63: More IFComp 2015

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Continuing on with our coverage of IFComp (the Interactive Fiction Competition) we’re back with brief impressions of 11 more games from this year’s whopping 55 entries. Be sure to check out Episode 61 for more games and some background on IFComp.

IFComp 2015 Games Covered in This Episode

  • Untold Riches by Jason Ermer
  • Unbeknown by A. DeNiro
  • The Baker of Shireton by Hanon Ondricek
  • Taghairm by Chandler Groover
  • SPY INTRIGUE by furkle
  • Grandma Bethlinda’s Variety Box by Arthur DiBianca
  • Ether by Mathbrush
  • Duel by piato
  • The King and the Crown by Wes Lesley
  • Forever Meow by Moe Zilla
  • A Figure Met in a Shaded Wood by Michael Thomet

Click Here for Download/Play Online links for all 2015 IFComp games

Correction: We described Solarium, by Alan DeNiro, from the 2013 IFComp, as a parser game. It is in fact a Twine game like his 2015 entry.

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62: The Beginner’s Guide

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This week we’re talking about The Beginner’s Guide, the new game from Davey Wreden. Wreden’s first game, The Stanley Parable, was the topic of the second episode of The Short Game way back in the distant past (last year.) We loved it, to say the least. This game is a very different beast, and it covers some pseudo-autobiographical territory. Wreaden narrates as he presents a collection of short games by a (fictional) friend, Coda, and explains what each one means to him. But Wreden and Coda have a more complex relationship than is initially on display. The collection delves into deep psychological and ethical waters during its short run-time.

The Beginner’s Guide is available for $9.99 on Steam and the Humble Store for Mac and PC. Expect it to take just an hour and a half to complete.

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61: IFComp 2015

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IFComp, the interactive fiction competition, is the longest running and most important event in the interactive fiction scene. Each year dozens of interactive fiction authors submit new work of all kinds, from hardcore parser puzzle games to experimental Twine games, and this year a record 55 games were submitted! With a timely assist from Emily Short we selected a few of this year’s most intriguing entires and bring you some brief impressions. With so many games to try, this is likely just the beginning of our IFComp coverage!

IFComp 2015 Games Covered in This Episode
– 5 Minutes to Burn Something! by Alex Butterfield
– Arcane Intern (Unpaid) by Astrid Dalmady
– Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! by Steph Cherrywell
– Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory by Katherine Morayati
– Map by Ade
– Midnight. Swordfight. by Chandler Groover
– Sub Rosa by Joey Jones & Melvin Rangasamy

Click here for a ballot and download links for all of the 2015 IFComp entries

Planning on playing along or voting in this year’s IFComp? Let us know your impressions! Use our Contact form or contact us on Twitter at @_shortgame!

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60: Super Time Force Ultra

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It’s Contra meets that-one-level-in-Braid with Super Time Force Ultra! S.T.F.U. was developed by Capy Games (of Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP fame.) It’s a fast paced shooter who’s unique time-out mechanic lets you approach the frenetic bullet-hell madness a bit more like a puzzle game.

Initially launched in 2014 on Xbox 360, Super Time Force Ultra (a newly expanded version) is also available through Steam (Windows only) and on PS4 and Playstation Vita, where it launched in September 2015 as a part of the Playstation Plus program.

Depending on skill and play-style, expect the game to take 4 to 6 hours to complete.

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Shortisode: Laserlife

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Laserlife is a game almost too high-concept to exist. A existential-music-biography game in which you play as a laser-based life form investigating the corpse of a human astronaut it finds drifting through deep space. Also there’s techno music. It’s pretty neat!

Laserlife released yesterday (timely!) on PS4 and Steam for PC and Mac for $15 and is coming to Xbox One in late October. It is designed to be completed in a single sitting, two to three hours.

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See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

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Your (solo) host this week was:
– Raygan Kelly – @raygank

59: Porpentine: Eczema Angel Orifice

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Porpentine Charity Heartscape is one of the most fascinating figures in interactive fiction. This week we discuss her collected Twine works, released as a nicely packaged collection entitled Eczema Angel Orifice, released in June of 2015. Porpentine’s work is in turns hilarious, insightful, heartbreaking, sexy, unsettling, and beautiful. We discuss some of her more well known works and touch briefly on some of the deep cuts included in the collection.

ECZEMA ANGEL ORIFICE is available from the author’s website or through itch.io. It contains 25 stories, each of which may take between an hour and 5 minutes to experience.

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58: Volume

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Have you played Thomas Was Alone dev Mike Bithell’s newest? Volume looks great and brings the classic sneak-em-up gameplay, but how does its writing compare to Bithell’s vaunted debut effort?

We also catch up with Laura about her visit to Bit Bash Chicago, and with Raygan and Shane about Until Dawn and OlliOlli 2.

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See Laura’s photos from BitBash Chicago!
IMG_7526

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57: Limbo

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This week we discuss 2012 indie darling Limbo, which recently arrived on PS4. Limbo is a puzzle platformer with a darkly cartoonish black and white art style and a focus on repeated, brutal, and utterly delightful deaths. Limbo has won numerous awards and been ported to basically everything with a processor and screen, including previous and current generation consoles, Steam, and iOS. Expect it to take 3 to 4 hours to complete.

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56: Summer Games Grab Bag

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Rather than focus on a single game this week we round up some of the new and exciting short games we’ve been playing this summer. It’s been a really interesting summer for short games with lots of new stuff out now or on the horizon!

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55: Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon

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We welcome Shane back to the podcast by discussing the Spider series from Tiger Style games. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (2009) was one of the iOS App Store’s earliest break-out hits and it still stands out as a great example of environmental storytelling and innovative touch-native design. The sequel, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon returns to the form of the original while expanding on it with new game mechanics and larger, more detailed levels.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is available on the iOS app store for $1.99. A separate HD version is available for iPad.
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is a multi-platform release, currently out on iOS and Android ($5) and Steam for Mac, PC, and Linux ($12). It’s also coming soon to Playstation 4 and PS Vita.

It’s difficult to give an estimated time to complete this game as different people will approach it with different goals. An observant player can probably explore all of Blackbird Estate in around 5 hours.

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