Off to my second IntroComp game.
Right before clicking the publish button, I decided to invert things: first you'll find my final thoughts on the game, spoiler free, and then the thoughts and insults I wrote while playing the game, spoiler heavy.
Waker, by Kevin Jackson
Wrapping it up...
[+] The idea of a museum that throws the visitors into a simulation of (fictional) historic events is a good one and should be explored.
[-] The implementation is very poor. Most of the objects inside the descriptions aren't there. Also the game always pushes you into a given direction without actually going for the trouble of making it feel necessary, and I dislike this kind of forced guidance in a game.
Al in all, it doesn't feel as this is a finished intro to an unfinished game; only a (very early) sketch of a game.
So, how bad do I want to play the full game?
Only a tiny tiny bit, and that's because I liked the simulation concept.
Playing the game and eating:
[1] It's a museum. I'll be exploring a museum. Exploring a museum with lots of stuff. Result: I want to stop playing already! Calm down. Sit. Maybe the author will spice things up in the next few turns.
[2] In it's first lines, the text promises a world of exploration, but the gameplay has a different agenda:
> X STATUE
This life-size statue of a person appears to be made of wax. It is of a bald, fat man on the far side of middle age, and it is wearing a plain robe and
slippers. It is standing on a pedestal and is motionless, although it appears to be built to allow its head to swivel. The pedestal has a large red button on
it.
>X ROBE
You can’t see any such thing.
>X SLIPPERS
You can’t see any such thing.
>X HEAD
You can’t see any such thing.
>TOUCH WAX
You can’t see any such thing.
>KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THE STATUE
Violence isn’t the answer to this one.
(Oh... but it will be! Oh yes it will! Ah Ah Ah! AH AH AH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!)
[3] Hmmm... I can't ignore the statue, it seems. I can't also go to other parts of the museum because... I don't want to? Let us examine the diorama: "you find yourself unable to concentrate on it with that fascinating statue". I'm actually more interested in the diorama. Why won't you let me be interested in the diorama? You are so much like my father! Curse you!
[4] Well, well: we have a twist.
By looking at the weird box, I ended up in another game, a game from the Museum itself. It even mimics the beginning of any IF game. Smart. Ok, I'm slightly more interested. Let's see where this goes.
[5] Before exploring this kind-of-nice twist, I decided to restart and push things around to see where it breaks - I just love bugs.
Here's a fun one: If I try to examine the box right at the beginning (when the player doesn't even know it exists), I'll be rewarded with it's description nonetheless, even without pushing the button that activates the statue and switches the light on. Also: if I examine it two times, I'll end up with the text that mentions the statue's speech and enter the Museum's Game.
[6] Inside the diorama I have another forced set of actions. I have to wake the God-King, but before I do that I can't explore anything. All of my actions give me a "you have to awake the God-King first" response - but I want to fail, yes I do, I have no need for success! Why won't the powers that be let me fail? If it's urgent, then why can I just stay here and wait all the time I want? You let me sit on my lap forever, but you won't let me peek inside the wardrobe - you're just beeing mean to me!
[7] As for the puzzle itself, I kicked it in - literally. The God-King is protected by a code that I'll have to insert into a keypad (this seems to be set in the past, but they have keypads for some reason). Here I am, trying to push random numbers into it, which always fails, of course. Then, just for fun, I typed "kick the keypad" - and it worked! The chamber actually opened. So now you know: go to a bank and take a small hammer to smash the keypad.
[8] Anyway, now that I've awakened the God-King, maybe I can do a little exploration, right? Well, no: kicking the keypad in kicks my own self out of the diorama and back into the museum. Well, at least now I can go to other part of the museum to check it out. Let's see: the exhibit goes on to the north.
>N
THE END
That’s all for now.
*** You have won ***
Err... what?
(Next game from the random-game-chooser machine: For the Love of Ornery Blue Yak, by Doug Jones)
Right before clicking the publish button, I decided to invert things: first you'll find my final thoughts on the game, spoiler free, and then the thoughts and insults I wrote while playing the game, spoiler heavy.
Waker, by Kevin Jackson
Wrapping it up...
[+] The idea of a museum that throws the visitors into a simulation of (fictional) historic events is a good one and should be explored.
[-] The implementation is very poor. Most of the objects inside the descriptions aren't there. Also the game always pushes you into a given direction without actually going for the trouble of making it feel necessary, and I dislike this kind of forced guidance in a game.
Al in all, it doesn't feel as this is a finished intro to an unfinished game; only a (very early) sketch of a game.
So, how bad do I want to play the full game?
Only a tiny tiny bit, and that's because I liked the simulation concept.
Playing the game and eating:
[1] It's a museum. I'll be exploring a museum. Exploring a museum with lots of stuff. Result: I want to stop playing already! Calm down. Sit. Maybe the author will spice things up in the next few turns.
[2] In it's first lines, the text promises a world of exploration, but the gameplay has a different agenda:
> X STATUE
This life-size statue of a person appears to be made of wax. It is of a bald, fat man on the far side of middle age, and it is wearing a plain robe and
slippers. It is standing on a pedestal and is motionless, although it appears to be built to allow its head to swivel. The pedestal has a large red button on
it.
>X ROBE
You can’t see any such thing.
>X SLIPPERS
You can’t see any such thing.
>X HEAD
You can’t see any such thing.
>TOUCH WAX
You can’t see any such thing.
>KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THE STATUE
Violence isn’t the answer to this one.
(Oh... but it will be! Oh yes it will! Ah Ah Ah! AH AH AH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!)
[3] Hmmm... I can't ignore the statue, it seems. I can't also go to other parts of the museum because... I don't want to? Let us examine the diorama: "you find yourself unable to concentrate on it with that fascinating statue". I'm actually more interested in the diorama. Why won't you let me be interested in the diorama? You are so much like my father! Curse you!
[4] Well, well: we have a twist.
By looking at the weird box, I ended up in another game, a game from the Museum itself. It even mimics the beginning of any IF game. Smart. Ok, I'm slightly more interested. Let's see where this goes.
[5] Before exploring this kind-of-nice twist, I decided to restart and push things around to see where it breaks - I just love bugs.
Here's a fun one: If I try to examine the box right at the beginning (when the player doesn't even know it exists), I'll be rewarded with it's description nonetheless, even without pushing the button that activates the statue and switches the light on. Also: if I examine it two times, I'll end up with the text that mentions the statue's speech and enter the Museum's Game.
[6] Inside the diorama I have another forced set of actions. I have to wake the God-King, but before I do that I can't explore anything. All of my actions give me a "you have to awake the God-King first" response - but I want to fail, yes I do, I have no need for success! Why won't the powers that be let me fail? If it's urgent, then why can I just stay here and wait all the time I want? You let me sit on my lap forever, but you won't let me peek inside the wardrobe - you're just beeing mean to me!
[7] As for the puzzle itself, I kicked it in - literally. The God-King is protected by a code that I'll have to insert into a keypad (this seems to be set in the past, but they have keypads for some reason). Here I am, trying to push random numbers into it, which always fails, of course. Then, just for fun, I typed "kick the keypad" - and it worked! The chamber actually opened. So now you know: go to a bank and take a small hammer to smash the keypad.
[8] Anyway, now that I've awakened the God-King, maybe I can do a little exploration, right? Well, no: kicking the keypad in kicks my own self out of the diorama and back into the museum. Well, at least now I can go to other part of the museum to check it out. Let's see: the exhibit goes on to the north.
>N
THE END
That’s all for now.
*** You have won ***
Err... what?
(Next game from the random-game-chooser machine: For the Love of Ornery Blue Yak, by Doug Jones)
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