Reviews by MathBrush

This is a game made using, I think, RPG maker, not the first IFComp game with that engine (the same author made Quest for the Sword of Justice).

The idea is that your teacup has been stolen and you want to retrieve it. You can opt not too, getting a bad ending. In fact, there are a lot of bad endings!

Most text games don't have the features found in this game, so when I rate it in ifcomp and on ifdb I'll focus on the features it has in common with text games, which I'll describe next. Then I'll describe the features not common to text games.

The writing is witty, some of the funniest to me in the whole competition. The lampshading of the silliness of the quest, the banter, is just great to me. The characters and settings constantly escalate (I like the 'Swamp of Instant Death' or whatever it's name was). There are enough options to feel like I had at least some freedom, some opportunity to express my personality.

For the non-IF parts:

The ultra-HD tileset used looked weird to me. It was kind of in the uncanny valley.

Having to wait for the character to move between each interaction drove me nuts. I blanked out and five minutes later I had been scrolling through Twitter, and tried to remember what I was doing, and realized I had clicked out of this game a while ago to wait for the animation to finish, and came back to it. I steeled myself to continue, but after accidentally picking the wrong option in Satan's house due to relentlessly hitting the 'skip' button (which for some reason is the same as the 'choose option' button), and running into two long combats in the forest in a row, I quit, since I had already seen 2 or 3 endings. I am completely uninterested in games incorporating long animations between text like this. I don't think that would make the author feel bad, as Damon Wakes is brilliant and has done a lot of different media, often to provoke specific responses from readers or judges, so I think getting a strong reaction to the game's techniques would be a positive thing.

Very funny text though. I would definitely read the rest of the game if I didn't have to watch any more animations.

I didn't actually understand this game, so I'll try to summarize it. It's a twine goal filled with surreal, non-sequitur type descriptions.

An artist named Leben is stuck in a dead end job due to losing inspiration. They hire a detective to find it, using a raven to communicate that message.

Hmm, there was also a part at the beginning about a heist. I'm going to go replay that part...

Yeah, replaying it didn't show anything. There's indication of meta-narrative travel, so maybe the different stories will unite at some point.

Honestly, I've really got no clue here. I wasn't able to construct a mental model of the game's structure, intent, or world. I will try to do better in the future.

This game uses a choice-based format I haven't seen before, where clicking on highlighted words opens a pop-up window with both more text (which can have its own highlighted words that open more pop-up windows) as well as action options at the bottom.

This system is genius, and could become a very popular choice if it were easy to write in and implement.

Unfortunately, I think this game was not a good choice to showcase the engine.

The game is about trying to dispose of toxic waste near a creepy forest.

You aren't really told what to do, except to find a manual. But you can't read it since it's dark; there's a flashlight, but it dies after a few turns. So I ended up with no light source before finding the manual.

I got out and explored, and couldn't find anything but an empty forest and a truck, as well as some background things that run away if you look at them. I found a hose, but nothing to attach it to. After a while, I restarted the game and used the flashlight right away on the manual, discovering that there was a valve somewhere.

That's when I found out, by looking around, that the truck is in multiple locations, and which location you're in changes what you see on it. There was no hint of that given in the game, and that behavior is different than the vast majority of parser games I've played. Innovating isn't bad, but I'm not sure how I was supposed to guess that examining the truck in multiple locales gives different responses.

So I eventually figured things out, and was close to doing my job, and then I died. But that's okay, because that's one ending and an achievement.

A lot of the game involves waiting for a long time, but there's no way to just 'wait'. I found out you can just talk to Bill dozens of times.

Overall, I think this system is fantastic, and the author's writing has a lot of highlights, and there aren't any bugs. I just got frustrated with the gameplay style. I would absolutely love to try a wider variety of games using this system and/or written by this author though.

This was a pleasant accompaniment to the last game I played in IFComp, Birding in Pope Lick Park. Both games are outdoorsy, real-life games inspired by a love for nature.

