61 | THE APOTHECARY’S ASSISTANT
61 | THE APOTHECARY’S ASSISTANT
by: Allyson Gray
Progress:
- Fortunately, I was tipped off by the structure of the game to start it a few weeks ago, which is great considering the randomizer gave this to me so close to the end. (Imagine if I had just started playing this now, that would’ve been awkward.) I have played a total of seven sessions, which I estimate total around 1h15m from my notes. I’m not actually sure if the game is over or not; I did solve all the cryptic puzzles (fourteen on my own, and the last with a hint from the thread that helped me), and it feels like I’ve resolved the main plot involving Aïssatou. But, the game still allows me to do more shifts. Based on the nature of the game, I’m not sure that it does actually “end.”
Things I Appreciated:
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(This is a comment in two parts about the unique use of time—this is the first part). Since the game’s real-time element is distinctive, here I want to talk about the aspects of it that work really well. I love the immersion of the real time element. For instance, once when playing, I happened to be outside earlier in the day and noticed the moon, so later when the game described the moon’s current phase accurately, I thought that was clever. I think the game’s cryptic crossword puzzle benefits enormously from the time format. If I had to sit down and solve all these in a single 2 hour session, I’d probably have found it annoying. But the clues are doled out over a longer period of time, and I found that if I stuck, when I came back to it later, I could usually solve them. (The one exception: “Idleness infraction after French leaves (8)” which had a rule [the assumption that you should naturally reduce “French” to “FR”] that I didn’t feel was well hinted by the attached guide. I also had tunnelvisioned on wrong answers like ADULATES [adieu + lates] which made it hard for me to get back on track). The game picks a puzzle type that benefits from fresh eyes over a long period of time, rather than sustained focus.
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I liked the snippets of seeing different woodland creatures and fey/mythological beings showing up and being able to help them. The game doesn’t necessarily ask a lot of you, making the short sessions approachable even if you’ve forgotten how a round of the game works after a longer break. Similarly, I liked the aspect of only getting to ask Aïssatou about one thing per session; it made that dialogue choice feel consequential, in the sense that I was choosing to privilege a certain topic, but not in a tense way, since you can always come back tomorrow to learn more.
Feedback/Recommendations/Questions:
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(This is a comment in two parts about the unique use of time—this is the second part). The main drawback of the real-time system is the ephemerality of purpose that I experienced while playing this. Unlike a game that is condensed into a short period of time, I quickly lost track of the main plot and purpose for playing (beyond the general premise of doing a shift to help out the apothecary). I just couldn’t remember the text from the beginning of the game, so when I did eventually solve the cryptic puzzles weeks later, I didn’t feel as much of an emotional weight to how it affected Aïssatou, given that I had completely forgotten what her issue was in the first place. I also feel like, akin to watching weekly episodes of a TV show, I would’ve loved some kind of minor recap or reference to what I did during the previous shift. Like, “you think back to last shift when you met the [x person],” to facilitate returning to the game world.
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Similarly, I think this game would benefit from some kind of journal/note system that just records what woodland creatures you’ve found, what you’ve learned about from Aïssatou, or who you’ve seen at the café. That’s probably hard to implement but it would be cool to see it gradually fill in over the shifts as you become more familiar with the environment and lend a sense of progression to the game.
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I happened to receive a number of very similar tasks that involved differentiating between two insects. I’m not sure if this is because I kept going at similar times of day/days of the week without realizing, or had bad luck, but I felt like given the nature of the game (asking you to do multiple, structurally similar shifts) it’s well worth developing a wide range of task types to keep things fresh.
What I learned about IF writing/game design:
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The thing that stands out here is the use of real-time, which makes this entry have a completely different feel. It’s interesting to think about, if developed further, a game that becomes a kind of companion, rather than a more intense one-time experience that is more self-contained. It’s a different approach to game design. This is an interesting approach, and it also has me thinking about real-world time-specific information could even be used for games that are meant for a one-time experience.
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The importance of selecting a mini-puzzle type that aligns with the pace of a game. Finding a difficult cryptic crossword puzzle in the midst of a parser adventure game would be terrible for pacing, forcing you to stop dead to solve it. Likewise, having some kind of convoluted social puzzle in a game paced like this (with day- and week-long breaks between sessions) would be similarly irritating. The puzzles were well-scaled here: very easy puzzles for short bursts, and one longer term puzzle that was more difficult but not time sensitive.
Quote:
- “The Hunter’s Moon is very bad news for us, so we diligently prepare for it every year. Many of us have lost friends and relatives to the Hunt… we’ll fight tooth and nail to protect every resident of the sanctuary so that they don’t become prey too.”
Lasting Memorable Moment:
- Any time that I came back from a break and just suddenly knew the answer to a cryptic, as though my mind had been working on it in the background of my day-to-day life without me noticing.