He opened the game. At once he was overcome by a rich rush of nostalgia at the distinguished sepia of its presentation. He read on, following the tale with ever greater curiosity. He was slightly confused by the plant game at the end. Lotsa fun, would like a little more game at the end. Or perhaps this is all I deserve.

@owl-skip :)
There is more after the plant game.

Love the little snarky easter egg at the end/middle/start/whatever. An interesting experience.

Nice. You looped. I like it. I think I'd get along with the game if it were a person. Lovely game.

Nice game, i liked the travel part the most. Didn't quite understand the plant game.

Nice idea, I like the Inception side of it, it's a good little experience to play !

Meta commentary for us all :smile: I thought the choice of colour and presentation was nice.

Genuinely really cool! I would write something negative here but I don't really have anything bad to say, very clever and well written - great job!

What a journey. It's a cleverly written experience that I ended up looping twice.

Not gonna finish what should remain unfinished - no one ever

very smart game, good sense of humour. I loved the style and simplicity of it. Didn't like how relatable it was to me ;)

This was a really interesting concept! The only thing I would say would be to have the arrows in the same location each time but that's obviously a very minor thing! I really enjoyed it!

I'll make sure to get back here when the jam ends to review it. Your game was a perfect ending for a stressful jaming day! It was really a delight, it doesn't try to do much, but what it tries to do, it does perfectly. The text switching feels juicy and satisfying, the only gripe I have is the default look of some buttons in the game!

Very cleaver, i like it.

The idea is pretty cool!

Interesting concept, great creative writing! I played through twice, hoping for something different to happen. But on the second loop, I figured out how to use the secret code :) "Please Finish Your Game"!

@vivienw
@wzqxrys
@kierancoppins
@beeguy
@fakefrogsonly
@alex-mulkerrin
@romaric
@dan-one23
@soupornoghosh
@ignaloidas
Thank you, Ya'll are very kind :).

@mantaraytv-games
Agreed on the button part.

@cannedveg
I am assuming you mean having the arrows be in the same position vertically, yep?

@maxflav
:)

Thank you for playing!

To be honest, I wouldn't consider it a game.
It's an interesting thing, but I didn't found it fun or engaging.
Maybe I just need sleep..

@seagull I am happy to hear a honest comment.

I'm in this picture and I don't like it

I needed this dose of meta-commentary in order to stop arbitrarily browsing games and go to sleep. Thanks! (Also I liked it, it was really cool )

Very interesting. I would say this is starting to blur the lines of a game and interactive art. I do appreciate that as a contribution though so well done.

It's an interesting experience, doesn't have lots of gameplay but it's a nice distraction after just finishing the jam. I don't get how the plant minigame works though.

So meta! I love it! I played through twice and broke it! ;)

That was great! The writing is superb, and 6/5 for innovation!

What is or isn't a game is an argument which could go on forever. In the end, I think it's a subjective experience, where each person draws their lines. I think this is a game, and while I enjoyed the intentionally-stripped mechanics, obviously the biggest draw was the writing.

I think some choices could be neat, to open up a branching setup for the player. If you wanted to really sell the work's argument that we're just going through the motions, swapping one narrative theme for another while using very similar mechanics, you could have the player select which game they want to play, letting them discover in realtime how similar they are, and more directly paralleling their life outside the game.

* Tips for beating *It Must Not Wither*:

Keep water near 1.0, as the plant grows its consumption seems to increase but the safe-amount is slightly above 1.0. Too much will drown it, so don't over-click. Do this and your plant **too** can produce fruit!

* Tips for beating *To Keep Me Alive*:

Rest->Scavenge->Rest->Scavenge

Repeat until you'er at 20-25 food and then rest until you get to 10 Energy. Now just click travel 10 times to win!

Do this and you **too** can arrive at your destination!

* Tips for beating *In A Game Wherein*:

There are none, the ride never ends.

Nice writing, would like to see more from you

one of my favorites so far!

I didn't realize it looped till I played halfway through the second loop. I was wondering why the words I were reading seemed familiar... and then it hit me. I liked the game!

It was just like any other sunny day, until I met In A Game Wherein. Now I have been stuck in a timeloop for 34 years and I do not see a way out. Fortunately I have as my company two highly interesting games that continue to fascinate me, but I would like to see my family now please. I hope this message reaches you. Help.

What a curious game of games! My favorite is the travel part.

