This year’s Spring Thing featured a new category: New Game Plus, for games that had been previously released but had been substantially enhanced or ported to become a new experience.
This category may or may not continue in the future. Would you like to see it return?
From my perspective, the ‘pros’ were that it provides a venue for improved games that doesn’t really exist otherwise right now. It encourages authors to fix bugs and otherwise create a better experience for players in the long term.
The ‘cons’ are that many of the people playing and reviewing seemed to have already tried the earlier games, and found it difficult to find new things to say about the same games they had already reviewed. It also takes up some of the space and player time for new games.
Would you like to see this category continue in the future? Feel free to elaborate in the comments below.
I would like to see New Game Plus come back.
I would not like to see it come back.
I have a more complicated opinion which I will comment below.
a minor note: the time between the IFComp and the Spring Thing is enough for a virtuous cycle of feedback; constructive criticism deserve more visibility than a post-comp release, esp. if the enhancements are substantial, but what constituites a substantial enhancement ?
in my case in point, I don’t consider a “substantial enhancement” the mere removal of a force field, so I don’t consider, let’s call it “The ground floor” (EU floor naming here) a “reworked IF”.
Anyway I agree that should come back, and became a major section of the Spring Garden.
I liked it a lot! It was nice to (re-)visit some works, whether it was updated or completely re-worked. Really neat to give a little bump for them!
And it made me consider submitting my own entry next year too!
I’m in favor of a venue for improved games.
I have a game that I quite like but also think is pretty flawed. I’ve been meaning to make an improved version for years but it’s always been a low priority project because it seemed doubtful a new version would find an audience.
I like the venue of New Game Plus for bringing out new implementations of the story ideas (not necessarily the mechanics) as I did for my One King game. Otherwise, I might not even have put in the effort to bring the story to Twine.
Thank you for clarifying. Previously, there had been no such place for “conversions” in the style of Kuolema (Google Forms → Twine), One King to Loot Them All (Inform 7 → Twine) and (not in Spring Thing) Ascot (ADRIFT → Choicescript). “Parserifications” of stuff would be welcome here too. (Time Machine was parser to begin with, and this one is more of an improved version than a remake/remaster).
In my reviews, I also mentioned- for remakes/remasters- comparing the newer version with the older one.
I understand, but out of the three, the only one I wrote a review for was IF Comp One King, and the Spring Thing review of One King mentioned that “what good stuff the IF Comp had also carries over to this one, but there are some things this one lacks…” - like the obvious UNDO button that the former cleverly hides.
To conclude, I’m in favor of a New Game + category to house remakes/remasters in particular for future Spring Things.
My opinion is that New Games Plus belongs in Spring Thing, but probably should only run as a distinct category if there are at least two valid entries in a given year (otherwise, fold the entry otherwise eligible for New Game Plus into the Back Garden with an appropriate explanation). I think it helps entries feel more included if there’s at least two of them in a category.