Noah's IF Powerfest 2024- Evaluations

RockmanX · April 14, 2024, 7:20pm

Escape From the Tomb of the Celestial Knights (Megona)

What it is about: You are sitting in some kind of box. Can you escape from this mysterious dungeon crypt? And defeat whomever imprisoned you in the first place?

The good: It’s an escape room game! It’s trying to be a classic dungeon crawler. Looks like the meme of “you are in a maze of twisty little passageways all alike” hasn’t died off after all. There are not that many commands, mostly the standard ones- but even some standard ones like wear X, put X on Y aren’t there. At least TAKE ALL works and can be used when all else fails.

The bad: If anything, the author admitted to this being their first attempt at a parser game, and everything that first time parser authors have is here. Yes, most of their mistakes. If anything, Quest and Adrift tend to be easier to play around with, so the shortcomings are somewhat less exposed than someone doing it in Inform or TADS! Implementation is in real need of improvement. For example, OPEN GAP feels unusual, since it’s not a DOOR you have to OPEN. If at anytime you have items that are named “coffins_1, statue_1” and the like, it’s a red flag on the author for not having a comprehensive method to name items. Some minor spelling and grammar mistakes. We have no idea how tall the statue is. In one room, X STATUE and X STATUES give different responses, probably a lack of giving enough synonyms on the part of the author. Some things like skulls are also not implemented. There are also no room name headings like “Southern Chamber”. Room descriptions can be inconsistent since you need to L again, and like TaciturnFriend’s first parser game, this one also uses the USE command, which, as mentioned in the Trials of Rosalinda review, can lead to ambiguity, since it’s a catch-all term. The last thing you want players to have in a parser game is AMBIGUITY. Also, exits list please, otherwise players will get a “You can’t go that way” very often. This error also showed up at one point (I played the offline version): Error running script: Error compiling expression ‘inmaze’: Unknown object or variable ‘inmaze’"- this wasn’t in the online version (Quest is known to be buggy sometimes, but I think the author has an object that wasn’t implemented). Also, needs more details- if you are at a junction with exits going in all four directions but you can only go in one direction, show it! There is no way to reach the room on the other side of the wall, since IN and OUT are not implemented (yet). It’s generic, but too generic. Guess the verb and guess the item rears its head again, unfortunately.

The Huh: HELP gives a list of verbs, why can’t we have a VERBS command that does the same thing and a HINT to give actual hints? IF Comp 2008 had a game called The Lighthouse, and this probably falls in the same category. As last year’s IF Comp showed, escape rooms can be done well- like To Sea in a Sieve and Lunium. This is an escape room that leaves a lot to be desired. Can Quest do transcripts? This thing is far from being entirely complete. Alas, maybe the author forgot to playtest it and ask others to playtest it thoroughly enough? One of the reviewers for Lighthouse said “Please do not submit learning exercises to IF Comp”. The same could be probably said here, but Deep Dark Wood is also a learning exercise by those students (see above). And English could be the author’s non-first language. Yes, this has some of the components of what could be a larger game, with combat, dark rooms and the like, but at this stage, it’s only a WIP. And as such, it leaves a lot to be desired. Moreover, I can’t find a way to finish this, as I very nearly went around in circles until I barely managed to scrape past the endgame- which is a good thing- but it’s underwhelming (bar one action). No combat? Nonverbal Communication and Bradisson Rayburn’s Revenge are perhaps better examples. For those who want it, I have provided a transcript here.
Escape_transcript.txt (64.3 KB)

Grade: 60.8%

RockmanX · April 15, 2024, 9:26am

Luna Gardens (Bruhstin/Justin Kim)

What it is about: You are wandering the university gardens, looking for sources of magical power. You don’t have any tarot cards of your own, but you have this amazing ability to interpret and deduce symbols. Remember your past to forecast the future.

