23 | WHERE NOTHING IS EVER NAMED
23 | WHERE NOTHING IS EVER NAMED
by: Viktor Sobol
Progress:
- I completed the game in around 8 minutes without outside help. I’ve included my transcript for reference in case that’s useful.
Things I Appreciated:
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Honestly, the main thing I appreciated was how straightforward this game was. Earlier today I played/read two very intense games/narratives in a row (one that was well above my skill level to solve, and one that was emotionally demanding) that each timed out after the full two hours, so it was nice to have this as a kind of chaser to those games.
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I appreciated that the game is so minimalist that it holds up a mirror (get it??) to the player to reveal something about them. Upon the game starting, it was extremely open-ended. It feels very strange in hindsight that my first command was “examine moth”. I’m not sure what that says about me. My impression at the time was that given the open-endedness of the prompt, I might be deciding what it was I was seeing, and I decided that maybe it would be interesting to see a moth.
Feedback/Recommendations/Questions:
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I feel that the cues I received from the game were too direct. For instance, after touching something moments into the game, it purrs, fully solving the puzzle of what it is instantly. Similarly, when the other thing snorts, it led me to the solution very quickly. I’m not sure what intermediate stage I would want from this to space out the clues more, but it felt like I wasn’t asked to work as hard to solve this as I could’ve been. I wish I had more chances to go on red herring conceptual paths as to what I might be seeing.
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While I respect that this is a minimalist game, I feel like this is a puzzle that craves to be elaborated with a few more unknown things at once that perhaps have less to do with each other (a cat and horse are much more similar than different, when compared to the pool of all possible things that they could have been). Perhaps that would take away the charm, but I imagine a lot more could be built on this foundation if the author felt so moved. What other ways might the player be led to perceive something vague into something specific?
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On one of my commands, I attempted to “bark”. I was informed that this was “unintelligible,” but in this case I think it might be intuitive for something to react to that.
What I learned about IF writing/game design:
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This game provides the illusion that it has stripped back everything, while still having a very guided/structured puzzle. I find it interesting that it manages to train the player as to how to solve it so efficiently. The lesson I take from this is how a vague and open-ended presentation can still draw out an interesting response from a player.
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I thought this was an interesting exploration of how to create an emotional resonance with a truly blank protagonist. Just by describing something they are perceiving in a particular way, (e.g.: “All is silent. / Everything is deadly silent.”) it creates an emotional response even when the player character is a shell yet to be filled with an identity.
Quote:
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“Nothing will come of nothing.”
Lasting Memorable Moment:
- When the other thing snorted, triggering that sudden, kinetic flood of recognition as to what it was.
DemonApologist_WhereNothing.txt (2.8 KB)