I’ve missed out on a lot of cool events this summer, which I had wanted to cover. A bunch of neat games by awesome people. New faces dipping their toes at the medium. And interesting experiments too.
So I’m dusting off the review keyboard, hiding since Neo-Twiny, and hopefully highlight some cool stuff.
Better late than never, eh
I don’t know yet if the reviews will end up long formats or just bites. Probably a mix of both, depending on the game.
Since there is a lot, and I’d rather not spam the New Topics, I’ll just keep to this one thread. I might even keep this thread for future events too.
Here’s some easy links to get to the different sections:
(haven’t decided on the order of playing them yet, but I’ll edit the list)
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A summer-long parser jam, organised for the French community to get people excited about parsers, and maybe try to make one themselves!
There were a few constraints: the game had
- to be a parser (only typing commands)
- to be written/playable in French
- to have at least one room, one object, and one scenery
- to have 3 different puzzles
There were three entries:
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Play the game - Inform 6 - French
Le miroir d’Ozivior is a relatively short fantasy escape room, in which you play as the friend of Ozivior, a student at a magical academy. Locking you in his room, he challenges you to solve his riddle: find his actual room and break the mirror.
The game is pretty simple, that even beginner parser players could manage to complete. It was tightly constructed, with just enough descriptions in responses to get the gist of the puzzle and how to solve it, as well as warnings of any change.
Hints are also available, starting from general to nudge you the right way, to more concrete/obvious ones. There is also a Win the game command to get to the end quicker.
And the vocabulary required is limited: examine, take/drop, enter/open.
You can’t even fail at the game. As it lets you play on and “automatically undo”'s for you if you break the mirror in the wrong room. No need for saves, or restarts, or undos, really. It’s very beginner friendly.
The game left me frustrated in all the good ways - but that’s more because I blame myself for not paying attention properly (or because I tried to brute-force the game to let me play the way I wanted to, even if it went against the puzzle itself).
The mechanic to go from room to room was pretty cool, and pretty magical. The way the rooms are essentially the same but differ depending on what you choose to carry with you really adds layers to the setting. You learn more about your friend and his room, bit by bit. It is a matter of whether you keep track of the details (which I failed at too many times, it was embarrassing for me).
All in all, the experience is very smooth and charming (pun), and it made for a fun escape puzzle.
Unfiltered transcript:
Transcript_miroir.txt (43.1 KB)
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Play the game - Donjon FI - French
Une simulation is a tiny parser game, where you incarnate a player about to try a new virtual game: a simulation of an escape room through a VR headset. The goal is to find the three keys required to unlock the door, each hidden behind a different puzzle.
The game makes it pretty clear what must be done, but if you have a doubt, there is a manual in the starting state listing the main commands, and a downloadable walkthrough. Though it can be solved without either.
For a first attempt at a parser, it was a smooth experience. I didn’t really run into any issue. The puzzles were pretty logical and obvious enough that solving them was a breeze. Being limited to one room and a couple of objects does help - there are only so many possible interactions. Handling the plant was probably my favourite one out of all the different puzzles.
The tiny transcript: Transcript_simulation.txt (10.5 KB)
There was a small issue when looking at a book, but it was because of the interpreter.
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Play the game - Dialog - French
Au village de pêcheurs is a short slice-of-life parser where your goal is to purchase some fresh fish at a fishing village a few towns over. Little issue, your child decided to come along on this little trip and be a little menace. This does not go over well with the only fish stall of the village.
I got into the game knowing of its issues, and the multiple unwinnable instances - the game was made in a bit over a week, and contributed to the French translation of Dialog. The author is already aware and has been working on fixes. As of the current version, the game does not include hints or walkthrough.
So to say, I struggled quite a bit, finding my footing in what was working and what maybe should be working but isn’t there, or the commands to indicate to get there (still, sometimes the obvious verbs will evade me), which resulted in being stuck multiple times or having a full page of error messages. However, I don’t expect to struggle as much when the update comes around.
Still, I couldn’t get away until I reached the end… any end. The game is charming to boot, with its dry humour, the exasperated and exhausted parent, the menace of the Child (also in capital in game), and the no-nonsense local fisherman. I found myself chucking at the descriptions multiple times, even when there probably wasn’t a joke.