This game, Campfire, is written in Ink and doesn't use images. Instead, it describes a camping trip in words that are often vivid and descriptive, at other times enthusiastic, and at other times merely routine.

You get to buy stuff for your trip, pack, and pick different activities. I enjoyed fishing and fireworks the most.

I ran into a bug where popping popcorn made my game just hit a deadend. But I was very close to the ending and saw the endtext in the game file. Overall, a pleasant, short experience that could be spruced up a bit with more feedback from players.

This game is a murder mystery (one of several in this comp! Which isn't bad, there was one year where the 1st, 2nd, and 4th games were both murder mysteries) written in Twine, and fairly short to finish. It makes use of colored text, with red indicating closed off options, yellow with options to return to, and green for things found.

The idea is that some time ago, a girl disappeared, with her clothes being found in your uncle's basement and her body found eaten by crocodiles. Your uncle is convicted of sexual assault and convicted to death by crocodiles.

The gameplay consists of you searching around various locations in town, gathering clues and talking to individuals. You soon discover that things are far different than you might have been led to believe.

This feels like it might be a first game or a game of a newish author, as it has some classic mistakes new authors make (like having links that you can click over and over that repeat events like finding a key). If it is new, it's actually pretty good.

I didn't like the part where [spoiler]we look under a 12 year old girl's bed and find something undescribed that makes us aroused[/spoiler]. I did like the religious background we learn more about.

This game's list of author's includes every published Choice of Games author who has been nominated for a Nebula Award, which is pretty neat.

This is a real-timed murder mystery. You are a sentient AI running a ship, named Pearl (both the AI and the ship, who are one). You have blacked out for 10 minutes during a jump into hyperspace, only to discover that your captain is dead.

You are ready to investigate, but there is an issue: hyperspace can cause hallucinations of distorted realities. Without some kind of consensus of the beings on the ship, reality could be stuck forever; with consensus, it could be permanently altered (or at least resolve into one or more paths).

Gameplay consists of moving from room to room, interviewing suspects and picking up pieces of evidence. Almost everyone gets the same set of questions.

You have a murderboard where you can adjust your suspicion of others between Low, Medium, and High. Once you adjust it to high or accuse someone, the game ends and you get an ending.

Here's what I liked and what I struggled with:

**Likes**
-The variety in characters was nice. That's probably the best part of having this many authors. While all characters had different backstories, I liked Primus's story (my first ending), and Ceri's was completely bizarre (does she (Spoiler - click to show)exist in the same reality as anyone else? is she (Spoiler - click to show)real???)
-The interface was smooth, and I found few bugs (only one I can remember is a stray close-bracket at the bottom of one ending)
-The game is relatively short and easy to replay

**Things I struggled with**
-Having the same conversation options with everyone was really hampering, especially as they weren't 'really' choices, in a way. The game said not to anger anyone, but your choices or 'do thing' or 'do thing in a rude way'. It feels like playing a game where the options are 'sword that does 5 damage to enemies' or 'sword that does 5 damage to players'. So it really felt like I had one choice at a time when talking to characters, and those choices were all the same, making them feel less individualistic. Maybe that's the way the writing was done? (sending out a spreadsheet with a list of the same murder-related questions to everyone and asking them to create a character and their responses to those questions), but I think it would have been neater to have questions tailored to those individual characters, especially when they had obviously interesting or suspicious behavior you can't follow up on.
-I'm not sure why we can set Low, Mid, or High suspicion levels, since you can only up a level when you get more evidence and the murderboard already tells you how much evidence you have.
-The nature of the endings means that (Spoiler - click to show)there's not necessarily a cannon (outside of one special ending). I teach a class called Theory of Knowledge, and we do murder mysteries each year that students right, then discuss means of obtaining knowledge, perspective, and ethics. We just performed this year's mysteries today, actually! But the first time we did this, one student wrote a table top murder game where the murderer was chosen by dice roll, but nothing changed about the evidence. The other students were outraged by this (despite liking the rest of the mystery) because it took away agency and made the knowledge obtained earlier unreliable and useless That's kind of how I felt about the alternate endings.
-The timer didn't work well for me. At first I felt rushed to hurry, but I got enough evidence for an ending in 10 minutes, so I felt bad for not giving the game as much attention as it asked for.

