of course! it’s a big tent thing, having the whole field become more accessible means we (and i) will get more players interested enough to share bug reports on the really tough stuff 
1 Like
Tangled Tales by JimJams Games
First up I was very pleased I could run this game at all. I’m a Mac user, but do have a Crossover installation - a form of Windows emulation. But it doesn’t always run Windows programs nicely. This one worked! Fabbo. So heads up for any Mac users who want to play. I’d expect it should also run successfully under Parallels/Windows, if you have that.
It’s a parser game using its own built engine. This did pose some problems, with quite a lot of issues of verbs and nouns not working as they should. And quite a lot of typos, especially frequent inappropriate use of “it’s”. I don’t know how much playtesting the game had, but I would strongly recommend doing much more next time. Open it to external people to try, because we are very good at finding issues to fix! This may also have helped with some of the disambiguation issues I ran into, and strange object descriptions. Basically it had a lot more problems with the parser than I am used to in e.g. Inform games, which is a pity, and did let down what should have been a stronger game.
Visually the game is impressive, with atmospheric graphics, albeit low res. Though these aren’t essential to play, and can be turned off. On the downside this custom engine has accessibility implications. I couldn’t test how well the game would work with a screen reader for someone who is blind. But as someone who usually plays with a gigantic increased font due to reading problems from neurological disease I struggled with the default font size. Which could not be adjusted. Again a result of a custom game engine, which can have downsides. I also encountered some load/save issues, nothing obviously not exactly working, but save frequently reporting it was saving to a different slot from the one I asked for. Which was worrying.
On plus the story was a fun one, a tale of trying to get from A to B as a fairytale character, through a maze-like wood, and running into lots of fairytale creatures and characters wanting help with things. Which then led a bit to hunt the object, and take each item to where you need to use it, and repeat. I’d like to say it would be a good game for youngsters to play, given the fairytale theme, but there’s some very bad language in here that wouldn’t be appropriate for the really young! However on plus it’s characterful, especially your near-constant companion Rumpelstiltskin. He did make me think of Thorin in the Melbourne House version of The Hobbit, always sitting down and singing of gold. Though Rumpelstiltskin’s songs were ruder!
I think if you’re flexible on dodgy parser issues - and the walkthrough is a big help if you get stuck with a command - this is a fun game. But ultimately it needed more testing. I would like to see more games come out with this new game engine though, albeit with an improved parser implementation.
Thanks very much! I now want to go and reread some classic fairy tales …
4 Likes
Academic Pursuits (As Opposed To Regular Pursuits) by ruqiyah
Ok this is a parser game where you are starting in a new job, and need to get settled in to your new office. Note it took me about 20 minutes to play through, much shorter than the competition page estimate of an hour.
I don’t want to give away too much plot-wise, but much of the game is about uncovering back story by examining and otherwise interacting with objects. I’ve done something similar myself before with Napier’s Cache, though not for a full game, rather the opening section/prequel. On the one hand I like this approach. On the other hand I wondered if a web/choice design might be better in this case. Then again it might be short on interactivity, and successfully manipulating objects is key.
A back story is gradually revealed, which went in a surprising direction which I liked. But beyond a fairly short object manipulation puzzle and gradual story reveal things felt too light for me. I wanted more. In particular I wanted more human engagement. It felt like an interesting prequel to a story, but one where I needed to see what happens.
The implementation is good though. I didn’t run into any problematic issues. Objects are easy to manipulate - vital given this is the main mechanism of the game.
I just wanted a bit more. I’d like to read something relevant now, in fact I already am part way through a relevant novel! But I can’t say what it is about for spoilers …
So encouraging, solidly implemented, thank you to the author, but I just wanted more.
4 Likes
Minor Arcana by Jack Sanderson Thwaite
This is a short (took me 15 minutes, including a couple of replays) web/choice-based game where you play a sentient deck of Tarot cards. Yup! At the start you are asked questions to customise the deck, and then things go from there. I don’t want to give away plot spoilers, so am going to talk in vague terms.
Ultimately this one depends on the writing, and that was very strong. Very evocative, spooky, and kept me reading eagerly. Even on a couple of replays.
