IFComp 2012: Guilded Youth
Guilded Youth is the first IF game I've seen make heavy use of the Vorple library, an extension for Parchment and Undum to allow greater use of the browser by adding graphics, music and scripting support. There's a lot of promise here, though it does mean games written to take advantage of the extension need to be played in a browser (whether hosted online or distributed as an archive containing html/javascript/css and the story file). This isn't much of an obstacle and online play will likely be the norm; in this year's ifcomp, for example, I've only been forced to play one game offline (as there is no browser-based Adrift interpreter that I know of) and online interpreters have matured to be just as sophisticated and stable as native applications.
Anyway, about the game itself: it makes excellent use of the extension to present a custom interface, with a style that changes depending on which world you're in. The game's conceit is that it is played half online, on an RPG-themed, late 80s / early 90s-era BBS, complete with green monochrome graphics and ASCII art (including the IBM high ASCII characters, even). The look and feel is excellet.
At first I worried this would turn into a Blackleaf or Mazes and Monsters scenario, but thankfully it's a coming of age story about a geeky kid with a lot of geeky friends. And the characters are what make the game shine; you meet them first online, where each's personality is introduced. Throughout the course of the game, you recruit them for adventures (though you don't actually have choice here) and meet them in person. This dualism provides a lot of depth, as each character's online persona is often very different from real life.
Sadly, the game itself is short and not actually that deeply implemented. As interactive fiction, it's relatively weak; there's really only one branch, which yields a slightly different ending, though if there are other branches I missed it's largely due to the lack of hinting; nobody replies to >ASK NPC ABOUT THING commands and as the player I'm stuck mostly as a spectator. This wouldn't bother me except that I was so drawn in by the game I was disappointed by not being able to look deeper, interact more with the characters and the world, and be part of real character development.
6/10. If it weren't for the novel implementation, the art, and the story, I'd have been much harder on it.
Anyway, about the game itself: it makes excellent use of the extension to present a custom interface, with a style that changes depending on which world you're in. The game's conceit is that it is played half online, on an RPG-themed, late 80s / early 90s-era BBS, complete with green monochrome graphics and ASCII art (including the IBM high ASCII characters, even). The look and feel is excellet.
At first I worried this would turn into a Blackleaf or Mazes and Monsters scenario, but thankfully it's a coming of age story about a geeky kid with a lot of geeky friends. And the characters are what make the game shine; you meet them first online, where each's personality is introduced. Throughout the course of the game, you recruit them for adventures (though you don't actually have choice here) and meet them in person. This dualism provides a lot of depth, as each character's online persona is often very different from real life.
Sadly, the game itself is short and not actually that deeply implemented. As interactive fiction, it's relatively weak; there's really only one branch, which yields a slightly different ending, though if there are other branches I missed it's largely due to the lack of hinting; nobody replies to >ASK NPC ABOUT THING commands and as the player I'm stuck mostly as a spectator. This wouldn't bother me except that I was so drawn in by the game I was disappointed by not being able to look deeper, interact more with the characters and the world, and be part of real character development.
6/10. If it weren't for the novel implementation, the art, and the story, I'd have been much harder on it.