The Missing City Council

I played this game as far as I could by myself, then I had to use the Walkthrough to proceed from there. My first note is that the puzzles seem quite far-fetched in terms of knowing what to do next. I’d be surprised if anyone got some of the puzzles, but that isn’t to say I admire the commitment to the small scope of the game (which is a thing I really struggle with). I also think it’s worth noting the idea of the entire game is very simple and yet, uh, not so simple. I found the ending quite funny and it certainly surprised me!

…That said, the game mainly struggles with interaction/implementation. By this, I mean there is very little room description and all the implemented objects are in a list at the end. However, all the doors for instance could be made undescribed (or however it is done in Inform 6) and then mention them in an extended version of the room description, so that the player feels more part of the story than simply a robot scanning all potentially usable items (I don’t know if that makes sense)… And again, maybe synonyms for objects (eg. plane for aeroplane); finally, objects in room descriptions need to be implemented, such as a desk in the office, or a sink in the bathroom. Even if not really described in much detail, just an acknowledgement that they exist is worth a lot to a player. I was testing a game a year ago with these incredible descriptions of the objects, and I really enjoyed them, but nothing in the object descriptions were implemented, so I went through the start of the massive game and just pointed out all the missing objects. Sometimes, just a “that isn’t important to the story” (or, better, a ~15 word description of what the object is) is enough.

Anyway, the game is a promising first start, and I’ll be interested in seeing Solarius again!