The interace is also nice. Visually decorated with occult images around the edge of the screen, and a clean, simple design in the main part of the screen where the main text appeared. Whose text also scaled up nicely to my browser-adjusted gigantic font.
I liked this a lot. It’s rare for me to replay something this quickly. On the downside I wish there had been more. What you choose can seemingly make a difference to play time. But I really liked what we had, and thought it was a rich and evocative piece. Thanks.
3 Likes
Amazing Quest by Nick Montfort
Ok disclaimer up front: I was a huge Commodore 64 fan back in the early/mid 1980s. So I’m very partial to the idea of something programmed in C64 BASIC for IFComp!
On the downside having a C64 emulation run in a web browser means that the font is teeny weeny. Well for neurological illness me. So that was a hitch. But carried on.
And then it played out. Um, it’s not very interactive for me. Well you are asked repeatedly Y/N as you journey home from space and land on new planets and moons. Do you want to attack a city, or speak plainly, or seek help etc. As suggested in the introductory text I tried to play “in character”, or at least per the character in my head. But it didn’t seem to make much difference what choices I made.
I was thinking of giving up after a while, but then I reached home. So I think I succeeded. But um I didn’t feel as though I earned it, or really enjoyed it.
To be honest I was more curious about investigating the game BASIC listing afterwards! Which is very short, but also reflects my playing experience. Everything was totally random. From that I don’t think I missed any great hidden depth.
So bravo for even entering a C64 game in IFComp. But I wanted way way more. However as a few minutes diversion it was rather amusing, at least until the joke got a bit old.
3 Likes
it’s only 10 lines of basic, they’re pretty much as simple as you’d expect! and it’s completely random, 100%. but the linked post goes way in-depth, and also nick responds repeatedly about a bug in one of those lines.
2 Likes
Thanks! Yes I’d seen that blog post previously. Skim read it the other night, but reread it more fully as I posted my review.
2 Likes
Hi, thanks for the review. I’m concerned about the issues you’ve had with the parsing. Could you please email with a list of the issues you’ve encountered as this is our third game with this engine, and parsing problems haven’t been reported before.
Thanks,
Thank you for playing Minor Arcana and your kind words about it! And yes, I hope to expand the experience post-comp…
1 Like
Sheep Crossing by Andrew Geng
This is a short parser game version of the old puzzle of how to get three things across a road or river or similar, without things going awry. I had to program a solution to this puzzle 30 years ago in computer science undergraduate class. So I know it well.
My main critique is that the game doesn’t establish itself very well. Yes I know I’m on my way back to grandmother’s house, to take her a sheep, a cabbage and a bear. But the game doesn’t say the sheep, the cabbage and the bear are right here! I honestly thought they were waiting on the other side of the river, so rowed across first. Which left things not going well back at the starting point. Albeit with a highly amusing result.
However that aside the game catches lots of amusing things you can do very nicely. I don’t want to quote examples here, because they are a bit spoilery, but a lot of the in-game responses to daft things were a highlight for me. So much so I would mess things up deliberately just to see what the game did. And it implements the classic puzzle well. Albeit a tricky first mini puzzle, that could maybe do with more clueing.
After my first hiccup I played through it quickly, knowing the solution. But I can see many people needing to replay, multiple times. Just try some daft things as well. There are hints in the walkthrough of some fun things you can try, hints you can also see in-game at the end of a successful play through.
So yup, a nice short game, that could have done with a bit more polish, but has some remarkably amusing elements, which were much appreciated by this judge. Thanks.
3 Likes
The Call of Innsmouth by Tripper McCarthy
This is a Lovecraftian choice/web-based story, based on a HP Lovecraft story, but effectively a prequel to it. The player is a private detective, investigating a missing person. And the game takes them from a starting point in Arkham to reach Innsmouth.
I played for about 40 minutes, including replaying some bits. Though I am a very quick reader, skim reading at times. I appreciated that the piece worked well with my favourite utterly gigantic personally adjusted font in my web browser.
