Reviews by MathBrush

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

It depict a Tarot deck drawing (using a nonstandard deck), and its main feature is that the cards that you draw can be entered. You don't explore them through links, though, it just describes you going and coming back.

It's not a bad idea, but could probably have benefitted from a larger game size to allow more flexibility. The overall vibes were chill and pleasant.

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

This one reminds me of the classic twine scene around 2015 and earlier, especially the Porpentine/Furkle style. You have bodies that are modified in uncomfortable ways and integrated with technology mixed with a vulnerable protagonist whose interior monologue is at odds with the actions around him. Another similar feature is the blend of religiosity with patriotism in the authority figures in the protagonists life.

That's not to say that this game isn't original; it has a nice poeticism to it and does its own take on things. I'm just saying that I think it benefits from having a body of related work to compare and contrast it to.

This game is about being part of a space combat squadron protecting a payload of a large bomb. It's mostly linear, but has some nice color changes.

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

It's written using Bitsy (or one of its derivatives), with low-resolution pixel art that looks pretty good here.

The story itself is hard to describe though. I couldn't tell if it was a guy carrying his dying baby through an apocalyptic wasteland or a dating couple walking around the block...the ending is more clear, but earlier parts are a little vague.

The controls can be hard to figure out at first, but some parts are pretty cool as you move a mouse in a virtual device.

This is a well-produced game for the Neo Twiny Jam, written in 500 words or less.

It looks good, with a nice background and well-chosen fonts and color schemes.

The story is about a hero who is dying, and you are the one to comfort him. You can choose what to say.

It branches a lot; I don't think any of the branches reconnect. But 2 of 3 starting options end the game immediately, while a 3rd has more options.

Most of the stories seem more like intros, like a teaser for a larger setting.

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

It's about a real thing I never knew existed, the Orbiting Frog Otolith, which was an experiment thing where they put two frogs in space and measured the effects of weightlessness on them, with no intent of ever recovering them.

I looked up 'Otolith' and it means 'ear stone', which is a pretty weird name for a spacecraft. But apparently there's a part of the ear with that name in frogs (and maybe humans?) and the experiment studied that.

Anyway, this is a short game with a lot of branches; I got about 6 different endings, but all the ones I got were grouped into two major groups. It's pretty fun, imagining two frogs chilling and trying to talk to each other about things that are purely beyond their comprehension.

This is a feel-good kind of quiz, written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

It's a quiz that you take about your work habits, what you do for fun, and treats.

It presents a few surprises and overall a wholesome and positive message.

It's not very long, but I get the impression that there are multiple results. I enjoyed playing it.

This is a poem written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

It's styled nicely, with a nonstandard font and a red and black theme.

The structure involves going back and forth between one major poem that slowly grows and smaller poems on the side.

There's some vague imagery of pain and slurs towards women. It's meant in service to overall narrative, but I wonder if the same point could have been achieved in a different way.

This is a poem entered in the Neo Twiny Jam, with 500 words or less.

It's styled nicely, with beautiful fonts and illustrations and transitions and some music.

It's mostly just a poem, the feelings someone has for their 21st birthday, The freedom is in what order the poem is explored.

I liked it overall, but a lot of the enjoyment of a poem is either in symmetry or purposeful asymmetry. But there was a bit of unevenness, like rhyming 'skills' with 'skills' and varying between exact rhymes and almost-rhymes in a non-symmetric fashion; and some of the lines were hard to fit into the meter when read aloud. However, the sentiment was strong, and those features I described as lacking may not even be desired by the author, although I feel like they could be introduced with some mild revising.

This game was pretty hard to beat. It was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less.

At first, it seems extremely short, even on replay. But apparently you have to play 3 times before it changes, which is a bit weird.

It has images that were drawn on notebook paper and scanned, which I actually think look cool!

You have to explore different things in the coma, but you have little time due to constantly dying. Even worse, there's a counter in the corner and you fail the game completely once it ticks down, with no way to undo.

I eventually realized that (Spoiler - click to show)There's exactly one action that can be indefinitely be repeated to raise the counter. Overall, it was pretty tricky. I'm not sure I loved the counter of doom and the initial 3 replays, but it was interesting enough that I wanted to finish.

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

It's all on one page with expandable text. I read it at first, seeing in it obtuse musings on relationship.

Then I read the trigger warnings, which gave me insights into themes I hadn't identified. Then I realized the poem has a different structure that first appears, a sort of meta puzzle.

I ended up liking piecing things together, having to reach for what's going on. Very nice. Vivid imagery.