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COMPLETE: Remedial Witchcraft
Oct. 21st, 2019 03:15 pmIFComp continues.
After two depressing duds and a general worry that IFComp might just be cursed this year, I was extra picky with choosing the next one to play because I specifically wanted something good and cute to save us. In fact, here's the exact IM quote as I was copy/pasting descriptions of a few possibilities we scrolled through before settling on this one:
---
Celine & Sara Kalante, [20.10.19 21:45]
Let's see what IFComp has in store...
"There's a werewolf loose on the spaceship HMCS Plagoo!"
... Hmm. If this were our first pull, you have my attention enough to try it. I may come back for it. (Enceladus, if I need to bookmark the name/look it up later.) I feel like they're probably going to go the "... and that's a BAD thing" route, though, and mmmmaybe not if we're specifically looking for a good uplifting pull to snap the streak. Sorry, probably fine game, bad timing.
"Inspired by 1950s London true crime cases, De Novo is set during an era where capital punishment is still in practice, players are given the power to decide fate on who lives and who dies."
Again, probably interesting but I want to smile, IFComp. You remember smiles?
"Be Jon Doe, secret agent at MI5, and solve the mystery about the death of scientist Monsieur Edulard and his latest world-changing invention. A story with thrilling women, sinister villains and cutting-edge tech gimmicks. Be a hero, save the world, get the girl!"
Ehhh not my genre anyway, mood or not.
"You have one job: Correct the errors in the System code. It's menial work, but it pays the bills. Only, maybe you'd rather not... What are you? Just a CodeMonkey? Perhaps you could join the Resistance, or at least get an early vacation with a special friend... Warning: No parsers, no links. In this story, you'll be monkeying with the code!"
*Inhale* Again, probably clever but I've had my fill of clever games for now.
"A twist on a sleepy old classic."
Yeah so was Abandon Them.
"Lina is a first year student studying magic. Lina isn't doing very well at her classes. Lina is apprenticing for the Witch of Howling Woods because no one else would take her.
"Tonight, Lina has messed up (she contends some blame should go to her master for giving unclear instructions). Now Lina needs to figure out what all the magical items (A wavering wand? An everfire? A *gasp* cauldron?) in her master's house do and use them all to fix her mistake, before she gets found out!
"(Remedial Witchcraft is a light, puzzle-oriented parser game.)"
There we go. An hour and a half, hmm? ... Ehhhh yeah sure okay.
---
There we go, indeed. So, for our third draw this year, the woodlings officiallybumped the machine and kept rerolling until we selected "Remedial Witchcraft" by dgtziea. Was it able to save IFComp? Mmmh...
TL;DR: It wasn't bad I guess. I did enjoy it overall but was very frustrated at parts. Unmarked puzzle spoilers under the cut because I really want to talk about the gameplay design on this one, hopefully with an IF veteran who can confirm whether my expectations were off or if these complaints sound valid to them.
( Snippety! )
After two depressing duds and a general worry that IFComp might just be cursed this year, I was extra picky with choosing the next one to play because I specifically wanted something good and cute to save us. In fact, here's the exact IM quote as I was copy/pasting descriptions of a few possibilities we scrolled through before settling on this one:
---
Celine & Sara Kalante, [20.10.19 21:45]
Let's see what IFComp has in store...
"There's a werewolf loose on the spaceship HMCS Plagoo!"
... Hmm. If this were our first pull, you have my attention enough to try it. I may come back for it. (Enceladus, if I need to bookmark the name/look it up later.) I feel like they're probably going to go the "... and that's a BAD thing" route, though, and mmmmaybe not if we're specifically looking for a good uplifting pull to snap the streak. Sorry, probably fine game, bad timing.
"Inspired by 1950s London true crime cases, De Novo is set during an era where capital punishment is still in practice, players are given the power to decide fate on who lives and who dies."
Again, probably interesting but I want to smile, IFComp. You remember smiles?
"Be Jon Doe, secret agent at MI5, and solve the mystery about the death of scientist Monsieur Edulard and his latest world-changing invention. A story with thrilling women, sinister villains and cutting-edge tech gimmicks. Be a hero, save the world, get the girl!"
Ehhh not my genre anyway, mood or not.
"You have one job: Correct the errors in the System code. It's menial work, but it pays the bills. Only, maybe you'd rather not... What are you? Just a CodeMonkey? Perhaps you could join the Resistance, or at least get an early vacation with a special friend... Warning: No parsers, no links. In this story, you'll be monkeying with the code!"
*Inhale* Again, probably clever but I've had my fill of clever games for now.
"A twist on a sleepy old classic."
Yeah so was Abandon Them.
"Lina is a first year student studying magic. Lina isn't doing very well at her classes. Lina is apprenticing for the Witch of Howling Woods because no one else would take her.
"Tonight, Lina has messed up (she contends some blame should go to her master for giving unclear instructions). Now Lina needs to figure out what all the magical items (A wavering wand? An everfire? A *gasp* cauldron?) in her master's house do and use them all to fix her mistake, before she gets found out!
"(Remedial Witchcraft is a light, puzzle-oriented parser game.)"
There we go. An hour and a half, hmm? ... Ehhhh yeah sure okay.
---
There we go, indeed. So, for our third draw this year, the woodlings officially
TL;DR: It wasn't bad I guess. I did enjoy it overall but was very frustrated at parts. Unmarked puzzle spoilers under the cut because I really want to talk about the gameplay design on this one, hopefully with an IF veteran who can confirm whether my expectations were off or if these complaints sound valid to them.
( Snippety! )