Even when frustrated with the parser itself, it still worked with who you’re supposed to play: a tired parent trying their best to accomplish just one task without finding the child. The game actually allows you to leave without having gotten the fish or the child. Which… is the only one I actually managed to reach.
I can’t wait for the new version to be completed so I can find the other endings and be as much of a menace as the Child.
The messiest transcript: Transcript_village.txt (51.0 KB)
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Some final notes/context:
The jam was created on a whim, following a discussion about parsers created in French throughout the years, which were mainly during the annual competition. The jam was meant to have a no-pressure space for people to make parsers, or even just testing a parser engine for fun. All throughout a whole summer.
While there were not many participations for this jam, there were quite a bit of discussion during the event in the French Discord. Multiple members having ideas and starts of proof of concepts, even if they were not submitted (maybe one day?).
Even with the three entries, there were quite some diversity. Each entry used a different engine, including the French-made Donjon.FI, as well as settings (fantasy, slice-of-life), or how they looked at puzzles.
So I’m pretty happy about it 
And I hope we’ll have even more fun next year!
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Rewinding to just a month before the previous jam and we have the…
This is an annual month-long jam, organised by Feldo for the Francophone community.
For the past 6 years, during the month of June, we are given a restriction (wordcount between 500* and 3000** words) and a theme (a word chosen at random, but always starting with in-***).
This year, the theme was incombustible.
*it has to be more than 500 because we have the Partim500 for anything under.
**because it’s Nouvim 3000 
***to mirror the Partim500, whose theme always starts with dé-.
There were eleven entries:
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So it turns out that I did play and reviewed those games, but I have no recollection of doing that… I guess spam incoming?
Play the game - Twine(Harlowe) - French
Daidala is a short text-adventure in Twine, where you play as an adventurer (archaeologist?*) waking up in a dark cave after a fall. You can explore your surroundings, discover ruins, examine different elements, solve a couple of puzzles, and delve deeper into the darkness. If you pick the right path, you might even find the ultimate end (though none of the endings are particularly happy…).
It took me a bit of trial and error to find that ending, even though I had managed to thwart previous danger…
The wink to the Icarus myth for the puzzle was cute.
*It gave Indiana Jones vibes.
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Play the game - Inklewriter - French
La fonte du monde is a fantasy textual adventure in Inklewriter, when you incarnate Voulks Mirmabull, a great dragon who’s destiny seems to reunite all the dragon clans and fight other kingdoms (from what I gathered playing the game). After a long introduction focusing on Voulks’s past, you are thrown into the game with not much a clear goal or explanation. The game seems to branch off quite early, leading to a handful of endings - I think I found 3-4 different ones, mainly ending up in my death.
You are given multiple sequences of choices, on how to interact with the environment, other clans, or the different conflicts - often with a violent/peaceful dichotomy. Most choices do not result in a textual response, having either an AI-generated illustration or simply the next set of choices. This aspect, which might be due to the combination of a high-branching story and a restricted word count, made the story sometimes difficult to follow or see the consequences of our actions. I think a few more sentences between each choice would clear a lot of the confusion.
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Play the game - Ink - French
Corps Brulés is a mystery game made in INK, where you play as some sort of investigator/detective on holidays. Coming across three burnt bodies, with no witness around, you decide to solve this (potentially not) accident. But who could have done it? how? and more importantly why?
Hints for the mystery can be found in the 7 pieces of almost burnt paper on the bodies. Because of the fire, the paper has a limited shelf-life (taking one means another disappears), which means you need to have on plan on what to consult and in what order. However, the game isn’t cruel, as every restart keeps a “copy” of found papers and previous knowledge.
The different pieces will give you an idea of who each of those bodies are, their reasons for being here, and maybe how they got there. You can link them under different tags, interchangeable when you consult them, learn new information, and make new accusations. Depending on which elements you consulted and its order, different accusations can be made at the end of each run.
The mystery is neat, reminding me a bit of the Death in Paradise series in its setting. The gameplay is also pretty fun, mixing a bit the Logic-Grid type of puzzle with timed-events.
I wish I had managed to actually finish the game. I got stuck, really close to the end I think, but still not having found (I guess?) the correct order to get to the true end (if there is one? I don’t seem to be the only one). Though I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened…
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L’abribus, by Pierre Poulard
Play the game - Moiki - French
L’abribus is a short fantasy story, where we either play as some sort of force controlling a magic orb (which can influence everything around) or the orb itself (still unclear on that, though it matters little to enjoy the game).
