Author: emshortif

“maybe make some change”

Aaron Reed’s “maybe make some change” is a more polished, web-accessible release of the work that premiered at the IF Demo Fair as “what if im the bad guy”. Aaron is releasing it today on the ten-year anniversary of the beginning of our war in Afghanistan. (Edited to add: there’s an authorial perspective on this piece here.)

When “what if im the bad guy” was presented at the IF Demo Fair, I didn’t get through it: the game play required putting yourself in the shoes of a soldier, committing violent acts and in some cases typing racial epithets. (At least, as I recall this was unavoidable, but I obviously don’t have access to that version to double check again.) This was just too uncomfortable for me to do in public, and possibly at all, so I put the game aside.

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IF Comp 2011: The Binary

The Binary is a time-travel science fiction thriller from the same universe as Vicious Cycles, a story implemented first in Inform (2001) and then in a customized web engine as demonstrated at the IF Demo Fair (2011). The Binary appears in an improved version (as I understand it) of that same customized web engine. Consequently, this review talks both about the game itself and about the engine for which it is an early representative.

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Thanks, Steve

The Macintosh made sense to my child self in ways that other computers hadn’t. Just about everything I’ve written from the age of eight or so forward has been created on an Apple product. All the adolescent stories, the school essays, the college lab reports and papers; the dissertation, the teaching materials, presentations; the games, columns, and blog posts; love letters, journal entries, fan email, forum messages, chat logs. And the iPhone, able to map my course from anywhere, and contact a friend or a cab if I need one, has made me more free and more safe, able to traverse areas as a woman alone that I wouldn’t otherwise have attempted.

Rest in peace, Steve. I may not have loved everything Apple did. I may have made fun of Mobile Me. But I owe you.

IF Comp 2011: Overview

I’m now done with my comp play-through, though some games in the not-recommended pile that will not be reviewed because they don’t list beta-testers. If you have reason to believe I’ve placed something in that category in error, or you know that there were testers even if they weren’t listed, feel free to let me know.

What follows is a non-spoilery list of recommendations and non-recommendations. I’ve been adding to it as I played, but now that I’ve finished the whole field, I’ve redistributed a bit, mostly to try to help people find things they’re most likely to enjoy; that means I’ve taken away the “Must Play” category and replaced it with subcategories.

But some general points: this year sees a lot of entrants and a lot of high-quality work. The proportion of flatly unplayable stuff is low, and many of the mid-range games nonetheless demonstrate interesting ideas and a lot of authorial talent. There are a variety of experiments with user interface — that probably deserves its own compare-and-contrast column; games that explore morality and complicity from several philosophical angles; and every flavor of noir you can imagine. If you like wearing a fedora, this is the comp year for you.

You will find a bunch of other reviews linked here.

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