Djibouti Dirigible Discombobulation

I'm not sure how you rate an intro speed IF; such games don't even attempt to be full games, and as Speed IF, they are typically chock-full of flaws that the designer just didn't have time to correct. Rating such games requires the reviewer to abandon applying a single metric to his reviews, if nothing else. What a five-star intro Speed IF game is, could in no way be a five-star finished, full game.

However, as Speed IF goes, 2007 seemed to be a good year; both this game (abbreviated D3) and Faett Tiw are much more polished, and hence, game-like, than the usual crop of Speed IF entries. D3 has no typos, and the descriptions are remarkably well-written. Most objects even have at least one non-default response. The puzzles are not well-clued, though, but you can only hope for so much.

D3 is a game told in high Victorian style with more than a nod towards steampunk, told with a humorous, almost over-the-top comedic flair. Objects are necessarily ornate with multiple adjectives. The science is necessarily a pinch shy of alchemy, especially once you factor in the restrictions of the contest. I'm quite fond of the atmosphere and would like to have seen this become a finished game, minus some of the ridiculous contest restrictions.

AmberShards has it down quite right.

It definitely IS speed IF but the science concept is very nice und you should definitely try out everything that is possible to enjoy the different results and endings. The only real puzzle is (Spoiler - click to show)to find out how your "gun" is working, after that it is simply trying out stuff and having fun for an hour or so.

I would really like to see a full fledged game using this concept and, especially, the kind of language and humour, which is right in my ballpark.