Inspiration!

Initially, I was immediately captivated by the game. I can completely relate to the inability to get your creative juices going and I think just about anyone can relate to that feeling. The game isn't too complicated -- you have interactive fiction writer's block and you need to find some inspiration. Mostly, the puzzles come from being able to find out what will give you inspiration, and seeing how it's possible to interact with it. The good points about the game come from finding out the various inspirations around the house, such (Spoiler - click to show) the William Tell inspiration out in the front yard . The game isn't entirely difficult either, but the bad points in the game come from the fact that the puzzles are mostly guess the verb. For example, you can (Spoiler - click to show) examine the telephone, look at the telephone, but you can't use the telephone. Also, you go to the kitchen, the stove is there and you can only examine the stove. You can't use the stove or turn on the stove.

I felt like more could have been done to expand on the game although the author does mention that they spent a brief amount of time on creating the game. I gave this three stars because of the games potential and hope that the author goes back and expands more and takes a bit more time with the game.

As ideas go, Inspiration! is a novel one, bringing the game within a game concept home with aplomb. As games go, Inspiration! is decidedly ok. The humor is in the silly and exuberant type vein (enjoyable in small doses, but your mileage may vary), and the room descriptions are minimal, but it's really the structure that annoyed me.

You are looking for inspiration to write your IF game, and so you set out to look for it around your house. I didn't mind the random actions you do to find inspiration; it's the fact that when you come back to the office to write your game, you write and the game ends -- boom. You'd better have a decent score before you get there, as you get one shot at it.

On the plus side, the game is fairly easy and there's no trash. It's also short, so you probably won't spend a lot of time trying to puzzle things out. I scored 25/40 on my first time through, and even that was a surprisingly positive ending.

On the negative side, Inspiration! is a story about finding inspiration, but itself does not inspire. It's basically a better-than-average "explore your own house" setup without any enduring themes.

If you're in the mood for something light-hearted and silly by turns, Inspiration! is just the thing.