The games for the 2020 AIF Mini-Comp are now available to play and vote on. We had a good turnout of games this year with five microcomp entries.
- The View to Her Apartment by stochastic (HTML)
- Going Down by Louys Bilitis (HTML)
- Amy's Predatory Boyfriend by Lost Trout (HTML)
- The General's Daughter by accofake (HTML)
- Amnesia by Eulexia (HTML)
The games can be downloaded from the following link:
https://mega.nz/file/wrB2AQ4a#8ucvI9GYeLyjGkD9pn7tBVCjWqAT6fk33u7ElWskyDs
They are also available for download from here. All the games are HTML Twine games. Double-clicking each file will open the game in a web browser where you can play them.
Please rate the games at this voting site:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAnnymTc2kTIJbd34xBNGQwqJZdJCffdRrLbLzbz0gn3R1Ew/viewform?usp=sf_link
Voting will run until the end of September 7. The previous voting system worked well despite its minimalism, so I thought I would go even more minimalist this time. This year, your only choice is to give a game either one or two stars in each category. The meaning of the stars is up to you. You can give all the games two stars except when a game needs a lot of work in an area. You can give all games one star except for those you find one particularly exceptional in some area. You can give two stars to the games you like and one star to the games you don't like. Assign the stars as you see fit.
Feel free to discuss the games openly during the voting period.
If any of the authors want to release an update to their games, please
just send them to me, though not everyone will necessarily get the
updated versions.
Thank you to the authors for making these games for everyone to enjoy!
Addendum
- These games are NOT playable in Internet Explorer. Please use a modern browser to play these games
- The game Going Down begins with a blank screen with only the words "Monday". Click on the Monday to proceed
- Update 8/21/2020: Amnesia and the General's Daughter were updated with bugfixes
Thank you again to all the authors for putting in all that time and effort to make these minicomp games for the community.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that these games weren't as interesting as I hoped.
ReplyDeleteThe micro-comp constraints were very heavy this year. It really limited the possible directions that authors could go in.
Delete"Amnesia" was by far the best. Just a horrible shame it was not completed and just ended randomly.
ReplyDeleteReally? I thought "going down" was really well written. Sure it's linear but there is a lot there for a game in a minicomp
Delete"Going Down" was somewhat well-written. Not amazing.You kinda have to click the word "Fuck!" to progress several times.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be some confusion about my minicomp entry Amy's Predatory Boyfriend, so I'll explain a bit here. It's an attempt at a "low-tech" AIF game that uses little to no programming. I made it because
ReplyDelete1. I think it may be the future of AIF. As indie computer games become more commercialized, board games have become a rich, vibrant source of innovation in game design. Since board games have a lower barrier to entry, many new game designers are making exciting new, experimental games through the medium of board games. I wanted to see what a similar "board game" approach to AIF might look like, and what sort of game designs might work.
2. I'm tired of people saying that they can't make AIF games because they don't know how to program, so I tried to see how little programming was necessary to make a full-featured AIF game.
3. Many people making adult VNs use the same linear approach in the design of their games. I wanted to show how a more advanced AIF sex engine looks with all its internals hanging out.
I really enjoyed the idea of APB. However, I noticed while playing through that there was a "bare sex" check box, but nothing in the game referred to checking that box. I'm guessing the sex chapter wasn't completely finished?
DeleteI was intending on having an extensive sex chapter where Amy becomes more confident and skilled about sex, but I started to lose motivation and early feedback suggested that the whole design was too complicated, so I never completed that part.
DeleteHi all, author of Going Down here. With a week or so to go, I think anyone that's going to play the games has done so by now, whether they've voted yet or not. Nobody's opinions are swaying at this point.
ReplyDeleteFor those hardy souls who powered through multiple paths and saw both sex scenes (your sacrifice is noted), may I ask which of the two you preferred ('neither' is a perfectly valid choice)? I enjoyed writing Friends with Benefits more but I think Lovers came out better. Feel free to comment on any aspect, writing or technical. Tell me what could be improved.
If you haven't voted yet, please do so for somebody, anybody, whatever categories, for whichever entries you liked or disliked. As authors we all deal in feedback as our only currency, except for those on Patreon, who also have literal currency as their currency. And if you hated all the games, why not consider writing the game you want to play, and maybe release it to the community? Tell us about what you want as much as what you don't want.
Thanks!
A lot of the minicomp comments seem to spread out now between here, the Reddit, and the Discord. You might get some additional responses by asking directly on the Discord or making a new Reddit post about it.
DeleteHi, author of Amnesia here. I haven't yet played through both paths, but I plan to--I have just done the FwB path so far.
DeleteI was really impressed by both the writing and the use of delays, both of which do a very good job of portraying the mental struggle involved with the whole thing. I might have liked if there was less 'rails' on the whole thing and more freedom, but that's probably in the nature of a minicomp.
My only main complaint is that I'm up against you in this contest, because I strongly suspect you're going to run away with it. Well done.
Thanks guys.
DeleteI think it was a strong showing all round this year. Something for everyone. I'd be interested in a continuation of Amnesia, if only to see where the story leads. It could go in a number of directions. I didn't even see the twist coming, despite the foreshadowing.
FWIW, my money's on The General's Daughter, with the strongest balance of story/writing/gameplay, and the widest appeal.