The good: Apart from the usual parser commands, one can teleport. The atmosphere is serene, but as you journey further out, you can sense that something’s not quite right. The garden is very rich in detail. The impending family tension and doom, just makes you want to get to the bottom of the barrel. The culture shown here is a good mix of Sino-Japanese (the lotus flower on the pond) and Western (lamp post, runes on gate). The depiction of Heaven and Hell feels like it was inspired by both Chinese/Japanese and Western- this is the second Spring Thing entry after Steelthorne to have this. This one has quite a lot of potential, judging from a project someone else started some time back about tarot cards and memories, and leaves me wanting for more.

The bad: The different symbols could be CAPITALIZED to indicate that this is a symbol you can recall the meaning of. Speaking of which, FIND SYMBOL feels rather odd, since you are not hunting for stuff, but rather recalling memories, so perhaps, to take a page out of Amanda Walker’s After the Accident, RECALL or REMEMBER SYMBOL and COMBINE SYMBOLS could also come in handy. Maybe a list of symbols and their meanings can be added, since trying to find the correct combination of three symbols to trigger the endgame is really tedious! It takes some time to get used to the custom verbs here. I have little clue what FORECAST actually does. Why can’t I X TREE CARVING (I’m suspecting that some other things may also have missing descriptions)? Are we allowed to take stuff?

The Huh: Like Loose Ends, this was also a WIP that was entered in last year’s Introcomp and finished, or in this case, partially finished. The author puts this under the limited-verb parser, which is partially correct, but this one also has more in common with Nonverbal Communication which has custom and very gimmicky atypical commands. There’s some mystery going on, but we have yet to solve it…I hope when the actual version comes out, we can finally get to the heart of the matter. In the endgame, we have “perceiving… reality and non-reality”- much like You Can Only Turn Left, and the mere mention of a butterfly is a callback to Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream- could the mix of magic and Chinese martial arts come into play later? I can only take a guess…

Grade: 71.5%

RockmanX · April 15, 2024, 10:52am

The Time Machine V2 (Revised and expanded) (Bill Maya)

What it is about: Your friend has boarded a time machine and went back to the future. You’ll have to save him to prevent some suspicious thing from happening. Something that, if not handled carefully, can threaten to destroy the world as we know it. This is a rescue mission, but it turns out that you have someone else to rescue too.

The good: Can IF adaptations of traditional novels be done? Hitchhiker’s Guide and inkle’s 80 Days are obvious examples. Someone some time ago attempted an IF-ization of Moby Dick, and I have no idea how successful it was. Indeed, we had a Pride and Prejudice sequel on CoG with the title Pride and Prejudice and Murder. Here, it’s similar, only this time the source material is from H G Well’s The Time Machine- the author says it’s a sequel. Thanks to popular demand, we now have images (the original one lacked those)! The exit compass is on the main bar, so it’s easy to navigate. There is a maze, but it’s better than the dungeon in Escape the Tomb. The search command, while not as common, is appropriate as we’re a time-travelling detective! Moreover, your inventory is displayed in a separate section, so there is no need to keep typing I to remind yourself what you have- and there are no inventory limits. ASK ABOUT is reasonably well-implemented.

The bad: Much like Milliways, you need to have read the original Wells novel to understand what is going on and what things you can say. So more background information is needed. You can forget about TAKE ALL again. There are some not-so-obvious things (like combining items!) that you’ll need to do later on. The Holy Grail isn’t found here, but someone gives it to you instead. I also think this is a little on the short side- I initially thought we were going to different time periods and rescuing different artifacts and “collect all the artifacts to open up the endgame, defeat this game’s version of Bowser and save your friend”. I was off- by a lot. There isn’t much Eloi interaction. No idea how to use the newspaper or pocket watch, lol. And pesky dark rooms. And unexplorable locations, undefeatable Morlocks, etc. Some things have questionable implementation “that’s clearly not portable”.

