French - English
Note: this is a binksi game, submitted in both the English and French edition of the EctoComp. The voice narration is in French for both, but the caption is translated in English.
Summary: InGirum is an unfinished game. Itās a game in ruins, just like its creator.
Forenote: I played the French version first, which I recommend as the one to play if you can.
Thoughts: This is a bit of a game within a game, with commentary (real voice), with an interface of a computer, where you play the loaded game. You play snippets of games/demos in binksi (move around and interact with things), while the narrator explains the state of mind of the author and his motivations for creating the game. The interactivity sometimes is a bit obtuse (with the inclusion of a hidden maze, just walk around), but it does mirror the narratorās commentary. Suspense is building throughout the game, culminating in a shocking twist. The interface is really good too, the glitching of the screen making things so uncomfortable.
Honestly, my French version is not as good as the English one. I took the 4h to translate the whole text (so much textā¦) and it does need some editing for sure.
French EctoComp - final thoughts
Fewer entries this year than last (but not shocking, as we are a smaller group than the Anglophone sphere, and the French Comp is like right around the corner), but pretty interesting take on horror and interactivity.
Hopefully, next year, there will be more entries~
Also from this point on, multiple entries have been submitted to both the EctoComp and the Bare-bones. Iāll indicate it, if that is the case, and will only review them once.
Note: this was also submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam
Summary: Halloween night comes to a close and youāre just settling in to get a good nightās sleep when your son Lucas lets you know there are monsters in his room. Again. A fatherās work is never done.
Thoughts: Heartbreaking but so well-written. Thereās something not quite right from the beginning, things that donāt fit, building tension little by little, which makes the reveal not only depressing and the implications terrifying, but hitting even harder than youād think. I need a hug nowā¦
I had read the CW before playing but didnāt make the link until the endā¦
Thoughts: More of a meta/philosophical musing about creative writing and an authorās relationship with its creations, the positives and negatives, the black the white. While there piece is very linear, I found the high-contrast backgrounds fitting quite well with the text on the screen. It didnāt feel super spooky, but then Iām also past that whole dread thingā¦
Note: this was also submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam
Summary: Youāve always been drawn to the lonely old house on the hill outside your town. Itās been abandoned for as long as youāve lived here; youāve never seen it get any care or attention. To everyone else, itās just a part of the scenery. But to you itās always been something moreāa mystery, an omen, a promise.
Thoughts: My kind of parser! with just one command (x) ! The gameplay reminded me a bit of Nested as in you look at things, that gives out a detail you can look at, that gives you a detail you can look atā¦ (except it doesnāt repeat ad infinitum). It felt a bit voyeuristic trying to look at details of this house, even if itās abandoned. Pretty eerie, but neat!
+1 for including a walkthough! -1 for not being able to pet the dog (/jk)
Note: this was also submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam
Summary: Itās a bad idea, and itās a movie! In this game there are three budding young rockstars called GUT who want to make a horror movie. Unfortunately, they donāt have very much money. But they will try anyway! They just need you, whoever you are, to settle a few disputes.
Thoughts: Not very spooky, unless you canāt forget about the background of the characters (which are not mentioned again), but humorous instead. Itās very silly and chaotic, but the games shines even more when replayed, as the different combinations of choices give some special flavour.
Thoughts: Short but effective in relaying feels (sadness and grief, but also joy and hope). The descriptions are powerful even with so little words. Thereās a lot of unsaid between the lines, that makes it all the more tragic.
Last one for today, cause I played a bunch so far.
Will continue tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'm going to hunt some bugs :sob:
Note: this was also submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam
Summary: ConfigurationUploader is a program for uploading configurations.
Thoughts: Honestly thought at first Autumn had coded a new program and this was a legit bare documentation, but no, this is pure sci-fi fiction (I hopeā¦). The whole gameplay feels like going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole (where you open the links on the page in a new tab to read later, because who knows if youāll find them again) mixed with trying to understand an incomplete and obtuse documentation. The implication of the whole thing is quite frightening and bleakā¦
Kuddos for doing all this in 4h!
also wondering if this is part of the Archivist and the Revolution mythos?
Summary: Alone. Terrified. Locked in. Consumed by rage.
