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Since this thread has resurfaces, I’m going to mention that I’ve heard good things about Roadwarden, though I haven’t had the time to try it myself. Has anyone given it a shot yet?
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Sep 16, 2022 19:47
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I'd love to know too, I tried the demo on itch and thought it was great. Seemed like the kind of game that risks adding filler, which would ruin a text game.
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Sep 16, 2022 20:47
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SimonChris posted:https://twitter.com/emshort/status/1566463599740166147 Which is a shame; much like Versu, which Short also worked on and in and which also died soon after launch, it was doing a whole lot of interesting calculation under the hood. In the case of Versu, that was Storytron-style complex personality and mood calculation which basically treated the NPCs exactly like the protagonist, allowing everyone to perform a huge array of actions, and let them process and react to other people's actions in a systematic, realistic way; in Varytale, it was a salience engine, meaning the sequence of events was very mutable and reactive to player choice and world state.
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Sep 16, 2022 21:25
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Inadequately posted:Since this thread has resurfaces, I’m going to mention that I’ve heard good things about Roadwarden, though I haven’t had the time to try it myself. Has anyone given it a shot yet? It has a demo that you can check out for yourself. It hit a little pet peeve of mine, which is that the chunks of text that it gives you before you get make choices are usually wordier than I'd prefer.
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Sep 16, 2022 21:44
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Megazver posted:It has a demo that you can check out for yourself. More people need to watch the Jon Ingold talk on making sure there's very little text before a choice
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Sep 16, 2022 23:22
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fez_machine posted:More people need to watch the Jon Ingold talk on making sure there's very little text before a choice I know, right?
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Sep 17, 2022 10:53
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Inadequately posted:Since this thread has resurfaces, I’m going to mention that I’ve heard good things about Roadwarden, though I haven’t had the time to try it myself. Has anyone given it a shot yet? Roadwarden is great. Definitely recommend, particularly for the price. It has that "extremely Polish" grueling difficulty vibe: all the NPCs hate you, you will starve to death twice in the first 30 minutes, and the friendly dialogue option is basically a "please punch me in the kidneys" button. And somehow it's an absolute blast. If you're having trouble staying alive, Shift+O brings up a cheat console. The world needs more text-based RPGs, dammit. If you're in this thread you probably know the usual suspects — KoDP/Six Ages, inkle's Sorcery, Sir Brante — but I'll take the opportunity to recommend Nocked!. Extremely charming fantasy-mashup CYOA with a surprisingly addictive resource management angle. It probably went ignored because the price point's high for what's already a niche genre, but I'd love to see more of these. In other news, it's the mooost wonderful tiiime of the yeeeaaarrr. Anyone playing through the IFComp ballot?
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Oct 4, 2022 17:09
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Hecuba posted:In other news, it's the mooost wonderful tiiime of the yeeeaaarrr. Anyone playing through the IFComp ballot? Yeah been trying out some of the shorter choice ones. Nose Bleed is really good, I hadn't seen Texture games before but it has good writing and pacing and an excellent use of the medium. Texture uses a drag-and-drop interface and is apparently not new but I somehow had never seen anything in it. Anyways, this one's good. Tried out i wish you were dead. and it was far too dramatic for me but it's real short. There's a plot point about seeing the movie Your Name which I mentally mapped to Call Me By Your Name and it turns out Your Name is a completely different movie. Am I My Brother's Keeper? is, like, Okay, I guess? It's about saving your sister from a dream demon and it's linear, short, and, like, it's fine. It's fiiiine. A little miffed that no brothers appear in the game. Who Shot Gum E. Bear? on the other hand is great; the author's hit-and-miss I think but this one is amazing. Absolutely check this one out. e: oh yeah and Zero Chance of Recovery is a literal chess puzzle implemented in Inform 7 and I am not in the target audience for it. MuffiTuffiWuffi fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Oct 5, 2022 |
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Oct 5, 2022 04:49
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Hecuba posted:The world needs more text-based RPGs, dammit. If you're in this thread you probably know the usual suspects — KoDP/Six Ages, inkle's Sorcery, Sir Brante — but I'll take the opportunity to recommend Nocked!. Extremely charming fantasy-mashup CYOA with a surprisingly addictive resource management angle. It probably went ignored because the price point's high for what's already a niche genre, but I'd love to see more of these. Oh yeah, that game's pretty cool. I know the author, and I beta-tested the desktop version way back when he was preparing it as a kind of enhanced edition for Steam. It's got more depth to it than you'd think, too.
