Monday, August 25, 2014

Tales of the Soul Thief, by David Whyld

So, yeah, this may not be the most momentous thing to post to planet-if (I'll probably lump the other games I didn't test in groups of 2 or 3--or maybe all 5)--but seriously, IntroComp is worth looking into, if you haven't. You have about two more weeks. There are some good games. Even those that aren't, can be good.

I've been busy releasing Threediopolis and getting close to Shuffling Around thanks to some great work by Sean Shore...it's taken a lot out of me, and in fact I even forgot to bump back my post-dated IFComp review index, but I find re-releases worth it, to get rid of obvious bugs and trip-ups.

I hope IntroComp authors find it in them to release something post-introcomp, even if it's not fully complete. It'd be nice to see results, small or bing--I know Akkoteaque had some good bug fixes and believe it will get done, and get done well--and speaking from experience, it's nice to know I've fixed bugs and worked to improve something I wrote, even if the bugs were dumb in the first place.

Like the header says, I'm going to start with David Whyld's Tales of the Soul Thief. It's more serious than most of his efforts. He entered Best Laid Plans last year, and I was hoping he would finish it, because it was amusing and had a lot of things to do, and a lot of places it could go, too.

Spoiler: this is a bit harsh on him as he has the talent and work to improve the game, but as it stands, there was a lot to struggle through. While the game was paced well, and the world was believable, the technical side comes up a bit short. Still, I'd be interested to see how, where and when you can use your skill--for good or evil. Even allowing both, or having a Cliff's Notes at the end for those who don't want to replay, would augment the story greatly.