. You're running into your ex girlfriend with your now boyfriend. You're nervous it'll be awkward but...(Spoiler - click to show)she barely remembers you dating? That's super awkward. And pretty funny.

From the other point of view, it's kind of a mystery. Everyone has very specific and unusual names. Is it a reference to a show? An in-joke? Some OCs?

Either way, the styling is nice, some good choices for color and font to add to the awkward feeling.

This game was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

There are a lot of Orpheus and Eurydice adaptations out there, from the original stories to the first recorded opera to the platformer Don't Look Back, and I generally like them all; it's a good story.

This game manages to do something I haven't really seen with it before. It merges it with the author's personal history, and it manages to (Spoiler - click to show)gives an ending where Eurydice is reborn, and does so in a way that isn't cheap and unearned but also has its own mixture of emotions. Well done.

This game has some fabulous looking images and nice sounds, accompanying its text size of 500 words for the Neo Twiny Jam.

Storywise, there are several branches here. You are trapped in a dungeon, although your true nature may not be apparent at first.

Freedom is possible for you...possibly. But sacrifices must be made.

This was well-written, and enjoyable to play.

This game was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

It's a Texture game, which I haven't seen a lot of recently. This system has you drag verbs onto nouns (or, here, resume sections), both causing changes when you actually drop it and tooltips when you hover.

The humor (or pathos, depending on how you view it) comes from the self-criticism or uncertainty or Sisyphean task of dealing with all of this.

I found only one ending, but I found it multiple times.