You are a novice mage drafted into service by the nearby mine. There was an fire and a cave-in, and the crew will take time to clear the entrance. Armed with just your wits and training spells, you are teleported inside. Help the survivors, figure out what happened, and deal with it.
Alt Cover Text
A black and white pixel image of a mine entrance with a cart (or an icebox? I can’t tell) and a puddle of what may be oil or some liquid on the floor.
The cover is nice and simple. (I think I say that for every other image. I’m getting unoriginal…) It conveys the scene well through a retro style which gives the feel of an old RPG rogue like. Also the name, referencing dragons, mines, and a fantastical name (Silverton may be a real place, but I don’t think it’s meant to reflect real life).
This blurb seems more like a summary than something to get people to play. Which is an interesting move, as usually it pans the other way more (games that don’t tell you what’s going on). It has a nice premise, which helps to try and confirm a roguelike. I would have said optimisation, there’s not a single reference to optimisation puzzles. Then again, neither did Sugarlawn. So this blurb has the base idea down, now it just needs (if it wants to, but then it needs to hold strong on its ideas and write something that’s literally only context. Which I’m not sure how much people like.)
Overall, if the game is a roguelike, really good at setting the mood.
There’s a killer on the loose! As a fresh graduate of the FBI Academy, you have been called to a small town struck by a series of suspicious deaths. Can you solve the mystery before the clock runs out?
Featuring elements of chance, multiple paths, and multiple endings.
Content warning: contains brief descriptions of sexual assault, murder, and suicide.
Alt Cover Text
A person facing away from the image with long black hair tied in a ponytail, and a jumper that says “FBI” on the back, looks down at a large town with a lot of white houses on either side. In big blocky red letters that follow a large curve at the top, the words “THE KILLINGS IN” and then “WASACONA” below in bigfer letters.
The cover seems to contradict itself slightly. On one hand, the image is not cartoonish, and the reddish tint suggests a sunset, which I would usually associate with either a pensive game, or a serious one where time is running out (sunset=nearly nighttime=running out of time before the end [of the day/of the mission]). However, the text doesn’t agree. The lettering seems slightly soft - if you get what I mean (as in, light, not exactly comedy but not heavy-themed) - and this collides strongly with the actual image of the background.
The blurb begins feeling like the lettering more than the image. Given the themes, I don’t think that’s such a great idea. As well as this, that first paragraph seems just a little classic “three-sentence blurb”: (short catchy sentence with obvious context!) + (who are you) + (what do you need to do?) This seems stupid to because most blurbs are like that, but I just feel it a lot here. I don’t know why. The next sentence would work as part of a longer paragraph, however there’s something about it here that just
… It needs an accompanying paragraph. Also, are “multiple paths” and “multiple endings” very different? Just curious. The CW seems not too vague nor unnecessarily specific, though I haven’t played it so it might be missing something.
Overall, a clashing cover art with a basic blurb leaves something sorely lacking.
You woke up at 7:30am. It’s Saturday. You were hoping to sleep in more, but you peek out your window to see it’s sunny and nice outside. You feel fairly energetic, so you decide to go to your usual park for some birding.
Alt Cover Text
A blurred patchy-green background, on which is a white text box. The text box takes up almost all the page, and has the name of the game as a header in a font similar to Times New Roman. Underneath in the same font but smaller letters, the entire blurb, and below that a large picture of a road and pavement and a red large sign saying “Pope Lick Park”.
The image is slightly redundant, as everything that goes on in the cover (apart from the photo) also happens in the title and blurb. The image is of the titular Pope Lick Park, which I find funny when I read it aloud. It’s a tongue twister! However, the text is seemingly unnecessary (the title can be fine though!) which is slightly annoying. The background reminds me of Spring Thing, which would be interesting as the style of game this is makes me think of the experimental games that enter ST. So I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if this was taken from the website (a “preview what your game would look like”, as it has on IFComp…?).
The blurb is actually fairly nice. It’s a little lacking in any substance, but given what I’ve heard of the game, I think it’s meant to be simply fun and not super deep! It might benefit from some refining of word choice, but otherwise good.
Overall, a slightly redundant but light cover and a nice and simple blurb lead to expectations that this game will be calm and fun.
You are a soldier, fleeing a war that you once believed was just. Will you escape? Will you find redemption?
Content warning: While there is not graphic depictions of violence, this is a story about war and some of the content could be emotionally triggering for some readers. The is a work of fiction and any similarities to real persons or events are purely coincidental.
On one hand, it’s nice to not have to write an alt cover text, but in the end, I often like studying them a lot. Blurbs can sometimes be harder.
The blurb is easy to set the scene, but doesn’t help with much more than that. You know where you are, and you, the deserter, are an empty slate. Meant for implanting yourself on, but it doesn’t feel right - it’s only an addition. I personally can’t fit in right. I don’t know how to express it. As if you’re putting a European plug into an English socket - with enough forcing, it will work - but in all honestly, it’s both too customised already: the character already has a backstory, a reason for leaving, and so on - and yet not customised enough: just a little too blank to relate to.