Initially I was very concerned about the interactivity level. Not least because for the first half of the game the interactivity was generally confined to talking to people, to get information, i.e. choosing which order did I learn things in. Otherwise the game told me what my obvious next step was, and took me straight there, without input from me.
However once the action switched to Innsmouth things improved considerably interactivity-wise. What I chose now really mattered, and the play experience became a real puzzle, and I was determined to solve it to the end, to the best possible ending. When I stuffed up it luckily let me replay portions - thanks to the author for that option!
The writing is very strong, the locations well established, and the characters nicely rounded out. It was also a good choice narrative-wise to make the protaganist an incomer to Arkham and Innsmouth, so experiencing everything afresh, with an outsider’s eyes. And things reach a very tense climactic point, which is well realised.
I just wish the first half had been as interactive as the second half. Tip to the author: try to maximise interactivity, and if possible never assume choices for the player. Let us choose what we investigate next, where and when. And add much more branching.
So encouraging, but could have been better. But it is a very well told story, extremely atmospheric, and if you like Lovecraftian horror I think you’ll enjoy this. Thanks.
4 Likes
The Turnip by Joseph Pentangelo
This is a strange piece! I say that in admiration. The author has adapted an existing short story into web form. It is an extremely peculiar story, bizarrely fantastical, that nevertheless is nicely whimsical. Light and inconsequential, but an amusing diversion.
On the downside interactivity is low. Effectively you are taken through a fixed story, with the opportunity to click on words to learn more about an object, or character, or another thing you encounter. There are no significant choices for you to make.
It is also incredibly short. It took me 4 minutes to go through, and I was clicking on everything to expand to see the text.
So amusing, but a bit too light for my taste, and too short. Yes it is definitively flash fiction, but too flash for me. Perhaps things could have been expanded a bit, to allow more player interaction, and that might be an angle that the author may want to look at developing in future works. But I liked the whimsy. Thanks for sharing.
4 Likes
The Pinecone by Joseph Pentangelo
Having just reviewed The Turnip I thought I should review its companion piece!
Again this is a short story - a very short story - adapted into web/choice form.
But in this case there is a bit more interactivity, with choices where you can do certain things, and it does make a difference what you choose. I was so curious about this that I went back to try the other options, with nice results.
Again the writing is strong, and bizarrely fantastic, in a rather delightful way.
And who’d have thought goats could be so scary …
So better stuff I think, a little bit more interactivity, and even multiple endings. More along these lines please. Thanks!
4 Likes
What the Bus? A Transit Nightmare by E. Joyce
This is a web-based interactive story about a rather difficult journey on public transport. Reading the blurb reminded me of my anxieties approaching playing Katie Benson’s past Brexit game some years ago. Anticipating more feelings of the same here!
And sure enough it turns out to be strange, but fortunately in an extremely good way. Initially I was thinking I wish I had in-player knowledge about routes, when things go wrong. But I decided to operate on my usual strategy that I use with parser games: don’t worry about precise mapping/routes, just explore the world in a free-flow kind of a way.
And things got very, very strange in this game. And not what I expected at all. The images and visions the game described are like a bizarre drugged up world. I mean that in a totally complimentary one. It’s like the normal world twisted sideways.
In the end it turned out that replaying becomes part of the game, in fact this game demands replay. And I still at the end of lots of replays don’t have the foggiest idea what was going on. But I know I enjoyed it. Although if I hadn’t managed to unlock all the available endings (I kept going!) I’d have been frustrated.
So good stuff. Another bizarre one for me tonight. Enjoyed that enormously. Thanks.
4 Likes
Thank you for playing and reviewing my entry, The Call of Innsmouth. I completely agree that there should have been more interactivity, especially in the first half of the game. That is definitely something I want to focus on in future projects.
1 Like
Thank you! This is a lovely review. I’m glad it wasn’t as stressful of an experience as you initially expected. 
But I decided to operate on my usual strategy that I use with parser games: don’t worry about precise mapping/routes, just explore the world in a free-flow kind of a way.
This is absolutely how the game is meant to be played–I could probably have done more to telegraph that you’re not really supposed to worry about understanding the train lines or bus routes and how they connect. The point is really just to go along for the ride and see what weird things you find.