The Huh: This was originally submitted for Parsercomp 2021. Compared to the original, some things have been censored (like tobacco, book details). So I’m quite surprised that this one was submitted for Spring Thing (parser to parser isn’t approved)- most likely this one was revised and expanded. Come on, this still retains the Victorian setting that the original novel had, but can we have a 21st century take on this? I am still waiting for a Robinson Crusoe adaptation- there has been some work done over on the CoG front, but a parser implementation, while simple (at least in terms of exploring the island)- is still pending. I hope we can get more of Jules Verne’s stuff adapted- certainly, given the success of 80 Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon and the like could be adapted (parser and choice versions, please). If we had a movie, perhaps an IF too? And this one feels more like a spin-off rather than an actual sequel.

Grade: 74.3%

RockmanX · April 15, 2024, 4:00pm

The Kuolema V2 (Twine version) (Ben Jackson)

What it is about: An abandoned ship is found in the middle of the South China Sea. The challenge: find out exactly what happened, bring the culprits to justice and escape the ship. Fortunately, you are not Frodo Baggins or Po the panda. Unfortunately, there’s no Gandalf or Oogway here to guide you.

The good: The UI layout is very similar to that of Trials of Rosalinda. For a puzzle-intensive game in Twine, this is probably going to be the case- and much better than the original. Plenty of nautical references, of course. It’s another escape room murder mystery, longer and harder than in Lunium, but more fun to play. In Twine, unlike in parser, the pictures can hold clues, and typing in passwords to unlock stuff and areas just feels more appropriate in Twine, compared to the traditional UNLOCK RED DOOR WITH SILVER KEY thing that one almost always encounters in parser. Unlike in Rosalinda, there is little or no use of the USE command. Nice crossword- indeed, clues are hidden in all sorts of places and in all sorts of ways. Hey, we have indeed come very far since Colossal Cave Adventure! There is also a way to check if you have unlocked a room and if you have completely searched the entire room or not- in parser, you can accidentally leave behind an essential item. Also, no inventory limits. There is a story or easy mode (with more hints) and a full walkthrough for people who really need it- like Rosalinda, most of the puzzles in the first two sections could be solved without a hitch, but after finding the chest freezer, I basically had to use partial walkthrough all the way. There are just so many major decisions here. By the way, the first item we need to use is also the last item we need to use. There are plenty of areas and items (different numbered key cards rings a bell), as expected. I also really loved the fact that there is an inventory button, a map button and a “mission summary to keep track of plot developments” button- especially the third one.

The bad: Some of the passwords and such can only be found in the pictures. This was the same complaint that I had when reviewing Lunium last year and thus it affected the overall score. This time however, it is probably less of an issue, since you can turn it off. The pictures are AI-generated- to say the least, this is controversial. The bigger issue is, since this one is as long as Rosalinda, about how unclued the endgame is. It’s not like you can simply ACCUSE VRIEMAN and that’s it, we’re out of here. There’s a fight, and a lengthy timed sequence of actions, a final search for that last lousy point item- this one has a turn limit, all of that and more, in the true endgame. Well, I was totally unprepared. And let’s not forget about the timed text. From what happened with PROSPER0 and Dysfluent, I turned it off. Otherwise things would have been way harder. Thankfully, there is an undo button.

The Huh: This was actually submitted for last year’s Spring Thing, but in Google Forms- a medium clearly not meant for IF, and thus it had a number of shortcomings. I didn’t read the original. Now that this has been converted to Twine, it feels more ‘natural’. Then again, I’m looking to see a parser conversion of this and how well it handles the password system. The author also entered Lunium for last year’s IF Comp, and that one did well, despite me having a grouse that some hints had to be snuck inside the pictures. This one is probably even better than Lunium. Perhaps it is finally satisfying that we can finally dispose of that One (Nuclear-powered) Ring to Fuel Them All (fittingly, since a fusion reactor has a part that IS shaped like a ring or torus). Ah, that often overused, but rightfully so, Lord of the Rings allegory that Rosalinda (to some extent), Steelthorne (more obviously, but all of a sudden), and this one share. The power corruption arc. The author, in the postgame, did give a short discourse on real-world event references, much like the author of Dysfluent, which is also based off real-world experiences, so I’m glad that both authors are being honest with their stuff. (I should be as well.)

