tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79947114858675458692024-11-08T08:15:04.218-07:00Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-88056628500228133252013-10-06T13:00:00.000-06:002013-10-06T13:00:03.206-06:00

Clearly this story is going to be about Leonardo Dicaprio and Sam Rockwell going to a small Spanish grocery store. I think we can all agree on that. (by the way, wouldn't that be amazing if that turned out to be true?) I think I can imagine the conversation going like this: Leo - Sam, you know I have to say, as great as you were in Moon, I sincerely enjoyed your work in Confessions of a

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-53877268047564073152013-10-06T10:00:00.000-06:002013-10-06T10:00:05.851-06:00

Oh boy. I think the real question we're dealing with is what exactly are we saving John from? From his debts to sketchy creditors? Are we saving him from death-demons from the mouth of hell? Are we saving him from his very self??? Yeeah. I'm going to go with that last guess. The title screams intimate personal drama. Perhaps John is suffering from a drug habit. Maybe it's low personal self

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-42687347687975780502013-10-06T07:30:00.000-06:002013-10-06T07:30:02.333-06:00

This was one of their promo photos. Cool, no? Solarium. Takes it's name from Sol, our sun. Reminds me of a play I was almost in this past spring. Tried to squeeze it between a production of Patrick Marber's Closer and Peter Schaffer's Black Comedy, but couldn't do it because tech week would have conflicted with the first week of rehearsals for Black Comedy. It was an original production

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-87048260430305724192013-10-04T22:30:00.000-06:002013-10-04T17:16:37.274-06:00

Well, just going on the title alone, I'm going to guess this is pretty clearly about Mr. Bonaventure going to his local synagogue, which is nice because I'd like a game to explore some some religious culture. I grew up Lutheran and all we have is Garrison Keillor and Lutefisk, a sort of lose/lose situation however you look at it. I'm curious what happens at this temple? Do you have to wear a

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-73019044160713741012013-10-04T21:00:00.000-06:002013-10-04T14:24:18.616-06:00

The Challenge? Hmm... Do you think it's apt to be challenging? I'd make a crack about hypertext games not being challenging, but man that awesome PDF game sort of took the wind out of my sails when it comes to my unfounded stereotypes. I'm traditionally terrible at guessing things by their titles alone (let's just say I was VERY disappointed by Moby Dick) but let's play that game here. I'm

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-91674144540889578852013-10-04T18:30:00.000-06:002013-10-04T14:24:55.235-06:00

Hey gang! Are you ready for some Z-code?? I sure am! Wow. It seems like just a few short years ago nearly ALL of the Comp games were written in Inform. And now here we are. This is the fifth game I've reviewed and not only is it the first Z-code game, it's the first game that will actually involve me typing anything (unless you count me typing my name at the very beginning of Mrs. Tipsy and the

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-82522722330650948412013-10-04T10:19:00.002-06:002013-10-04T10:20:32.412-06:00

Okay. I'm a sucker for time travel stories. They are possibly my favorite kind of stories. However we also have the only entry entered in the "PDF" category. What the hell does that mean? PDF? Last I checked it was't a computer programming language. It was a easy and routine way to display and print static text. How on earth can this possibly be interactive. I think it is very possible I'm

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-3577127465347077602013-10-03T20:00:00.000-06:002013-10-04T07:10:16.742-06:00

Vulse... Hmm... I don't really know what that means. It's possible that my vocabulary is about to be expanded or maybe it's just a made-up name or word. Either way, to say I'm nervous is an understatement. I really don't know if I like these web based hyper text games. Right after I published my last review I noticed that Emily Short had just reviewed the same game. And guess what? She thought it

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-18201864120860771952013-10-03T16:00:00.000-06:002013-10-03T16:00:00.961-06:00

What a title, amirite? Who Among Us hasn't stared forlornly at the blank computer screen waiting for the muses to will a perfect title into our heads and onto the page? Who Among Us hasn't had trepidation over doing another Web based game and hoped against hope that it won't be another hypertext choose your own adventure story? Who Among Us didn't love those books when we were kids, spending

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-18040425760206540942013-10-03T12:30:00.000-06:002013-10-03T12:30:02.228-06:00

Okay, first of all: I think we can all agree this is a pretty amazing title. This is like one of those creative writing exercise prompts. Who is Mrs. Wobbles? Why does she live in a giant tangerine? Why is she constantly sipping gin out of a vitamin water bottle? Is that why she's so wobbly? So many questions!! Also, this is my first web game. Well, to be fair this is my first game in the

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-5219560624766681522013-10-03T08:06:00.000-06:002013-10-03T08:56:21.506-06:00

Attention IF Authors: This is the scary mime that's about to review your work. Oh man, guys. Oh. man. It's been a long time. Too long. How have you been? Husband and kids fine? Hmm? Oh good. Okay, stop talking. I think it's been roughly two to three YEARS since I last played IF. I have missed it. But, you know, not enough to actually get myself caught up. Long story short, two years ago I

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-64594647518159003952012-11-22T22:00:00.000-07:002012-11-22T22:00:09.865-07:00

Okay boys and goils, we're back in the realm of traditional IF! Parsers! Z-code! Blue background and white font! Ahh, the memories. And I like the title. It puts me a bit in mind of the Portal series, which despite involving some reflexes and the necessity of shooting a "gun", I deeply loved. Both for being wonderfully exciting puzzle experiences and also for being probably the funniest and

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-34112008101886394992012-11-22T21:00:00.000-07:002012-11-22T21:00:00.838-07:00

Uh oh, guys. It's another web one. I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The last one... not so good... not so comprehensible if you catch what I'm saying. But I shall keep an open mind. Lord knows there's been a lot of dreck written for Z-code and TADS while obviously there have been many many great games written for those platforms as well. I can't generalize about a medium based

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-65410192888967963702012-11-22T18:30:00.000-07:002012-11-22T18:30:00.258-07:00

Hmm, a curious start to the competition. Now granted, I've been out of the loop for roughly two years now, but this I think this is the first entry in a comp that I've had to play online... (maybe I'm wrong about that... I'm trying to remember) More than that this game is not alone. There are seven games in the same category, easily besting Tads which only has one. (Sad face emoticon) Oh well.

