Ratings and Reviews by MathBrush

This game was made specifically for Emily Short by Sam Kabo Ashwell, and contains a great deal of procedural generation.

The idea is that you're sorting through a large collection of scents that you created during your life. Each one has a collection of smells and a unique bottle that it finds itself in. Each one also brings to mind a specific memory from the past. You can then associate different parts of the smell with different parts of the memory.

In the end, you can conceive of a smell that includes all the elements and memories you chose, even if it could never exist in reality.

The writing is descriptive and evocative. The game uses vorple and has great-looking UI and transitions. I played it a couple of times to see how it worked and what variations there are. It has a definite kind of feeling to it, a kind of worldliness and world-weariness. When confronted with its procedural nature and open-endedness, I struggled to find any meaning in my choices, feeling like it was more like a brainstorming session or tarot reading (which may be a plus for some). Glad I played! Good writing.

This is a Bitsy game, which uses two-color-palette minimalist pixel art and arrow controls to create a world to navigate, and text pops up when you run into certain interactive parts.

The story is a poetic description of the impact whales have on marine life both while they live and after they die. Its fairly brief, and the whole thing hinges on the writing being good, which it really is.

The artwork pushes Bitsy to its limits, with majestic whales, beating hearts, deep sea life, dithered gradients, and more. The music fits the game quite well.

Not too long, but enjoyable.

This game was once intended for Infocom (one of its authors wrote Suspended, among a few other Infocom games). When that didn't pan out, it was later repurposed for Cascade Mountain Publishing, a commercial imprint that was started by members of r*if and also published Once and Future.

The game's premise is that you are assisting a physics professor in finding a particle. Instead of finding it directly, you enter a visualization machine that represents everything as a surreal space, and if you find the particle in that space, it will let you find it in real life.

Structure-wise, it has a hub-and-spoke format, with a central 'lab' room connected to eight smaller passages. Your main goals are to find the particle and (in order to do that) to acquire five keys.

The game is solid overall in puzzles, with not too high of a difficulty and an extensive in-game hint system. Do note that there is one puzzle (a kite race) that requires copy-protection access.

Occasionally there are small bugs. I got locked out of victory by such once and had to reset. There are several non-bug ways to lock yourself out of victory, some of which are non-obvious.

The plot is a bit thin. The theme is generally about having fun, and while meditation is another theme the game doesn't dig into it very deeply.

I recommend reading the documentation ahead of time. I had fun with this game overall.

In this game, you are diving to explore the ocean as an underwater photographer. As you do so, you run into a real, live mermaid!

Interspersed with mermaid dialog, you can explore a little bit, with the game having a small world model. I played once and wasn't able to see everything, so it seems like the game makes replays worth it.

The character dialog was convincing and the game made use of its format effectively with its cheerful drawings and appropriate music. Short but fun.

I'm going to structure this review in two parts.

-A brief description
-Something for authors (players don't need to read)
-Something for prospective players (not intended for authors)

First, a description. This is a game that uses Vorple to combine nine other games. It was built around a code scheme that autosaves information from Inform and shares it with other games. Clicking links in one game autosaves your info and opens the other seamlessly, with a color-based transition. Two of the games are special: one is completely choice-based and the other is a hybrid parser like Gruescript (I believe it's in the author's custom language though).

The idea is that you are exploring an abandoned resort just for fun. As you explore further you realize that there is a rich group of other explorers and former workers that have both left clues and still explore to this day.

Okay, first for the authors:
(Spoiler - click to show)Congratulations! You all did something remarkable. Each area seemed like it was made with love. The writing was all good, all contributing to a feeling of decay and exploration and wonder and feeling. Something I loved about each area:
-Shore: I love language puzzles so this was fantastic. Favorite part of the game.
-Fortune teller: really clever meta puzzle, and the change of pace was relaxing and fun. Really adds to the piece.
-Tunnels: creepy. I love your work in general and the one easter egg reminded me of the chumba wumba earworm in your Cragne Manor piece. Best atmosphere imo.
-Gardens: I was so shocked during the big change in this area, great effect, and love how the area is initially so surprising in its change in interface.
-Moonlight Meadow: I felt like I was really there. I could smell the rotting, sodden tent in the pool, feel the plywood on the slide, feel the damp concrete under my feet, hear the creaking of old equipment in the wind, see the color of the sky. Great writing.
-Shopping Center: This had the most variety and reminded me of my favorite old parser games, especially Not Just An Ordinary Ballerina.
-Lunarcade: This had the most interactive content (imo) and felt like a really substantial complete game on its own. Most well-rounded area I think.
-Sanctuary hotel: the emotional centerpiece of the game, great character work and lovely feeling. Gross tangle of sheets in that one room.
-Monorail system: Loved the mechanical feeling. Reminded me of Fitter Happier from radiohead. The extra dials were neat.


For prospective players:
(Spoiler - click to show)This game has a lot of great content but it's spread out and mixed with red herrings and unnecessary or empty parts. Think of it like the best drink you've ever had that fills a glass, poured into a pitcher and filled with water to reach the top.

The beginning is just a vast empty void where you do little besides find room after room where you can do nothing. Objects in one area are used far away in areas you might not even conceive of.

Room descriptions are vital. Important exits can lurk in the middle of dense paragraphs. Over and over again key items and objects are named in inconspicuous places. Sometimes you just have to hit every room over and over to see if new things you have are useful.

This game is best enjoyed by those who enjoy detailed maps and careful lists of inventory and unsolved puzzles. Running through recklessly is futile, especially with tons of non-intuitive map connections and diagonal or vertical directions.