Overall, this game was fun. I noticed the download was just a redirect; I hope some version of it is stored in the IFarchive, because it would be nice to preserve it for future generations (and also because IFComp is about making games that are freely available forever); and there's nothing preventing it from being downloadable from the site it's hosted on, I was able to save a local copy and run it just fine.

The thing I'll probably remember longest is Ceri, as she's still a mystery to me.

I had mixed feelings seeing this game's blurb and name. On the one hand, I've enjoyed all of Vivienne's games, which tend to focus on historical settings and have excellent implementation. On the other hand, I've played many games that start in pubs that weren't very good (I think there was a pub-based jam once that may account for some of those memories?).

Fortunately, this was a well-made, charming, short game that has a tight focus and a nice message. You are at a bar, but all the beer has gone bad. You're asked to investigate, and soon you find out more about the bar and its history.

This game has one puzzle that I struggled with for a bit, but once I realized the solution it was actually quite elegant. I found two different endings. While short, I liked the characters in it, who seemed so believable that I could easily imagine them being real.

Has a high content-to-length ratio, so I definitely think people should check it out.

I was quite surprised by the length of this game. I finished it in 15 minutes, but it's labelled as over 2 hours. I suspect it's due to replay; it would probably take longer to find all paths.

This is a game about a deserter from an army, but it's in a world where soldiers pilot mechs. There's some hints that the mechs are used in peace-time as well.

I made choices like choosing between fast and dangerous paths or long and safe ones, like investigating a cave, like whether to help strangers.

There were some minor typos, but asides from that the description is very physical, emphasizing terrain and rocks and soil and water, which gives the game some nice grounding. You can tell the main character cares a lot about his family.

Overall, an interesting setup and game. I'd play another game by this author.

I had a bit of trouble getting this game to work at first. It's a heavily modified Twine game that uses a kind of parser command format through selecting verbs and nouns via links.

I kept selecting a verb and an object, but nothing would happen. I eventually realized that you had to click the player, then the verb, then the object, then a yellow arrow that would then appear. Thus, most commands (outside of movement) take 4 clicks to execute, while some take 5 (those involving multiple objects).

You're part of a team of four, including a historian, a techie, a tough guy, and you, who is (I think) a reporter. Each of you starts in a different location, but you can command others to move around or follow you. Each has skills only they can use.

Once I figured out commands, I had difficulty finding things to do. I tried 'examining' objects, but most said 'No action available' or something similar. Most of my actions were rebuffed, so I decided to follow the walkthrough exactly.

I found out that several of the 'No action available' objects were important, and, in fact, one had to be examined twice! And your teammatest have to be moved around a lot. I'm glad I had the walkthrough, as I would have been completely stymied without it.

The writing is interesting. It generally uses very complex English, with only occasional typos. Room descriptions were rich, but could become repetitive. In many rooms there are shadows that dance, spectral things you can see, and secrets waiting to be found.

One room has almost exactly the same description repeated twice. Perhaps there were two versions in the draft that the author couldn't decide between, and both were accidentally left in? It's this one:

The air is heavy with the spectral echoes of the past, whispering tales of medieval times. The castle, once a symbol of power and grandeur, now stands as a spectral monument, a haunting reminder of the impermanence of man’s creations.

This place, steeped in history and shrouded in mystery, is a silent witness to the passage of time, its spectral presence a haunting echo of a bygone era. It is a place where the past lingers on, its spectral whispers carried on the wind, a chilling reminder of the castle’s former glory and the transience of human endeavour.

