Reviews by MathBrush

This IFComp 2015 game is written using inklewriter. It contains a fairly large amount of text for an interactive fiction game, but it stops at the most interesting point of the story. To me, it felt like the first two chapters of a long novel.

The story is about time travel, and is complicated and intricate. It is clear that the author is excellent at worldbuilding; I read through this game twice, about two weeks apart, and the second time I appreciated the story much more. I was excited to read more, and I hope the author continues the story.

There are a couple of typos, but I think the author may be fixing them, as I remember there being more the first time I read it.

So this story is more of non-interactive fiction, but it is not bad for a sci-fi short story.

This was an IFComp 2015 entry. This is a mid-length Twine game with an interesting format: each page is written somewhat like a play, listing the location and people present, each in their own color. Then dialogue appears a line at a time, each in the color belonging to the person.

The game is set on a space station. You are a computer, and there has been a murder on the station.

I enjoyed the story, especially the 2nd and 3rd times I played it. Most of the interactivity is found in selecting the order of presentation. I am beginning to become a fan of dialogue-only games, like this and Birdland.

This IFComp 2015 game starts off as a time-management baking game that I at first found very difficult to keep track of, and several non-standard inventory items.

Eventually things start to happen. The game gets much more interesting. However, micromanagment still abounds. Things can get frequently lost; things have to be replaced. A dozen or more NPC's of various types come and go, doing what they please, and it is difficult to keep track of everything.

I played through this game twice, a couple of weeks apart, and it was still hard to juggle everything the second time, knowing exactly what I needed to do. However, I understood the game much better the second time, and I appreciated it more. Some of the meta techniques are incredibly clever.

Switcheroo is part of a family-friendly series of stories about a witch who runs a foster home. All parts of the story involve a certain writing style, where the narrator is a magic book that coughs up 'pageballs' from time to time.

In this tale, the focus is on Derik, who goes to sleep as a boy in a wheelchair and wakes up as a girl.

Later, some good things start happening in their life due to the switch. And they have to decide whether to keep their new body and identity, or go back to their old.

This game has affected a lot of different people in different ways. There is an obvious interest from the transgender community to see how this story is represented, and those who have experience adoption have responded to it as well. My family includes some who are permanently disable and use wheelchairs, so it was very interesting for me to think about this game.

Overall, I had fun playing through the first time, but I didn't look forward to replaying this game for the review. I would recommend this game to those looking for a family-friendly game or for a game that examines social issues in detail.

This excellent IFComp 2015 game is a bizarre, surreal journey. You choose one of several 'origin stories' in a sense; for instance, once my father carved miniature cathedrals that played music, and once I lived in the swamp and sold frog skin.

The game consists of a journey towards a distant summit. You reach many places in between, in almost a surreal(er) Gulliver's Travels.

As you travel, you deal with an odd thing called a fishstomach, whose details I leave to the game.

Overall, I found the game emotionally satisfying, especially near the end. Well-chosen graphics help the game.

Occasional profanity and some body horror, but milder than Porpentine's games in general.

This is an interesting pirate world, where magic is prevalent and women have a much stronger place in the world.

This is a choice-of-games style game, which means that it's a CYOA, with choices affecting different 'stats' you have (like magic ability, gun ability, drunkenness, sneakiness, etc.) You have to build up different stats for different challenges.

Overall, a very fun game. I really enjoyed it, first as a beta tester, then playing it in the comp. The story is fast-paced and exciting.

I enjoyed Sub Rosa, and rank it in the top 5 of IFComp. It's world-building is marvellous; you explore a strange house in a strange world consisting of different 'planes' (in the Dungeons and Dragon's sense, and in the mathematical sense, and in the geographical sense).

The house and the backstory are weird and interesting, like a 1001 Arabian Nights written by Steven Moffat and David Eddings.

As your find out very early on, your goal is to find 7 secrets to destroy someone. Your secondary goal is not to get caught or noticed.

The game is enjoyable, and the puzzles are great, but it suffers from a bit of hunt-for-clues, like Where's Waldo. There is a library with 101 books, some of which are obviously important, and others which are necessary for winning but not clearly marked out.

As another example of the hunt-for-clues issue, there is one puzzle you solve by examining a background item not usually implemented, interacting with it in an unusual way, using that to interact with another important thing in an unusual way, and then examining two things in succession.

Thus, this game is best-suited for the meticulous. Fortunately, its rich backstory makes such meticulousness very rewarding.

This IFComp 2015 game centers on understanding and experiencing OCD. It has a nice visual feel, with a fixed-letter-spacing font and some purposely grainy photos/images.

You are diagnosed with OCD, and you learn that it's not what people think it is. You experience OCD as you struggle with how to spend your day and struggle with intrusive thoughts presented in an interesting way.

Overall, a mid-length game. You get a summary at the end describing how you're doing and what your future might be like.

If you are interested in OCD, definitely check this game out.

Second Story features a web-based parser that is, in my opinion, a quite nice visual improvement over several other parsers.

The story is about a catburglar who has changed their life, but has to go back to work to save their brother.

Gameplay is straightforward, taking, opening, and dropping things, but the story drives the game forward. It's fast and fun. I especially liked the twist at the end.

I recommend this game to those interested in developments in parser technology, and for those into crime-based stories (it reminded me a bit of the story of PataNoir, stripped from its mechanic).

This game is almost ritualistic in nature, and I enjoyed it. The gameplay consists almost entirely of reading messages placed in each of about 12 rooms. Doing this unlocks the final step.

Everything is dreamlike in nature, a bit like Plotkin's Dreamhold, but on a smaller scale. You wake up with no voice in front of a locked door In a dark structure with symbolic rooms, some made of glass, others of iron, etc.

I'm always into this kind of game, so I had fun. However, this game is really only for fans of the genre. Intentionally few puzzles, and the story is mostly about cool atmosphere.