Is it worth it in the end? The journey is the real goal, here; the ending is neat but not substantially more than the rest of the game, so I'd take your time and enjoy the roses.

This was a neat experiment in a game jam designed to use non-gamemaking tools to make games.

This is a forum thread where the idea is that you read through the edit history to see what happened. It seems to me like someone having a breakdown and then it being covered up. Who covered it up, though? The government? Another personality? Parents?

It's a fun concept. Its open nature allows you to think of many possibilities but also hampers the story due to not providing enough answers to really pull you in. But a fun and unique idea.

This was a pleasant, compact Adventuron game. It had a feature I’m not used to seeing, where right-clicking on yellow words brought up possible actions. I don’t think it was all possible actions, because in both cases I tried it it only brought up ‘Examine’, but I thought it was cool!

The idea is that you’ve accidentally released the ghosts of your ancestors and you have to capture them back into the box you got them from.

There are two main ghosts to catch, each with a couple of puzzles. These puzzles were well-thought out; it looks like this Petite Mort game went for polishing a smaller-scope game rather than pushing out a bigger untested game. I think that was a smart choice! This setup would easily allow expansion if the author ever desired to do so, and I would look forward to that. Still, it’s pretty good as-is.

This game is a great example of a game that uses minimalist techniques to make a satisfyingly long game.

You start the game with a mission that's backwards of most kid's movies I watched in the 90s: you have to save ghosts in a mansion that's going to be demolished to turn into a rainforest!

There's no real attempt at storytelling in a traditional sense; it's more like Scott Adams' Adventureland in that regard. There are several locations in a kind of 3-d grid, each with a couple of interesting objects. Commands are done with 1-2 words each (although occasional 3-word commands are allowed). Art is blocky and pixelated with low resolution, but is interactive and creative in the use of color.

I explored the world and had a good time, but got really stuck at only one ghost solved. I was dismayed and used hints for a bit, only to find that I had just not know the verb to use for 3 of the ghosts: PUT. The game has a VERBS command, so I recommend using that. Once I realized that, I decided to set aside the hints and proceed normally, and I found the last 3 or 4 ghosts on my own.

The endings are pretty good. Overall, a great game if you just want a wide variety of fun puzzles.

I will say that a lot of times objects and puzzles in one location will have an effect on something in the distance, so it can be useful to explore after doing something that didn't seem important at the time.

I saw this game that had recently been released on IFDB outside of any competitions and wanted to try it.

It uses different colors for text, which is neat. It starts with you injured and in the dark outside a creepy building. It builds up to some creepy shenanigans with a computer in an office.

I couldn't finish it, though, due to implementation errors. Most scenery is not implemented, like debris or our wounds. So if you try to examine them or search them, they're not there. Most objects are just listed at the end of the paragraph rather than being incorporated into the text. I needed to get an important item from a cup, but trying to take the item from the cup said that I had to take it out of the cup first, and trying to take the cup said that I had to take the object first.

The design decisions seem punishing for no reason. There is a strict 7 item inventory limit. The game starts you on a timer before you die that barely gives you enough time to reach something to bandage your wounds, but trying to reach that part of the house encourages you to visit other areas (which can't heal you at all) first, so you have to dip in and out in one second. And the game ends the game and closes the whole interpreter if you UNDO because you're not a 'real adventurer'.

So, I was unable to finish it. I think the author has a lot of potential (so one of my 2 stars in the rating is for that potential), but I don't find the game enjoyable in its current incarnation.

This game is a longish twine game with lush but sometimes confusing writing.

In it, you play as a woman who is to be married off to settle her father's debts, but is late to the wedding. You stumble, chased by wolves, into a cathedral that is abandoned and stripped of religious symbology. You then dive deeper into the earth, discovering a series of trees that give sin-related dreams.

This felt pretty long. The writing has me going back and forth. On the one hand, it shows skill in word use and sentence formation. On the other hand, I had great difficulty keeping track of what's going on. Sudden shifts in perspective and topic aren't just common, they're essentially the majority of the game. Here are a few excerpts I had trouble parsing:

(Spoiler - click to show)There’s something happening at the police headquarters. It is an invitation, something thrilling but also dangerous. You had invited him over, for beer, for weed, the usual dissolutions, to assay your desire. This change of scenery could represent an escape procedure; the police headquarters, the inkcloud from a squid’s mouth. Yeah? Shall we drive over?

Clogged up, I imagine. I came by bike. He did not even intend to down his vodka club. You invent an obstacle. Bum tire on mine. Haven’t had a chance. An embarrassing fabrication: your life is nothing but chances. Hop on mine. He finishes the drink in the end, two thrilling gulps, pulls you from the bear trap of a lounge chair, positions you at the rear, to the private torments of discretion. Keep hold."

Another one:

"You keep turning over the question of death as if it were a weekend trip to the zoo. You’d heard about the albino crocodile, of course, the caged mandrills, the rhino whose tusk is slowly curling back into his skull. I’d like to go into town this evening, for an hour or two. Do you feel up to being alone? It’s a matter of practicalities, really, that’s what everything comes down to. Do we have a gun? She is sniffing at an orchid even though it’s plastic. Of course we don’t have a gun. The coffee is undrinkable. She must give you back the machine at least. Not even in your purse? It’s a rough-and-tumble neighborhood.

The storyline is interesting, and every part involving the marriage story was great. I just got bogged down in the middle and very intro and am not sure what was going on or what the themes were.