Grade: 81.9%

radiosity · April 15, 2024, 5:35pm

Thanks so much for your review! With all those nautical references, you’d think this should have been in last years IFComp - I guess I missed the boat with that one.

As you mentioned, although there are lots of clues etc. within images, you can indeed switch these all to text only in the settings, so I hope that doesn’t put anyone off (same goes with the timed text - although it’s used very sparingly).

Really glad to hear you enjoyed it overall - thanks for the grade!

Bruhstin · April 15, 2024, 7:05pm

Thanks for the review!

RockmanX · April 21, 2024, 8:19am

The Portrait (dott. Piergiorgio)

What it is about: You have been transported to another world. Worse still, you’ve changed your gender. Can you get back and confront the one who changed you? Probably not, since I have no idea how.

The good: The descriptions are richly detailed. This is not surprising, since this is inspired by the IF Art Show of years past, much like Tabitha’s Kel. The painting has many aspects to be looked at, even yourself. Similarly to Gestures Towards Divinity, you can zero in on a particular aspect and try to squeeze all you can out of it. Points are awarded for X THING (X ME included). In this case, it’s helpful to go for a story-heavy approach rather than a puzzle-heavy one, and the author explicitly did so. Red dress, green dress, only possible color prom dress… well, that’s a pun on Red Door Yellow Door and The Only Possible Prom Dress? I later found out that you can lawnmower through the options (but not all), which isn’t too bad.

The bad: There are only four areas, so there’s not much to explore, with supposedly visitable locations closed off. Talking is not an option. The author needs to work on their paragraphing when describing items, since it feels like one big chunk of text. This makes it really confusing sometimes. I’m not sure what we are supposed to do here, so I basically treated this one like Cochran’s Gestures Towards Divinity and was hoping for a gigantic eldritch monster at the end- I didn’t get one. Some things have a catch-all implementation like the wings and the bracelets. While others have little implementation like the hair. I did encounter “Which one do you mean” a lot of the time. It’s somewhat inconsistent. Some spelling/grammar errors, probably because English is not the author’s first language as usual. There are no hints. The humor is still in need of some work- case in point, wearing the ribbon.

The Huh: It’s a WIP- that ‘insert here’ is a giveaway, the fourth one after Luna Gardens, Ink and Intrigue and Dream of Silence. So judging WIPs can tend to be a tricky thing, since you have incomplete information. I got 58/80 for my first attempt and 61/80 for my second, so that WIP ain’t gonna fly. Yet. We still haven’t had any romance scenes for an Isekai. There is no option to turn off sexual references unlike in Ink and Intrigue. I am suspecting that this and Creative Cooking are part of one very big WIP that I have no idea what it’s about. Will update this one later, as the jury is still out regarding the author’s writing style. For anyone who needs it, here is my transcript.
portrait_transcript.txt (122.4 KB)
If anyone has 100% completed this, please let me know.

Grade: 69.9%

Piergiorgio_d_errico · April 21, 2024, 10:37am

TY for your nice review !

An important detail: from the transcript, i see that you have played the 1.00 version, whose has a serious bug, (details (and the accompanying points) of the painting being unreachable), and I have uploaded, some weeks ago, the 1.01 bugfix release.

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.

RockmanX · April 21, 2024, 11:56am

Zomburbia (Charles Moore Jr)

What it is about: You’ve inherited the family mansion from your late uncle. The only problem is, the deed is lost, the mansion is haunted, and there’s a horde of zombies who want you for dinner. There’s a mad scientist in town who’s kidnapping people and turning them into said zombies. With all that to deal with, you’d be lucky if you could come out alive, but can you?

