A beautiful work. I like the simple structure that underlies this game, yet provides you with so much replayability. Knowing what will happen in the second playthrough onwards does not lessen the weight of the choice. In fact, the knowledge heightens it. Even if the large chunk of the journey is always the same, the choice you have made shifted the context enough. I think this game still holds up to four-five times of playing.
Wow, thanks! Four or five playthroughs is more than I figured it would really warrant - though if you want to see absolutely everything then that probably is about what it would take.
If there's any chance you can remember what/where those typos were, I'd be hugely grateful! I'm keen to polish it up further if I can, but the nature of the game makes it hard to proofread exhaustively.
I will definitely let you know the next time I play :) It didn't impede my ability to play, although the font might be a little hard to read for certain people (I don't know this as a fact, but saying this because the 'w' in particular kept messing with my flow when reading).
Thanks! And yeah, the font's been mentioned before: I actually started out with something even more flowery and toned it down quite a bit, but possibly not quite as much as would have been ideal.
I'm so glad it's made such an impression! This has absolutely made my day. :-)
The game was made with Twine, which I'm a huge fan of: it's really simple to pick up and use, but offers a lot of power and flexibility despite that. I've actually written a series of tutorials on it, and if you're curious how this particular game fits together you can actually import the HTML file back into Twine and explore its flowchart by following this one. (It might be a little hard to follow exactly how it works if you're unfamiliar with Twine, but the basic structure should be easy enough to grasp.)
Glad you liked it! There's plenty more to find on a second run through if you find time to come back. (I like to think it'll hold up to three or more plays, but at that point there'll be a fair bit of repetition.)
Aaaah - I think I see the confusion. It's a browser game, so there's no need to download anything in the first place. I'm guessing you may have got it in a bundle, and that the bundle links you straight to the empty downloads page. The game itself is right here: it should load within the page itself.
Oh I love this game. First time I played I got 3 of each was so fun! Same with my second run. Played a lot more times after that and I love the different dialogue depending on what cards were chosen!
Glad you liked it! I feel as though the game does work best when you've got roughly similar numbers of cards and have a bit of freedom to experiment with them (particularly at the beginning), but at the same time it's interesting to see what people make of it when they've just got tons of one to work with.
I believe I played this 10+ times in one sitting, as I'm a sucker for trying to read all the new dialogue. I still doubt I got to read everything. I like the fact that 'spider' is pretty """random""" based on other things that have happened. It always made me pause to check.
One note I saw was that the manticore dialogue for "spider" said "serpent" though. Just fyi. ;)
10/10, loved the game. Would have totally played something like this as a longer form game.
Thanks so much for playing - and for giving this such thought! I'm still planning to come back to it at some point (both Draw Nine itself, and hopefully the same basic idea for another game). It's tough to write because each step of the journey needs two locations and each of those locations needs four outcomes for the cards, but at the same time that does at least mean that the story will never branch uncontrollably.
I'm afraid I can't spot that mention of the serpent in the passage where you use the spider card against the manticore - there are two versions of the encounter so a fair bit to check through. Do you happen to remember if you saw it in the version where the manticore is defeated or the one where you just run away?
Ah! That's weird - the version I have here says "summoned creature." I submitted it to Backslash Lit a while ago and it's possible that what I'm looking at has already been through one more round of proofreading for that. Thanks very much for the screenshot. I would have really struggled to work that out without it (and I'll be sure to make sure it's fixed on Itch whenever I update the game).
Thank you so much for sharing my work! I'm really glad you liked it. I can confirm there is currently no music, but I do have serious plans to add some: on my desk I've got the list of tracks, and in a spare tab I've got an audio library that I hope will do what I need it to. It's actually quite reassuring to hear that's a feature you'd like to see in the game!
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A beautiful work. I like the simple structure that underlies this game, yet provides you with so much replayability. Knowing what will happen in the second playthrough onwards does not lessen the weight of the choice. In fact, the knowledge heightens it. Even if the large chunk of the journey is always the same, the choice you have made shifted the context enough. I think this game still holds up to four-five times of playing.
