Hey, quite good an entry. I like it very much. Keep it up!

I found the oil! Three hundred and ten turns into the game, I still can't figure out how to deploy the you know what on you know whom, but it's ready to go. I only have nine points, one of which was from doing the same thing twice. I don't like being stuck, but to be fair, I've never gotten through an Inform game without having to find a walkthrough somewhere. The world of this game seems well thought-out and the prose is clear.

I always struggle with trying to guess the verbage in text games ("descend stairs" does nothing, but "down" describes me walking down the stairs), but once I got the hang of how the game wanted me to input and interact, this was an interesting adventure. Didn't get to finish, but I think I'll be giving it another shot when I have a bit more time. Writing is very descriptive and mostly very good about subtly pointing out what you can interact with. I had a good time.

(Reviewing compo version)

I used to play some text based adventure games in my early childhood. This is nice throwback into nostalgia. The writing seems decent and tickles my imagination. Some commands like "ascend" or "descend" could be useful as synonyms for "down" and "up".

The more I play the game, the more I end up wanting to build more of the "mental map" of the world. This is a sign of good writing. Well done!

A blast from the past like Zork. I liked it. I'm not sure how the theme relates to the game.

First time I see such a game in a ludumdare. Great concept and great writing.

Managed to get a few points, but I'm pretty unsure where to go next. The map feels pretty big, and lots of objects to find.
I do not see where the theme comes into this (I guess it comes later in the game), so I refrained from voting for Theme.
Really good writing you've got there!

Cool Story!

Great game! Very cool and interesting story! :D

Nice Story! I've always wanted to make an interactive text adventure like this!
I had some issues guessing which commands would advance me, but this could also be my lack of experience in games like this. Great job with this!

It's really cool to see some interactive fiction in here! The writing's pretty solid too. I didn't get to the end (got stuck observing a tree I suspect was made of basil, not knowing what to do to it), but there's a good sense of location which is important for such games; it was easy to get a mental map.

Regarding the theme... I was a bit confused and annoyed by the limited inventory space; it just seemed to get in the way without bringing much into the game (maybe there were inventory management puzzles later on). However, I think the main problem was that it was not explained really well; for a long time I was stuck at only being able to hold up to two items (not including clothes), but at some point I was able to grab a third; I don't know if that was because of wieght/space constraints, because I was wielding one of the previous objects, or because there were key objects that didn't "take space".

Another thing, while the map was fairly compact for IF standards, I felt it could be a bit too large for newcommers to IF, especially with such... empty first few rooms (not many descriptions to see). I think it might be slightly more suitable to go for fewer, but "denser" rooms. Still, this really is a design decision, so there's no right answer; it's also a lot due to developing under time constraints; I'm sure given enough time there would be descriptions for absolutely everything.

Oh, I loved the additional commands page. I wasn't sure what to do with the short tree (which I think was basil?) so maybe add what actions you can use with trees? I tried "cut tree", "take leaves", "harvest tree" etc. Take into account many of us are second language speakers of english, so our vocabulary might not come as naturally as for others. Also, I think I've seen some IF games were interactable items are [HIGHLIGHTED]. It might help newcommers, especially if there's no description for many of the implicitly described objects (windows, door, etc).

Anyway, it felt like a really solid foundation for an IF. The map is pretty nicely set up, and the puzzles seem interesting enough (I did manage to get out of the chapel). The writing is solid, and the plot is well-suited for an interesting IF (few characters, a key objective, a well-thought setting). There's also an impressive amount of work for just 48 hours; the rooms felt a bit empty, but the key parts of a rather large adventure were there. It seems like you made great use of your time. Great job!

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Sorry I've been slow to respond. Was silly enough to jump on another jam almost right after this thing ended. >_>

@wrenpirate You're probably looking for USE [thing] ON [person]. I think GIVE [thing] TO [person] works too? Don't remember.

@garris and @keppu Agreed on the ascend/descend! I'm always talking about how the stairs ascend and descend, so I should let the player match that language.

@endurion The theme was as simple as inventory limitation. Kind of ignored the theme for this one. XD

@ratherjolly If you're interested in writing interactive fiction, Inform 7 is a great system. You write all the stuff in natural language. Something like this is actual working code: "The garden is a room. A container called the bag is here. Inside the bag is a pile of dirt."

@agecaf Yeah, the weight limit was a bit tacky, but I needed *something* for the theme. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: More options for verbs is of course a must. I covered GRIND in the help text, probably should have also covered PICK. Love the idea of highlighting important items. That whole puzzle was a trick to figure out between making it too obvious and not obvious enough. Such is the pain of text adventures. :grin:

Thanks again everyone!

"fuck bowl"

"We'll have none of that!"

5/5

So happy to see IF here. Inform is awesome.

I played the compo version and am rating accordingly. Your most recent comment seems to acknowledge the issues I noticed. I'm gonna give you jam version a try and see how that goes!

Again, nice to see IF/Inform here. Have a great LD!

It's insane that one person can achieve this in 48 hours... I'm quite busy right now, but have bookmarked the jam version and will play through once I can. Amazing work and as others have already said - it's great to see IF in these competitions and this is definitely the best I've seen. Probably not the biggest element in any game, but a big good work on the documentation.

This game's definitely a reminder that you don't need to stick to the theme too much to be good.

👍

I haven't played a game like this since I was a kid - it really took me back! I thought the writing was great. Very impressive especially given the amount of time. I thought the tie in to the theme was a bit loose but it was one of the more unique games I played this jam and I enjoyed it. Good job!