by Hannes Schueller

I beta-tested this game prior to the comp instead of reviewing it. Some notes originally posted at https://www.bradleycbuchanan.com/b/ifcomp-postmortem/:

“Ninja’s Fate” was the most interesting experience. I had never heard of Paul Allen Panks before working with Schueller, which was probably for the best from a testing perspective. Apparently Panks produced many games, none of which were very good. “Ninja’s Fate” celebrates Panks’ passion for the medium both by setting the game in a museum dedicated to him, and by emulating his (sometimes questionable) design. I did question several design decisions, and in each case Schueller could point out a similar choice by Panks. It really is a fitting tribute, but I’m unsurprised that it didn’t rank well in the competition. Does this sort of game belong in IFComp? I really don’t know.

Edit: Hannes Schueller has posted a Ninja’s Fate website explaining the aforementioned design decisions. I’d also like to thank him for his kind comments about his testers.