Forenote: Iāve dealt family members with dementia in the past. Among them, two have had the most impact: a grandparent who was caring for us kids when I was still quite young, whose physical health deteriorated with their mental one (I remember thinking we abandoned them in the care home during their last weeks, which was unfair because they were so kind to us kids), and my partnerās grandparent who passed fairly recently, but whose state was almost child-like at the end, and had turned extremely violent. So I went into this with some baggage alreadyā¦
Thoughts: This was not a 5-15min game for me, mainly because I suck at parser and finding the correct command to advance. But while it is frustrating when playing most parsers, I think it helped me understand this game better. Like the PC, I felt like I didnāt have control over what I was doing (getting so many error messages), like I didnāt understand what I was supposed to do next, or couldnāt remember which word to use (also ooof the response of typing hint). You know you have a fork on the table but you canāt use the word fork in there, itās a pointy thing that you stab other with. This confusion and frustration worked so well both in term of narratives but also gameplay.
I think it was pretty smart to use this point of view with this theme.
Amanda, you were impressed at how much there was in other LPM entries, but yours is as on par as the others!
Also, hugs
Small thing I found
hit door in the room is neither accepted nor is given an error message. Seems like it was implemented but thereās no response when using it.
Summary: I wanted to make a small dungeon crawler. It became very simple and at the same time probably very unfair, difficult and hard to beat. But it is possible (with luck and cunning
Thoughts: Dungeon crawlers, my nemesis. The difficulty of this one is not understated, itās hella hard and you need to be pretty lucky (maybe undo-scum?). Iāve just kept dying with not more then 40 gold pieces in my bag. Itās pretty humorous tho, and the cover image is pretty cool. But I think Iāll wait for someone to post a map with the enemies/items to pick up or the order do go at it before I go back to it.
Dying is funā¦ but with moderation
Note: This was also submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam
Summary:I hope he calls me back.
Thoughts: Subtle horror behind the rambling of an older woman through a voice message, complaining about everything and nothing around her, verging by end to paranoia (or just being full on paranoia). With some bits, I wondered if the woman was out of touch, and if her neighbours were that hateful, or about the reason why Mark leftā¦ I would honestly delete her message
Summary: Itās Halloweāen night and youāve joined your three friends in the forest to tell scary stories around the campfire. But storytelling turns out to be more complicated than you expected!
Thoughts: Cute and short, with the Dee Cooketm graphics and vibes. as well as simple commands. Listen to some spoopy tales around the campfire. I think Iāve tried all possible actionsā¦ unless I missed something? It felt like thereās no real winning state. Iāll wait for the walkthrough to popup to know for sure
EDIT: Turns out there is, I just didnāt go back and change certain talking bits properly.
Summary: Three years ago, you were abducted by aliens and since, youāve been subjected to a slew of experiments, always alone, the only human on the ship. But now, youāre going to be joined by a few othersā¦ with potentially deadly consequences.
Thoughts: Game Theory/Prisonnerās dilemma, ethics and morals. I managed to āsaveā everyone on my first play (maybe Iām too much of a goody-two-shoes). Felt a bit too verbose in the descriptions sometimes (especially since you canāt do much than follow the directives, nor does the background of the other prisoners come to play). Out of the 11 rounds, I was asked 2 questions (the two first rounds) and that was itā¦ just wait and pass the plate.
Summary: Itās bonfire night, and they need a sacrifice.
Thoughts: Very cult vibes/survival. Bit of an obtuse parser (def not beginner friendly), managed to exit the first building (by chance!) and exit the field maze (by change again, only to find myself stuck againā¦). Would benefit from a mini-walkthrough, or hints for some puzzles, because I chose each action at random at the endā¦
EDIT: I ended up replaying the game and getting to the end! I do think that the it would help to have a bit more hints (like to get the bullet).
Thoughts: Now thatās different! Instead of going through a dungeon and fight your way through monsters and solve puzzles, you shape the maze and fix up the traps. This is the kind of small game where you could spend hours trying out different combinations to stop the adventurers from getting to the treasure (and breaking apart the library ). A great brain-picker and time-wasterā¦
How this was done in 4hā¦ There is so freakin much in this entry, from the books content to the puzzle itselfā¦ Thatās honestly insane. Do you have access to some time-wrap or something? Can you share?
Also, thank you for the dark mode and essentially having part of the solution on the game page
I have yet to beat those good-for-nothing adventurers, but I am reeeeaaaaallly close! Iāll get them next time!~
The real secret is less impressive, Iām afraidāmost of the puzzle planning was done on paper, so not counting against the time limit (moving coins around on a grid in different ways), and most of the mechanics actually come straight from published extensions! All the room-layout stuff is Dynamic Rooms by Aaron Reed, the adventurersā logic is Dijkstra Pathing by Daniel Stelzer, and the automap is Dynamic Automap by Daniel Stelzer.
So the vast majority of the four hours was spent on writing up all the room and book descriptions. Iām glad you had fun with them!