Puny Jam 2024 Mathbrush reviews

Competitions
1

I thought I’d review these games from last year’s Puny Jam. Here we go! I’m copying them from IFDB as I write them.

Thornfell Manor: 1984

This PunyComp game had a nice concept and was pretty fun, with a few caveats. It looks to be the first game by this author, which is pretty impressive if true and I would definitely play more games if they choose to write more.

You play as a paranormal investigator who comes up on the scene of a crime. Your goal is to figure out who died, how, and what to do about it.

You’re equipped with two helpful sidekicks (who are later contactable by radio) and a protective amulet and an EMF reader. You explore a big mansion, solving a variety of puzzles and interacting with a few ‘unusual’ characters.

I was impressed by the implementation of things like the characters and a lot of the default messages. There were two big sticking points for me, though:

1-The game has an extremely small inventory limit. I was trying to carry around the ‘default’ gear the game gave me (radio, EMF reader, and amulet), and I could only pick up 3 items. I know some people go for realism, but these items are things like a lighter, sage, cigarettes, a pocketknife–I could easily carry all these things in real life, especially with pockets! I’d give a full point higher score if the inventory limit were removed or doubled or if a backpack were provided, or even if the amulet and/or meter were ‘wearable’.

2-The game is missing a lot of scenery objects and synonyms. One really noticeable example is that the beginning of the game (so not really a spoiler) tells you that you see a lot of blood. But “X BLOOD” has no response. This is a frequent issue throughout the game, where the text prominently mentions an object but doesn’t implement it.

Outside of these two factors, I enjoyed the game a lot, as I like supernatural things and mysteries. I especially liked the ambient messages about the radio and the overall thematic unity of the house.

5 Likes
2

The Candy Striper of St. Asterix

This is a large and complex game with several independent NPCs spread out through a large hospital. Someone has died, and you (a teen volunteer) want to both find out who and also get enough recommendations to be able to move on from the place.

I was impressed and overwhelmed with the size of the game. The hospital has four floors, each with a hallway with 3-5 spaces, with each space having doors to the north and south. In addition to that, there are a dozen or so NPCs and complex devices like elevators, safes and a walkman.

Gameplay mostly revolves around going into every area possible, identifying issues and collecting objects, then finding which objects solve which issues. There were two puzzles I couldn’t figure out involving NPCs, and I ended up using invisiclues with them.

Overall, the story didn’t land for me emotionally. The NPCs were varied, had interesting comments about each other, and had realistic relationships and plots, and the locations were varied, and there are some active events that are creepy or threatening, so all of those things are good. So I’m not actually sure what I felt was missing.

On the other hand, there was something about the mechanics that really appealed to me, which is hard to put into words. It was really satisfying unlocking different areas and using ideas, and there are multiple solutions.

There were a few times I was frustrated by synonyms or getting default responses (like trying to push or pull the tile without the ladder). Overall, though, I think people who enjoy exploration and note-taking in parser games should like this.

3 Likes
3

Late Night at the Mall

In this game, you are a teenager who was so focused on playing arcade games in the mall that you ended up locked in after hours.

It seems set in the 80s, with the arcade having Galaga and the character not having any cell phone (looking back, the game description actually says this explicitly). It includes other 80s signs like a poster of Madonna.

Gameplay is mostly classic adventure gameplay, moving objects, searching, codes, etc. The game is coded well, and the abandoned mall vibe has some great moments, especially with encountering things that frighten you.

It kind of felt like the protagonist was getting more and more into trouble, starting with just being in an area they shouldn’t be and ending up being a kind of teenage vandal, in a funny way. It would make for a pretty good TV episode.

I did feel a bit frustrated with the lock, as it’s intended that you brute force it (once you get some more info), but other than that the puzzles were fair.

4 Likes
4

A Day in the Life

This PunyJam game shows a lot of skill at different programming tasks but feels like it was incomplete. I’d be happy to bump up the score if it were expanded.

You wake up in your room on a day that feels like it will be long. There are no instructions besides telling you that you should wake up.

So I wandered through the building, picking things up as I went. On my way out I grabbed some coffee, and then I went to a new building, solved a simple puzzle, and the game ended.

The game does enough that I can tell the author has some pretty good programming and the writing was interesting (like with the three objects in the box at the beginning of the game). It just felt like a lot was missing, like overall guidance or more material.

It’s possible I missed some secret that hides the ‘true’ gameplay so feel free to let me know if that’s true!

1 Like
5

(This game has been updated since my review was posted on IFDB):

Mars, 2049 AD

This game was written by one of the co-developers of PunyInform, and it shows off a lot of programming complexity.

You wake up in the aftermath of a party, and need to make sure that the evidence is taken care of. I found this the most difficult part of the game, requiring multiple attempts and close inspection.

The rest of the game is a timed series of events. You are required to act in certain roles throughout the day, and you have to be in the right place at roughly the right time. You have a variety of choices in how to act using menu-based conversation.

I was deeply impressed by the tricky programming. The NPCs all have their own agenda, their conversation topics change throughout the day, you can give orders to NPCs, and so on.

This complexity was also a bit overwhelming. Even though the solution turned out to be simple, I felt intimidated by the timer and had trouble engaging emotionally with the game because of that.

Overall, though, the game was impressive and I’ve added it to my TV and Film list.