Campus Invaders

Marco Vallarino is one of several IFComp authors whose works I always meant to look at more in-depth. And here "more in-depth," means, sadly, "at all." I mean we've been in IFComp together but somehow I missed the chance to look at his two Darkiss games. CI is motivation beyond "gee, both Darkisses placed well" to fix that. It's unashamedly old-school and not a profound game, but it doesn't have to be. You are just some AFGNCAAPy schlep working at the university, trying to get a computer simulation/program working to zap aliens who've attacked.

And there are laughs along the way. There are joke names, and they're not side-splitters, but they made me smile. More creatively, you're given a long, weird password early. "Suddenly you realize that if you can remember this password by heart, you can do anything in life." Oh, and your first puzzle is to help a professor out of the vending machine they stuffed themselves into, to avoid getting killed or, at least, getting killed first. You rescue them in the way one would expect, with a coin you find lying around. There's another fetch quest or two to warm things up, and then the actual thinking begins. There's nothing too deep. Once you meet a robot with a laser, if you look around, you can guess what item might help you not get killed, and how you can get that item. There's also an overhead projector that's too heavy to carry. I don't know how much they're used these days, but I appreciate that sort of thing for nostalgia's sake. I mean, lots of games have flashlights and such, but I haven't used an overhead projector since Akkoteaque, which is nice even if unfinished.

The final puzzle is also very pleasing. CI is not the first game to feature you having to screw in batteries, but the twist at the end to get the computers running is clever and sensible and I'm glad it didn't get too absurdist. There's a lot of funny stuff in here, and it pays off relatively quickly, with a bit of drama even though it's pretty clear the aliens can and should meet a bad end. Even a stupid death at the beginning is a clue. You also have to sort-of disguise yourself. This brought back memories of a tough Infocom puzzle, but fortunately there's a lot less calculation here.

For being a z5 game, CI contains an impressive amount of fun. A university setting is one that could easily bloat, but this doesn't, and it seems to hit all the tropes without overplayingthem. Perhaps the author specifically set themselves to creating a z5 game and nothing bigger. I for my part was pleased to fit my own effort into the Z8 format, which allows double the size/memory, and while it's neat to see Inform's new features, I enjoy seeing the sort of economy exercised by PunyInform authors or, well, this game. They can fit a lot in.

One of many fourth-wall jokes hints at Campus Invaders 2.0. I'm looking forward to that, after this experience. I suspect CI placed a bit low because people relate more to Vampires and Zombies and not due to quality issues. I don't much care for vampires or zombies, but the Darkiss games will be nice while I'm waiting for CI2.

Adapted from an IFCOMP22 Review

Now that it’s been pointed out to me that a few works here are the product of short-burn IF workshops, the thought rises unbidden when engaging some of these pieces. It feels super patrician to assume this background for any given game and I am actively resisting it. In my defense though, CI is set AT A SCHOOL WITH AN IF WORKSHOP. C’mon, how much do you expect of me? It even implements the IF teacher as a character! IF this was a workshop product and IF there were grades involved, I hope the author’s naked flattery got them an A. There is something bold and admirable to pandering this overt.

As a game it was small, less than two dozen locations and filled with relatively simple puzzles, many of them signposted baldly. “X tells you to give Y to Z” Give. “Z tells you to get Q” Get. There was one puzzle with no signposting, whose solution felt pretty arbitrary, but given the relative shortness of the work was well within bounds of trial and error. There were a few paths that led nowhere. There was a mix of feature implementations which felt as much coding exercise as puzzle, but at least implemented with flair. There was a smattering of missing descriptions, and one puzzle where the game blocked you because you were missing information, but didn’t provide a narrative reason for the block. Frankly, these were the exceptions though. It was a fairly Mechanical experience, but very competently done.

And here is the part where I make an ungenerous observation that makes you think less of me. Not so fast reader! Fortunately for me, Zeno’s Dichotomy paradox famously noted that to get to a destination you must first travel halfway there. Then halfway of that smaller remaining distance. Then halfway again and again, infinitely bisecting smaller distances so you can never actually arrive at zero. The lesser known corollary to this is that to start that journey you must travel halfway. But to get halfway, you must first travel a quarter of the way, after traveling an eighth. Because this distance can also be infinitely subdivided you can’t even START your downward journey of contempt for me! I AM IMMUNE TO CRITICISM AND ACCOUNTABILITY!!!

