Author: emshortif

Affairs of the Court

Affairs of the Court is a Kindle bundle from Choice of Games including both Choice of Romance (reviewed here) and its sequel, Choice of Intrigues. (As far as I can see, Choice of Intrigues is not available from the Choice of Games site, though that may be a temporary situation.) The sequel picks up directly with your character from Choice of Romance, so they really belong together as one continuous story. The intrigues portion is considerably darker and more political than the first half, however, and it’s possible to edge your character towards a genuinely villainous personality. The hints of magic, only loosely developed in the first part of the story, also become more central to the plot. Overall, the two pieces taken together are stronger than Choice of Romance on its own, though many of the points in that initial review still hold. Definitely worth a look if you liked the first half, however.

Here’s the Thing

As a little coda to my Wunderkammer post: Here’s the Thing is a documentary series on people and their favorite stuff. Each episode, the documentarians photograph the most interesting objects they find around someone’s home, and then the owner provides a voiceover explaining what the thing is and what’s interesting about it. The episodes are available for streaming online, and they’re a rather cool practical demonstration of how much light you can shed on someone’s life and personality via a few representative things from that person’s living space. The most potent indicators are photographs, souvenirs, trophies, clothing, artworks, things earned or made or worn by the owner, as well as garbage, discards, things lost or forgotten.

Introcomp 2011: Chunky Blues

From Introcomp 2011, “Chunky Blues” is a noir mystery set in the town of Bleakton, MA, with some pleasingly innovative puzzle mechanics.

The first part of my feedback is not spoilery, and talks about the puzzle mechanics in general. Then there’s a spoiler space, followed by some more specific discussion of what I think does and doesn’t work.

Continue reading “Introcomp 2011: Chunky Blues”