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Oct 5, 2022 04:54
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Hecuba posted:In other news, it's the mooost wonderful tiiime of the yeeeaaarrr. Anyone playing through the IFComp ballot? Played a few today. A Long Way to the Nearest Star is the one I'd recommend out of the ones I've played. I think it's going to end up at least in Top 10, probably Top 5. EDIT: Also, a current Humble Bundle has all of the Vampire: The Masquerade Choice Of games and they're all pretty good: https://www.humblebundle.com/world-darkness-collection Try Night Road. Megazver fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Oct 22, 2022 |
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Oct 22, 2022 22:06
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IFComp 2022 games I've played so far: Zero Chance of Recovery: 6/10. A parser implementation of a chess puzzle is an interesting idea, and the solution is clever, although a couple of the rules should be stated more precisely (for instance, promoting your pawn doesn’t actually win the scenario if the black king captures it immediately). The premise is mildly amusing. Still, it’s a one-puzzle (three-puzzle at most) game without any particular “literary” qualities; I can’t really rate it any higher than this. Lazy Wizard’s Guide: 4/10. The Harry Potter-pastiche setting, the final-exam plot, and the Enchanter-like spells effects are all pretty cliché for this sort of puzzlefest. Then again, you could say similar things about great games like Scroll Thief; it’s all in the execution. Unfortunately the execution here, at least in the first 2 hours of my playing it, is remarkably rote and overly-easy; the “puzzles” in Act I are of the “if you see a can, wander around until you find a can opener” sort.
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Nov 2, 2022 05:44
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Silver2195 posted:
Played it as well, similar conclusion.
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Nov 2, 2022 12:13
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Megazver posted:A Long Way to the Nearest Star is the one I'd recommend out of the ones I've played. I think it's going to end up at least in Top 10, probably Top 5. Yep, I think this is accurate. It's a lot of fun (and, impressively, apparently the author's very first game). Really liking the trend of choice-based puzzle/exploration games. I've played probably 70% of the entries at this point and enjoyed: Esther's Illustrated children's book about brunching mice. Devastatingly cute. Would probably be fun to go through with a kiddo. The Grown-Up Detective Agency Lighthearted Scott Pilgrim-ish magical realism with a solid emotional core. Brendan Patrick Hennessy has written a bunch of other great IF and this is exactly as delightful as the rest. Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's Figure out the exact right sequence of nudges to sell your lovely beer to all five schmucks at the bar. Great balance of scope and replayability — a lot of these bite-sized Twine games leave me with a "ok, so what" feeling at the end, but this one does a good job bringing one core idea to its maximum potential. The Absence of Miriam Lane Moved me to actual tears. Recommended. The Archivist and the Revolution Dark, melancholy dystopian genderpunk. Also strongly recommended but make sure to check out those content warnings. My personal pick for winner, though it might be a little out-there for the judging crowd. According to Cain Big sprawly parser puzzler with a Biblical esoterica/occult/alchemical flair. Satisfyingly creepy. In line with my previous "more text-based RPGs pls" sentiment, I'll also shout out Lost Coastlines. A lot of folks are going to bounce off its rough edges (this year's spreadsheet lists it as the least-reviewed game so far) but oh man if it's your kind of thing you will go nuts. Surreal sandbox RPG set in a massive procedurally-generated dream ocean, brimming with intriguing storylets and atmospheric nautical weirdness. Strongly reminiscent of a text-based Sunless Sea. With like 30% more polish I would happily pay  and sink several dozen hours into this. If you check it out (and I hope you do), make sure to download and use an ADRIFT interpreter; the web version is somehow even jankier.
