====== Starbreakers ======

An [[IFComp]] 2021 game [[https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=pshwno6vcd62e284|IFDB]]. A sequence of puzzles with a bit of mystery and a cute conceit wrapping up the whole thing. I'm not great at these things and some of the puzzles were not exactly to my taste, but the game is generous and provides hints and full solutions at every step. Better use of interactivity than other pieces I've played so far.

I rated it 5 of 10.

  +1 Interactions are fun and/or consonant with the theme
  +1 No distracting bugs
  +1 Polished; quality-of-life features (including hints) that enhance the experience
  +1 Effective prose
  +1 I like this!
  
I wrote on intfiction.org:

This was much more “game-forward” that the first two I played for the comp; at first it seems like a series of puzzles with a very thin frame story; gradually we learn that we’re an AI breaking out of a lab into the internet.

One thing that really stands out about this work is that it’s presenting types of puzzles and a variety that I don’t see as often in the comp, the sort of thing you might find in a newsstand puzzle book: A crossword, a word-search, a riddle, a dialogue puzzle, a few “balance the scale” puzzles, even a maze and the Towers of Hanoi. (Kudos to the authors on using that last one as a punchline.) They are particularly impressive for their implementation and presentation in Twine. Some of these puzzles are timed.

Some of them I liked a lot more than others - I’m particularly terrible at the “balance” puzzles and wasn’t in the mood to work things out on paper. Fortunately the authors have included a discoverable and comprehensive contextual hint system, allowing me to breeze through puzzles I find particularly frustrating and see the game through to its end within the time limit. Great work on this.

The puzzles are so central and concrete that I found myself not paying much attention to the frame story; I sort of mentally dismissed it as “hand-wavy.” There’s a set of characters (other AIs) that you’re competing against and it’s clear that some effort put into giving them distinct personalities, but I didn’t end up caring about them much. On reflection, this might be because I didn’t interact with them. That is, my character interacts with them in the story, but as a player my interactions were very puzzle-centric so I didn’t think about the characters as much.

Overall this feels like a learning exercise polished up and submitted to the comp; and in fact it is - the authors admit this in their about text. But it’s a robust learning exercise, and it’s very polished, and I had some fun with it. Thanks Joyce & Cormier!

{{tag>played "played in 2021" "played on PC" "interactive fiction"}}