EDIT: lol whoops, I wrote this reply before reading the last paragraph of your post. 
Ah, looks like the algorithm is pulling that rec based on it and SI being two of the five games with the “multiple pov” tag (not-so strangers is also one).
2 Likes
A lot of the Dual Transform suggestions are ones I haven’t played, but Moonlit Tower made me think “Hmm…maybe” and Worlds Apart made me think “Really? Why?”
Yeah, this is my sense too - I think weighting tabs by number of entries makes sense, but there are probably also cases where rarer tags will be super helpful to rely on (like Labyrinth… matching Lock and Key based on the tag where they’re the only two games with it). But I’m not sure of an algorithmic way to tell the difference.
2 Likes
HOW TO SPEAK ATLANTEAN is a Porpentine game.
howling dogs is (partially) about Joan of Arc, which I’d imagine is why Cygnet Committee was recommended. It’s also a feminist game that deals with the persecution of women, which it has in common with Harmonia and (to perhaps a less obvious but still salient extent) my own Mirror and Queen and HUNTING UNICORN.
But I don’t get the connection with Walker & Silhouette, 80 Days, or Eat Me.
You are Standing at a Crossroads is vaguely similar from an atmospheric standpoint. Concerned with “agency” too, which is another match. And it’s Twine.
I haven’t played the other howling dogs suggestions.
4 Likes
Well, I rebuilt the model with a different set of parameters, so there are some new answers for some of those now:
Bear Creek, Part 1
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Survival Horror |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Excalibur |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | 20 Strokes |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | It's best not to think about it anyway |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Welcome Home |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Another Cabin In The Woods |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | walking home |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Jesse Stavro's Doorway |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | The Memory Hole Part Three: Into The Void |
| Bear Creek, Part 1 | Body Bargain |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
Harbinger
+-----------+-------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------+-------------------------------+
| Harbinger | The Familiar |
| Harbinger | You Bird. |
| Harbinger | Cage Break |
| Harbinger | Dead Like Ants |
| Harbinger | The Wizard Sniffer |
| Harbinger | Arcane Intern (Unpaid) |
| Harbinger | Domestic Elementalism |
| Harbinger | Into the Lair |
| Harbinger | First Draft of the Revolution |
| Harbinger | Sorcery! |
+-----------+-------------------------------+
The readout says these aren’t great guesses, though, and there’s still nothing for Monkey and Bear. (Be sure to tag it in October!)
1 Like
I know you said tags are messy and that’s ok, but I can’t help but wonder if it would help the results if the tags were a little bit less messy. Like, we’ve got a “bird” tag and a “birds” tag.
1 Like
I’ve made some more modifications based on various suggestions and feedback, so the Magic 8-Ball is currently in beta for version Mark III. I have been testing it and tracing “oddball” answers, and I am confident that every answer that it produces will make sense to at least some people. I’m also pretty confident that over the entire set of answers that it produces, at least some answers will not make immediate sense to any one person. (It’s a side effect of the fact that the model uses data produced by the whole community; no one person agrees with everyone else.)
That said, following is a new set of 15 chained recommendations. As before, I would love to hear whether you think it’s doing better or worse (and ask that you update your vote at the top accordingly). Of particular interest would be any game that you think absolutely should be on a given list but which does not appear.
