Reviews by MathBrush

This game is a Binksi game, which uses minimal pixel art and animations to create an environment for narrative storytelling.

The story told here is about a shut-in whose depression is keeping them from finding enjoyment in any of their previous activities.

But then checking the mail reveals numerous messages from an anonymous penpal. The sustained communication from a stranger provides some solace.

I've seen this effect before in real life; I've definitely benefited from regular contact with people I don't even know that well. So I liked that part. Some of the story really stretched suspension of disbelief though; I wonder if simulating a longer time period might have worked better, even without additional words (like having it get dark and light again each time you get a letter).

This game, written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less, is a bunch of short rhyming stories interconnected by having names of heroes that rhyme with 'Spartacus'. Like 'Farticus' or 'Articus'.

It's a branching story, where you pick one of the heroes then select an option or two in their path, usually getting a poem out of it.

Each page of the poem/story/game has some ai-generated art in it to serve as a backdrop.

The rhyming is entertaining, but there are so many different directions here it doesn't really feel cohesive, either in design, storyline, or emotion.

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

In it, you have to choose how your chosen baseball team progresses through the different parts of the baseball year.

It ends up having a little math puzzle in it, which is always fun, and it doesn't take too long to play. I mostly like it for the combinatorics.

This game was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less. It's a linear narrative that is taken from an RPG setting or campaign that the author participates in.

The writing is very complex. I had to stop and reread it multiple times to understand what is going on. Even the number of people in the scene was unclear until the second or third playthrough. Allusions are made to many things that are not explained or are unclear. All of this combines to make a rich text that rewards patient exploration. The most interesting part to me was the idea of the time of birth in the day influencing expectations for or names of children.

This is a story about a celebrity encounter, written in the Neo Twiny Jam in under 500 words.

In it, you play as a participant in a conversation with a friend who just met a celebrity that knew them in a store and was given an expensive, fancy present.

The main appeal here (to me) is the friend dynamic, the combination of disinterest, jealousy, and support shown by the main character.

There is a feature that crosses off links if they go to a page you've been before (I thought it was just if you've clicked on the link before, but Manon pointed out it's for if you visited a page before). This is a bit weird for the final choice, but otherwise works well. Nice work overall.

This is a brief game written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less featuring some cute images of anthropomorphic animals.

In it your character must get milk, but there are obstacles to this, like dealing with rain, multiple choices at the store, and interacting with the cashier. A lot of the PCs reactions reminded me of an autistic student I once had, so I wonder if there are autistic themes here.

Overall, the game is well put together, but the stakes never felt very high for a game prominently featuring stress, and some delayed text made replay a little bit harder.

This game made me think, in a very unintended but positive way, of a whale fall.

This was written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less. In it, a character name Jacob dies, fallen from the Ceiling (a literal ceiling? the top half of Midgar in FFVII? heaven?).

When they died, their bones, flesh, and blood were used for various purposes, detailed in the story.

The writing here is excellent and the story and imagery are rich. I didn't feel a need to replay this or revisit it in the future, though.

This entry in the Neo Twiny Jam, written in 500 words or less, concerns an encounter with a mysterious spidery being in the forest.

This is a fae-like tale, which a creature asking for your name whose motives may not be everything you think they are...

This is honestly a pretty good setup and mostly good execution, but the limitations of the wordcount bind this story and it ends long before the narrative energy has been expended. A less weighty tale or longer matter might make this stronger.

In the original Twiny Jam, some of my favorite games were ones that used the 300 word count limit to make tiny RPGs.

This game, in the Neo Twiny Jam that has been updated to 500 words, uses a similar concept, but with a barbarian twist. You are a wild axe wielding warrior exploring a small dungeon. There's a bit of a money system, combat, traps, and surprises.

I played through till one ending.

The game is definitely funny and I think I could recommend it. It's pretty short, so you won't lose much by playing it.

This game, written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less, is made in the style of an old game boy game.

Just like other monster raising games, you start with an egg which you can pet or feed, and your monster evolves from there.

By using graphics and understood mechanics, the author is able to create a lot of game out of the small number of words. The visuals and effects are really beautiful and I loved my ending. I played through twice, ending up with Bast the second time, which I felt satisfied with, and stopped playing there.