Wow, thanks! Four or five playthroughs is more than I figured it would really warrant - though if you want to see absolutely everything then that probably is about what it would take.
the ending felt a little underwhelming, and there were a couple typos, but I still really enjoy the concept and plan to play this again :)
If there's any chance you can remember what/where those typos were, I'd be hugely grateful! I'm keen to polish it up further if I can, but the nature of the game makes it hard to proofread exhaustively.
I will definitely let you know the next time I play :) It didn't impede my ability to play, although the font might be a little hard to read for certain people (I don't know this as a fact, but saying this because the 'w' in particular kept messing with my flow when reading).
Thanks! And yeah, the font's been mentioned before: I actually started out with something even more flowery and toned it down quite a bit, but possibly not quite as much as would have been ideal.
I played it twice. the first time I got rewarded, the second time I got killed.
I love this. Really atmospheric and well-written story with great replayability and interesting choices to make
I keep coming back to this for years now. I gotta ask how was this made?
I'm so glad it's made such an impression! This has absolutely made my day. :-)
The game was made with Twine, which I'm a huge fan of: it's really simple to pick up and use, but offers a lot of power and flexibility despite that. I've actually written a series of tutorials on it, and if you're curious how this particular game fits together you can actually import the HTML file back into Twine and explore its flowchart by following this one. (It might be a little hard to follow exactly how it works if you're unfamiliar with Twine, but the basic structure should be easy enough to grasp.)
A wonderful game! I only played once, this time, but intend to return.
Glad you liked it! There's plenty more to find on a second run through if you find time to come back. (I like to think it'll hold up to three or more plays, but at that point there'll be a fair bit of repetition.)
D: game gone
^^; Is it not showing up for you at all? I don't know what this means.
ah. sorry. i went to the download page but it says 'nothing is available for download yet.'
Aaaah - I think I see the confusion. It's a browser game, so there's no need to download anything in the first place. I'm guessing you may have got it in a bundle, and that the bundle links you straight to the empty downloads page. The game itself is right here: it should load within the page itself.
Very cool concept!
Oh I love this game. First time I played I got 3 of each was so fun! Same with my second run. Played a lot more times after that and I love the different dialogue depending on what cards were chosen!
Glad you liked it! I feel as though the game does work best when you've got roughly similar numbers of cards and have a bit of freedom to experiment with them (particularly at the beginning), but at the same time it's interesting to see what people make of it when they've just got tons of one to work with.
I believe I played this 10+ times in one sitting, as I'm a sucker for trying to read all the new dialogue. I still doubt I got to read everything. I like the fact that 'spider' is pretty """random""" based on other things that have happened. It always made me pause to check.
One note I saw was that the manticore dialogue for "spider" said "serpent" though. Just fyi. ;)
10/10, loved the game. Would have totally played something like this as a longer form game.
Thanks so much for playing - and for giving this such thought! I'm still planning to come back to it at some point (both Draw Nine itself, and hopefully the same basic idea for another game). It's tough to write because each step of the journey needs two locations and each of those locations needs four outcomes for the cards, but at the same time that does at least mean that the story will never branch uncontrollably.
I'm afraid I can't spot that mention of the serpent in the passage where you use the spider card against the manticore - there are two versions of the encounter so a fair bit to check through. Do you happen to remember if you saw it in the version where the manticore is defeated or the one where you just run away?
That would be super awesome, though I imagine that it would take a while. :)
The worldbuilding of this game is also very well developed for what it is. Very neat.
Here's a screenshot! Hope it helps!
Ah! That's weird - the version I have here says "summoned creature." I submitted it to Backslash Lit a while ago and it's possible that what I'm looking at has already been through one more round of proofreading for that. Thanks very much for the screenshot. I would have really struggled to work that out without it (and I'll be sure to make sure it's fixed on Itch whenever I update the game).
Nice! Glad to help!
That was a nice moment ! Thank you for creating this game.
Thank you for playing! It's so good to know you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for sharing my work! I'm really glad you liked it. I can confirm there is currently no music, but I do have serious plans to add some: on my desk I've got the list of tracks, and in a spare tab I've got an audio library that I hope will do what I need it to. It's actually quite reassuring to hear that's a feature you'd like to see in the game!
Glad to be of assistance :D And truly thank you for making such an amazing experience. Can't wait to see what comes of any updates you have!
I loved it!