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Nov 5, 2022 00:15
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An Alien's Mistaken Impressions of Humanity's Pockets: 2/10. Awful grammar, some sloppy programming, and it’s not like the basic idea is all that unique. Hanging by Threads: 3/10. Better but still fairly sloppy grammar. But my main problem here is that I don’t quite “get” this game. Something about the way the setting and the main character’s state of mind are described just isn’t clicking with my brain. And are the endings I’ve been able to reach “losing” endings or are they just how the story is supposed to end? Maybe it’s unfair of me, but the sloppy grammar strikes me as a “brown M&Ms” thing, reassuring me that this just isn’t a very good game/story and there’s no point trying to find deeper meaning here. The Lottery Ticket: 5/10. The pretentious description made me curious but not optimistic. The “stateful writing” concept doesn’t seem as revolutionary to me as the writer seems to think it is, but maybe I just don’t understand it. Still, this introduced me to a Chekhov short story I was unfamiliar with, and it’s a pretty good story.
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Nov 5, 2022 04:08
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Silver2195 posted:Hanging by Threads: 3/10. Better but still fairly sloppy grammar. But my main problem here is that I don’t quite “get” this game. try "take" instead
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Nov 5, 2022 07:02
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The Hidden King's Tomb: 3/10. As with Lazy Wizard’s Guide, the premise is well-trodden territory. In this case, the obvious point of comparison is Infocom’s Infidel, which at least had something to say, a couple memorable puzzles, and a memorable ending. This game only has one memorable puzzle and some memorable red herrings. It’s also worse-implemented than Lazy Wizard’s Guide (lots of “You can’t see any such thing” when the game has, in fact, just told you that you can see such a thing). Also much shorter than Lazy Wizard’s Guide; not sure if that’s a pro or a con. Also some unusually bizarre adventure-game physics, which I guess is due to Ancient Egyptian magic? Not sure how else to explain the candles that have presumably remained lit for thousands of years. Please tell me someone submitted an actually good game this Comp?
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Nov 5, 2022 16:40
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Check out the posts, like, right above yours. Also, lifehack for people who want to SHIRK THEIR SACRED DUTY AS IFCOMP REVIEWER and just want to play the less bad ones: There are already enough reviews on ifdb to do that.
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Nov 5, 2022 17:31
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Megazver posted:
Yeah, there are a bunch of super solid entries! I just don't find it particularly useful to discuss the bad ones unless there's something interestingly bad about them. Also 90% of comp games are written by amateurs learning the craft as they go, which is a hell of a lot more than I've done. It's scary to put something out there! Even if it sucks on every level I'm good with just giving a 2 and moving on, unless there's something in that suckage worth exploring. As an example, I'll repost my author feedback for Blood Island, a choice-based mashup of Friday the 13th and Bachelorette In Paradise. It honestly drove me kind of bugfuck with how close it came to good but failed in the clutch. Spoilered in case you care about preserving the surprise of a 4/10 comp game I guess: I see what you're trying to do here and I like a lot of it, but the writing's pretty clunky and any interesting themes are undercut by shallow treatment and a rushed ending. What worked: - All the action scenes are great — super tense, with strong pathing and skillful use of ChoiceScript. - Good escalation in the snorkeling date sequence. - The whole "Scream meets The Bachelor" setup in general is a killer (ha) concept that could have held up to a longer narrative. What didn't: - I had a hard time telling the cast apart. A reference sheet on the stats page would have helped. - The huge nationality selection list at the beginning that never came up again felt pointless and a little trivializing. - Random, unprompted monologues do so much heavy lifting. The scene where your lover hops into your hospital bed after a friggin' shark attack and starts spouting off Film 102 theory was borderline comical. This kind of thing is basically hanging a flashing "HEY THIS IS THE POINT" sign