Renga In Four Parts, by Jason Dyer

This game is an experimental, in the poetry type. The game says some lines, usually three lines, and then a prompt. The player must type in just a word at the prompt. Two or more words are not allowed. And then the game says some more usually three lines, and continues. Sometimes there is a dashed line, and sometimes there is a transition to the next of the four parts.

OMG just now I thought to do the Google search on "define renga" and it helps a little the understanding! Renga it turns out is a traditional Japanese poetry form, a collaboration between two of the individuals. In his public release announcement for this game, the author tells:

 Keep in mind that what you type is much a part of the poem as the verse.

This suggests that there is collaboration between the player and the parser.


The author of this game is also the author of More, which I like in the recently complete Shufflecomp. In his post comp release and reflections on More post, Jason asks people to download and give a try Renga In Four Parts. I was happy to do that. Unfortunately, I don't understand this game. I find it hard to "get" into.

I played a few times, using the "toggle script" option to save three of the poems. Game seems to make a frequent change of subject from the last verse and/or from the player's last word. I did not find that it sums to a story or vignette or tableau coherent. I tried to work with the game, for example typing in words in each part that correspond with the title of the part, but I still got this feeling of the leaping around subjects. There are interesting pieces (a he, a she, a tree, to name three) but I think more constraints are needed to tie them into a meaning whole.