THANK YOU for dedicating your precious time to Eleanor.
“What I did get was a very unnerving experience.”
I’m so sorry!
When I came up with the Eleanor storyline, I quickly realized it wasn’t going to be an “easy game”.
In fact, the risk in “simulations” like this is to create a frustrating and boring game.
I tried to avoid this by inserting sounds, images, automatic saving of progress and help routines.
Unfortunately even in your case (the same thing happened to Mike Russo) this was not enough and, in the end, you left the game without finishing it despite (I thought) the suggestions were quite explicit.
At this point it would be important for me, if you can, to know:
What prevented you from getting on
How can I make it clear that the “wake up” timer can be easily reset by moving down or up.
which helping images failed to suggest the right action to take.
Your valuable suggestions would help me to improve the game in its future versions.
All the best!
Rob.
Honest, open, vulnerable, trusting, funny, enthusiastic.
The author has put an important part of herself in her game for you to read and experience. Moving.
No hint, really. It just made it a pleasure to follow your review thread.
I’m particularly spoiler-averse myself, but here I could read everything without being afraid. I would get a summary impression of your general feeling toward the games, while the review itself being on IFDB provides useful context. And the teaser on the end provided a very good flow to the thread as a whole.
I don’t think a review that has its own thread would benefit as much from this approach, actually, especially since easy access to quoting makes the threshold for discussion lower.
Thank you so much for the fantastic review! I was hoping that creating Budacanta would be educational as well as entertaining, and I’m glad it has turned out to be all that and more
I’m reading this monster-thread about the lack of parser-games in the 2014 IFComp. I went into Spring Thing 2021 with a lot of the feelings that are expressed in it. (Regret about the dearth of parser-games, looking down at Twine for being click-through stories, even some “oh no, not another emo-whine in Twine”)
I just wanted to say that I’m really glad that the contex of Spring Thing finally brought me to engaging with Twine games. It’s good to have my prejudices popped like a balloon filled with foul gas.
It’s a big part of this community and I was missing out on it.
One of the elements of that discussion I find particularly ironic is that it started because there was a fear parser-based IF was on the decline. Yet here we are seven years later, with quite a few parser-based games faring well if the IFDB reviews are anything to go by. Some games using Twine are also faring well.
I like that this is a place where we can experiment with interface, genre and the game/literature interface in many different ways and have our efforts appreciated (and evaluated) on their merits.
Something also of note is that the same discussion pops up every time something new comes along, a technological or narrative path not taken/available before.
“Gateway” uses a hybrid text/graphic interface; Woe unto the world!
“Galatea” is just talking? Then how do you WIN?
“Photopia” is boring because I can’t bang my head against intractable puzzles, therefore it’s not IF.
As I said however, a lot of the prejudices against Twine and other choice-platforms had nestled in my brain, even though I had not truly played any of the games until now.
And I recognize the defensive reaction of parser-lovers. But chasing the new kids off the playground just leaves you alone and bitter. Better to exchange toys and play together.
Next: Medicum Veloctic. I find the premise very promising. Let’s hope it lives up to it.
Also, I have received word that an update of Eleanor is available. I’ll certainly give it another go.
