Glass

As a bird in a cage witnessing the resolution of "Cinderella," the player is an observer with very limited control over unfolding events.

For me, the sidelining of the player and the corresponding independence of conversation created a potent illusion of a deep world. Beyond this, the game was made enjoyable by clear options, a good set of endings, the ability to mess with the characters, and wickedly droll humor. But these are just good craftsmanship, and icing on the cake; there really isn't much to Glass beyond a little experimental envelope-pushing with the player's role and choices. For players, this is maybe thirty minutes of entertainment, light as meringue.

For authors, it may be something more. Limiting the player's control of events is not new (cf. Rameses), but I believe that the illusion of depth produced here is a significant technical breakthrough for NPC interaction complementary to those explored in Short's Galatea (and faintly reminiscent of what was so successful about Bob in She's Got a Thing for Spring).

In any case, this little game is as gratifyingly virtuosic as it is trivial.

Emily Short always has a knack of spinning fairy tales into a fantastic, twisted story. Glass is no exception. Instead of completely spinning the story (like Alabaster for example), the story is unique because instead of playing Cinderella, or the prince, or even the stepmother, the viewpoint is through the family parrot.

Even with the shortness of the story, the characters were well crafted and developed throughout. Through the whole game, the characteristics of the characters really come to life with the writing. Very quirky writing helps keep the story's plot with idle, but humorous chitchat creating a good backdrop. It is also short and charming enough that I played it numerous times.

The game is short and has a fairly simple idea, but the story itself is remarkably complex. Instead of puzzlezs or mazes, the story is entirely based on the powers of speech, in this case from a bird. It is really incredible to see the imagination put into this making a few simple phrases from the bird can cause so many different outcomes. Phrases are not exactly many, but there are enough provided, that no story will be completely the same. Also helpful (but ot really nessicery because of the short length), is the phrase hints which tell you what phrase may work here. Of course they do provide a way to find as many outcomes as possible.

Not too much was changed in this fairy tale, but with the extra backdrop, well crafted character and unique perspective, it was something new and exciting. Might I add it was very 'glassy'.

This game is particularly short. You are a parrot watching a conversation between the prince (from cinderella), and the stepmother/stepsisters. The fairy tale is assumed well known to the reader.

Like some of Short's other games, there are no puzzles per se, and the game is mostly about saying things and getting reactions from NPCs. This is done in a cute way here, considering you're a parrot and can't do much else.

However, the game includes at least two endings that I've found, which shows that even a parrot can find ways to affect the world around him.

The writing is cute, and the game is short. I'd say definately worth a play. As far as re-plays, you'll want to replay at least once to get the ending you didn't get last time.