3 Likes
Lovely Assistant: Magical Girl by Bitter Karella
I’ve enjoyed games by this author before, but tended to run into problems with the online Quest environment used previously (couldn’t play offline as a Mac user, and the online runtime system is somewhat dodgy). So it’s nice to have an Inform 7/Glulx file to play here, that I can run in my favourite Mac Inform interpreter, with my custom gigantic font.
I’m pleased to say that the game is a lot of fun. It’s a parser game, where you are a magician’s assistant who has to solve a series of mysterious puzzles, to rescue your boss. The writing is entertaining, the plot fun and wacky, and it’s fun to play through.
On the downside implementation could have been smoother. There were too many hunt the verbs/noun issues for my liking. Often I knew exactly what I needed to do, but simply couldn’t find the right words, despite lots of trying, and needed to resort to the walkthrough. Some more aliases for verbs and nouns and alternative ways of typing things would be much appreciated.
So that’s an area that could have been improved. More testing would have helped. But otherwise I enjoyed the game a lot. There’s also a nice in-game hint system, that seems well clued.
Thanks very much.
4 Likes
The Cave by Neil Aitken
It’s a web/choice-based experience, where you wake up deep in a cave system, and must find your way out. Note I played this without sound.
This is a very short piece, but atmospheric, and as soon as I reached the end I immediately played through again. In many ways it’s a simple RPG game, with stats building invisibly in the background as you play through a random series of linked rooms, together with a more apparent inventory management system. Best of all though is the sense of unease running throughout, thanks to generally strong writing.
In the end I regretted that in both playthroughs I couldn’t do one specific thing (return with a book to give to the old lady). Which in itself is a measure of how much the piece affected me. But I did feel an almighty sense of relief to have made it through.
So short, but well written, tense, and a nice piece of work. More would have been good, and also a greater sense of control. But I enjoyed what was there. Thanks.
3 Likes
Thank you for your thoughtful take on The Cave! It’s my first foray into the world of IF and consequently ended up shorter than I had originally planned (I’ve got plans to rewrite this into a longer game and incorporate a lot of the feedback from the reviews).
3 Likes
The Eleusinian Miseries by Mike Russo
Ok not sure what this is from the blurb. Greek, but is it Ancient Greece as the picture hints? Here goes …
I love the opening poem. That really sets the mood. And kudos for the content warning in ABOUT which is the first content warning that’s ever made me laugh out loud.
Things continue in a strong way. The game, a parser game which I played for about an hour, is a series of puzzles to solve, using a good mix of locations, objects and NPCs. The writing is strong throughout, the in-game help system excellent. Best of all it is all extremely funny, and very much written in a Wodehousian vein. I did constantly feel “Why is my character doing this?”, but you just have to go with the flow, and think almost like Bertie Wooster, and not worry about the why, just the journey.
The only downside for me was a sense of dislocation. For example I didn’t know what a herm was, and didn’t in my first play examine them en route, far too distracted by what else was going on to give them enough attention. So I didn’t understand what the fuss was about at the end. I think given their importance it would have been better to explain them briefly in-game directly, which might prompt a player to examine them for more information. Also other Ancient Greek terms were tricky for me to get my head around. My fault to a large extent, but a sense of otherness that made the game experience that little bit trickier than a setting I was personally more familiar with.
However it’s extremely well done. Nice smooth implementation, and I didn’t run into any parser issues. I appreciated the walkthrough, but preferred to use the excellent in-game help when I got stuck. And I just enjoyed the whole thing hugely.
So thanks a lot! I now want to go and read more about the society depicted. I do technically have a degree with honours half in history, half in classical studies, but it’s fair to say I studied more of the Roman side of things than the Greek!
Note for the author
There’s a slight bug in the ending if I try DROP UNMENTIONABLES INTO ALLEY with the first five dropping ok then last two unmentionables saying “That isn’t available”, and I need to drop them out in two more steps. I was playing the original version though, so this may have been fixed since. Not a problem for play really though.
4 Likes