Doug's Top Ten of IF Comp 2016

Recommendations by Doug Orleans (Somerville, MA, USA)

I played all but one of the 58 entries in IF Comp 2016 (I couldn't play Labyrinth of Loci because I don't have access to Windows or Mac OS). These were the top ten games on my ballot.

Note that I rate games on slightly different criteria for the IF Comp than I do for IFDB; in particular, as per the Comp rules, I select my vote after playing a game for no more than 2 hours, and thus I tend to dock a point or two from games if I feel like there's significantly more to the game than what I experienced in 2 hours.

In practice, it wouldn't have made much difference in my rankings this year; in fact, both of my top two games went longer than 2 hours, but I liked them both enough within my two hour experience to keep them as my top two. Inside The Facility was the only game on my top ten that I ended up materially penalizing for length: while I did get to a victorious ending within 2 hours, it still felt a bit disappointing (only half of my map was filled in!). After the comp I played it for another 4 hours, getting to the ultimate "trophy" victory ending, which was pretty fun and satisfying. So I'd probably move it up from 6th to 4th place in this list, were I considering them outside of the Comp context.

Add a comment

1. 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds
by Abigail Corfman
(2016)
Average member rating: (102 ratings)

2. Night House
by Bitter Karella
(2016)
Average member rating: (18 ratings)

3. Hill Ridge Lost & Found
by Jeremy Pflasterer
(2016)
Average member rating: (9 ratings)

4. Detectiveland
by Robin Johnson
(2016)
Average member rating: (55 ratings)

5. Eight characters, a number, and a happy ending
by K.G. Orphanides
(2016)
Average member rating: (12 ratings)

6. Inside the Facility
by Arthur DiBianca
(2016)
Average member rating: (65 ratings)

7. Pogoman GO!
by Jack Welch and Ben Collins-Sussman
(2016)
Average member rating: (23 ratings)

8. The Shoe Dept.
by Aquanet
(2016)
Average member rating: (10 ratings)

9. Ariadne in Aeaea
by Víctor Ojuel
(2016)
Average member rating: (25 ratings)

10. Color the Truth
by mathbrush
(2016)
Average member rating: (75 ratings)

View this member's profile
See all lists by this member

Create your own Recommended List