Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Sparkle, by Karly Di Caprio

One-line summary: Puzzle fest in a setting of Asia style. It is abandoned and dirty near the mountain top, but you can change things if you "put your mind" to it.

Game inspired by: "Equivalencies," by King Missile

Things I liked: Well implemented. Game has some surprise compared to what it looks like in the very beginning. Quirky story told with the straight face. The beginner puzzles were the right level of difficult for me, and I reached an ending "winning" without needing the hints.

Things I might like to see different: There was a little bit of letdown with the ending I got. I unlocked some Achievements, but the others must use some advanced puzzling. These seem too tough and I did not try them for long.

Also I had some problem at one point that made me feel bad for a NPC. In ROT13 because the spoilers (http://www.rot13.com/index.php):

V chg gur syhgr va gur yrsg qhzojnvgre naq gura punatrq vg gb qbt. Guvf znxrf gur evtug qhzojnvgre pbzr va. Ohg nsgre gung, V pbhyq abg trg gur qbt onpx! V guvax V gevrq PUNATR QBT yvxr gur uvag fnvq, ohg gur tnzr fnvq V jnf gbb sne njnl be fbzr guvat. V nyfb gevrq chggvat rirelguvat V unq va gur evtug qhzojnvgre, ohg vg jnfa'g urnil rabhtu. Cbbe qbt.

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Holy Robot Empire, by Ralph Gide

One-line summary: A quest to meet the robot Pope, or Robopope. There are jokes relating the tech sector.

Game inspired by: (spoilers omitted)

Things I liked: The story is silly however, polished. Many little details help create a world, I won't call it "believable," but I'll say it leads easy to the suspension of disbelief.

Things I might like to see different: Some jokes were groaning to me. On the other hands maybe the bad joke is part of this type of games' "liturgy" lol.

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Light My Way Home, by Venus Hart

One-line summary: Brief, poignant ghost story with some electrical equipments.

Game inspired by: "Light Up My Room," by Barenaked Ladies

Things I liked: The game understood what I asked it to do. The NPC did some little gestures that made it believable and real. The easter egg was lol. Words and effects created a quiet mournful feeling.

Things I might like to see different: The first device in Ruin seemed something of gimmick, whereas other devices seemed more "at home." Also a key item at the end seemed generic or cliche a little bit. Some words (the verb "listen," the noun "stump") should be implemented.

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Illuminate, by Summer del Mono

One-line summary: Rearrange four paintings pieces in an unsettling ways variety.

Game inspired by: "Marble," by House Of Love. Thanks for picking a song I sent in!

Things I liked: A great variety. Smart combinations of items visual and story. Hints of all-ways more combinations. Sense of a hidden largest story uniting all the pieces.

Things I might like to see different: More orbs lol. More reason in the framing story, or more hints about what possible is in the game. If some ending is a "winning," I did not find it. I did not pay attention when first seeing "Toy" in the subtitle of game. When I saw that subtitle again by typing VERSION, I just quit.

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Nothing but Flowers, by Crabby O'Crankypants

One-line summary: Some ideas on the consciousness and the language, also love/death, before/after civilization.

Game inspired by: "(Nothing But) Flowers," by Talking Heads. Thanks for picking a song I sent in!

I needs say that this work didn't "work" for me. Individual parts are interesting but I was failed to mesh them together. I did not understand the use of color background. There is a branching, but I might preferred it if the branching occurred at an earlier point in the story, with a little more substance in each of branch.

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Invisible Parties, by Psychopup

One-line summary: Powerful women clash at a multi-world nexus social gathering.

Game inspired by: "Could This Really Be The End," by Emily Wells

Things I liked: There is so much going on, it's exciting. The writing is dense and confident. The sense of a fluidy unstable world is extremely convincing lol

Things I might like to see different:

• More clarity all around please!
• More implementation of the Three Rebeccas
• More precise and understandable implementation of the GIFTS mechanic.
• Some bugfixes, for example:
• I would try talking to some NPC here and there but the parser would just show a blank line
• There's a viking in one room but the parser didn't know that.
• In Night Ride there's a stereo. I type LISTEN and get a blank line

Shufflecomp 2014 Review: Dead Man's Party, by Morrissey

One-line summary: A junior associate grim reaper must puzzle through a deceased man's house in order to bring back his ghost.

Game inspired by: "Dead Man's Party," by Oingo Boingo

Things I liked: The balance between humor and poignancy. The body-soul connection, in one striking scene.

Things I might like to see different:

• More of the party guests.
• More specific detail, as opposed to generic, in the house locations. The back office locations feel more "real"
• A little less reliance on one particular tool to solve puzzles.
• Two z's in Hazzard. I learned far too much about USA TV lol