The good: Like in The Witch, there is a way to tell if the game is winnable or not- this one is a must, given just how difficult this one is. Once again, the puzzle of which item to use on what thing (zombie or otherwise) returns. There are plenty of areas to visit- and plenty of zombies out for your blood. The bayou atmosphere is a good way to throw ourselves into the situation at hand. We are stripped of our possessions near the start, and there is a pair of bolt cutters near the place of our imprisonment, and there’s a ship to navigate- sounds quite like the Kuolema, except you can’t take the bolt cutters right from the start unlike the latter- in fact, the first item you take is, no, not a security card to open the house, but a piece of clothing- a really unexpected twist. Yes, SEARCHING stuff is crucial here. There is no maze, it being reduced to a guess the item puzzle. The amusement park section was a fun little diversion. We have a steamboat castle. Oh yes, we also do have a good supporting cast this time.

The bad: The author also gave us The Witch for last year’s IF Comp, and many problems that the former had, this one has as well. Yes, this one is old-school, so there are inventory limits. I mentioned elsewhere that old-school is not my style. The hints are not quite extensive as, say Kuolema or Rosalinda, both of which can be implemented in parser and are puzzle-heavy. The clues are not in the right order as well. Directions can be really confusing sometimes- especially the backyard of the house. This one is one of the hardest entries to complete in this year’s slate- getting out of the house is just the beginning. Some things need to be done in the correct order- there is a turn limit for some parts. You can accidentally do things that can force the game into an unwinnable state, so get ready to undo quite a number of times. The annoying roaming zombies that basically act as a significant roadblock- others have said that waiting can help, but most often, it does not. Thinking ahead is a problem that the parser doesn’t recognize that easily- if you wish to use something from the bag, you have to remove and then open and then take the thing you need. Whereas sometimes you can just go in a direction without unlocking and then opening the door. Guess the verb could still be a problem sometimes. Is TAKE ALL a thing or you need to list each individual item? This game is one big area with many interconnected components, so it’s really hard to map. And no GO TO command?

The Huh: Feels like we could have more out of Kevin- he’s a statue, for goodness’ sake! Interacting with a statue could be interesting! The cartoony humor could be a tad better, outside of the song titles, and “You face-plant into the boarded-up door. Sorry, just entertaining ourselves- what?”. Wait, we can wear two hats (swim cap and black fedora) at the same time? Which begs the question, if there was no inventory limit, and more dialogue, and a Twine conversion, this could be very well be on the level of Rosalinda and Kuolema. But it isn’t, so there’s that. I’ve done everything to trigger the endgame (gator nip, dynamite and whistle), and it hasn’t happened yet. And what does the watch do?

Grade: 71.3%

RockmanX · April 21, 2024, 1:44pm

A Dream of Silence (Abigail Corfman)

What it is about: You are a monster ghost. Your vampire friend is imprisoned. There is a nightmare in your midst. There is no way out. You are going to die. Permanently. The darkness has arisen.

The good: Since you’re a monster, there’s no way you can go about doing things normally. But hey, I like the concept of someone waking up and having sub-human understanding of what is going on. Unlike in Nonverbal Communication, there are only three verbs you are allowed to use, despite this being in Twine: TALK/ASK ABOUT, FEEL, LOOK/EXAMINE. Each has different levels of use, together with a HP and trust meter for Astarion. Some actions are only available at a certain “level”. Your HP for doing certain tasks is replenished at the end of the day. You can choose your character class, but I didn’t do that since I simply assumed you were a “generic colossal cave adventurer”, just in a different cave this time. This thing starts out with a bang. I haven’t encountered any NSFW content- yet, but things could change.

