Thanks for the link! I enjoyed the full version. I still haven't seen the third ending, because I just couldn't bring myself to do it... 5 degrees at a time... brutal. Great work!
Felicity Drake
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This is wonderfully original!
In your final comments, you mention that the player sees different choices in different paths. If there are different paths, it was pretty opaque to me how that worked; because there's no obvious narrative or structure to make sense of it, there's sort of a firehose-into-a-teacup effect of an overwhelming variety of words and colors. I wonder if I am overlooking some of its internal logic?
I love the procedural text! I love that the dossier is timed!
I would definitely love to play an extended version of this, perhaps one with more room to explore the relationship between the protagonist and their partner. But you do a tremendous amount even in this smaller form--bravo!
Bug report image below:
The structure of this is unique, and I can't explain why, but it feels really immersive or participatory, like the player is focusing their attention in the same way the protagonist is. I like the blurring effect at the end as well: like what has passed by is out of focus and the player/protagonist is having a moment of clarity about what matters now. Lovely! :)
I like the way you use different colors for the dialogue; it makes it clear what's going on without wasting words. Lots of interactivity and meaningful choices, too!
One thing I noticed was that I saw the same transitional text several times in each playthrough, so I ended up spending time just waiting for text to fade in. Personally, I might have preferred it without the animation.
This is such an original use of ChoiceScript! Wonderful, creative, strong writing. It's incredible how much interactivity and freedom to experiment you packed into 1000 words.
Based on what you wrote in the description, it sounds like the game originally had all of Alex's dialogue, and the 'parser error' was introduced to cut it down to fit the word limit? I understand the way that represents the communication gap between human and machine, and it increases the challenge of the game. But it also makes it difficult to get a sense of Alex's character or fully follow the plot. I wonder if you would be willing to do an expanded release after the game jam? I would love to play a full / longer version of this.
The prose is strong; it's amazing how much of a story you fit into under 1000 words! The ending is particularly sweet and moving.
I have one quibble, which is small and totally subjective: the speed at which new text appears is a bit slow, and I spent some time just staring at the screen waiting for the story to continue.
I really admire the visuals here! Subtle, consistent Twine styling, and the images fit in well with the game's overall style.
The choices are meaningful, and I like that there are many different endings. I wouldn't mind a restart button / link at the end, because I definitely reloaded the page a bunch of times to try multiple paths.