Who are you talking to? is a work in progress piece where you are confronted by a strange creature, in an unknown place, unable to leave. You can talk to the creature, asking them questions, and go over some of your most recent memories. Being an unfinished piece, there are timed where the game ends abruptly, forcing you to rewind and pick a different path to reach the end. There are at least 8 endings, though I’ve only managed to reach one.
From the tone of your interlocutor, my reading of the game (so far) is that you died and are talking to some otherworldly being (maybe a God?), assessing your nature and action back when you were alive (though it seems your fate is sealed). You have the option of showing remorse towards your actions or doubling down. That or aliens.
Do you think we’re soulmates in every universe? is a cute slice-of-life small visual novel where you take a walk with your partner, when they as you the titular question. You have a couple of choices throughout the discussion, communicating your (lack of) doubts about the matter or your opinion on the need even for this kind discussion. And, in between, you can imagine different scenario about you and your partner meeting and maybe falling in love.
It’s pretty sweet, though my opinion on the question is more on the realistic side (soulmates are not really a thing, and the probability of finding the same person again is just sooo small…), rather than the maybe childish/cheesy “of course we’ll always be soulmate through time and space”. I also found the partner being a bit too insecure in some of the paths. It’s still nice for a short game.
I would have preferred though, to have less descriptive elements…
Pear Party is a short conversation between two uni students at a party, where you attempt to do some small talk and hopefully… not nerd about about pears. Why pears? ¯\ _ (ツ) _ /¯
It’s a silly little conversation, filled with second-hand embarrassment, quirky responses, awkward silences, and pretty funny lines. I chuckled more than I would care to admit. And I learned new stuff about pears too! Would you like to hear about–
I Knew A Guy is a prototype short entry, formatted as a linear short story to raise awareness about suicide and myths around it. In it, an unnamed PC recounts their final moment spent with a person who would later take their own life, and their guilt around not seeing the signs or not helping them as much as they could have. Along with the text, a daunting track plays (which, if you go backward on your navigator becomes even more creepy and unsettling).
IF can be a great medium to explore difficult themes and spread awareness on this topic. And I wonder where this prototype will end up looking, because I think it does have a good starting format for what it’s attempting to do.
Heyyyy you don’t see SugarCane/Twine 1 games often anymore! That’s neat!
Roman Holiday is a strange creepy game, one I don’t know what to make of. A group of friend are one some sort of road trip, lost (sort of), stopping at a store in the middle of nowhere and of the the night. Ensue strange happenings.
It sort of reminded me of those paranormal movies, with its VCR/TV visual/audio quality, or that 80-90s low-render graphics for the characters. A lot of the game is spent looking at cut-scenes of conversations between the different characters, with a bit of moving around, and some branching conversation (with at least one NPC, afiak).
In any case, it’s creepy, you don’t really know what’s happening, and things don’t quite make sense - I still don’t know what happened, I ran into a To Be Continued screen.
Imago is a short but very branched out poetic “rogue-like” monologue, reflecting on the masts that one wears and the image we preset to other. You address a crowd, maybe a fictional one, aiming to entertain, confess or maybe philosophise. Depending on your choices, and a bit of RNG, you will end up reaching one of…
THIRTY SIX ENDINGS. Yeah, 36 different endings. Lots of going back and forth between the choices and hoping the game sends you to a new section, to find them all. With the richness of the text (one playthrough is short, but you need to digest the prose) and because of the randomness, I stopped at about 15 or so of them.
The Disappearance of Kevin from Finance is a short mystery game in Twine, where your colleague, the titular Kevin from Finance, is reported as missing. The shocking news make waves among the company, as many realise no one truly knew much about the man, aside from his love of mystery books and his lacklustre ability of staying connected.
Through emails, chat logs, phone calls and even face-to-face conversation, you are given the opportunity to investigate the strange disappearance of your mysterious colleague. Throughout the exchanges, you get hints to what is going on, though you will need to reach the end to realise what was truly going on…
This was a lot of fun to see the mystery unfold. And the true moral of the story is truly corporate incompetence…
beach is a short Twine conversation between two individuals on the beach, which was initiated by one of the two following an incident (implied to be suicide). You are asked to share your feelings, which sends you down towards one of three paths, of diverging length.
Some more uncomfortable to read than others, with your interlocutor trying to make your feel guilty for your past actions, shaming you if you do not feel that, as if you had been the cause (or at least catalyst) for the incident - while, in reality, they admit that no matter what you would have done, it was always going to end up this way. It is pretty manipulative, trying to put you at fault, asking of you to never forget them.
It’s telling that the word sorry is only utter by you, and not them.
It’s kind of interesting to see two entries about a similar topic but get different POV on the matter.
Tell Me About Yourself is a short Twine conversation between you and your interlocutor Coda. Seemingly a stranger, Coda asks about yourself, often with limited options to choose from or strangely formatted question. There are three endings, two of them branching out close to the start, while the other is down a longer path.
It all seems quaint, I guess, at first, with the kind of questions you’d ask someone you don’t know, but it turns weird. You learn little about Coda, and can ask little about them (when you do, their answers are strange…). And when he calls out by a different name, the whole tone shifts and the game abruptly end.
I’m just very confused…
Tresmir Sight is a short sci-fi (fantasy?) visual novel, where you play as a young human trespassing in a camp, looking for someone important to them. Ensues a conversation with the leader, where choices allows you to cooperate or obstruct their questioning.
Since you are dropped in the middle of a story, you being capture while trespassing, unwilling to answer to anyone, it is pretty hard to be invested in the MC’s struggles without knowing anything about it. For all we know, he is the bad guy here. You only learn of the reason why you are here because the answer is pulled from you.
Still, it looks neat and polished. I would play a longer version of this game if it ever happened.
Extended Sabbatical is a short linear interactive piece made in Unity about… making a game, or more about not making that game. Though it focuses on struggles and frustrations (and maybe even procrastination), it was a pretty fun piece. The dialogue is charming, the art is colourful and stylish, and it is pretty smooth.
I enjoyed it quite a bit!
ConversationalRumblings is a short cyclical Twine piece about two people looking for an activity to do and talking about it. Between going to the movies or make ceramics, listening to music or going to the club, or maybe just chill and make some poems, the two will ramble on bouncing from one activity to the next, never ending.
The way they interact with one another, I wouldn’t want to be friend with either of them…
Phantom Protocol is a short interactive prologue made in Godot, set (so far) inside your phone. A strange number contacts you, disoriented, claiming to be a newly created intelligence (AI). You can interact with it (as the game gives you different options), as well as other individuals contacting you (including the “owner” of said AI and a “friend”). The game ends after a couple of messages.
Though there isn’t much inside the current build, I’d be interested to see where it goes.
Chatterbox is a short Twine piece about chatboxes experiences. Using the simple interface of Harlowe, you incarnate the user ripherup, a true crime enthusiast discussing cases with other members of a Forum, bickering over the details. Between technological mishaps and diverging conversations, you find yourself in a pretty chaotic situation. Thought the game is pretty minimal, it does encapsulate pretty well the vibe of chatrooms, especially unmoderated ones.
I’m also a sucker of this chat-based storytelling concept…
It was loads of fun to play through the entries, and see how different authors took the constraint to tell their stories. Some were really neat, and I really had a few days of good fun!
I’m a bit sad I couldn’t participate this time (my project didn’t pan out, it might popup later if I can manage to fix it)… It’s the first time I haven’t submitted an entry to one of our jam
Next up is either the Really Bad IF Jam or the Locus Jam, which event ends first (I forgot which one does…)
