A review of Seasonal Apocalypse Disorder.
(For some reason I had had it in my head that this game is about COVID-19. It is not. 
)
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Hey,
Thanks so much for your review of Sense of Harmony 
It’s nice to see people connect with the kind of things I really care about in the project.
I really liked your observation about the first line. I wasn’t really thinking about it when I wrote it but it does really draw out the themes of the game.
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A review of Deus Ex Ceviche.
Hi, Spike. Thank you so much for playing and reviewing Red Radish Robotics. I’m very pleased you enjoyed the game, as it is my first attempt. I hope you will give my future games a play as well. Much appreciated. Gibbo.
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Thanks for the review and the feedback, Spike!
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In this review, I say a few things about The Copyright of Silence.
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Well, your major critique certainly hits home. You articulate something that have bothered the back of my mind, but which haven’t become clear to me until now. The game just isn’t very fun … It is true. While I certainly aimed for comedy in the writing, I never gave much thought to whether the gameplay was fun or not. This was not a conscious decision. The fun just happened to suffer while I focused on being original and clever and (to be more charitable to myself) on creating something just a little bit fascinating in itself.
This kindles my enthusiasm for a new game with the same “engine” (plan view with text inside rooms and moving NPC:s) but where I drop all pretensions of cleverness and originality and just focus on the fun 
It should at least provide a reinvigorating change of direction for me. Thanks!
P.S. I am considering an undo option, but just can’t make up my mind about it.
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I’m glad my review was helpful. And whatever direction you go in with your next game, please don’t drop the same kind of cleverness and originality that’s present in The Copyright of Silence! It really does have both of those things.
You know, I entered a game in last year’s IFComp that was designed to be experienced through multiple playthroughs, too. As I was ruminating on how to make that game fun, I thought about what I had enjoyed most about three other games that require multiple playthroughs: The Lurking Horror II, Captain Verdeterre’s Plunder, and Six Silver Bullets. One thing all three have in common is a large number of teasers: lots of puzzles in plain sight that the player cannot solve on an initial playthrough. When playing them, I just had to figure out more thing, and then one more, and then one more… and then much later I realize that I’ve lost count of how many playthroughs I’ve done. All three were quite addicting.
Maybe that’s something worth thinking about for your next multiple-playthroughs game? At least, I found it helpful when designing mine.
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Thanks again, that’s very good advice I actually did design more, smaller puzzles, but never implemented them. Mainly because it was very difficult to integrate them with the conversation in a way that kept the conversation flowing naturally.
I think Twine isn’t the ideal engine for a game like this. The code became a nightmare as soon as I introduced new mechanics meant to interact with the conversation. I spent three weeks just getting John Cage’s comments right when he is either cursing at or thanking the player in 16 different ways depending on what the player does after Cage has asked him to check the stove (and depending on whether there has already been smoke from the stove when you reach that part of the conversation). Most players will never encounter more than one of those comments, and many will never even reach the part of the conversation where he is asked to check the stove…
So, I guess I’ll have to cut down on the amount of conversation for my next game. But that was the plan anyway. It took forever to write all the branches!
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A review of The Incredibly Mild Misadventures of Tom Trundle.
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A review of Radicofani., which gave me some seriously creepy chills.
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I realize that Radicofani is not an easy game for many reasons.
First of all for linguistic reasons (my English is really basic, sometimes “embarrassing” 
)
and then for its implementation…
(No inform, no twine, … but a Windows executable, with all the limitations that this choice entails.)
For these reasons, reading a review like yours makes me extremely happy.
It is nice to know that Radicofani has given you some moments of fun.
I especially thank you for the negative notes that will allow me to make the game better in future versions.
I’m just sorry that (and I’ll have to change a few things here too) no one has discovered the “easter eggs” hidden in the apartment.
in particular the one hidden in the bathroom which is activated by typing “have a shower” or “enter the shower”.
It is a little puzzle to access some personal images and a “screen shot” of “Elsewhere”, an adventure that I am preparing for the “Spring thing” 2021, or the one that is activated on the balcony by typing “watch the rain”
Thank you so much for your precious time.
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A review of Stand Up / Stay Silent.
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A review of BYOD.
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Whew! Over 60 games reviewed, yet there were still about 40 that I didn’t get to. I had a lot of fun, and I played a bunch of good games. Here are my top seven out of the ones that I played.
My favorite game this year was Ghostfinder: Shift. It features a deep, engaging investigation, followed by a riveting conclusion. My new all-time favorite IF mystery.
Coming in a close second, The Cursèd Pickle of Shireton. There’s so much variety in this game, and it’s knitted together so well. I’m laughing one minute and racking my brain the next, all the while marveling at what I’m seeing.
The next several are really hard for me to rank, so I’m not going to try. They’re listed alphabetically instead. I enjoyed them all greatly.
Ferryman’s Gate. If there were such a thing as Spike’s Exposition for Good Interactive Fiction, in which I’m the only judge, this is the kind of game that would be in it. It almost feels like it was designed to please me specifically, as it hits several of my idiosyncratic tastes - from its educational emphasis to its setting to its themes.
The Impossible Bottle. This one’s got such a wonderful puzzle mechanic, plus it goes the extra mile to make sure everything is consistently implemented. It’s really well-done. The first game I played in the competition, it’s definitely one of the best.
Limerick Quest. I enjoyed last year’s Limerick Heist, but I liked this one even more. Not only is everything a limerick (even the inventory, every time you check it!), the game uses its puzzles to step you through the process of limerick creation. Amazing design, beautifully executed.
Little Girl in Monsterland. I loved that I could immerse myself in this game for hours and hours, yet the beautiful map kept it from feeling overwhelming. It also features a novel way of approaching puzzle-solving. The poop jokes may have gotten old, but by the end I realized that they’re actually a kind of foreshadowing. The final puzzle solution had my preteen exploding with laughter.
Sage Sanctum Scramble. I like a good story, but sometimes I just want a pure puzzle experience. This one absolutely delivers that, in the form of a huge variety of wordplay challenges. Plus it was great for playing in installments with my son. Another winner from an IF puzzle master.
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Holy moly, I almost don’t know what to say. When I entered the comp, I told myself that if my game finished in the top 50%, I’d be more than happy, but as far as I’m concerned, this is even better than winning outright. Thank you so much for your kind words, and I hope that you’ll be keeping an eye out for future Ghostfinder episodes!
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For what it’s worth, Ghostfinder was my own favourite too. (But I only played 15 games or so)
I’ve never been so taken by a text game!
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