Ratings and Reviews by MathBrush

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View this member's reviews by tag: 15-30 minutes 2-10 hours about 1 hour about 2 hours IF Comp 2015 Infocom less than 15 minutes more than 10 hours Spring Thing 2016
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Antiquest, by Anton Lastochkin
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A funny short TADS game where you seek out a dozen or so endings, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

I beta tested this game.

This is a TADS game where you are on a spaceship, and anything you do (for long enough) results in a different wacky ending.

The author keeps you from meeting too many error messages; if you try to do something usually not allowed (like going down when you shouldn't) it justs adapts the game (like having you burrow through the metal). It even includes a battle-ship type game.

It made me laugh, it is pretty descriptive, but it's not polished in some sense that I have trouble grabbing hold of; and I felt confused without the hints.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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A Beauty Cold and Austere, by Mike Spivey
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A large mathematical journey of a puzzlefest, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

I beta tested this game several times, and work with the author.

This is one of the best big games released in recent years. It's a mathematical puzzlefest, and it's huge; I'm a math professor, and I used the walkthrough, and it still took me 4 hours.

You travel through the history of mathematics, or more over a mind-map of theoretical concepts: the number line, arithmetic, algebra, all the way up to fractals.

The game is completable by non-math majors, according to several reviewers.

This is an old-school game; puzzles are unabashedly complex, each room is its own set-piece, NPCs don't engage in deep puzzle trees. I liked it, and I especially like that people are still making 'big games'.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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Behind the Door, by Tatiana Statsenko (as 'eejitlikeme')
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A short quest game in a magical house, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This short Quest game has you go into a mysterious house. In that house, you have to solve a few short puzzles and meet a stranger.

This game felt insubstantial to me; I wished for more: more puzzles, more backstory, more descriptions, more conversation.

This feels like the seed of a bigger and better game. I could see a 2.0 version of this game being very enjoyable.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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Black Marker, by Michael Kielstra
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A game about censorship, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: less than 15 minutes

You play a government censor in this game. You are given a series of incriminating documents which you have to censor; clicking on various sentences blacks them out.

You are graded on how you do. This doesn't matter quite as much as you'd think, but it does affect the final ending.

I loved the feel of this game, the feel of manipulating documents and being in control. I do wish it had been longer or the the censoring had been more closely integrated with the story.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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Bookmoss, by Devon Guinn
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A trip through time at a magical library, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game has you play as a father and daughter travelling to a real-life library (in Harvard, I think?)

You meet a goofy pair of twins that are mysterious and magical. And you discover a special moss that allows you to visit other times.

I felt like the game could have done more with the premise. But what's there is fun; I felt like I learned something interesting.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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A Castle of Thread, by Marshal Tenner Winter
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A three-act fantasy game with a big cast of characters, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: about 1 hour

I beta tested this game.

This game casts you as a translator of ancient languages in a fantasy world. It's split up into three acts: a tense moment on a boat, a fight in a town, and a climactic finale in an archaelogical dig.

The overall story, the characters, etc. are all well-drawn. But the game is so big that more needs to be filled-in; more responses to synonyms and commands, more conversational topics, more alternate puzzle solutions.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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The Castle of Vourtram, by Alexandre Torres
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A fun big RPG with nice styling but some bugs, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

This RPG in Quest is just gorgeous. I loved the font and coloring.

You can choose a class, then do a preliminary quest, then a bigger quest, then maybe another one, then the final quest.

It held up better than just about any of the web RPGs in this comp. I couldn't finish it because it was really, really long.

I'd give it more stars, but there were some typos and some minor bugs. If they were fixed up, it would be great.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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Charlie The Robot, by Fernando Contreras
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A massive Twine game with a tangled web of themes, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: about 2 hours

There should be a name for the genre of 'biting commentary on society that is self-aware and occasionally dips to crudity, with hints of cheerful ideals always tinged by irony, using an overload of text as literary device.' Such games include Spy Intrigue and Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game. It seems increasingly common.

Charlie the Robot is gorgeous visually, and is innovative in its sheer variety of input methods and looks. There are 5 chapters accessible at any time, like Birdland.

The themes include surface themes of humans vs. robots, a lower layer of the mindlessness of modern office life, a lower layer of individualism, and so on.

But it was just too much filler for me to enjoy. The packing on and on and on of text is a literary device that doesn't work for me. I appreciate the themes in the game, and its cleverness, but the overall feel is just overwhelming.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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A common enemy, by David de Torres Huerta
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A game about conspiracy and aliens, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: less than 15 minutes

This game is centered around a spy drama, like the Bond movies. It is translated, with several errors.

The main characters is a chauvinist, who 'negs' women and is over macho. That really turned me off.

It does have a clever plot, involving a conspiracy (led by you) to manipulate the world.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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The Cube in the Cavern, by Andrew Schultz
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A fun little color-based mathematical puzzle, November 16, 2017*
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This is one of my favorite Andrew Schultz games. It has you in a world where pseudoscience is real and real science is pseudoscience.

You play on a giant colored cube, and have to manipulate some transponders using a mood ring.

There's a second puzzle later that I did have trouble with, but overall, I liked the concept, and the game.

* This review was last edited on November 17, 2017
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