Everyone else, feel free to add your own, whether for an entry already covered or not. It’d be fun to cover everything, but we don’t want to be type A about this sort of thing.
A link to the spreadsheet is attached. It’s not private. It just says it is. To add an entry, just get the URL of your post. copy it, go to the relevant cell.
ctrl-k
1 in the text box (unless more than 1)
tab, then ctrl-v, then enter twice
The numbers on the left row are calculated automatically, like the review spreadsheet.
Black Thumb:
Somewhere away, your parents went.
Tasked with care of a succulent,
You dream that you might
Provide enough light
That it thrives. Three things help treatment.
Ḫattušumna Laḫḫa:
Nu šāšan U₃ ḫattalu dāḫḫun.
Nu luttāi U₃ āškan šarraḫḫun.
Nu UR.GI₇ ḫuwaīš.
N=aš=mu GIR₂-an pāiš.
Nu šiun dammešḫa pētaḫḫun.
(I intentionally left off the determiners since it makes it a bit harder to read.)
A loose translation
I took a lamp and a wood rod.
Through a gate and a window I trod.
At first the dog played,
Then surrendered its blade,
And I left with my twice-stolen god.
Ten years, classmates! Have I been missed?
If from posing you don’t desist
Then wild stuff ensues.
Some endings, your dues:
Far worse than a slap on the wrist.
On Repeat
We’ve all been wowed by a new song.
Is replaying it tons THAT wrong?
This work doesn’t judge
Though it seems to nudge
You thus: hit a rut? Move along.
Ryan Veeder’s Agatha Christie’s the Murder on the Orient Express
Will Poirot detect every last clue
In the time before you say adieu?
To find levers and such
He must search through so much
Gone suspiciously from the walkthrough
At this pace, we’d cover everything in (71-8/(8/2.25)=~17.7 days, since this started 54 hours ago.
This probably won’t extrapolate to 4 per day until the end of the comp. (Especially since, well, I just seized on two more short ones!)
Yet it’s a decent enough start. We covered everything a few years ago. Is it hubris to think we could again? If enough people chip in, especially with a low-reviewed game here or there, why, we could just might …
IF Derby
Horse betting, in real life? Heck no.
Here, fun to watch these pixels go
Cool funny names, too.
I won’t spoil if you
(Or how) can hold onto your dough.
Uninteractive Fiction 3
Leah Thargic is at it again!
You may only beat the drum when
A minute’s gone by
Though you may descry
From “view source” the plot in this den.
I’m a bit hesitant to contribute given the whole etiquette about not reviewing other entrants’ games in public. But I suppose these limericks are mostly summaries rather than actual critiques, and I don’t think a handful of syllables will really interfere with anyone’s judging…
I don’t know if I’ve ever written limericks before in my life, but now I can’t seem to stop…
Oh, it didn’t even occur to me that they might be read that way. In case there’s any doubt: the limericks I’ve posted (or will post) here are only summaries, and highlight elements of these entries I found interesting, fun, or noteworthy. Not remotely intended as critiques or reviews!
El Ruido
I could glower and slap my way through
As the villain, it’s just what I do
If I let myself feel
I’ll remember what’s real
And escape to a future that’s true
Shadow and Ink
Through the forest and village I look
For ingredients fit for a book
That task is a lot
Yet I can’t help but spot
There’s a ninja within every nook
Some skellertongs rise from the grave,
To scamper, to feast and to rave.
One wears fancy togs,
Another’s two dogs(?),
And there’s Frank, who’s just great with a lathe.
Purgatory
The very same thing just recurs
Your boss lets you go, your sight blurs
You flee till you sleep
Your past makes you weep
Can you ever break free from this curse?
Quackpond
Quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack
Quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack
Quack quack quack quack quack
Quack quack quack quack quack
(but man, this one does take me back…)
Under Loch (blurred for major spoilers, recommend avoiding until you’ve figured it out for yourself!)
You’re on a wee trip 'cross the pond
When someone speaks, will you respond?
You must find the key
In this for Enkii
To which this other game corresponds.
Live and Get Pie
Apparently you are a spy
Who is stuck falling out of the sky.
There’s not much to do
In this short game for you.
Can you figure out how to get pie?
Pegasus Crew
Out in the far reaches of space
Lies a pleasure moon, totally ace
You and your crew
Cause quite a to-do
As you try your lost past to retrace.
The Golden King
It glitters and gleams in the sun– Everything, when you are done–
As you are regaled
With a sad classic tale
Of a fate which you cannot outrun.
I wrote a Golden King one while I was away, so it has two now. Some overlap is inevitable, and if anyone else writes something for an entry already covered, please do share it.
Alana’s Dungeon
Eight-year-olds, on this comp, impinge!
The work? It’s fun, no cause to whinge.
Unlike all my, uh,
Juvenilia
Of this sort which might* have been cringe.
Escape the Wumpus
Where the author chooses to dump us
We find stuff and don’t start a rumpus.
Instadeaths rewind
So we smoothly find
Cute tricks to help Escape the Wumpus.
The Golden King
To turn things to gold, he was fated
At first the king seemed quite elated
Gold statues amassed!
His jaunt went on past
When gods assumed he’d feel checkmated.
Logic Land (2)
How can such odd things come to be?
Text adventure for Atari
Twenty-six-hun-dred?
And yet when all’s said
And done, it works admirably.
IFComp entry in 4K?
For duffers like me there’s no way
Although here Rybread
Got it in his head
To do so. It works well too, yay!
In the darkness lurks indescribable,
A beast quite recognisable,
Through numbered rooms you flee,
Traversing what you see,
As an escapee non-recyclable.
And they both involve fate! A nice little bit of synchronicity.
Devils of Terminology
In this pseudo-Victorian game,
Your birthdays are always the same.
Strange trains and red strings,
Mystic swords and odd things,
And a devil you never quite tame.
As someone who summons the dead,
With orders that fill you with dread,
You’re launched from a gun
And will surely have fun
Running off with your girlfriend instead.
Your barbarian is kind of dumb
So remember these three rules of thumb:
Burp and fart to proceed
And attack when you bleed
And lo, swallow that bottle of rum!