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-38782780293378762532012-11-22T16:00:00.000-07:002012-11-22T16:00:01.446-07:00

Hello friends! Long time no see. I know. I know. I'm super late to the game on this one. The competition has been over and done with for 22 days now. Not only that, but I didn't even play ANY of the games from last year's competition. But, in my defense, last year at this time I was in the middle of moving to Boston, and readjusting, and blah blah blah. Why didn't I review the games promptly this

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com1Cambridge, MA, USA42.3736158 -71.109733542.3266938 -71.1886975 42.420537800000005 -71.0307695tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-60043144678975137192012-08-06T14:31:00.001-06:002012-08-06T14:36:55.553-06:00

I'm terrible with titles. I've written plays with such terrible titles as "Vice Play" (because it was a play about vice!) or "Drama" (because it was a meta-play about drama). And the title is always the LAST thing I come up with, long after I've completed a first draft.  I think part of it is that I've just always been bad with the "names" of things. I rarely think about what I name my

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-49423604854796114382012-08-05T17:57:00.001-06:002012-08-05T18:03:06.806-06:00

I'm going to present this one without much comment. I'm not sure what I think of it and would appreciate any feedback people out there have.  So instead, here's a video showing exactly how I cook and eat ramen noodles. The play is after the jump! Play #5 - Voluntary Conditions(The office of Sue Sharp, a young trim Human Resources representative of BayRise Inc. She finishes typing an

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-81144804764301942602012-08-04T06:42:00.000-06:002012-08-04T06:42:41.448-06:00

One of the reasons I like this exercise so much is that it provides endless variety. After the heavy subject matter of the last two scripts, I decided to go the opposite direction for this one by making not only a comedy, but making a scene almost aggressively absurd. More of a "skit" than any kind of formal play (though that never stopped David Ives or Christopher Durang), this is also

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-17486169458240397372012-08-03T07:31:00.002-06:002012-08-03T07:33:19.937-06:00

The title of this play is taken from a quote from the preface to Modern Mythology by Louis Aragon: "O reason, reason, abstract phantom of the waking state, I had already expelled you from my dreams, now I have reached a point where those dreams are about to become fused with apparent realities: now there is only room here for myself." As you might have noticed with the other plays, I tend not

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-1812595606169629262012-08-03T07:21:00.000-06:002012-08-03T07:21:15.577-06:00

Much like the first play, this one began with an initial picture of how the scene began, and then I just let the characters take it for here. The difference is that very premise demands immediate conflict and also insists on a resolution of some finality, as compared to "Men", which just sort of... ended. Not that the play is perfect. It's way over the top melodrama, with extreme situations

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-87188565167883120352012-08-03T07:13:00.001-06:002012-08-03T07:13:28.274-06:00

When I first say down to write the first play of this competition, I was really worried that with the short amount of time I'd have to write each of these scripts I wouldn't be able to wrap them up very well. So I came up with an idea of ending each and every script with the stage direction [ Character X Exits, Pursued by a Bear], the insane stage direction made famous by Shakespeare in his play

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-32145986438968119642012-08-03T07:00:00.000-06:002012-08-03T07:00:01.670-06:00

Wow. So... it's been officially a year since I've posted anything to this blog. And... I don't think I'm going to pretend anymore that I'm going to keep it up, etc. Things this past year have been in major flux for me. I moved from Cheyenne, Wyoming all the way to the (for me) big(ish) city of Boston. New friends, new life, etc. I would LOVE to get back to reviewing IF and I, if I'm not too

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-63341353918550101872011-08-02T16:50:00.000-06:002011-08-02T16:50:26.823-06:00

To follow up on my recent post regarding religion, here's a more even handed video, which is a fascinating way the language of the Christian bible has changed over time to mean different things. It's very short and completely worth the three minutes it would take you to watch it.

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-51762293444918581782011-08-01T15:49:00.000-06:002011-08-01T15:49:08.304-06:00

Another monday, another picture puzzle!! Ooh boy! This time we have a selection of several brand name cereals (sorry oatmeal!) and your job, should you choose to accept it, is to see how many of them you can figure out. Good luck! All will be revealed Friday.

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994711485867545869.post-42876746250160877762011-07-29T01:32:00.003-06:002011-07-29T01:32:00.822-06:00

Okay, so just like last week we had two puzzles. One without any words and another consisting entirely of words. Also, my very first acrostic which I think I mentioned before how obscenely long it took me to make it. I wish I could find a way to better present those kind of puzzles online, because really if you wanted to solve it, you'd really have to print out both the clues and puzzle picture

Brooks Reeveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05357016118404835027noreply@blogger.com0