The bad: Astarion is probably the most annoying buddy in this year’s Spring Thing, since he has very little reaction dialogue. Given the context, this is probably a good thing. This one’s a little challenging- you have to explore the area, interact with Astarion and train your skills, all at the same time. You may think that guess the item puzzles are harder, but this one feels all over the place. And it’s a little unbalanced- with L/X not as often used as FEEL and ASK ABOUT. I understand this isn’t pure parser, but balancing the stats isn’t recommended- what gives? You need some guts to finish this, or else you get an early and obvious game over.

The Huh: The author also did 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds and Absence of Miriam Lane. This one is a Baldur’s Gate 3 fangame, and I have no background on the source material, so I went in rather confused. Just when we have a hint of a possible exit, the game throws up a “To be Continued in part 2”- I also was not expecting this to be a WIP. I started my IF journey in gamebooks and CoG Choicescript, but my background pulled me into the parser gang hard. Thus I’m hoping for a parser conversion of this one some time soon. I finished with HP: 31/52, trust: 16/20, sight L2, speech and touch L3. I was thinking that the game would go into more details concerning the themes of “solitary confinement and hope”, but looks like we have a lot more work to do, even for the first one. But hey, this one sure does have some potential!

Grade: 70.8%

RockmanX · April 21, 2024, 7:18pm

Studio (Charm Cochran)

What it is about: You’ve moved into your new apartment, unpacked and arranged your stuff, but something’s just not quite right. Maybe if you had any idea of what secret organization is behind all this, and their mastermind…

The good: There are incidents you can REMEMBER about, much like Amanda Walker’s After the Accident. There is a (hand-drawn) map, which is different from the typical IF parser map, even though in that apartment, everything is near-connected, so you can travel from one area to another without opening a door (bar one). There is great attention to detail. Exits are clearly labelled. Unlike the previous few games, this one has a decisively modern setting. The beginning has just enough hints to get a good grasp and feel about where we are going. If you try something funny, like spinning the dial to 200, or taking your phone while going behind the sofa, the game gently nudges you in the direction you should be travelling- even though you won’t be doing that much moving around here. The fact that you can look behind the sofa reminds me of Leo Weinreb’s A Walk Around the Neighbourhood- in fact, both actually involve very little walking. The moment I got my hands on the illegal documents means the fun’s going to start. The moment after we do our ordinary housework and we hit the snooze button- and that’s when we know, just like Doctor Jeangille- that the murderer is among us- then we know that we’re already deep in the ocean and there’s absolutely no way to resurface. And yes, that’s when the Among Us horror shenanigans start. Since this is a Among Us simulation, you’d expect “What the fuck” to be heard, and it does.

The bad: Plenty of custom verbs- quit included- really caught me by surprise here. I also feel the color change special effects are sort of unnecessary. Once the Among Us section starts, it’s in future tense- why, exactly? No Survival and Endings Guide or free-roam mode, huh? Especially when there are plenty of things to do simultaneously in a very tight turn limit, e.g. take cleaver, take phone, hide in the bathroom, etc. This one doesn’t have enough humor. This one also doesn’t have enough lore. We have so many questions left unanswered. Why did the protagonist changer her name? Why is she wanted? What are the things in the closet and the duct tape used for? Who is the mastermind behind this secret society? What are their goals? When is the sequel coming out? And it continues…

The Huh: As mentioned elsewhere, the author has a penchant for writing horror stuff like in Gestures towards Divinity and 1 4 The $. This time it’s just about right. I escaped the first time- but not without leaving some (important stuff) behind. I’m not sure if that counts as a Game Over or not. I got a direct death the second time. I did kill the imposter with the taser and with the cleaver the third time. I hid in the bathroom bathtub until the police showed up (no idea how reliable the police are, since this is America) in the fourth time. We really need a guide to defeating the Imposter for this one. I haven’t found a way to get the other endings. Some parts are similar to Joey Cramsey’s I am Prey, and others to Assembly. I think this one has some underlying message, but I can’t get my hands on it. I will leave it to the author to see what they have to say in the postmortem. If anything, a bigger environment, more people and more things you can do would really help make things more exciting.

