Reimagining the Party: At the Bonfire, 2013

At the Bonfire is an extraordinary Twine game, created by the talented finny. I cannot say it better than Portpentine over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

"At the Bonfire is about a party that really happened, just reimagined.

It borrows from those sleepless nights staring at the ceiling thinking about words you said/wish you said/wonder what would happen if you said them.

There are several paths based on who you choose to spend your time with. There is the knowledge that even a seemingly laid-back gathering is tense with unspoken dynamics of gender and performance.

Finny’s games charge directly at thoughts instead of abstracting them to the capital letters of Big Emotions. This is hyper-introspection, the kind of writing that stops me repeatedly with its lucidity, with its explicit naming of things we bury in the dark, hoping they’ll suffocate. They never do."

platform utilized: browser
genre: text-based game
where to find: You can find At the Bonfire right here.

Family Game Night: Gamer Mom, 2012

Have you ever struggled to describe a life-altering game experience to a loved one? Perhaps you were attempting to convince them of its immediate value and furthermore insist they join you in the experience. Have you ever played an MMOG?

In Gamer Mom, you take on the role of a mother describing her euphoria since playing World of Warcraft, as she attempts to convince her teenage daughter and husband to join. The task is anything but easy.

The interaction of Gamer Mom is unique. Instead of espousing a bottom of the screen text delivery, an apportioned approach is taken in which each available choice to be made, be it psychological or interactive, is available and represented on the screen in a sort of text balloon. Each text balloon is available to click on, though with varying results. Another point of interest is the minimal, sleek look of Gamer Mom, which I find to be extremely attractive.

All in all, Gamer Mom is a fresh idea for a game and is a lot of fun. The dialogue is witty and the graphics are limited and minimal, which in turn makes the combination of text-based gameplay and meager graphics sufficient and stylish.

platform utilized: brower
genre: text-based game
where to find: Gamer Mom can be played right here.

With Only Words to Guide: Arcadia: A Pastoral Tale, 2012.

Arcadia: A Pastoral Tale is a simple, text-based game that departs from the elements of traditional gameplay. There are no rules (this is of course not entirely true; there are certain rules within Arcadia, but for the sake of brevity, with respect to this thought piece, I will not be exploring these rules), no puzzles, and no wrong choices. Most noticeable is the game's attempt to simply provide the means for the player to simply enjoy the world around them. The fascinating thing, of course, is that there are no visuals; the seemingly beautiful world around you is such, by virtue of the words used to describe its beauty.

I enjoyed Arcadia very much. It is games such as this that push the bounds of what conventional gameplay can look like.

The game comes from the mind of Jonas Kyratzes, author, game designer, and filmmaker. This guy is new to me. I look forward to checking out his other titles.

platform utilized: browser
genre: text-based game
where to find: Arcadia can be played here.