Toby's Nose
+-------------+---------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-------------+---------------------------------+
| Toby's Nose | Lime Ergot |
| Toby's Nose | Sequitur |
| Toby's Nose | Sherlock Indomitable |
| Toby's Nose | Glass |
| Toby's Nose | The Wizard Sniffer |
| Toby's Nose | Grandma Bethlinda's Variety Box |
| Toby's Nose | Anchorhead |
| Toby's Nose | Take |
| Toby's Nose | Ralph |
| Toby's Nose | Weird City Interloper |
| Toby's Nose | Eat Me |
| Toby's Nose | Violet |
+-------------+---------------------------------+
Weird City Interloper
+-----------------------+---------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------------------+---------------------------+
| Weird City Interloper | Superluminal Vagrant Twin |
| Weird City Interloper | Gun Mute |
| Weird City Interloper | Lime Ergot |
| Weird City Interloper | Toby's Nose |
| Weird City Interloper | Castle of the Red Prince |
| Weird City Interloper | Dead Like Ants |
| Weird City Interloper | Textfire Golf |
| Weird City Interloper | The Moonlit Tower |
| Weird City Interloper | Anchorhead |
| Weird City Interloper | Blue Lacuna |
| Weird City Interloper | Rogue of the Multiverse |
| Weird City Interloper | Walker & Silhouette |
+-----------------------+---------------------------+
Textfire Golf
+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Textfire Golf | Lock & Key |
| Textfire Golf | Varicella |
| Textfire Golf | Weird City Interloper |
| Textfire Golf | Captain Verdeterre's Plunder |
| Textfire Golf | Savoir-Faire |
| Textfire Golf | 9:05 |
| Textfire Golf | Anchorhead |
| Textfire Golf | A Day for Fresh Sushi |
| Textfire Golf | Violet |
| Textfire Golf | Eurydice |
| Textfire Golf | Andromeda Apocalypse — Extended Edition |
| Textfire Golf | Glass |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
Eurydice
+-----------+--------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------+--------------------------------------+
| Eurydice | Lyreless |
| Eurydice | The Xylophoniad |
| Eurydice | Lysidice and the Minotaur |
| Eurydice | Mercy |
| Eurydice | Overthrown 2: A World Without a King |
| Eurydice | Overthrown: The Makings of a God |
| Eurydice | The Nemean Lion |
| Eurydice | Orfeo en los Infiernos |
| Eurydice | Tapestry |
| Eurydice | ASCII and the Argonauts |
| Eurydice | The Invisible Argonaut |
| Eurydice | Sequitur |
+-----------+--------------------------------------+
The Invisible Argonaut
+------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| The Invisible Argonaut | The Nemean Lion |
| The Invisible Argonaut | jason finds fleece |
| The Invisible Argonaut | ASCII and the Argonauts |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Sisyphus |
| The Invisible Argonaut | ASCII and the Argonauts: Astral Plane |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: The Text Adventure |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Eurydice |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Overthrown 2: A World Without a King |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Overthrown: The Makings of a God |
| The Invisible Argonaut | You Are a Turkey! |
| The Invisible Argonaut | The Land of the Cyclops |
| The Invisible Argonaut | Myth |
+------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
You Are a Turkey!
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| You Are a Turkey! | The Invisible Argonaut |
| You Are a Turkey! | Thanksgiving Adventure |
| You Are a Turkey! | Thanksgiving Adventure ][ |
| You Are a Turkey! | A Monkey Stole Your Toast! |
| You Are a Turkey! | Gourmet Gaffe |
| You Are a Turkey! | Hide a pachyderm! |
| You Are a Turkey! | Jones N. Forebuts and the Secret of the Golden Butt |
| You Are a Turkey! | Not the Same Old Lang Syne |
| You Are a Turkey! | Go West |
| You Are a Turkey! | Vortex 2305 |
| You Are a Turkey! | Magic Travels |
| You Are a Turkey! | Garden of the Dragon |
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
Gourmet Gaffe
+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gourmet Gaffe | Go West |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Back to the Future: Marty Quest |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Nudists Gone Wild |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Don't Pee Yourself! |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Cheesed Off! |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Machine of Death |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Suspended in the air so that all of your weight is concentrated on a single point halfway down your spine |
| Gourmet Gaffe | Suicide |
| Gourmet Gaffe | The Great Pancake Detectives - Case #27 |
| Gourmet Gaffe | A Day for Fresh Sushi |
+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | You are a Chef! |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Aisle |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Undo |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Gourmet Gaffe |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Go West |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Amishville |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | A Day for Fresh Sushi |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Taunting Donut |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Suicide |
| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die | Hide a pachyderm! |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents 'Detective'
+---------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+---------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "A Fable" |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Stiffy Makane: Mystery Science Theater 3000 |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Yon Astounding Castle! of some sort |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Life on Gue Street |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Zork: A Troll's-Eye View |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | The Boggit |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | The Black Ladder |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | In the End II |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Rance the Dungeonkeeper |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Revenge of the Thing-Fish |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" | Scary House Amulet! |