At a bus stop, we/the orb meets different characters, which we can interact in some fashion (forge documents, tell the time, etc…). These actions can bring good or “evil” to those characters, with the last action defining which ending we get actually.
While the game is pretty smooth (and allow us to skip the intro when replaying) and it’s pretty cute, I felt that some of the consequences were at times a bit too simplistic, especially with the more heavy sections (dealing with death and violence).
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Ashes, by encoretoisnake
Play the game - Inklewriter - French
Ashes is a sci-fi text adventure written in Inklewriter, where you follow Josh and Aria, two space-travellers landing on Earth and finding it in disarray. Realising there is something wrong with their home, they set on finding the cause and fixing it. But, if they don’t manage to return to the correct version of Earth, they will meet their end. There are many endings, but only two can be considered good ones.
While the story is quite intriguing (what happened on Earth??? where did these symbols come from?!), much of the mysterious situation is left unanswered - most likely due to the restrictive wordcount. Which is not a problem whatsoever, because I would be down playing a longer version with more details or investigation of the phenomenon.
My main issue with the game is how abruptly and arbitrarily you can reach the bad endings (why being cautious is rewarded with a sudden ending?), with no explanation or reason (I’d wager the limit in word count affected this). It makes replaying very frustrating… unless you manage to get the good ending first.
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Susi, by Hefka Games
Play the game - Twine(Harlowe) - French
Susi is a sci-fi story, set in the 22nd century, where we follow the eponymous character, a half-wolf half-humanoid AI, after feeling a bloody conflict against salamanders (also half-AI) that ravaged everything. Seemingly the last of its kind, Susi get to choose the path forward, whether it is destructive for themselves or the salamander, or more (re)constructive. 5 different endings can be found, I managed 4.
Through Susi, the story explores crudely different human traits (vengeance, avarice, goodness, etc…). Even with the disappearance of the human race, and the evolution of the AI past needing machinery, humanoid beings would continue to behave exactly like humans, with their vices and virtues, rather than the animal-kind they embody (or a completely different path). Like ghosts, humans still stay, one way or another, influencing those left behind.
Similarly to the bad paths (bit heavy on repetition), the good ending wasn’t much satisfying either, with more of an open end to the story. It felt more that the story was actually starting at that point, with the passages preceding the final screen upping up the intrigue. That the whole game was more of a prologue than a completed one.
While there are warnings that some passages could be difficult to read, as it alludes to sensitive subject, those allusions are actually pretty explicit (stated or depicted) and the execution felt more “edgy for the sake of being edgy” rather than making it central to the plot or having commentary on it: suicidal thoughts can be willed away or push Susi into destructive suicide, sexual slavery is mentioned in passing once and almost forgotten, living under a dictatorship is played as a twist so to try to force you to take the “high-road” and forgive the oppressor.
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Play the game - Inklewriter - French
Baston ou Ruse : L’Épopée de Krug is a short humoristic game based on Warhammer 40k, where you play as Krug, an orc that has no idea with what to do with its life. Though known for their brutish behaviour, some orcs find a cunning approach more interesting when dealing with conflict. So two types of choices are put before you at every turn: Ruse or Force. Depending on what you pick, you’ll end up with one out of 16 different orc job (and its respecting epic end – your life being praised still long after your death).
The writing is very funny and made me laugh many times no matter the path. It was very entertaining trying to find all the different endings (I found 8-9), since the text is quite varied between each branch. And this I knew nothing about W40k lore, it was a fun and intriguing introduction to this universe!
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Play the game - Moiki - French
Biblioflam is a short fantasy adventure in Moiki, where you play as an employee of a strange and magical library (where no books can burn!), tasked with retrieving late book returns (the tome in question being 3 years late…). Mixing more RPGs aspects, like dice rolls, and consequential choices, the game offers a frustrating but still pretty satisfying puzzle to solve (even if/when you mess up a bunch, it’s still fun to play).
With the change of palette/fonts depending on the current environment, and SFX/background sound to add to the ambiance, the game is really playful and fun to experience. You too will ask to retrieve more tomes after!
Honestly, I’d love to play a longer version of this game, with different books to retrieve from different universes.