Okay, I just said a bunch of stuff that now looking back isn’t really true. Sure, it may have built-in context (the running away), but it’s still very blank so far. Now on to the rhetorical questions. There’s something about them that feels unfinished: I don’t know what it is. As if you just need a little bit more to finish it off. The content warnings look fine, although they could be summarised in a few words:
Content warning: war, non-graphic depictions of violence.
Or similar. Though it’s better to have more in the content warnings just in case, than it is to have not enough.
Overall, I may have been annoying and pointless with my review, but the blurb was simple and good.
It’s been some time since the last review, but a lot of things have happened recently so I’m just getting back to where I was. I don’t think that anymore my reviews will be half as good as the original twenty-or-so reviews, and as you can tell I declined, which honestly I don’t know why. But today I’ll try to make mine as detailed as possible, and I may not get through all of them by the end of the comp, but I think I’ve finally resigned to that fact. Which is good because it’s a little less on my mind!
I admit I’m a little biased because I really love this game, so I’ll try to keep it as objective as possible.
The Bat
Blurb
Master Bryce is throwing a party. As his most faithful servant, that means it’s your job to make the party run smoothly. But you only have two hands—and far too many duties. You’ll have to manage requests from the guests, the master’s eccentric demands, and your own composure. All the other staff have quit, unwilling to entertain the master’s “moods,” but you’ve served Wyatt Manor for decades; what’s one more evening?
A comedy of errors, mild frustrations, and major workplace-safety violations. With limited actions and a limited inventory, juggle hors d’oeuvres, flaming curtains, and radioactive elements—and keep the drinks coming!
Alt Cover Text
On a white background, a neat black-and-white drawing of a man with combed and waxed short hair, a black mask covering the area around his eyes only, with eyeholes, and a full black suit and black trousers, a white shirt and bowtie, polished black leather shoes, and wearing gray gloves. His hands, pointing with each index finger out to the side, are both connected to two large bat wings that reach from shoulder to hand, and down to his feet. The legs are spread apart and on tiptoes, or hanging, as if he is flying. There is some sort of large black part between his legs, which I don’t know what it is (it’s not meant to be inappropriate or anything, it may be a small cape…)
Below, in large, thin, formal, capital letters, the title “THE BAT” is underlined, below which in smaller, loopy handwriting-style letters, “An Interactive Soirée”, and below that in similar-size, almost typewriter-like capital letters, the words “by Chandler Groover”.
Where to start? The cover is almost designed like an invitation pamphlet to a speakeasy bar. I think. I don’t know much about speakeasies in … the '20s? I’m not sure. Anyway, the man on the front appears to be some sort of bat, which is curious? (These are almost literally exactly the thoughts I had before I played the game, just so you know.) The man might be the titular bat, which would make much sense, but how is he related to the game? Is he you, as the faithful servant? So far, there’s much more speculation going on than studying, so I’ll get onto that. The artwork is very finely detailed, neat and looks like it’s really drawn on paper. I think it is, actually. You can see the tiny dots of corrugation on the card, and even two small brown/red flecks, which make me think of wine spillage, suitable for the mood set in the font usage and blurb, but I’ll get onto those in a minute. Even the styling of the face seems suitable - it’s almost like the charming rich gentleman main character in a graphic novel, with that line of shadow drawn like that along the side of his face, even the jawline is chiseled. The ideal, handsome gentleman … bat? Also, I’m not quite sure what the cape-flap below is meant to be? Is it just a cape? Everything else seem unsuitable and just makes no sense, but even if it were a cape it would be pretty weird proportionally for a cape. Apart from that, the lettering is very “invitation slip” style, with big double-lined letters for the mask and then the looped letters and typewriter - they’re all thematically linked, both to themselves and to the rest of these supplemental materials.
Now the blurb. So, here we have a “Guess I’m Going To Have To Do It All By Myself” sort of game, it looks like. You can get the idea of “stressful situation gone wrong”, and you’re already getting odd vibes from Master Wyatt, with the fact you are described that he has ‘eccentric demands’, and people are unwilling to ‘entertain the master’s “moods,”’ so there’s obviously something we’re missing which we’ll get to learn later. And the mistake of a heavily foreshadowing rhetorical question, which is answered in the next paragraph with a list a of dangerous things! (The “mistake” being a joke on how it happens often in blurbs, which isn’t a bad thing: it’s used effectively here. Maybe less “mistake”, more “foreshadow caused by asking”… As we move along, we explore a triplet of dangerous or bad things. Then it extends this even further with a follow-up list of 5 things that could go wrong (or 4, depending how you count). And it finishes with a nice statement to remind the player of what they’ll be doing much of the time.
Overall, a very thematically tight and nicely-drawn cover aligns with a light and well-crafted blurb.
This is a great thread! I’m finding it really useful to see how you’re deconstructing the front matter. Blurbs are something I struggle with so it’s nice to have a space dedicated to talking about them.
