[IF Comp 2013] The Cardew House
The Cardew House, Andrew Brown, Glulx
version 2013-09-29
A haunted-house game with an undefined protagonist, some ill-motivated puzzles, and a fatal bug. It is notable for having the very worst blurb in the comp:
Thought I'd give Inform7 a try for this comp... it can be a pain in the butt though, can't it?
anyhoo... here's my game... after two other abortive attempts...
The writing here is desperately in need of a copy-edit. It's scarred by horrendous punctuation. Most obviously, there are far, far too may ellipses - this thing puts ellipses in the freaking room names - but it also suffers from really bad comma placement. There are a bunch of typos, capitalisation is inconsistent, and no testers are listed.
Let's take a moment to consider the ellipsis. In its place, it's a perfectly good punctuation mark. Overused, it feels vague and drippy, as though the writer doesn't have the confidence to finish their damn sentences. Or, as here, it feels like you're putting on a hammed-up Spooky Voice, which is only a good idea if you don't want people to take your story seriously.
In short order, we discover the diary of Old Man Cardew's daughter Betty. Betty appears entirely innocent of any punctuation mark except the ellipsis, but she at least has the excuse of being five.
The first real puzzle that I encountered involves a razor hidden in a toilet cistern. It's hidden in cloudy water; to get at it, you have to turn the taps on and then flush the toilet. This is almost a Wet Oar Puzzle - one where the protagonist is implausibly squeamish about something and, rather than just dealing with it, has to go through a ridiculously convoluted puzzle (where in real life you'd just get your hands a little dirty). But you can't actually see the razor until you go through all the steps, so it's really more of a read-the-author's-mind puzzle: there's no reason to do it unless you know there's something in the cistern, which you wouldn't know about without hints. Note also that the sink and bathtub aren't implemented, which would make most people assume that the taps weren't either.
At least the hints exist. But they're implemented in a really awkward way: once you turn them on, they repeat every turn, based on the room you're in but completely irrespective of whether you've already solved the puzzle in question. It's kind of as if the hint system is following you around and shouting in your ear.
After a couple of puzzles, the game quits the interpreter. From other people's reviews, it looks as though other people got some ending text before the game quit. So this is probably an issue with interpreter behaviour - which is another good reason to have your game tested.
Score: 2
version 2013-09-29
A haunted-house game with an undefined protagonist, some ill-motivated puzzles, and a fatal bug. It is notable for having the very worst blurb in the comp:
Thought I'd give Inform7 a try for this comp... it can be a pain in the butt though, can't it?
anyhoo... here's my game... after two other abortive attempts...
The writing here is desperately in need of a copy-edit. It's scarred by horrendous punctuation. Most obviously, there are far, far too may ellipses - this thing puts ellipses in the freaking room names - but it also suffers from really bad comma placement. There are a bunch of typos, capitalisation is inconsistent, and no testers are listed.
Let's take a moment to consider the ellipsis. In its place, it's a perfectly good punctuation mark. Overused, it feels vague and drippy, as though the writer doesn't have the confidence to finish their damn sentences. Or, as here, it feels like you're putting on a hammed-up Spooky Voice, which is only a good idea if you don't want people to take your story seriously.
In short order, we discover the diary of Old Man Cardew's daughter Betty. Betty appears entirely innocent of any punctuation mark except the ellipsis, but she at least has the excuse of being five.
The first real puzzle that I encountered involves a razor hidden in a toilet cistern. It's hidden in cloudy water; to get at it, you have to turn the taps on and then flush the toilet. This is almost a Wet Oar Puzzle - one where the protagonist is implausibly squeamish about something and, rather than just dealing with it, has to go through a ridiculously convoluted puzzle (where in real life you'd just get your hands a little dirty). But you can't actually see the razor until you go through all the steps, so it's really more of a read-the-author's-mind puzzle: there's no reason to do it unless you know there's something in the cistern, which you wouldn't know about without hints. Note also that the sink and bathtub aren't implemented, which would make most people assume that the taps weren't either.
At least the hints exist. But they're implemented in a really awkward way: once you turn them on, they repeat every turn, based on the room you're in but completely irrespective of whether you've already solved the puzzle in question. It's kind of as if the hint system is following you around and shouting in your ear.
After a couple of puzzles, the game quits the interpreter. From other people's reviews, it looks as though other people got some ending text before the game quit. So this is probably an issue with interpreter behaviour - which is another good reason to have your game tested.
Score: 2