A Simple Theft

Baf's Guide

Tiny fantasy game, written as a prequel to a longer game. You're apprenticed to a master who directs you to steal a jewel from a castle and report back to him. Interesting take on a fantasy world--magic is no longer under control, and your master is hoping that the jewel will give him magical powers--but too short to do much with the premise. Still, the full-length game might be intriguing.

-- Duncan Stevens

Brass Lantern
A Simple Theft has the feel of being a prologue to a longer game. The whole thing can be solved in thirty turns or so, with puzzles Thomas Covenant could count on his left hand. There are a number of interesting references to the amusing mythology of the outside world, and to the character of Apaman, the nameless protagonist's wizard employer. My main thought while playing was that I wanted to retrieve the Magic Widget and get out of the castle, so I could start playing in the real world where all of these interesting people and gods might be lurking around. But no such luck.
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SPAG
The technical aspect, while mostly good, isn't flawless: one puzzle is marred by what I consider a major design flaw (it turns on using an object that you're told you can't pick up), and a key object is rather confusingly described. Still, in a game this small, there's only so much that can go radically wrong, and on the whole the coding is fairly solid. Likewise, the writing is more than good enough to tell the story, and it's pretty funny in spots as well.
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