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Monthly Archives: August 2014
80 Days: Protagonism and Problematics
80 Days is a game about being on the outside of things. Fogg and Passepartout are tourists; their contact with any given culture is perforce brief, and they’re not heroes who ride through town, fix all its problems and ride … Continue reading
Posted in cyoa, videogames
Tagged 80 Days, colonialism, gender, history, inkle, NPCs, protagonism, race
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80 Days: The Map Is The Territory
Hwaet. 80 Days. I have a number of things that I want to talk about; firstly, how freaking well it handles structure and player knowledge. Choice-based narratives tend to be organised in one of two ways. Either the branching structure represents the passage … Continue reading
Sunless Sea – first impressions
Since back in the days when Fallen London was known as Echo Bazaar, I’ve been wishing (really, more of a portmanteau verb made of a wish and a grumble) for a version not built around the free-now,-gouge-later business model. Fallen London has, hands-down, some … Continue reading
GPNW: Danger Patrol, Capes
Earlier this summer, I spent the weekend at Go Play NW, a Seattle storygaming-and-friends con. Go Play turns out to be pretty much a perfect con for me – very modest in scale, a strong focus on structured activities, almost completely non-commercial, a … Continue reading
Introcomp 2014 – 1st And Last of the Ninja
1st And Last Of The Ninja, by nmelssx, is an attempt to emulate a CRPG in the chooseyourstory format. It classifies itself as fan-fiction but doesn’t clarify of what. Something anime-ish? My guess was Naruto, since that is the ninja-related thing that all the … Continue reading
Posted in cyoa, interactive fiction, review
Tagged 1st And Last of the Ninja, Introcomp
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Introcomp 2014 – Mount Imperius
Mount Imperius is a Twine game about Mountaineering Going Wrong. After a disagreement over pay leaves them without a guide, a group of five mountaineers decides to press on anyway and almost immediately runs into trouble.
Introcomp 2014: Scroll Thief
Scroll Thief, by Daniel M. Stelzer, is up-front about its goals: This game is a fan sequel to the Enchanter trilogy, meant to clear up some of the mysteries from Spellbreaker (specifically, the four unknown Cubes of Foundation). Prejudices on … Continue reading
Introcomp 2014 – Bridges and Balloons
Bridges and Balloons, by Molly Geene, is a gentle choice-based kid-lit piece about mice who set out on a journey to make a wine delivery in time for Carnival. The story is narrated by the ship’s captain, Sir Philip Geoffrey Mousekin, … Continue reading
Introcomp 2014 – Going Down
Going Down, an inklewriter game by Hanon Ondricek, starts out mildly. Tim, a nondescript geek, is showing up to a New Year’s Eve date with fellow-geek Jen, who he has yet to meet in person. Jen doesn’t show up on … Continue reading
Introcomp 2014 – The Cuckold’s Egg
The Cuckold’s Egg (Veronica Devon, I7) is my favourite game of Introcomp thus far, despite the not-really-a-pun title. It starts rather slowly, in part because it’s a contemplative piece set in a backstory-heavy fantasy world. It’s setting itself up as Le Guin-esque … Continue reading
Posted in interactive fiction, parser-based, review
Tagged Introcomp, The Cuckold's Egg
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These Heterogenous Tasks 