+---------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
Zork: A Troll's-Eye View
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Rance the Dungeonkeeper |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Revenge of the Thing-Fish |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | The Black Ladder |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Life on Gue Street |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Unchanter |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Pork 1: The Great Underground Sewer System |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Zork I |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Stiffy Makane: Mystery Science Theater 3000 |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Spyder and Jeb |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Dawn of the Demon |
| Zork: A Troll's-Eye View | Frobozz Magic Support |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
Frobozz Magic Support
+-----------------------+------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------------------+------------------------------------+
| Frobozz Magic Support | Scroll Thief |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Balances |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Return to Zork: Another Story |
| Frobozz Magic Support | SPIRITWRAK |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Sorcerer |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Zork: The Undiscovered Underground |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Zork |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Nevermore |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Enchanter |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Spellbreaker |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz |
| Frobozz Magic Support | Beyond Zork |
+-----------------------+------------------------------------+
Balances
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Balances | Scroll Thief |
| Balances | Sorcerer |
| Balances | Enchanter |
| Balances | Spellbreaker |
| Balances | SPIRITWRAK |
| Balances | Frobozz Magic Support |
| Balances | The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet |
| Balances | Zork |
| Balances | Beyond Zork |
| Balances | Suveh Nux |
| Balances | Return to Zork: Another Story |
| Balances | Zork: The Undiscovered Underground |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------+
The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet
+---------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+---------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Scroll Thief |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Balances |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Enlightenment |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Spellbreaker |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Sorcerer |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Enchanter |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Portcullis |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Yes, Another Game with a Dragon! |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Frobozz Magic Support |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Lost Pig |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Zork: The Undiscovered Underground |
| The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet | Guess the Verb! |
+---------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
Guess the Verb!
+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Guess the Verb! | A Matter of Heist Urgency |
| Guess the Verb! | A Tale of the Cave |
| Guess the Verb! | The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet |
| Guess the Verb! | Space Wizard Rendezvous |
| Guess the Verb! | Lost Pig |
| Guess the Verb! | Leather Goddesses of Phobos |
| Guess the Verb! | Degeneracy |
| Guess the Verb! | Adventurer's Consumer Guide |
| Guess the Verb! | The Wizard Sniffer |
| Guess the Verb! | Reference and Representation: An Approach to First-Order Semantics |
| Guess the Verb! | Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus |
| Guess the Verb! | Augmented Fourth |
+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | The Dream-Trap of Zzar |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Planetfall |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Stationfall |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | A Mind Forever Voyaging |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Curses |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Barsoom Adventure #1: The Lost City |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Trinity |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos | Plundered Hearts |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 Like
I am deeply honored by the games suggested from I Am Prey. I hold quite a few of those titles in high regard. 
3 Likes
I’m glad to hear it!
If any other authors of games mentioned would like to give feedback, that would be valuable. (After all, the author is the foremost expert on a game.)
2 Likes
The fact that this is a thing is fairly terrifying a concept.
I get the irony… 
3 Likes
The only one of these I’ve played is Toby’s Nose. I would have expected Erstwhile to be one of the recs, as it’s a mystery in somewhat of the same style (I think somewhat inspired by TN, even). I haven’t played all the ones that are there, but if I were making my own personal list of TN-based recs, Violet probably wouldn’t be on it; the open-ended, investigative nature of TN (and the historical setting) is pretty at-odds with the single-room, puzzle-chain, contemporary-set nature of Violet imo.
