Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:36 pm
JUDGE: Hannes Schüller
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The Dangers of Driving at Night | Lumin |
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SCORE: 4
Comments:
Writing: Effective and to the point. My main gripe: It's never really clear how Harold is dangerous exactly. Sure, he talks about keeping me there forever, but why don't I just jump into my own car again and drive away? Also, the whole story is basically only triggered by the protagonist's stupidity (not making sure the car has enough gas), but that setup is excusable. The ending (which I assume is the only one) uses a classic twist which I liked. Could have been stronger, though if the perceived Harold threat had fleshed out more before (which I think would have been well possible within the competition's time limit). I can't help the feeling I've missed something. Chris tells me I shouldn't leave without first *carefully examining* everything in the gas
station, though I can't find anything.
Technical: The 'west' direction in the gas station suddenly disappears. Instead, the game told me I couldn't go in *any* direction which was even untrue - I could go east. No scenery mentioned in the room descriptions is implemented.
Puzzles: None really. The only actions I had to take (apart from hitting 'n') were talking to the people and giving money (which wasn't listed in my inventory) to Chris. I would have liked to be able to stop the car at the first sign of getting tired. 'hit brakes' returned an unfortunate default response insinuating that the brakes didn't work which certainly wasn't intentional (since the car stopped just fine later).
Interactivity: None really, but of the three games, it kept up the pretense best. Even though there is hardly anything to interact with, the game felt less empty than the other two.
Final thoughts: Most likely not intentional, but it reminded me of the Swamp Thing episode about juvenile deliquents turned vampires hanging out in an arcade. Made me smile
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Way Out | Metron4 |
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SCORE: 1
Comments:
Writing: Rule #1: Always begin the narration by telling me who I am. Here, I have no idea how old or what gender I am. After the introduction, everything can be called brief at best. The ending is a little weak- I will never be the same again? After seeing all my friends slaughtered by ghosts? Really? Isn't that a bit of an understatement?
Technical: Does what it tries to achieve, though at least my friends could have been implemented, especially since they appear to be dying throughout the narrative.
Puzzles: None
Interactivity: The only times something happens is when I look left or right - which kills me. The game ends after going north four times. Trying to go into any other (listed)
directions is rejected by the game. Citing a good reason, sure, but it still feels frustrating not to be able to do anything.
Final thoughts: I like haunted house stories, but this seemed to take its cues more from the teen slasher genre, so my subjective opinion is probably negatively slated here.
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Patient 7 | Justahack |
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SCORE: 3
Comments:
Writing: Works very well overall in the mood department. The roles of the orderlies and the doctor remain very unclear. Do they know about my merger with the demon? If so, why has the doctor kept me alive so far and why do they take Francis away? If not, why am I killed in the end?
Technical: No serious issues. Sometimes, the game generated responses involving "Doctor_2" or "Francis_4". Great to find that at least one game has implemented some scenery objects!
Puzzles: Different endings triggered by conversation options (good). Final decisions are spelt out by the game, so they're not really puzzles (was alright, though, because I didn't really want to guess the right verb in those scenes).
Interactivity: Unfortunately, this game's downside. I'm not expecting much of a game written in three hours, but absolutely nothing I do has any effect. The game even told me to just continue waiting at some points. I'd like the game at least to keep up the pretense.
Final thoughts: Although this is the most fleshed out entry, I liked it a little less than "Driving". Upon reflection, I think it is because although there is more interactivity in here objectively (at least a couple of story branches triggered by that one conversation), the game always carried on without *me* triggering that progress. Even if it is only a very obvious action, having the player type something in to trigger the next scene instead of it occuring anyway is always the better choice. For example, an orderly brought me food. Why not wait for the player to eat it and *then* begin the next scene? That's what I mean with 'pretense of interactivity': It gives me a sense of achievement to have done something to have moved the game forward. Likewise in the recreation room scene: It would have been better if Francis hadn't approached me, but if I had had to locate him instead. Same reason. Even if those actions are trivial, I feel less useless in my 'player' role then.
