I made a series of notes as I played the games in Introcomp 2006, so that I could score them appropriately. They’re after the break. Keep in mind that these are just running notes, so sometimes they’re grumpy and sometimes they’re wrong. I’ve added a final thought to each one in italics.

Child’s Play

• There are a lot of comma splices, good grammar is important.
• Of course, I see, it’s about this kid, and he’s little, it’s evoking his voice and stuff. But comma splices just bother me, they feel wrong. I’d prefer another method.
• That issue aside, I like the intro, Good PC, good job making the help text in the PC’s voice, and fun puzzles.
• This was a fun little puzzley intro with a cool viewpoint.

Mechs

• Ooo, I’m seeing something Bad Machine-ish here.
• Nice setting, nice feel. A few shaky things; missing line breaks, an underimplemented Garcia.
• The puzzle is fun, although I didn’t quite feel motivated to solve it; my situation didn’t seem quite so bad.
• I liked the feel of the game, although it breaks Asimov’s Three Laws (specifically, the “inaction” clause). If it were cleaned up and finished nicely, it’d be really good.

Nothing But Mazes

• I burst out laughing when I saw the picture and heard the really dramatic music. Hopefully this was the intended effect.
• Holy crap cutscenes. Perhaps it’s because this is just an intro, but I can’t help feel like I should be able to interact just a bit with the opening scenes.
• Ahh, a linear conversation. I really do prefer this to the noninteractive cutscenes, even if I don’t seem to be able to affect things.
• Oh, good. The music *is* supposed to be humorous.
• Fun. This is well-put-together, and it does a few fun things. It does feel a little IF-community buddy-buddy in-jokey to me. Narrow audience it’s targeting.

Sabotage

• Exposition ahoy!
• Frown. Explain to me the interface. Don’t be cutesey and give me hints about what the hint verb is. (THINK, apparently.)
• We have some unimplemented nouns. Directions are also unclear; I have to lay it out in my head by trial and error.
• Hunt the verbage, too. UNLOCK DOOR WITH (KEY) should work, even in a scifi setting.
• Best exchange of the comp so far:
  > X FIELD
But it's an energy field?!
  Interrobang?!
• I like the setting, and the puzzles make sense, but the implementation is shaky. Generally clean and grammatical, though.

Southern Gothic

• Terse description. Does the job.
• Awe-some. Take that, fourth wall.
• I really like this. Some issues with the order of events; people talk before they’re introduced, et cetera.
• I really, really like this. Dramatic. Well done.
• In looking over the other reviews of the comp, no one else seemed to like this piece. I have to wholeheartedly disagree. It has a few bugs, but I felt real sympathy with the main character, and the writing was top-notch. I hope that gun goes off by the end of the third act.

Art of Deception

• Spy game. Cool.
• I didn’t actually do much, though. Good fiction, but I wanted a little more interaction. I’ll replay with hints on.
• Hmm. Didn’t do much better this time. I like the setting, but I didn’t feel like I had enough practice with the tools to do well at the cargo scene; maybe that’s the intent. Solid game, though.

Unyielding Fury

• Proofreading would help a bit. Setting is nice.
• A lot of unimplemented verbs. In the opening room, I can’t see the sky, moon, moss, leaves, floor, or trees.
• I went north and got trapped in darkness. Restarting.
• The response to AWAKEN is not appropriate given what we’re told in the intro.
• Is this all there is? I don’t know that I can do anything.
• After looking at other reviews, I discover that I could indeed do something. I don’t know what, though. This game begs for more testing before release.

Best of show for me would have to be Southern Gothic. I loved it, and can’t wait to see more.