32 | RETURN TO CLAYMORGUE’S CASTLE
32 | RETURN TO CLAYMORGUE’S CASTLE
by: Claudio Daffra
Progress:
- I managed to reach the end of this game in about 1h20m, using the walkthrough significantly. I was able to solve some of the puzzles without it, but needed it at several points to advance. Perhaps I could (or should) have spent more time guessing at solutions since I had 40 minutes left to go, so that’s on me. That being said, I do not think I would’ve finished this game within 2 hours without the walkthrough being available.
Things I Appreciated:
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Something unique to the game that I thought was engaging was that instead of a singular player character who is a jack-of-all-trades solving everything, you are explicitly managing a group of people that each have their own specializations. While there is some clunkiness to managing this in practice, I liked the realism that my character would not just, for instance, be a master hacker and also proficient in reading ancient manuscripts, and needed to recognize that those tasks are best assigned to others.
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Some of my favorite aesthetic moments were moments where the castle lives up to the promise that is anachronistic, most notably, finding a computer with a USB cable in a sorcerer’s tower laboratory. I would have loved even more of those jarring moments, and for the potential horror/intrigue to be intensified further.
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Another feature I really liked was the castle map, and how it filled in as I explored the rooms. While many of these games do allow a player to develop a mental map, I found that I had some trouble making sense of the locations until the first time I actually used the map, at which point the geography made a lot more sense. I like how assigning the locations to a specific point on the map made the locations feels more concrete to me.
Feedback/Recommendations/Questions:
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I had significant issues reading white text on the high-contrast backgrounds. While I like the idea of having these backgrounds for different locations, I found that I had to use my cursor to highlight the text to make it more readable. Since there was often many paragraphs of text per location to read, I found myself straining at points. The specific recommendations I would make in terms of formatting are as follows: (1) add a dark tint to the panels with text on them, so it mutes some of the contrast of the castle backdrops, allowing the white text to pop more visually; (2) for readability, I would recommend adding spaces between paragraphs more consistently as this visually breaks up the text and helps direct the reader’s attention, uncluttering the page; (3) set apart character dialogue with a different formatting (for instance, a specific color) so that it stands out more as something distinct from the room descriptions. (I realize all this is a ton of work, but I think time spent making the interface more inviting for players is well worth it in terms of directing their attention away from the interface itself and toward the narrative, characters, and puzzles.)
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I appreciated having a walkthrough here because some of the puzzle solutions were not the most intuitive. The best example of this is the first time I got stuck, which is where you are required to “Me examine weeds” for a second time. The first time, I had received a message that had become standard to me as an error message that the action I had attempted failed. Since there are so many possible actions to try, and a significant mechanical commitment to making a command (clicking at least four times to assign the actor, verb, object, and enter command), having a “false” error message like this is a bit frustrating as it’s not likely that I would intuit checking a second time. Had there not been a walkthrough, I am sure that I would have eventually gone through to examine the weeds a second time (as it’s a standard strategy in puzzle games if you’re stuck to re-check everything that you’ve already checked). But I question whether that would’ve been a judicious use of my time. I think a potential option here that I would recommend is, if you still want to give an error message at first, have at least some hint that there could be more to do here. Perhaps when you visit the scene a second time, your character makes a new comment or observation about the weeds, prompting the player to check them again.
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In many games I’ve played so far, my advice has been that I want more detail, but in this case, I think I would’ve appreciated the room descriptions to be a little more condensed/specific/focused. Something I noticed throughout the game is that I was often told that rooms blended old and new, rather than being shown how they did that. I think having less description, but description that is more specific and focused, will make the unique features of this game’s setting stick out more. In particular, I would love to see more “anachronistic” elements that emphasize the temporal eeriness of the location. Because that is so distinctive to this particular project, I think it could lean more into that strength.
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I liked moments when the characters were in the same rooms together and interacted with each other. I’d love to see more moments like this, that help tease out their personalities and show the chemistry of how they work together as a group.
What I learned about IF writing/game design:
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Mainly, the power of efficient and specific writing. The moments that were the most captivating were when there was a focused, specific image for me to latch onto as a reader, whereas other times there were paragraphs that I found it difficult to find that heart in. I know as a writer it can be tempting to say too much (I mean look at the length of some of these responses, wtf was I thinking??), so I think it’s often worth the reminder to do a little more (punch, impact) with a little less in terms of word count. Advice I’d do well to apply in my own writing. (As if I’d ever follow my own advice consistently. Ha!)
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As I discussed above, I really liked the idea of having a player team of different specialists. While I do think the implementation would have ideally been less laborious for the player to manage, I think there’s a lot of value in this approach. It has me thinking about how these games are often so focused on an individual as the key agent in the plot, and how questioning the assumption that a game should be structured with that in mind can allow for interesting approaches like I saw here.
Quote:
- “Then, the chandelier begins its fall. As it descends, the chandelier spins, creating a whirl of lights and shadows. The impact is inevitable. The chandelier crashes to the ground, shattering its crystals into a thousand pieces and extinguishing its candles. The once majestic chandelier now lies in fragments on the floor.” (I like the sense of motion and energy here.)
Lasting Memorable Moment:
- A moment when I felt a thrill of wonder was when I read the sorcerer’s diary and learned about the meteorite that struck near the castle moat. I found that really exciting and instantly wanted to go find that.