by Matt Wigdahl

Played for IFComp 2009: https://www.bradleycbuchanan.com/b/ifcomp-2009/

A brief, well-written game that consists of some direction-following, one terrific puzzle and a choice of endings (in that order). Up until the pirates appeared, this was a very simple game that would have bored me to death, but the writing was good enough that I actually found it enjoyable. I was a little bothered by my lack of agency between the pirate appearance and my ship being disabled. Then I ran across the gem of this game – the simulation of the ignition system. I’ll admit that I had to resort to the walkthrough, but was pleased to find that the puzzle would have been challenging even with a GUI. After fixing the engine, though, I again had to resort to the walkthrough to discover my options beyond “go home.” I couldn’t make sense of how the pirates were threatening me, and the asteroid, and this girl on her home planet all at the same time, and my inability to talk to anyone (or even “call home,” which the pirates seemed so anxious to prevent) was frustrating. Also, various verbs that seemed natural to me were unimplemented. All in all, it’s clear that the author spent a great deal of time on the writing, the ignition, and the game outcomes, and could afford to put another coat of polish on the game in the interest of world-building and hinting. I hope to play a release two of this!