Grade: 76.6%

jjmcc · April 22, 2024, 3:35pm

Congrats on hitting 100% btw! Always great to see!

Bruhstin · April 25, 2024, 12:47am

Hey Noah, my bad: I thought my first reply to you had the rest of the response I typed out. Didn’t mean to leave you hanging!

Thank you for mentioning that “FIND SYMBOL” felt odd. I think your suggestion of “RECALL” is a much better fit. And you’re not the only one who wanted to combine different symbols together, so I’ll have to see how this will work out.

Also, when you say:

Maybe a list of symbols and their meanings can be added

Are you referring to an in-game list that tracks what symbols you’ve found? And if so, would a further list of symbol combinations also sound like a helpful addition?

After the Accident sounds like an interesting comparison, I’ll check it out when I can.

Thanks again for playing!

RockmanX · April 25, 2024, 11:11am

With all 33 entries reviewed, it’s time for… the rankings!

The Trials of Rosalinda (82.1)
The Kuolema (81.9)
Loose Ends (80.4)
Ink and Intrigue (80.2)
Social Democracy: An Alternate History (79.5)
Rescue at Quickenheath (77.7)
Nonverbal Communication (77.0)
PROSPER.0 (76.8)
Studio (76.6)
One King to Loot them All (76.3)
Doctor Jeangille’s Letters (75.4)
Voyage of the Marigold (75.1)
Alltarach (74.6)
The Time Machine (74.3)
Pass A Bill (73.9)
A Simple Happening (73.6)
Octopus’s Garden (73.1)
Dragon of Steelthorne (72.7)
Luna Gardens (71.5)
Zomburbia (71.3)
A Dream of Silence (70.8)
You Can Only Turn Left (70.1)
The Portrait (69.9)
The Case of the Solitary Resident (69.6)
To Beseech Old Sins (69.3)
Potato Peace (67.3)
The Truth About PRIDE (63.4)
Escape From the Tomb of the Celestial Knights (60.8)
Deep Dark Wood (60.5)
Thanks, but I don’t remember asking (58.6)
Provizora Parko (58.1)
Bydlo; or the Ox-Cart (56.1)
Do Good Deeds (55.5)

Awards to be announced in subsequent posts.

RockmanX · April 29, 2024, 2:52pm

And now… the award ribbons!

Best in Show, Best Puzzles, Best Sidekick- tie (Piecrust): The Trials of Rosalinda
Best (use of) Graphics: The Kuolema
Best Murder Mystery, Best Political Shenanigans: Loose Ends
Best Romance, Best Worldbuilding: Ink and Intrigue
Most Educational: Social Democracy: An Alternate History
Most Sequel-Worthy, Most Humorous, Best Newcomer, Best Partners-in-Crime: Rescue at Quickenheath
Best Modelling and Simulation, Best Parser: Nonverbal Communication
Most Poetic, Best Trope Inversion: PROSPER.0
Best Horror, Best Slice-of-life, Best Story: Studio
Best use of Gimmicks, Best Parser-to-Choice Conversion: One King to Loot them All
Most Moody and Dramatic Protagonist: Doctor Jeangille’s Letters
Best Sci-Fi, Best Procedural Generation: Voyage of the Marigold
Most Heartwarming, Best Historical and Fantasy Hybrid, Best Sidekick- tie (Alilbhe): Alltarach
Best Novel Adaptation: The Time Machine
Most Dysfunctional and Revolutionary Government, Best Satire: Pass A Bill
Most Heartbreaking Ending, Best XYZZY Responses: A Simple Happening
Best Animal Protagonist, Most Unusual McGuffin (underwear): Octopus’s Garden
Best Minigame (city management): Dragon of Steelthorne
Most Detail-Oriented, Most Anticipating WIP: Luna Gardens
Most Diverse Items You can Obtain, Best Undead NPCs: Zomburbia
Best Fanwork: A Dream of Silence
Most Reflective: You Can Only Turn Left
Most Sexual References: The Portrait
Deadliest Medicines: The Case of the Solitary Resident
Most Unexpected Plot Twist: To Beseech Old Sins
Best Visual Novel: Potato Peace
Best Maze: The Truth About PRIDE
Most Bare-Bones Parser: Escape From the Tomb of the Celestial Knights
Most Development Potential: Deep Dark Wood
Best Butterfly Effect: Thanks, but I don’t remember asking
Most Surreal: Provizora Parko
Most Simplistic: Bydlo; or the Ox-Cart
Most Child-Friendly: Do Good Deeds