on your work. Try pulling back a little, show instead of telling, build up the characters so they're not just mouthpieces for your message. Your audience will get it, I promise. - The final act is disappointingly linear, with no real ability for the player to affect the outcome. Sure, you can kill the Barbies or not, but the only difference is a single throwaway line in the last interview. Not every IF needs a branching finale with six unique endings, but I found the lack of interactivity odd in a work so specifically focused on its own genre's themes — many of which have to do with agency! The biggest issue is that I'm not sure you've really thought through Carol Clover's ideas here. It feels like you wanted to Say Something but weren't sure what that Something actually was. The game is presenting itself as a postmodern, self-aware examination of slasher tropes... but during the big killer chase scene, the player can reflect on how awesome it feels to be the victim of a violent attack, how cool they feel, how sexy. No. Absolutely not. The epilogue interview where the player can tell the producer how much they enjoyed themselves is honestly borderline insulting. TLDR: You can deconstruct slasher tropes in the context of a realistic and informed perspective, OR you can have a gonzo heightened-reality fantasy where being the Final Girl feels rad and TV producers go on killing sprees to profit off the "black market" (???), but you can't have both. I love the ambition here, it just needs some refinement and depth. Looking forward to seeing what you do next. Maybe a creature feature? Megazver posted:Also, lifehack for people who want to SHIRK THEIR SACRED DUTY AS IFCOMP REVIEWER and just want to play the less bad ones: There are already enough reviews on ifdb to do that. Yep, the review spreadsheet I linked earlier is handy for that too. Always in awe of how smart and thoughtful the IF community is about these tiny little indie efforts.
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Nov 5, 2022 18:15
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IF scene has always been very impressive in its friendliness and dedication.
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Nov 5, 2022 18:24
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Megazver posted:Check out the posts, like, right above yours. Fair enough!
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Nov 5, 2022 18:31
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Hecuba posted:I've played probably 70% of the entries at this point and enjoyed: I really appreciate your write up. Gonna check some of those soon.
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Nov 5, 2022 22:15
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According to Cain: 9/10. Ah, now that’s what I was looking for! I’m digging the creepy atmosphere. Also some interesting puzzles; in a sense the magic system with its gathering of physical components is similar to Lazy Wizard’s Guide, but here it’s tied to figuring out the mysteries of the story, and there’s nice sense of putting together pieces of a puzzle.
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Nov 7, 2022 19:12
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Someone else's list of Top10 games from the comp: https://twitter.com/AnnHugoWriter/status/1589833535845978112
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Nov 8, 2022 16:39
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Played through Esther's with my boy, who I'm trying to push CYA-type gamebooks onto, very cute.
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Nov 8, 2022 20:08
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https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1618035524375285760?s=20&t=X_bhXisdrmT0R-nWKzEcPQ
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Jan 25, 2023 12:21
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So far I'm a little disappointed in Oil. It's a weird book to read; every few paragraphs I'm like "ok, that's a nice bit of writing" but overall the story just isn't grabbing me. I think I'm waiting for the communist hero to show up and so far it's all just capitalists everywhere.
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Jan 25, 2023 13:35
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So far I'm a little disappointed in Oil. It's a weird book to read; every few paragraphs I'm like "ok, that's a nice bit of writing" but overall the story just isn't grabbing me. I think I'm waiting for the communist hero to show up and so far it's all just capitalists everywhere. I guess so, if you were expecting it to be interactive fiction. 
