Reviews by MathBrush

Starting up this parser game, it didn't have the usual banner text, so I wondered if it was Inform or something else. Typing VERSION didn't bring anything up, but I figured that might have been overriden by a too-strict limited parser, so I opened up the Inspect Element feature and checked, and the javascript was different than anything I had seen. So I looked at the author's itch page, which went to their personal webpage, where it describes a new framework for javascript parser games.

This game uses a limited set of verbs which can be found by typing HELP. The verbs that are here work generally well; I saw a couple of typos here and there and some objects weren't implemented (you can't X TREE, for instance) but that's normal for parser speed-IF, and doing speed-IF in a custom language is especially impressive. So this looks like a tech demo for the new system. If I could put in any requests, I'd like to be able to change the VERBOSEness like Inform does. Currently, moving to a new location doesn't give the room description, you have to separately LOOK; it would be nice to be able to set that property. Another thing I missed was the ability to manually RESTART.

The story is about wandering through a pumpkin patch alone, finding a variety of items while also dealing with oppressive fog. I enjoyed the ambient room descriptions and the messages when trying to go 'off map'. There are also two endings, which is neat considering the game was written so swiftly.

This game is by a Slovakian student as part of the One Boat Crew team.

It's a branching Twine game, with very different paths depending on your choices. All of them deal with a kind of strange reality you find yourself in. I took what I thought was the 'weird' path first, but when I did the 'main' path later, it was a lot shorter.

There are semi-comforting/eery endings and horrifying endings, which is a nice mix, and I would be proud of my high school students if they created something like this.

I remember Ghost Hunt I, it was a fun, compact Adventuron game tracking down a ghost (unless I'm remembering it wrong).

This game is one single puzzle with a lot of options. You have a large amount of clothing divided into type of clothing (socks, shirts, scarves, etc.) and colors, and you find three gravestones that gives you hints on the type of clothing and the color of the clothing. Putting the three correct items into the washing machine wins the game!

I was able to guess the items pretty quickly, so I spent less time on the game than almost any other game in the competition. But I thought the grave messages were cute and everything worked smoothly, and I felt a sense of accomplishment at beating it.

This sounds like it was almost a La Petite Mort game, as it was finished in 5 hours, but I’m glad the author took time to finish it, because it feels like a complete product.

This is a cyclic series of poems presented on a yellow background with black text. Due to the weird way Itch frames work, I had to download the game to be able to see it properly (if the author sees this, I suggest using the ‘enable scrollbars’ and ‘click to open in a new window’ options).

This is a poetical work of horror, with the poems blending explicitly horrifying things (monsters, death, etc.) with relatable foibles of humanity like family squabbles or employment woes.

I liked the way each poem flows into the others, and I like the variation in interaction. Some poems play out with slow-displayed text (all of which were thankfully faster than my reading speed). My favorite poem in the cycle, Monstrous beauty of curses, uses a kind of accretive poetry where the lines and words expand as they’re clicked on.

Overall, the writing here is very descriptive and the game felt interactive and polished. I found some of the topics relatable, but I’m more intrigued by the mechanics and the inter-connections.

This game boldly takes timed text and makes it the focus of the piece, using a relatively brief poem as the text with the interaction being waiting for the timed lines and occasionally clicking to bring forth the next part of the poem. Parts are fast, parts are slow; at one point I was waiting for a line and glanced at my phone and got distracted for ten minutes then came back to the computer and realised I hadn't finished (this shows I have a < 10 second attention span).

The poem itself is about a dungeon and escape. There were multiple lines where I thought, "Wow, I like this writing." The twist at the end was amusing as well.

I think this is a great format for Ectocomp. Instead of going for broad scope, you narrowly focus on a piece of writing and work it to become as polished as possible. Nice.

This game is by a recent new IFComp entrant, and has an impressive amount of objects for a speed-IF, and even includes two endings (one of which I decompiled to find).

You are naked and alone in your garage, and you need to figure out what exactly happened between you and your family the night before. First step: finding clothes!

The house you explore has a lot of items implemented, like alcohol and glasses, a rotary telephone, a couple of keys. There is also a series of mysterious background messages prompting you forward.

I think this was a good topic choice for a Speed IF and that it was executed well.

Interesting that I’d play two games within a few days of each other about inhuman creatures who gain action verbs from their surroundings in order to move around and interact with each others. Also interesting that, outside of that similarity, these games are so different (the other game is Stage Fright).

I played the English version of this game, as while I enjoy playing French games, I tend to understand much better in my native language.

This game has a cool retro vibe (it uses the Decker engine) and has an eyeball that looks wherever your cursor is.

You yourself are some kind of monstrous being with unusual powers. The game is short and the powers are the most fun part so I won’t spoil anything here. I found two endings, both of which felt appropriate for my character. Short and fun.

This is a story-driven Twine game and is, I think, the first game I’ve seen by this author, although I’ve seem them around a lot recently.

It has nice styling and no bugs that I could find, and uses a variety of interaction forms like buttons for content warning, expanding ‘aside’ links and regular continue links.

The story is one of love and obsession, two people who meet and hit it off instantly, starting an intense relationship. Things devolve from there. It’s a story I’ve seen play out in real life, but there was an interesting twist here.

I enjoyed the time I spent reading this, which wasn’t too long, and I’d look forward to any future games by this author.

This was the next randomized Grand Guignol game I got. This one is interesting: a smooth and polished, mostly-linear adaptation of a short, sad, romantic movie called Schneckentraum or El Sueño Del Caracol (both meaning Snail Dream). It’s about a girl who is enamored with a boy and follows him to a bookstore, meaning to ask him out, but she’s too embarrassed to do anything but buy a book. Day after day she comes to see him, amassing a small pile of books.

It’s a good story, and I can see why they wanted to adapt it. There are a few branches early on to ‘opt out’ of the story, but it is otherwise a straightforward retelling of a touching story. It reminded me of the song Jueves by the group Oreja de Van Gogh.

I also wanted to add that the styling and images from the movie chosen for the game helped contribute to the atmosphere.

This was a short, well-written game about a horrifying experience being trapped in the darkness.

Most of the game is about your reaction to the things happening to you. The hardest part is the fact that everything is in complete darkness, making you have to react to everything without knowledge of what you’re truly experiencing.

It stays mysterious to the end. I did make a silly translation mistake in my head; when the game says you are surrounded by (Spoiler - click to show)miles de patas, I accidentally thought it said (Spoiler - click to show)miles de patos, and pictured the lights going on, revealing that your enemy was thousands of ducks. I laughed and thought that was fun, then later realized my mistake. The actual story was quite grim, and had a fitting ending