Loved the meta take on the theme! At first the game seemed shallow but the story went a lot deeper after the first bit!

Clever writing? Check. Meta? Check. Mini games that actually fit into the narrative? Check!

And a few of the sentences really resonate with me. "[...] drawing something for the sake of having the tool touch the medium" was especially nice. But my favourite are still the last three sentences from your description: "A name catches your attention. It doesn’t sound like a game. It sounds like a trick."

It is a bit tricky to rate. The game was delightful and interesting, which is a bit hard to reflect in categories that don't fit exactly like "fun", "innvoation" and "humor". I'm very curious to see what the results will be for it.

Either way, I enjoyed playing this. Thanks for making it!

Oh, and reading some of the other comments... in my opinion it doesn't need to be a "game". It is fine without any branching narrative. It is a quirky and interesting experience, just as it is.

PS: I really hope this isn't your actual experience reviewing games, haha. I for one really enjoy that!

PPS: I feel called out a bit, considering my game is similar to your minigames. It's a bit more intricate though!

Aaarrgh, doublepost.

Aaarrgh, triplepost.

I love small and smart Textbased games like this one <3

So meta, I love it :D The visual presentation is also excellent. Although, I do feel weird writing this review after playing... What an amazing little game.

Very good writing and narrative design. I like the inception kind of feel. Some relaxing music would be a good addition.

Why not? I like art but your idea is really cool. Very good work!

@katrin As you read the comment you aren't quite sure what the words are trying to convey. You do feel thankful for the kind words but you wish to express confusion as well.

@ruoyu The words seem to suggest that music should have been a part of the experience. A feeling of an opportunity lost, a tiny one albeit, bubbles up. However, you do not want to submit to the thought that your work is not perfect thus the words you retort with express intention within the lack of audial stimuli.

@munkkeli At that moment, the concept of duality comes forward in your consciousness.

The words evoke a connection, to whom you are not sure, but at that moment you feel that a certain part of the labour that was put in has harbored fruit. You keep it to yourself and express thankfulness with your words.

@inka-mcatee Their text talks, telling that their time ticked terrifically.

@tobiasw You are reminded of that connection feeling you had two comments ago. Not quite deja-vu, as both differ in the "about" that the connection speaks of, but nonetheless as genuine.

With the reading of the second paragraph, a tree of thoughts, with the word 'quantization' at the root node, comes to mind. You're not sure how to communicate an internal structure of your mind, but you believe that expressing the aesthetic of its tree nature may be worth more than the concepts it represents.

@ioan-pop @cagibi A recollection of doubt and uncertainty from the past is not something you'd like to deal with right now. However the second parts of these words provides you with the means to defend yourself. You express thankfulness in the validation.

@gimblll A mimicking of dialect. That very same connection as felt before. You are glad. You wish to return the gesture by employing the same dialect as a retort but are unsure what to say exactly. The infinite loop catches your eye and you realize an opportunity to communicate the technical limitations of how the looping works by reastheticize the knowledge with the tooling of the dialect.

@frances You are a bit surprized by the mention of looping yet your words ignore it and are instead imbued with a thankful nature.

@jonahsenzel A taste of disbelief mixed with a tinge of glee presents itself. You repeat recontextualize, reword and variate the thankfulness you left on the previous comment.

@corruptor2037 You consider both shilling and/or posting (you're not sure which is the right word for this) your twitter. You do feel a bit guilty about it so you attempt to mention how you try to not waste your words on the platform. A thought enters your mind and you think better of posting these words. You clear out the letter buffer and repeat the aformentioned thankfulness dance.

@themadprogramer An unknown feeling enters upon seeing what you can only call a 'guide'. You are unsure of what to say thus you resort to calling the thankfulness procedure.

2nd person narratives are very difficult to pull off, but when they are done in a satisfying manner, I think they can offer a weirdly personal experience that you can't find in ones of 1st or 3rd person. The problem with 2nd person narratives that I always find is in their tone getting very tiresome very quickly; it's like being told how to feel, and if that goes on too long, it's hard to engage with. This experience is perfectly paced for that and was thoroughly inventive.
Thank you for your hard work.

Words are written and sent.

HA-HA-HA!!! Man, you are my favorite! 10 of 5 stars for humor and mood! I didn't fully understand your narratival English (I'm not a native speaker) but this is amazing! Great job, I had a lot of fun to play your game, thank you :)

Love the mood and aesthetic! I traveled to my destination, but didn't managed to save the plant...