With that armor in place, I can safely note that this appears to be the work of a non-native speaker. The setting and much of the text hint at a joyfully casual, light and snarky tone. But it rarely lands because of awkward phrasing. Early on, even descriptions took effort to parse, though I think I got synched reasonably quickly. I’m not a monster, I’m not going to penalize the work for this, but it also was just intrusive enough that it defused potential Sparks of Joy before they could land. I guess I am a monster. Fortunately, still armored! Look, if I tried to write these reviews in say Spanish, it would be hot garbage word salad. Ensalada de palabras basura caliente. More so, I mean. But I can really only report on the experience I was having, right?

This was a small, good quality exercise, not particularly complicated, with hints of Joy that couldn’t quite land. Wait. Does Zeno mean I can only give 1’s and 5’s as scores?


Played: 10/30/22
Playtime: 20min, finished.
Artistic/Technical rankings: Mechanical/Seamless
Would Play Again? No, experience seems complete

Artistic scale: Bouncy, Mechanical, Sparks of Joy, Engaging, Transcendent
Technical scale: Unplayable, Intrusive, Notable (Bugginess), Mostly Seamless, Seamless

Oh no! Aliens have arrived and the fate of the city is now in your hands. Campus Invaders is a comedic sci-fi peril story about a normal citizen tasked with saving the day when aliens from space park a spaceship over Vigamus Academy’s campus. And here all you planned to do was attend a seminar!

Campus Invaders has ups and downs. On one hand, this is a great game for newer players because the puzzle logic is not too difficult (Spoiler - click to show) (ex. teacher stuck in a vending machine? Look around to find a coin. And you do. It is laying out on the floor of another room) while also having the player think outside the box, such as dealing with the alien in the bathroom. Objectives are also easy to follow because NPCs tell you want to do and then point you in the next direction after you have fulfilled a task. The downside is that the implementation of the puzzles is not as well-fleshed as the concept behind them.

The main issue is that elements are scarce. Gameplay follows a show/trade pattern of showing or giving something to one NPC in exchange for something that you need to give to another NPC. I think there may be a term for that. Because the setting is a research facility and the protagonist is prospective student, the interactions tend to be about gaining approval or permission to access new locations. Nothing wrong there. What falls flat is that character interactions lack substance which drags the game down since character interaction makes up a chunk of the gameplay.

NPCs have their one moment before retreating into the background as awkward scenery. It feels unnatural. Lack of responsiveness is primary issue. I was a bit surprised at how faculty do not react when you run tearing into their office amid an alien invasion. They just sit there at their desk until you talk to them. When you first speak to them, they have a verbal response, but afterwards you get a pre-recorded message that does not even come from the character, or when you first meet Mica Hela the game says, “Mica Hela welcomes you to her office and tells you that anything (or almost!) she can do for you, she will,” rather than her character speaking to you.

Besides character interactions, the other flimsy element in the game is with the scenery. While the room descriptions are interesting, the things inside them are only sparsely implemented. The description for the terrace is:

You went out on the terrace of the upper floor of the Vigamus Academy, on which a beautiful warm sun shines. From here you can clearly see the large alien spaceship that stands out in the sky and the thousand colored lights that turn on and off on the glittering metal hull. To the west, you can go back inside.

>x spaceship
You can't see any such thing.

I thought that the spaceship was clearly visible. It was frustrating to be unable to examine key items to learn more about them.

There are no true bugs that keep the player from making progress, but there some superficial ones. The game allowed me to pick up the trolley and carry it around in my inventory like a bookbag. It is ironic that it says, "You could use it to put in the bulky stuff you won't be able to carry by hand." You would still be carrying the bulky stuff anyway when you put it in the trolley. This was weak design.

It is not the most polished game but still decent. While most of this review has been spent analyzing the downsides of Campus Invaders, there is merit. It has spirit and is short enough to keep the story’s enthusiasm from fizzling out. Never does it waver from its atmosphere. Perhaps some testing would have tightened everything to make it more of a finished piece, but it still offers a fun time battling with alien invaders. (Plus, I liked the inclusion of a (Spoiler - click to show) secret section in the game).