Rovarsson's Spring Thing 2022

Filthy Aunt Mildred

A breathless nauseating repulsive compelling read from start to finish.

The many asides carefully pace the story up to the brilliant grand finale.

I loved it.

Edit: “Cesspit” is an appropriate word. Insert “cesspit” somewhere in the previous sentences. Anywhere.

Next up: The Box

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The Box

Tinkering time!

Poke a little here, scratch a little there…
ping!
See what pops out…
Scratch head and then repeat…

Fun!

Although I would have liked my frustrated efforts to BREAK and HIT and KICK the box to be recognized with more than a “I didn’t understand.” or a “Violence is seldom the answer.”

Come on, you’re leaving a pun-possibility like KICK BOX just lying around in the open?

Next will be Bigfoot Bluff.

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Thank you for the feedback and for playing; much appreciated!

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Bigfoot Bluff

A free-range point-gathering game with many achievements to attain. (And many hilariously zany “Huh?”-moments.)

I wish the sandboxy nature of the game was expanded even more. I call for everyone to make a transcript with the most outlandish commands your brain comes up with and send it to @pbparjeter , for future reference in the making of Bigfoot Bluff, the Definitively Zany Version.

I had lots of fun with this. It could use a thorough last polishing though. Elaborate customization for unnecessary commands would carry the spirit of the game a lot higher.

I’ve read the intro of the next game and it’s promising: Sweetpea

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Sweetpea

My finger hovering above each new click. What’s on this next page? Purposely choosing to rummage through the desk, delaying going to the door a bit longer…

A confounding blur of images. Scenes of dream? and real? overlapping. One comes, one stays, one goes away…

Gripping story told in well-chosen shades of purple. Haunting imagery.

I’ll be digesting this story for a while.

Next, in search of something soothing after this experience, I’ll go play with The Bright Blue Ball.

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Great choice. :smile:

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I call for everyone to make a transcript with the most outlandish commands your brain comes up with and send it to @pbparjeter , for future reference in the making of Bigfoot Bluff, the Definitively Zany Version.

Haha, yes. Two solutions (washing your feet from mud and the windowsill pie) were partially based on feedback from beta testers.

It could use a little more polish, yes, as you noted in your PM there is some confusion toward the end.

I will not do a walkthrough but I will probably publish the source code, so those who are curious can see every puzzle.

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Thank you for playing Sweetpea and taking the time to share some thoughts on it- I remember you mentioning prior to the festival you’d keep an eye out and play my IF piece! I’m both glad, and apologetic the story’s sticking with you- hopefully that haunting isn’t too discomforting, haha.

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Glad you thought it was fun!

Regarding the humor, I am notoriously un-funny when I write IF. Not sure why. :person_shrugging:

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Wait, are you saying Alone wasn’t meant to be a comedy?

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Oh of course it was! Just very dry humor. Did’t you get all the jokes?

In all honesty, I just can’t get myself to put in clever quips or puns. They just seem silly when I write them. I do enjoy them in other IF that I read myself, so I have nothing against them.

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The Bright Blue Ball

A heartwarming little story set against a rather grim background.

This small and simple game is aimed at children and absolute beginners. I enjoyed the naive and innocent tone and the smells all around.

Another round of testing and implementing extra commands would help this game shine like a polished pearl.

(I couldn’t find the author on this forum. Carly, if you read this, I have an annotated transcript of my playthrough.)

I’ll play Hinterlands: Marooned next.

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Hinterlands: Marooned!

A short but insightful game that must be played several times to fully grasp and appreciate.

Marooned! gives an in-depth psycho-sociological analysis of interaction and communication with an otherworldly alien.

Worth contemplating as a poignant metaphor for interhuman relations, or as a roadmap to the delicacies of international diplomatic negotiations.

Next is Beneath the Stones

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Beneath the Stones

I liked this. A basic but promising horror setup. Hurried, jagged, frantic, adrenalin-driven prose. Unseen shifting unknown slimy horrors from who knows where or when…

I just wish the author had shown a little restraint when tinkering with Twine’s SFX toolbox. I honestly thought my computer was having an epileptic fit with all the jittering and shaking and fading and bumping and jumping.

Breathe. Cool down. Sharpen your sentences. Let your words scare the reader. Insert few but well-timed effects to carry your text. Maybe add some sound. But don’t use Twine as a stroboscopic raygun to fry your readers’ brains :slight_smile: .

Next up: Thief of the Thousand Suns

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Re: The Bright Blue Ball, I asked Aaron Reed how to contact the author and he said he’d pass the transcript on. So that may be an option.

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Thief of the Thousand Suns

A script for a Shakespearean play. Although I don’t particularly enjoy reading plays, I really like this form for an interactive story. The sequence of scenes is coherently ordered in this context, and the Dramatis Personae at the beginning helped a lot to visualize the characters.

It’s a short story with not very much agency for the player. The meetings with other characters were memorable and well written. Eithne’s story within the story was captivating and the short conversation with the monk was a little gem.
I enjoyed my time with this.

Author: there’s a typo in the scene where Billy and Grimm enter the dark temple: “…buS one of the other wallS has fallen…”

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I took a detour through Alone by Paul Michael Winters to get some parser gas in a highly convoluted way, but now I’m back on track:

Another Cabin in the Woods

A touching story, more thoughtful and reminiscent than sad.

As the player moves through the piece exploring the cabin, Vira, the player character, moves through her mother’s memories via a piece of music.
You, the player, are brought along on a cathartic emotional journey, where the heartbreaking events of the past can be placed in a new perspective.

The inclusion of voice acting and especially the music deepens the atmosphere. Do take the time to listen to the music attentively.

There are some technical problems, but they didn’t detract from my feelings about this story.

@QuainInTechnicolor : The game got confused when I entered the room with the key first and took the key. It forced me to take a detour (visiting the bathroom a second time) to have access to the choices for the other rooms again. While doing this, I found that every time I entered the room with the key, the key was there again. The game doesn’t seem to remember the actions the player has already done in general. Still, I liked your piece a lot.

Next up: Good Grub!

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Wow, that went fast!

Good Grub

Bugs are delicious!
Really!
I’ve tried them and they are! (mealworm burger and barbecued grasshoppers if you’re curious)

Good Grub is delicious too!
A small choicy snack with an environmental kick and a good sprinkling of peppery jokes. Yum!

Off-topic plug for another game that features bugs as food: Cana According To Micah. Feast on the honey-covered locusts!

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Confessing to a Witch

Huh! Over already? What a shame that ended so soon.
It did say it was a demo on the cover though…

I liked this. A lot.

The music sets the mood, dreamy and flowery. I found the use of photographs a great choice over drawings which one would expect in such a piece.

The writing is very good. Succinct, to the point, while still being sensitive.

I got excited for the protagonist as she was building up the courage to confess to her witch friend.

Promising!

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externoon

A slow and careful piece. The player is predominantly a disconnected reader here. The links may provide some immersiveness as the reader actively gets to know the protagonist’s background and personality. I think this piece would work as static fiction too, in a disjointed monologue-interieure style.

The narrative circles around the consequences of a turning-point life decision, leaving the old and traveling into the new. I was eager to find out more.

The story ended abruptly while the protagonist was watching a documentary on the bus. I think this was not supposed to happen. There were no more links to move the story.

Even so, I found this an intruiging experience. And I want to see dinosaurs too…

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