Tuesday, May 28, 2013

#gamechef2013 reviews: 5-8 w/ 2 French Game

Continuing on our journey, we find ourself running into games 5 - 8.

If you want to continue reading, go to page 5.
If you want to skip through to where your game is, go to page 10.
If you want to leave a comment, they're at the bottom of the page.

Game Chef English 2013

5. Going Up by Marshall Miller

Twitter Pitch: Going Up? is a nano-game where you play strangers stuck together in an elevator. One or more of you may be a bad apple.

The Good: Great concept, trapped in a very limited space how do you deal with these people and what they're going to do.

The Bad: There really isn't a bad apple unless you just decide to do it. It's a nano-game, but there really isn't much conflict other than what you come up with. It could have used a bigger push mechanically to give the decisions more meaning, or a slightly better setup to go off in different directions. Like it's an elevator at a government building, or a super secret spy elevator or ... something.

The Other: I love the idea of nano-games like this. I think there should be more of them ... and I'm not saying it because there are 92 english games submitted. *sigh*

Would I play it? No. Not enough oomph, and too much just pushing the buttons to see what's happening.

6. The Orchard by Brie Sheldon

Twitter Pitch: The Orchard is a game about what is important, balance, and life where life shouldn't be. Sentient androids in a world after humans fight against their own creations to keep their humanity intact. 

The Good: The concept is amazing, I would love to see this fleshed out into a whole RPG setting rather than just a game chef game. There's so much here to play with, and you could play with the various times. The goal is there right at the beginning, and everything you do is geared towards it.

The Bad: Feels more like a boardgame than an RPG. There isn't much in the way of interaction, other than saying what you think needs to be done. Maybe even having a timing, or a resource bit like How We Came To Live Here, would have helped provide the little bit more structure that it needed.

The Other: It might be me, and the fact that I'm novelizing a lot of stuff lately, but I would love to just read what's going on here. I story or two would be just awesome to read.

Would I play it? Yes, but with the caveat that I'd have to modify it. I don't know if this means I would have to implement my "if I have to hack it, I'm going to say no" rule, but for now we'll say yes if there was more structure options for how the worms attack.

7. Soth by Steve Hickey

Twitter Pitch: It's Call of Cthulu after you've gone mad. A game about cultists in small-town USA trying to summon Soth.

The Good: I love this kind of concept, where you play the bad guys trying to do something. Reminds me a bit of Mike Olson's entry from last year. The character and situation generation at the beginning are quick and easy to get into. There's a lot of moving parts, and they seem to really be able to support the game ...

The Bad: if they were better explained, or layed out. There's a lot of *World all through this game, and if you have never played a *World game then you'll be left scratching your head.

The Other: The props are awesome. I love the book, and that it has the rituals in it. I think putting that in the players hands and letting them run is a great way to get a lot of conflict and action going. Something to think about, and probably use at some point in time.

Would I play it? Yes, but I like playing the bad folks.


8. The Worlds Above and Below by Michael Sands

Twitter Pitch: You and your friends find yourself in strange, fantastic worlds, and the locals need you to be heroes.

The Good: So many, many things. The settings, with the above and below as two places where adventure happens. The mechanic is lovely, where you have a complication and a success die, and the higher wins with allies, abilities and artefacts helping without adding numbers. Just the very fairy tale quality of the whole work.

The Bad: The kind of *World talk the book seems to take. That's a personal pet peeve, it's not even done poorly, but I've read a couple of *World influenced books and that lofty tone sometimes gets on my nerves. It got on it here, but that's me picking at very small, personal, nits.

The Other: I love the extra icons that you used. The site was there to be used, and kudos for you on using it.  

Would I play it? Let's fall down this rabbit hole! Shall we end up above, or below?


French Game Chef 2013

1. Techniques d'interrogation à l'usage des agents de la fonction publique de la glorieuse république populaire de Strana par Gregory Pogorzelski [Interrogation Techniques used by Civil Servants of the glorious republic of Strana by Gregory Pogorzelski]

Twitter Pitch: Un jeu pour deux joueurs se déroulant dans une dictature imaginaire à une époque indéterminée. Le fonctionnaire doit s'assurer que le suspect ne représente aucun danger réel ou potentiel pour la Glorieuse République Populaire et au moindre doute, de le faire incarcérer.

Le suspect, quant à lui, a pour objectif de ne pas finir en taule.

Ca ne sera pas sans effort.

Le Bon [The Good]: Ca, c'est une idée excellent. Le jeu c'est vraiment comme une interrogation, et le mechanism pour decider ce qui est vrai, et ce qui est faux est parfait pour la situation. [This is an amazing idea. It really plays out like an interrogation, and the mechanic is perfect for this kind of game.]

Le Mauvais [The Bad]: Au lieu d'avoir les cartes que vous piochez qui decide si le suspect est coupable ou innocent, peut être la première carte décide. Aussi, donnez le fonctionaire une situation ou il veut incarcérer le sujet si il est innocent et le libérer si il est coupable avec la même carte. [Instead of having the cards you draw decide guilt or innocence, why not have the first hidden card do that? Also, why not give the Investigator a chance where he or she wants to incarcerate innocent people because they're evil the same way.]

L'Autre [The Other]: Le dessin du document c'est parfait. J'espère d'être capable de crée un document comme ça dans une semaine dans la future. Ce n'arrivera jamais, mais j'espère quand même.

Jouons [Would I play it]? Camarade-patroite! La hiérarchie juge utile de te poser quelques questions ...

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