Ratings and Reviews by Jacqueline A. Lott

Had I not played this through to the end, I might have given it a two.

I got through it and from a technical standpoint I'd at best give it a three.

But given how it left me feeling afterward, it definitely gets a 4. Well done.

It was unexpected and very cool to see this game materialize years after the Indigo New Language Speed-IF. It takes less than an hour to play, and is slightly on rails, but it's a fun ride.

Note: This piece of interactive fiction is not for everyone.

Ms. Lojka or: In Despair to Will to Be Oneself is an experience. It's an experience I recommend to those who are up for it. I don't know how much agency I had in directing the outcome of the story — I suspect that I had little to no agency, that this was linear, that the story was being told to me. This would normally be an issue for me, but it wasn't here. Here, the sounds wash over you and the art grabs you (and sometimes surprises you) and you feel a bit like you're in a David Lynch film, and you're never entirely certain if you want to be there... but you can't escape and you can't look away, so you just keep with it.

People are going to remark on the type-writer effect, and probably not in complimentary terms. But the type-writer effect is necessary. It's part of the experience on a couple of fronts, and it wouldn't have the same impact were it not present throughout. So just accept that and accept the author's pacing. Be open to the experience.

Because that's what this is. It's an experience. The art is fantastic and the audio is perfect and the voice is casual enough to feel comfortable with you — especially when it's making you uncomfortable. Even the way linked text is slowly revealed after you've had a moment to digest the words in front of you is artful.

Play this in a dark room, full screen, at night.

I would give this 4.5 stars if I could, but I can't, and 4 stars seems too low. So I'm giving it a 5. On a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 9, based on my interactive fiction rating methods.

Thank you, Mr. Evans, for writing a truly enjoyable story - wonderfully implemented, thoughtfully and carefully written, and thoroughly coded.

To speak too much of this piece would be to ruin it for others, so I will be brief. Photograph shined in the 2002 IF competition. Evans ventured beyond what was necessary, such as the dream sequence and the mishap on the way to the store, to illustrate the concerns of adulthood looking back on what might and should have been. Though the nature of this story requires that it be linear, Evans meticulously implements deviations from the plot as wistful reflections upon how things might have been different. This piece might not appeal to younger audiences, but to those of us who look back now and then to wonder if this was the proper path, Photograph is a must.

This is a quick game, but only if you're able to surmount its challenges (some intended by the author, some not). There are red herrings and optional herrings and unseen things that must be sought, as well as at least one coding issue that can hang people up and cause them to abandon the game. But I played it with ClubFloyd and we stuck with it and found a couple of endings, including the one that I think is the 'good' ending.

I can see why the other review so far gave it three stars. It's a first time author's game, written in under a week, and it (not surprisingly) has issues, but I liked the concept and the imaginative setting. I also have a soft spot for games that explore anatomy, and I enjoyed the blending of qualitative description and clinical jargon. So I bumped up to four stars for this.

Definitely memorable.

Not for the feint of heart (or those of weak stomach).

This is both dark and fun, and it's difficult to write a non-spoilery review, but suffice it to say that the type of fun that is had is not expected. It's also a relatively quick game to play. Recommended.

ClubFloyd played the Inform version of this on Easter 2014. Overall, I am glad to have played it, but take it for what it is: a one-room puzzlefest with a holiday theme. I recommend you play it on or near Easter to boost the enjoyment, and be willing to try things you would never ever try in a real life confection shop.

This is Welbourn's first work of IF, and a speed IF at that. He was learning to code as he was writing it. Nevertheless, it has little hints of the sort of things we'd see in later games from this author. Very short, fairly easy.

One of David Welbourn's very early games, this is a quickly coded speed IF. Go in realizing it's a speed and just have fun with it. It starts out dour and emo and you think it won't be fun and then it surprises you and you're clapping your hands the way you do with delightfully unexpected wacky IF. (If that is a thing you clap your hands for, as I do.)

The one and only hint I shall give you (and this isn't a spoiler) is that this isn't a one room game. Once I figured that out, things went pretty swiftly.

We played this on ClubFloyd, and came pretty close to bailing on it because it's got many of the touches of a first-time author who didn't get a game thoroughly tested, but ultimately we stuck with it and all of us agreed that we warmed up to the game despite (or perhaps even because of) these flaws by the end. I wasn't sure it was worth the time at first, but looking back afterward I had a great time playing Colonists. 'Endearing' is one word I'd (oddly enough) use to describe it. That said, I generally enjoy quirky games with amusing descriptions of things meant to be revolting, so your mileage may well vary a great deal. As for me, I'm looking forward to the sequel. Four stars may seem a bit high, but had it been a scale of 1-10, I'd have given it an 8 based on my pre-defined rating scale, which converts to four stars here.