An Informal Time

by Anonymous

Surreal
2010

Go to the game's main page

Member Reviews

Number of Reviews: 3
Write a review


4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
It's hard to intentionally be Ed Wood, January 14, 2011
by tggdan3 (Michigan)

I get it. The idea of "it's bad, but it's bad on purpose so the ironic fairys are going to come down and make it good". Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

You know, there are authors out there you think of when you think of great games: Short, Cadre, Plotkin (to name a few).

Those familiar with this site will also have gathered a few names of people who always (or almost always) deliver sub-par games. It's stuff like this that gets you added to that list.

Even if the game is designed to be "so bad it's good", it still needs playtesters, it still needs to make sense. It should not be just a random assortment of actions and moves. That's boring and unimaginative. (Or "minimalist"). Rather, perhaps a parser which is more personified (that you actually fight with) or having a clear goal set which is plagued by intentional errors, where deciphering the error is an actual puzzle, that might be fun.

For example: The door is to the north.
> GO NORTH
You can't because the door is in the way.
> ENTER DOOR
You can't because the north is in the way.

Something like that could be cute if there was some way to get around the parser, such as:

>X DOOR
Inside is a lantern.
> GET LANTERN
(First entering the northern door)
Yes! You got through, and have the lamp.
NORTH ROOM... blah blah.


Something like that could be a cute experiment. As it is, this game comes down to "Here are some random rooms, I know I don't have anything good here, so I'll just mark it as ironic and move on".

Nice concept though, if the "game" actually seemed related to the concept.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment