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Number of Reviews: 7
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1-7 of 71 of
1 people found the following review helpful:
Running tediously back and forth, April 13, 2024This review will mostly focus on the Twine version, submitted to the 2024 SpringThing.
The Kuolema is a fairly large mystery adventure puzzle/choice game made in Twine, where the goal is to investigate an incident in the eponymous ship, retrieve an important device, and avoid international conflict. In this one-man adventure, you get to explore the ship (whose many rooms require a key to access), interact with the different objects (and bring them along), question the few survivors about the incident, and maybe learn a bit more about this whole... "deal" (boat, employer, device...). There are a handful of endings depending on a few choices made during the story. This version also includes a "Story Mode", which includes visible hints (helpful for the crossword especially).
The game plays on the conventional and expected twists (uh-oh, that's a dead body) and tropes (e.g. the really smart scientist turning cuckoo banana or the rugged security officer that trust no one) of the genre. And while the writing tends to be atmospheric and gradually will build tension, it switches up to a fast-paced action-focused sequence, which kind of turned me off. While the use of the Security Officer breaks the story into beats, I do feel like the game have worked better had you found no life on board.
With the move to Twine, the game managed to remove some clunkyness from the Google Form format, especially when "moving" forward in the story or trying to go backward, with the "return" from your notes and "rewind" if you die - though there is no UNDO (if you clicked too fast, missed some information or by mistake, too bad); the picking up elements and moving between spaces; or with an easier access to the inventory and notes (which are not always available).
However, it also rendered some puzzles tedious, especially the ones requiring to enter a code to unlock a safe or a door. There are 6 different section using a cycling lock (you click on each number until you have the correct one on the screen), ranging from 3 to 6 cycling link, often requiring an option at the end of the cycle - but unlike those real-life combination lock, you can only turn it one way (if you miss it you need to start again). After the second or third lock like this, that sort of puzzle ends up being more annoying than fun to solve.
I think I might not be the target audience for the 'running back and forth' type of puzzle (i.e. the puzzle at one end of the map can be solved thanks to an object on the other end), I found the running around pretty frustrating reaching the halfway point.
I didn't vibe with it as much as I thought I would. I think I found the game more interesting in its Google Form version, because of the limitation of format.
A note on accessibility: while it is appreciated the game tries to be accessible, with settings to toggle timed text (though the messaging section was missed), or turning some images into text-only version* (if not, you have have super verbose Alt-Text), I had some concerned with other aspects such as: colour-contrasting between text and background - especially with pop-ups and listboxes (when open, the options are barely readable) - as well as the text and image animations (a warning would have been nice, a toggle would even be better).
*It would have been nicer instead to be able to enjoy both the images and the descriptive text, having the later below the former (using something like `< details >`). Having to hover over/press the images would make them at times glitchy (if they ended large enough to read the smaller text).
A note on tracking information and choices: Like the Google Form version, this one tracks your choices and compares it to other players (you can see that at the end of the game). While this is expected for the first version because of its format (that's the whole point of a Google Form), this is not a native option for Twine. When using code to track and store information, players should be able to make an informed decision (whether to agree that their playthrough will be tracked or whether to play at all if they are not given the option). This should be clearly indicated when the player starts the game, rather than told at the end of the game or hidden behind a few clicks. [Note: this may have been changed since this review was written/queued]
A note on the final poll about AI use: since the poll is only available after playing through the game (which contains AI generated elements), the results will surely be biased in favour of AI, as opponents of AI are less likely to actually play the game (as mentioned by the author in the credits). This kind of go against the want of the poll to have an open discussion, as the pool of participants is already pre-determined with the placement of the poll (at the end of the game rather, adding a "wall" to access it). This is a clear selection bias.
This placement could be even used to invalidate users choosing an anti-AI position, as they still played a game included AI elements.
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
A high-quality effort in spite of its limitations, September 3, 2023The calling card of The Kuolema is how it’s authored in Google Forms, which is nutty and impressive in its own right. However, it’s no novelty act—this is a high-quality effort that doesn’t let up until the very last page (er, form). The Kuolema hearkens back to the great graphic adventures of the 1990s, but without changing CD-ROMs between acts. I needed two sittings to play through to the end, and found myself looking forward to getting back to the game in-between the sessions. It grabbed me.
You take the role of an agent dropped by helicopter onto the bridge of a science research ship in the stormy South China seas. The Kuolema, owned by a European corporation, is no longer answering radio hails and drifting into Chinese waters. You soon discover the ship is all-but-abandoned, and you’re locked out of the navigational controls.
It’s a tried-and-true setup: A lone adventurer in a compact map exploring their surroundings and piecing together the backstory via notes, memoranda, diaries, and so forth. The game offers a combination of solid, if workmanlike, prose, complemented by high-quality still graphics depicting rooms, found items, and other details. Together they create an atmosphere that is creepy and claustrophobic. Suspense drips out gradually, a steady accretion of developments that suggest all is not as it seems on this research ship.
Although the setup is a bit stock—echoes of Babel, or The Stanley Project, or numerous other adventures set in creepy abandoned laboratories, space stations, and so on—the pace of the game, the quality of the writing and stills, and the mild difficulty of the puzzles stoked my interest. There were a couple of unexpected plot twists along the way, which kept me on my toes. While the bulk of the game is exploration and solving puzzles, the endgame is more character-based, and asks the player to consider what they’ve seen and read since the beginning.
Google Forms is not an ideal authoring tool, but the author proves how much mileage can be had from it. That said, there’s a good deal of information that’s best tracked manually. You’ll want to have a notepad or a separate window open to keep notes. Fortunately, mapping is not an issue, as the game provides superbly-rendered maps to ease navigation.
I managed to set my progress back—twice—by pressing the browser “Back” button rather than use the back button provided within the forms. It wasn’t catastrophic, just slightly annoying (and required me to curb some browser muscle-memory while playing). Maintaining a full game state in Forms must have been crazy-hard to design, but it’s not perfect, and so some descriptions do not change to reflect changes to the game world. (Still, the fact that the game is thorough enough to maintain as much state as it does shows the amount of work the author put into it.)
From a story perspective, while there were some nice twists and turns, I found the ending to be telegraphed. There’s a side plot about evil corporations against a backdrop of world superpowers vying for technical superiority—it adds a little depth, sure, but unfortunately it’s all been done before. The ramifications of the research ship’s science is more novel, though, and reminded me of (Spoiler - click to show)Ice Nine from Cat's Cradle.
What can I say? I was enthralled. The Kuolema offers a ripping story about the best laid plans of men, and even ends with a blockbuster conclusion. It also asks for you to make a couple of thoughtful decisions along the way, which is refreshing too.
1 of
1 people found the following review helpful:
Paging Mr. Cussler, July 12, 2023Adapted from a SpringThing23 Review
Played: 4/7/23
Playtime: 3hrs, finished, good guess author!
IF in Google Forms. What even is my life right now? Of course, in five years, I’ll be typing “Live IF via GMAI, what even is my life right now?” I guess I should enjoy the ignorant bloom of youth. (Because that phrase TOTALLY applies to me.) Look even if Kuolema were terrible, the chutzpah of a Google Forms implementation alone would rack up goodwill points from me.
But its really not. Terrible I mean. Yes, it’s a Clive Cussler-esque abandoned mystery ship carrying a terrible secret on stormy seas. But it’s a pretty good abandoned mystery ship carrying…etc. Roger Ebert famously said (paraphrasing) “It’s not WHAT it’s about, it’s HOW it’s about it.” And Kuolema has a long laundry list of things it does really well. For one, it feels like a well thought out ship, inhabited by a well-thought out crew. Every location has a reason for being, its absent inhabitants real motivations and impact on their environs. The puzzles have at least some rational motivations, though lordy the code pads. The mystery is capably rendered with the requisite twists that satisfy, if not amaze. The overarching plot is that nearly impossible sweet-spot balance of grounded and goofy. All of this is upper tier IF stuff.
I think though, its not so secret strength is its art. The rendered style is moody, a little dark, but consistent and immersive. Most especially the artifact and document art, which smoothly integrates you into the experience. You get to see corporate letterhead, “hand” written journals and notes, technical manuals, promotional posters, scientific and casual computer screens, and all of it feels perfectly designed.
In most ways, it might as well be a worthy choice-select IF from any number of systems. So let’s talk about the strengths and challenges of the GF implementation.
The game goes out of its way to, ungenerously, apologize, or more generously, set player expectations for the GF experience. The first caveat that drew extreme skepticism from me, was the statelessness of it: the game would only intermittently remember your inventory, or things you knew. You would have to track them on your own, in a separate document. Pencil? Paper? Like a STREET CORNER BOOKIE??? But man did I get whiplash turning around on that. Turns out, the quickest way to get me to engage deeply is to write stuff down. I actually knew this about myself, I often map as I play, but to be told I HAD to was a shock. Regardless, once I accepted the inevitable, I got into a rhythm of game screen/note screen that was just fun and immersive. Look, spreadsheets are a hobby of mine, leave me alone.
So points for GF on that one. Definitely making a limitation into a strength. On the downside, statelessness also meant that revisiting locations, you were often treated (with minimal shading) to outright repetition. You can have the same conversation as many times as you want, (mostly) without acknowledgement that you’ve had it. To be fair, GF is far from the only platform to see games with this weakness, and even games that successfully mitigate it, do so with caveats of their own. Minimal points off.
I think I’d call it an unmitigated success, except for one thing that bugged me all out of proportion. In order to advance the story, most pages would close with a radio button list of options, and a BACK/NEXT button pair. Meaning every time you wanted to move on, you needed two clicks: radio-select option, next button. That is twice as many clicks as necessary. It didn’t help that oh so frequently a page down was necessary too. It sounds small but man did it grate! I really enjoyed the game, but I think I would have enjoyed it twice as much with half as many clicks. Could GF really not support direct links there? Or was this a perverse choice by the author? What did I DO to them???
As far as polish, the artwork and page layout lent a really professional air to the proceedings. The only thing that kept it from being gleaming was some wonkiness in the progress tracker. I think maybe I solved a few puzzles “out of order” and got to watch my progress meter dance back and forth a bit. Not a deal breaker, but definitely a distraction. Don’t start me again on the radio buttons.
Spice Girl: Scary Spice - I may never look at Refresh buttons the same way.
Vibe: Pulpy
Polish: Smooth++
Is this TADS? No.
Gimme the Wheel! Dear God I would drive myself to the madhouse fixing that double click. I would engineer a hostile takeover of Google for the express purpose of deploying their entire software development capability on only this until it was fixed. If that’s what it took.
Spice Girl Ratings: Scary(Horror), Sporty (Gamey), Baby (Light-Hearted), Ginger (non-CWM/political), Posh (Meaningful)
Polish scale: Gleaming, Smooth, Textured, Rough, Distressed
Gimme the Wheel: What I would do next, if it were my project.
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
Forms and Substance, June 19, 2023Although I can’t say it inspires me to attempt to use this tool myself, it’s a very well-made thriller game on Google Forms, filled with photos and images and find-the-password puzzles. The story isn’t highly original, but the tension builds nicely, although I admit I didn’t manage to follow all the names and sequence of events. The puzzles are of an escape-room or puzzle-hunt style, some that feel a little forced, but overall fun, and I thought there were a few especially clever ones. I really recommend giving it a try, as it’s an impressive use of medium. Because of how the game requires you to keep notes rather than saving progress, I now have a lot of screenshots to go and delete from my phone…
6 of
6 people found the following review helpful:
Dark secrets on a ship in Google forms, May 9, 2023This was a nice, mostly-grounded thriller on a ship. A lot of games like this with a dark, abandoned ship at night devolve into Lovcraftian horror (which I love), but it was nice to have a change of pace this time.
This game is written in google forms and relies entirely on passwords and, occasionally, branching for state tracking. This means that if you right everything down, you can come back to the game much later and speed through everything. It reminded me a bit of playing NES/SNES games like Mike Tyson's Punchout and Willow; we had a wooden beam near our living room we'd write down passwords on.
Overall, the speed and responsiveness was pretty good; the system doesn't work all that bad, except when I tried to open the walkthrough in another tab and everything got reset. Fortunately I had my notes, so it was very easy to catch back up. I ended up opening the walkthrough in another tab.
I'd say that writing and storytelling is very strong for my likes, with crisp and clear imagery and a slow-burn thriller plotline. Some parts didn't make too much sense, mostly serving as excuses to find more passwords, but there were a lot of dramatic moments.
The final parts really felt like an action movie. I lost momentum at one point trying to figure out how to activate the next portion of the narrative, but overall it worked well.
Love to see experimentation work out.
5 of
5 people found the following review helpful:
Beautifully executed on GForms, April 14, 2023Very impressively designed on an unconventional platform. The mystery storyline (twists included) was intriguing enough for me to want to finish all five chapters at one go. Can be played without much reference to the walkthrough (I had to use it two to three times as I was stuck at a few puzzles in the later chapters). I liked how the puzzles became more difficult as one progressed in the game. Appreciated the informative details provided at the end as well. You could also explore multiple endings. Creating IF games just became a lot more accessible for those who are programming-naive. Highly recommended!
7 of
7 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent use of a primitive system, April 12, 2023Brief description: Awesome story in a primitive system - done very well!
From an IF viewpoint Google Forms is very primitive as it apparently can't store information in variables - at least that is my understanding from the author's design choices. Nor can you save your progress except for the text you have entered along the way is remembered by Google if you ever logged in. To account for this, the game is designed such that if you note down keycard codes, objects found etc. you can skip big parts of the game when you restart. In addition you can go to part II and III with links near the beginning in case you have already played part I and maybe part II. In practice this works very well.
The game is a sort of thriller mystery and starts out well with perhaps a common theme (well, it is very hard nowadays to come up with something completely new): An abandoned ship is found adrift and you will land on the deck to investigate...
Parser/Vocabulary (Rating: N/A)
No parser. However, several puzzles are parser-like as you have to type the right keyword so that the solution is not given away through visible choices.
Atmosphere (Rating: 9/10)
The game starts out good but the atmosphere and tension increases in part III. Really good! First parts 8/10 in atmosphere, last part 10/10.
Cruelty (Rating: Merciful)
You can never ruin you chance of success and if you die there is a sort of "undo" (often named "rewind")
Puzzles (Rating: 8/10)
Interesting and fun puzzles, some easy and a lot medium. There were a few I wasn't very fond of: Solving a complete crossword was too hard for me as English is not my mother tongue. Luckily, the embedded walkthrough provides the full solution to it. Also, a couple of puzzles required knowledge which many would probably need to solve via the internet, which is not in line with the plot as there is no internet connection available. (Spoiler - click to show)I am thinking of translating Russian and the city in the picture I could not recognize.
Overall (Rating: 9/10)
Starts out good and the final part is just excellent with some psychological themes that fits well into the story.
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