2 Likes
Thank you! That was very helpul.
1 Like
I know you’re still testing this now, but are you eventually planning to share the code to see if it could be incorporated into IFDB? Or is this a separate thing?
1 Like
Until that “how’s it working?” histogram in the top post starts to look better, I don’t think this can be considered anything other than an amusement.
I think you’re making a big mistake here.
Your plan is to work on this problem alone, and to share the code only when it’s “good enough.” But if you work on it alone, if you keep saying “there is no code to share,” it will never be “good enough,” and all this effort (including the tagfest) will amount to nothing.
There is code to share. You have code to share.
If you can find it in your heart to copy and paste your code into this thread, we can make the code good enough together.
2 Likes
Regardless of whether it ends up on IFDB, or whether it gets any more accurate than it is now, I suspect a lot of people will want to play with it. We like amusement. 
So I really hope you’ll share it!
This thread will remain open for recommendation requests (and feedback to improve the tuning) indefinitely.
1 Like
If there’s no guarantee that you’re eventually going to share it, that might drain some of the enthusiasm for tagging.
3 Likes
Will there be an option not to recommend works by the same author? That seems practical, to avoid, say, recommendations of other Little Match Girl series entries, which the player probably has an opinion on already.
Some more suggestions:
- Nord and Bert Couldn’t Make Head or Tail of It
- Ted Paladin and the Case of the Abandoned House
- Bonehead
- Zugzwang
- 19 Once
3 Likes
Wow, some toughies! (And I rather would have expected to see some of your games on the first list, so I’ll look into that.)
The ones marked with asterisks had “Reply Hazy” responses, so I used the secondary model that on the whole seems to produce lower-quality answers. The last pair just wouldn’t come up with anything; they’re very new, so maybe with a later data update that will change.
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
+------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Goose, Egg, Badger |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Ad Verbum |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Counterfeit Monkey |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | In a Manor of Speaking |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Shuffling Around |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Earl Grey |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Leather Goddesses of Phobos |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Ailihphilia |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | Letters from Home |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | The Bean Stalker |
+------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
Ted Paladin and the Case of the Abandoned House*
+-------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | Don't Be Late |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | 4 Alice : Lorange Journey |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | The Recruit |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | A Party to Murder |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | Afternoon in the House of Secrets |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | Clusterflux |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | 1-555-trouble |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | 13 Laurel Road |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | Janitor |
| Ted Paladin And The Case Of The Abandoned House | The Sisters |
+-------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
Bonehead*
+-----------+-------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------+-------------------------------------+
| Bonehead | At Wit's End |
| Bonehead | Hunger Daemon |
| Bonehead | Basket-ball |
| Bonehead | The Fielder’s Choice |
| Bonehead | Cricket, Anyone? |
| Bonehead | Kicker |
| Bonehead | 1893: A World's Fair Mystery |
| Bonehead | Fan Interference |
| Bonehead | Ryan Veeder's Authentic Fly Fishing |
| Bonehead | SLAMMED! |
+-----------+-------------------------------------+
Zugzwang (1998)*
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
| FROM_GAME | TO_GAME |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Zugzwang | Operate! |
| Zugzwang | Jack's Adventures |
| Zugzwang | Pumping! |
| Zugzwang | Evolution |
| Zugzwang | An Exploration of Colour |
| Zugzwang | Bad Guys |
| Zugzwang | Masta'mind |
| Zugzwang | The U.S. Men's Hockey Team Olympic Challenge |
| Zugzwang | Revenge of the Killer Surf Nazi Robot Babes from Hell |
| Zugzwang | Coma! |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
Zugzwang (2024)
"Cannot Predict Now."
19 Once
"Cannot Predict Now."
Regarding whether to include/exclude works by the same author… That’s a good question. Little Match Girl is unusual in that there are so many in that same series. On the whole, peoples’ opinions of works by the same author seem to be positively correlated. What’s everyone else’s opinion on whether same author recommendations are desirable?
2 Likes