This was unexpected, a meta-game-jam-game about the joys of voting.. :rofl: Great. First I expected a Twine game (which I am actively hunting for but they are hard to find) but I see it was written in pure js. Nice, the minigames and the repeating loop too, it might be more interesting if the loop was altered in some way on the second walkthrough, just as an idea. Nice! :thumbsup:

Pretty original and meta game. Simple display but well done. Nice entry overall!

Amazing idea, I loved it. Simple, intriguing, well written, surprising and perfectly executed. Some atmospheric BSO would have fitted well the game, but the game is not worst without it. Congratulations.

It's a trick indeed, but a good one. Nicely done!

Nicely written. Intrigue.

The mood is cool, and it's kinda amusing in a meta way. I was thinking of doing a collection of minigames at one point, in a way this outlines the issue with that - not a lot of time to spend on any of them =P.

Ugh, fine, I'll finish my game. Happy now?

Nice little mini games placed throughout a leading story. Thoughtful.

Very clever and fantastic writing

Scrolling to the bottom of the page you find commentary that is polite and positive. Outlining the points the writer enjoyed about the experience and some constructive criticism. Excellent Job!

I was intrigued by the format and you succeeded in making me think, and even in making me go watch a youtube video for research - which no Ludum Dare game has ever done before, so nice work on that. I definitely disagree with the negative take on game jams, but I admire your approach to this game. The smooth sentence-per-page format and the minigames made the more philosophical content digestible, and I ended up replaying three times to think through what everything meant.

This felt like a really nice debrief from the jam, thanks for this!

very nice game, it feels very polished, calmed down, relaxing and has fantastic writing.

I was tricked. Good job!

The text you saw advertising the title loops into the beginning of the game.

You close In A Game Wherein.

While you did maintain a smile throughout the game, you feel proud for correctly guessing how the game would turn out.

You go back to your browser, back to the page wherein "In A Game Wherein" was found.

You look for the "Ratings" section, then search for "Innovation" and smirk.

You feel yourself as superior for your hazardous guess that turned out to be true, yet you can't deny the game was clever enough to make you smile.

You admire the accurate guesswork "It Mustn't Wither" delivers for some titles, though you would have liked "The Campfire Can't Go Out" included within "In A Game Wherein", wherein only "It Mustn't Wither" and "To Keep Me Alive" can be found.

Briefly you ponder the possibility of conscious fires, then disregard the thought as it only distracts from the task at hand.

Click one of the five stars.

[:star:](https://ldjam.com)[:star:](https://ldjam.com)[:star:](https://ldjam.com)[:star:](https://ldjam.com)[:star:](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/in-a-game-wherein)

You don't click them because this is a comment.

Now you consider clicking one, but reading this sentence assures you in the assumption nothing will happen.

You click one of the interactive stars within the "Ratings" section for each row.

You scroll down, here and there reading a word or two from other comments.

You reached the text field.

You write "good game :)" and click on the blue "Publish" button.

good game :)

You read the words in the comment section. They are obstensibly about the game you created, but also not _quite_... They mimic other comments you have read, each attempting in its own way to continue in the style of the game. "These people get it", you think. "Or, they like to _think_ they do". Perhaps however, they only wish to appear clever.

Only the clever ones found the easter egg. The writer of _this_ comment however, could not figure it out.

Sad face emoji.

Fin.

You continue the cycle of playing and reviewing games. You open with a positive comment about how a "nice atmosphere was created", how the "concept was original" and how "the game was well put together". You move on to your constructive crticism which is always "maybe audio needs work" or "it lacks a replayability factor" or "tenuous link to the theme" However, you always follow up with "I'm sure this is something you would have done given more time" and "amazing job for a solo effort" and "well done in creating something so great in such a short amount of time". You proof read the comment and hit publish. You scroll up and give the game your honest star ratings before returning to the sea of games to start again.

I was intrigued by your game description and decided to give it a try. I do not regret it. This must have been the most spot on writing I've seen this jam. Very artful, creative and unique game / experience.

Well done!!!

I clicked forth, excited to see a text adventure game, but knowing that the competition was short and my review time limited. The experience was captured. It did not disappoint. 5/5

--Anna

ps. I hope this wins or ranks highly in at least one of the categories.

Recursion plot twist got me good! Nice writing and atmosphere.

Very cool, very meta, I really enjoyed it :)