While the large vocabulary and repeated words could be seen poetically, I found myself sometimes longing for shorter, more varied descriptions that gave more specific details about this setting or clues about its inhabitants.

The large number of details became frustrating when they included seemingly helpful things that are not implemented. I wonder why the author took the time to include so many details about the van, when none of them can be interacted with:

The van is painted in a vibrant color scheme: the bottom is bright blue, while the top is lime green. An orange horizontal stripe separates the two sections. On the side of the van, there is a large psychedelic logo that says "Fantasticmobile" in stylized and colored letters. It has a retro design, with a rounded shape and a large panoramic windshield.

Interior: The cockpit has two seats wrapped in a colorful striped fabric. The steering wheel and dashboard have a vintage design, with analog gauges and a large chrome steering wheel. Behind the cockpit, there is a large space that can be used to transport people or equipment. This space is often filled with everything the team might need to solve mysteries, including a map, a flashlight, a camera, and even some tools. The floor of the van is covered with a thick and comfortable carpet.

Features: The roof of the van is openable, creating an ideal observation point for scanning the surrounding landscape. The side of the van has a retractable panel that reveals a laboratory complete with tools and accessories for solving mysteries. The rear bumper of the van is equipped with a tow hitch, which can be used to tow a trailer with additional equipment.

Curiosities: The Fantasticmobile was designed and built by a member of the team, who is an expert in mechanics and engineering. The van is powered by a silent and high-efficiency electric motor, making it ideal for following suspects without being detected. The Fantasticmobile is a true symbol of the team, representing their spirit of adventure and their commitment to solving mysteries.

The author wrote this game in tribute to an early Scott Adams game, and wrote to Adams to get express permission for this game. The letter sent and the letter received can both be seen in the game, one in the intro and one in-game.

There is background pixel art which at times helped me understand the game world, taken from Wikipedia. Occasionally it obscured the text, but only in a few rooms.

Overall, I was impressed with the technical skill of the sugarcube programming; it must have been very difficult to implement this!

This is a short, 3-part Twine game that is dialogue between someone seeking mental health aid and an AI bot designed to help with mental health. It is connected to Yancy at the End of the World, where Shyler (the AI bot) also exists. It is fully voice acted. In the three dialogues, the two characters seek to understand each other.

There are many ways to understand the content and intent of this game. I've interpreted it as a kind of wish fulfillment/proxy therapy session where the reader can mentally take on the roles of one or two of the people and feel happiness by imagining them carrying out these actions.

With that interpretation, I'd say the game is largely successful. I imagine you, the reader in the role of Jaiden, who seeks aid. This puts you in a fragile position where others could take advantage of you. But instead, we find Shyler, who not only understands us but is relatable, feeling similar to us. Not only that, we find that we are able to help Shyler ourselves, reversing our roles and showing that we've progressed far in our mental health journey.

So in a way it reminds me of the 'mysteries' of ancient religions where you'd act out the lives of the Gods in a ritual. By playing the game, we can achieve the (healthy) fantasies of being a good friend, understanding someone, and helping them. The game even goes as far as <spoiler.curing the bot's mental illness entirely by rewiring it, which is a big power fantasy, the possibility of completely curing someone's brain.

Some parts of the game are universal, like loneliness and friendship. Other are tailored to a unique experience. The protagonists seem like they feel liberated by strong profanity, which wasn't something I related to. One also takes a kind of deconstructionist view of God of the type that I've seen be more popular among those who've left religions and are seeking their own meaning. As someone who adheres to an organized faith, I didn't feel as empowered by these statements as I believe the protagonist was.

Overall, the voice acting added a lot of charm. It's hard for me to focus on timed text and long voice acting wears on me, but this was a short game and the voice acting was charming (of course, I had to plan carefully when to listen to it due to it having frequent strong profanity and me not having headphones or a private space to listen).

Charming game, glad to play.