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Play the game - Textallion/Ramus - French
La réclusion de Callisto is a short textual adventure in the style of older CYOA books, both in form and content. Embodying a prisoner-jailer in a lonely island, you recount your meeting with a very particular women sent to this prison. Mixing romance and unsatisfiable desires, the story pulls you into moral conflicts where your only solace is escape.
Though there are conflicting elements, I was so sure from the start the tale was referencing Napoléon and his exiles on Elba/St Hélène, being sent away in a tiny island away from everything because of his actions. But this was clearly set in some imaginary land, with a focus more on piracy. And of course, Napoléon was the actual prisoner during his exile, not really the jailer.
As for the delectable prose, it was more the tales of Dumas, especially the imprisoned scenes, that came into mind while reading. Even with the limitation in words, and the surprisingly large variation of the text, the writing is flourishing and swallowing us into the whirlwind of emotions felt by the PC. Though there are only three ends, the journey is more fun than the end.
Otto return from his 7 years hiatus! 
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Play the game - QueFaitesVous - French
Terra’s Leap : Un rêve incombustible is a short sci-fi adventure, where we follow the ventures of Elio, a child in a faraway colony, dreaming that one day he will visit Earth. Earth’s location has long been long forgotten, so this task is not an easy feat! Thankfully, you get to meet multiple characters who believe they have this knowledge, though none share the same spot.
So you will need to decide how to get to Earth, considering you are still a child, and which person to trust, out of those strangers. Some of these choices do require you to sort of disregard logic, if you want to continue down those paths.
While the blurb indicate 19 endings, many of them end in the exact same way. Most of those are still pretty bad for the players as well - strangely, it is when you refuse to take the path pushed by the game that you end up with the most winnable situation.
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I guess I can spare a few words for L’Incombustible 3000, my own entry. Which is essentially set in the P-Rix - Space Trucker universe (same protagonist, different ship, also now in French). You need to repair your broken ship, in the middle of empty space, by your lone self.
It was also made in the course of a weekend.
Some final notes:
The Noumvim3000 is always a fun jam to participate in. The theme is revealed on the first day of the jam, so the week prior to it, we bet on what word Feldo will pick: they all start with in-, so there’s a limited list, so only 9425 of them (minus 6, now).
And every year, it’s so fascinating to see how every participant interpreted the theme. Even when two entries share a particular definition, no two games are the same. There are always twists to it - it’s encouraged even. This was no different this year, with imcombustible.
Another interesting thing is seeing how everyone use their 500 to 3000 words. We often get prologues and prototypes, along with short adventures. Some of us struggle to keep to either limits, some of us manage without a hitch. It’s fun to see how it pans out.
I’m looking forward to next year, when the next in- theme is revealed!
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Jumping some time into the future for…
This was our September mini-jam, lasting about 10 days, where the goal was to make an interactive fiction piece with a program/in a format not meant for IF, such as office software. Because why be productive at work when you could make games
There were fifteen entries:
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Read the entry - IntFiction Forum
This is what I need to tell you is an ARG interactive piece created through a Forum thread, in which the latter’s author goes through a mental breakdown, incl. a paranoia and dissociative episode. In wanting to share critical information, the author find himself fighting another (himself?). Reading as an unsettling struggle to have the final word.
The thread contains 6 posts, of which all but one has been edited at least once. At first glance, it seems like the edits were made by a collected person, covering a distressing period that should not have been shared, and urging others to disregard the original messages. Still, another voice peers through, with an agitated final edit, pleading to be heard. A starting knotted thread that unravels when diving into the edits.
This second voice, on edge due to an unspecified event or revelation (proof of which is linked through a dead link), attempts to fight at every turn the more calm and serious speaker, who, in turn, rebuffs those messages for their presumably harmful content (for whom? the author? other readers? we’ll never know).
The layers in the conversations, through the multiple original posts and then their subsequent edits, is fascinating and bone chilling. You have to comb through all the edits and rearrange their order to piece out things. Yet, it stops before we learn what the author wants to tell us, as the information is deleted even before being shared. And it leaves so much hanging about the state of the author - the final post feels forced and the final edit cold, brushing off the thread to be of any importance.
What we are left is a chilling and concerning exchange (in a good way, knowing it isn’t real), and a bunch of unanswered questions (will the truth every come out? was there one to begin with? is the author ok? will we ever know?). And a very interesting use of the medium to share this story.
For archival purposes, the thread looks like there are more edits than there actually are. Discourse doesn’t have a download a thread inlc. edits option.
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