Monthly Archives: April 2015

Spring Thing 2015: Toby’s Nose

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Toby’s Nose (Chandler Groover) is a main-festival entry in Spring Thing. You play Toby, the dog of Sherlock Holmes, who helps solve crimes through his powerful sense of smell. (I’ve thought for years that a scent-detective/forensic-investigation IF, influenced by Patrick Süskind’s … Continue reading →

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Spring Thing 2015: Dirk

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Dirk (Andrew Schultz) is a Back Garden entry. It’s a faithful text demake of the classic arcade game Dragon’s Lair; while it’s implemented in Inform, it’s effectively a choice game with parser selection. For an overview of the original, I strongly recommend … Continue reading →

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Spring Thing 2015: Aspel

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Aspel (Emily Short), a Back Garden entry in Spring Thing, a Seltani world designed explicitly for cooperative multiplayer play. I played on the first of the announced tour dates, with the author watching and offering occasional guidance. The story begins in … Continue reading →

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Spring Thing 2015: Sunrise

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Sunrise (Lucky Sun Scribes) is a piece in Ren’Py, a platform designed for visual novels. VNs are a medium traditionally reliant on a lot of anime-style semi-static art (often of very high-polish quality). Sunrise instead opts for a blend of 3D models and WPA-poster backgrounds, unified … Continue reading →

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Spring Thing Festival 2015: first impressions / blurb-judging

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Venerable interactive fiction event The Spring Thing has pulled a radical rebranding this year, from ‘like IF Comp with a higher bar’ to ‘like the IF Artshow, but without the categories.’ As a licensed Fretter About Community Event Organisation, I am very, … Continue reading →

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Carolina Death Crawl

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Carolina Death Crawl is a tabletop storygame (one-shot, light mechanics, no prep, no GM) set in the American Civil War, and made by Jason Morningstar / Bully Pulpit Games, better-known for storygames-bestriding giant Fiasco. (The rules are available as a free PDF download, … Continue reading →

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A Year Without Zombies 4: April Is The Ghoulest Month

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. (For 2015, I am trying to avoid playing any games or consuming any static media with zombies in them. My reasons, and other … Continue reading →

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