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Feb 3, 2023 15:04
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Fuschia tude posted:I guess so, if you were expecting it to be interactive fiction. lol, no wonder anyway https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1620403217329958915?s=20&t=40a3lhMRiJSovk-aRUtRsQ come talk with us in the BotM thread about it! Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 15:07
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I guess that's a good vouching to try out Emily Short's Counterfeit Monkey
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Feb 3, 2023 17:02
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I wouldn't really characterize Roadwarden as difficult. The game at first does try to paint the game world as harsh and wild, but part of the story is how you help reconnect the towns and re-tame the wild so you actively make the world safer as you go through the story. Mechanically, you have quick save available, and if you die you have several options to just load to the beginning of the encounter or load back a save. Also outcome of many encounters is based on dice roll you can brute force through encounter even when you are unprepared, and option to run away is often there. Most people you encountered are pretty reasonable. At worst they treat you with apathy or distrust, but most people are friendly enough since your character is there in an official capacity to help people and provide service (like say, a postman, not a sheriff, you have little power over anyone).
pedro0930 fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 23:56
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I really enjoyed Roadwarden. I especially like its time limit - there's kind of a neat thematic thrust of the game that's communicated in large part through that time limit, and memories and tales of the previous warden.
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Feb 4, 2023 00:03
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Just an FYI, Lords of Infinity is out. If you’re not aware, it’s the final game in a trilogy that’s grounded, political, gritty Napoleonic-ish soldier stuff. It is bar none the best written Choice of Games offering. The first two are very good, and the options for character development and branching are tremendous. It’s an excellent, excellent series with great writing and a well-realized and gritty world. I believe a goon around here helped test the final game, and based on their feedback, it sounds like the series is going to wrap up nicely. 1.6 mil words. Been looking forward to this for a literal decade at this point. Thought y’all would be interested. Definitely start with the first game in the series. It’s the least branchy, but still pretty good. The sequel is a huge improvement. I haven’t played the third yet, for obvious reasons. Doing a full series replay now though. I’m pumped.
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Mar 2, 2023 17:37
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BurningBeard posted:Just an FYI, Lords of Infinity is out. If you’re not aware, it’s the final game in a trilogy that’s grounded, political, gritty Napoleonic-ish soldier stuff. It is bar none the best written Choice of Games offering. The first two are very good, and the options for character development and branching are tremendous. It’s an excellent, excellent series with great writing and a well-realized and gritty world. Oh poo poo I remember playing the first two games years ago. Really excited to see that this is finally out, thanks for the link.
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Mar 2, 2023 17:49
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BurningBeard posted:Just an FYI, Lords of Infinity is out. If you’re not aware, it’s the final game in a trilogy that’s grounded, political, gritty Napoleonic-ish soldier stuff. It is bar none the best written Choice of Games offering. The first two are very good, and the options for character development and branching are tremendous. It’s an excellent, excellent series with great writing and a well-realized and gritty world. Also (technically) not a Choice of Games title, because it's gender-locked.
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Mar 2, 2023 17:51
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https://twitter.com/NME_Games/status/1668899683526397954 Great to see Emily Short getting more mainstream recognition.
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Jun 15, 2023 19:32
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I had no idea she worked on the Sunless games, which I'm vaguely positively aware of but have never played. Good for her! Not as big of a shock as finding out Sam Barlow was also the Aisle guy lol.
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Jun 15, 2023 19:39
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welcome posted:I had no idea she worked on the Sunless games, which I'm vaguely positively aware of but have never played. Good for her! Not as big of a shock as finding out Sam Barlow was also the Aisle guy lol. Oh yeah, she's been there for years. Has been writing about writing for the Sunless games (and, before them, Fallen London) for years. Even before getting hired there, she wrote FL scenes and modules as a freelancer, IIRC.
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Jun 23, 2023 06:28
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welcome posted:finding out Sam Barlow was also the Aisle guy .....wait, what? 
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Jun 23, 2023 06:36
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I know right?!
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Jun 23, 2023 12:10
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Oh the Aisle guy did other things?
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Jun 23, 2023 13:57
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