Congratulations to all!

(Edit: This will not fit in the ribbon nominations form on the website.)

sophia · April 29, 2024, 6:29pm

I’m only raising the issue because SpringThing was so foundational to me when I was finding my footing in the Interactive Fiction community, though I want to make it clear that I don’t have any official ties to the event or its organizers. I’m also not really interested in a back and forth or debate on this topic. As previously stated, I’m not interested in personal correspondence.

SpringThing highlights in its self given description that “rather than a competition with rankings, the Thing focuses on bringing together new text games of all kinds.” Ranking the games pretty much directly goes against this direction for the event, and especially for newer or younger participants, can be very disheartening.

SpringThing’s reputation as an inclusive celebration of IF, with its emphasis on welcoming diverse voices from people traditionally underrepresented in gaming, is very important to me. Their explicit and loud proclamation that people like me were welcome was what made me comfortable enough to submit my debut game Sweetpea, which was the first step towards my finding a really vibrant, wonderful community- and helped, along with the rest of the Neo-Interactives staff, to foster.

SpringThing was a place that primarily celebrates the games that come out, with a very engaged review culture, that generally is much less critical than something like the hard-hitting IFComp, where entrants know they’ll be ranked and are competing for a bit of a cash prize and prestige. Seeing that in the community, and the general reception to the games- how people encouraged new creatives, how people highlighted things that worked for them and were excited about new or returning faces- rather than lining them up to compare and contrast harshly, helped make me feel comfortable enough to dip my toes into a brand new community full of people who I really admired and respected for their prowess in writing.

SpringThing is an event I’ve often suggested to people who are curious about IF, but are a little shy- it’s often intimidating to jump into what seems like an established, closeknit community, especially with how often gaming has been seen as hostile or inaccessible to certain groups. It’s a really fantastic bridging event- but it tarnishes that sort of broad, warm inclusivity when people rank games in an explicitly non-ranked event.

inventor200 · April 29, 2024, 7:00pm

I don’t think I would have gotten the beta for I Am Prey out to players if it wasn’t for Spring Thing, because I was extremely nervous about entering any competition where everything I knew about game design was challenged by the traditions and expectations of such a deeply parallel community.

I only pushed myself to upload something because of the lack of rankings, as I did not expect my game to land very well, but still felt it was worth making and bringing attention to. It creates a very active, experimental, and innovative space, which is really important for a community.

rileypb · April 29, 2024, 11:01pm

I’m sorry. If you’re not interested in back and forth, you probably shouldn’t be delivering such a profound face slap in broad daylight.

HanonO · April 30, 2024, 12:46am

Please keep the discussion civil.

Someone posting their own personal subjective reviews and rankings for games entered in a competition/festival is a natural thing to do here. It’s also a somewhat common thing to do the “every entry gets an award” type of thing for Spring Thing. That’s not against any rules.

Even if an event is non-competitive, we can all still have our own favorite things.

Personal attacks are against the rules. If you feel someone has attacked you, please flag the post or PM @moderators if you have questions or need something looked at and we’ll take care of it.

Piergiorgio_d_errico · April 30, 2024, 11:28am

Closing this OT debate, I note that Sophia has delivered an hidden jewel in My Heart, My heart source’s layout. A thing alone worth of a spring ribbon, IMVHO. I definitively encourage her in her creative efforts.

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.