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The Dangers of Driving at Night | Lumin |
---------------------------------------------------------
SCORE: 4
Comments:
Writing: Effective and to the point. My main gripe: It's never really clear how Harold is dangerous exactly. Sure, he talks about keeping me there forever, but why don't I just jump into my own car again and drive away? Also, the whole story is basically only triggered by the protagonist's stupidity (not making sure the car has enough gas), but that setup is excusable. The ending (which I assume is the only one) uses a classic twist which I liked. Could have been stronger, though if the perceived Harold threat had fleshed out more before (which I think would have been well possible within the competition's time limit). I can't help the feeling I've missed something. Chris tells me I shouldn't leave without first *carefully examining* everything in the gas
station, though I can't find anything.
Technical: The 'west' direction in the gas station suddenly disappears. Instead, the game told me I couldn't go in *any* direction which was even untrue - I could go east. No scenery mentioned in the room descriptions is implemented.
Puzzles: None really. The only actions I had to take (apart from hitting 'n') were talking to the people and giving money (which wasn't listed in my inventory) to Chris. I would have liked to be able to stop the car at the first sign of getting tired. 'hit brakes' returned an unfortunate default response insinuating that the brakes didn't work which certainly wasn't intentional (since the car stopped just fine later).
Interactivity: None really, but of the three games, it kept up the pretense best. Even though there is hardly anything to interact with, the game felt less empty than the other two.
Final thoughts: Most likely not intentional, but it reminded me of the Swamp Thing episode about juvenile deliquents turned vampires hanging out in an arcade. Made me smile
---------------------------------------------------------
Way Out | Metron4 |
---------------------------------------------------------
SCORE: 1
Comments:
Writing: Rule #1: Always begin the narration by telling me who I am. Here, I have no idea how old or what gender I am. After the introduction, everything can be called brief at best. The ending is a little weak- I will never be the same again? After seeing all my friends slaughtered by ghosts? Really? Isn't that a bit of an understatement?
Technical: Does what it tries to achieve, though at least my friends could have been implemented, especially since they appear to be dying throughout the narrative.
Puzzles: None
Interactivity: The only times something happens is when I look left or right - which kills me. The game ends after going north four times. Trying to go into any other (listed)
directions is rejected by the game. Citing a good reason, sure, but it still feels frustrating not to be able to do anything.
Final thoughts: I like haunted house stories, but this seemed to take its cues more from the teen slasher genre, so my subjective opinion is probably negatively slated here.
---------------------------------------------------------
Patient 7 | Justahack |
---------------------------------------------------------
SCORE: 3
Comments:
Writing: Works very well overall in the mood department. The roles of the orderlies and the doctor remain very unclear. Do they know about my merger with the demon? If so, why has the doctor kept me alive so far and why do they take Francis away? If not, why am I killed in the end?
Technical: No serious issues. Sometimes, the game generated responses involving "Doctor_2" or "Francis_4". Great to find that at least one game has implemented some scenery objects!
Puzzles: Different endings triggered by conversation options (good). Final decisions are spelt out by the game, so they're not really puzzles (was alright, though, because I didn't really want to guess the right verb in those scenes).
Interactivity: Unfortunately, this game's downside. I'm not expecting much of a game written in three hours, but absolutely nothing I do has any effect. The game even told me to just continue waiting at some points. I'd like the game at least to keep up the pretense.
Final thoughts: Although this is the most fleshed out entry, I liked it a little less than "Driving". Upon reflection, I think it is because although there is more interactivity in here objectively (at least a couple of story branches triggered by that one conversation), the game always carried on without *me* triggering that progress. Even if it is only a very obvious action, having the player type something in to trigger the next scene instead of it occuring anyway is always the better choice. For example, an orderly brought me food. Why not wait for the player to eat it and *then* begin the next scene? That's what I mean with 'pretense of interactivity': It gives me a sense of achievement to have done something to have moved the game forward. Likewise in the recreation room scene: It would have been better if Francis hadn't approached me, but if I had had to locate him instead. Same reason. Even if those actions are trivial, I feel less useless in my 'player' role then.
