IF Comp 2009: Broken Legs

Screen shot 2009-10-04 at 7.46.18 PMAs has been my practice for the last few years, I’ve set my RSS feed to truncate entries so that I can post reviews without spoilerage. Within an entry, there is a short, spoilerless discussion (though the comp purists may want to avoid reading even that before playing for themselves); then spoiler space; then a more detailed discussion of what I thought did and didn’t work in the game.

I’m also pursuing an approach I came up with last year: I’m playing and reviewing games that have listed beta-testers, and skipping those that don’t. Last year that turned out to be a pretty fool-proof indicator of which games were going to end up scoring 4 or less on my personal scale. I’m hoping this will mean I have more time to devote to the remaining games, which in turn will (I hope) be of higher quality, and you, dear reader, will have fewer rants inflicted on you.

Currently: Broken Legs.

You too can play it if you download the comp games, or even try it online.

Continue reading “IF Comp 2009: Broken Legs”

IF Comp 2009: The Believable Adventures of an Invisible Man

BelievableAs has been my practice for the last few years, I’ve set my RSS feed to truncate entries so that I can post reviews without spoilerage. Within an entry, there is a short, spoilerless discussion (though the comp purists may want to avoid reading even that before playing for themselves); then spoiler space; then a more detailed discussion of what I thought did and didn’t work in the game.

I’m also pursuing an approach I came up with last year: I’m playing and reviewing games that have listed beta-testers, and skipping those that don’t. Last year that turned out to be a pretty fool-proof indicator of which games were going to end up scoring 4 or less on my personal scale. I’m hoping this will mean I have more time to devote to the remaining games, which in turn will (I hope) be of higher quality, and you, dear reader, will have fewer rants inflicted on you.

Now up: The Believable Adventures of an Invisible Man.

You too can play it if you download the comp games, or even try it online.

Continue reading “IF Comp 2009: The Believable Adventures of an Invisible Man”

IF Comp 2009: Spelunker’s Quest

Spelunking-2As has been my practice for the last few years, I’ve set my RSS feed to truncate entries so that I can post reviews without spoilerage. Within an entry, there is a short, spoilerless discussion (though the comp purists may want to avoid reading even that before playing for themselves); then spoiler space; then a more detailed discussion of what I thought did and didn’t work in the game.

I’m also pursuing an approach I came up with last year: I’m playing and reviewing games that have listed beta-testers, and skipping those that don’t. Last year that turned out to be a pretty fool-proof indicator of which games were going to end up scoring 4 or less on my personal scale. I’m hoping this will mean I have more time to devote to the remaining games, which in turn will (I hope) be of higher quality, and you, dear reader, will have fewer rants inflicted on you.

Now up: Spelunker’s Quest.

You too can play it if you download the comp games, or even try it online.

Continue reading “IF Comp 2009: Spelunker’s Quest”

IF Comp 2009: Snowquest

Screen shot 2009-10-04 at 6.16.41 PMAs has been my practice for the last few years, I’ve set my RSS feed to truncate entries so that I can post reviews without spoilerage. Within an entry, there is a short, spoilerless discussion (though the comp purists may want to avoid reading even that before playing for themselves); then spoiler space; then a more detailed discussion of what I thought did and didn’t work in the game.

You are probably already familiar with my policy about tested games. This is an Eric Eve game, which means that I didn’t really feel I needed to check the ABOUT text to find out whether it had been tested, but I did anyway.

Currently: Snowquest.

You too can play it if you download the comp games, or even try it online.

Continue reading “IF Comp 2009: Snowquest”

IF Comp 2009: Byzantine Perspective

Screen shot 2009-10-03 at 11.59.23 PMAs has been my practice for the last few years, I’ve set my RSS feed to truncate entries so that I can post reviews without spoilerage. Within an entry, there is a short, spoilerless discussion (though the comp purists may want to avoid reading even that before playing for themselves); then spoiler space; then a more detailed discussion of what I thought did and didn’t work in the game.

I’m also pursuing an approach I came up with last year: I’m playing and reviewing games that have listed beta-testers, and skipping those that don’t. Last year that turned out to be a pretty fool-proof indicator of which games were going to end up scoring 4 or less on my personal scale. I’m hoping this will mean I have more time to devote to the remaining games, which in turn will (I hope) be of higher quality, and you, dear reader, will have fewer rants inflicted on you.

Now up: Byzantine Perspective.

You too can play it if you download the comp games, or even try it online.

Continue reading “IF Comp 2009: Byzantine Perspective”

Bespoke IF, redux

Thanks to the people who’ve bid so far on my auction on custom IF: I’m thrilled that it’s been more successful than I had anticipated.

However, I’ve received some email from people disappointed that they were priced out of the auction and asking if I could make something else available as well. Multiples of that particular item are unfortunately beyond me because of the time commitment involved, but I have posted a couple of other smaller and more distributable items:

source to one of my old games for which source is not publicly available (Galatea, Metamorphoses,
Savoir-Faire, Mystery House Possessed, Floatpoint); starting bid $5.

light customization of one of my recent games for your personal amusement, or a cameo appearance in my WIP. Three such are available; starting bid $10, and the top three bidders will receive this item.

Silly stuff, I know, but perhaps it will amuse someone.

The cause is to help defray the medical expenses of someone who urgently needs heart surgery and cardiac rehab, and has no insurance. If you decide to bid, please note the instructions on bidding and payment. Auctions close at October 10, 2009, Saturday, 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.