Here are my first impressions about titles, subtitles and blurbs.
Note: I didn't read your posts (except the beginning of Merk's first post) before writing mine, because I didn't want to be influenced; so my remarks may be sometimes redundant with what's already been said in this thread.
Note (2): Don't take my comments too seriously: some of them are harsh, and might prove to be extremely unfair when and if I actually play the games...
The Absolute Worst IF Game in History : Oh dear. Not a good start. The title is as unpromising as
My first stupid game or games like that. Probably just a totally unfunny joke game.
Afflicted: Maybe a sordid story about a serial killer, or a story about alien abduction. (Or a sordid story about abduction by serial killer aliens.)
Ananachronist: Somewhat intriguing, although this isn't the first game about temporal paradoxes. The blurb seems serious, but the title seems humorous; I wonder if the game is a comedy or not.
April in Paris: Doesn't seem bad (although I don't really know what a "social difficulty" could mean, but English isn't my first language). The real-world setting might be a pleasant change from fantasy/SF settings. I must say that the word "exasperating" makes me think of the author's posts on R*IF, because he often sounds exasperated in his posts
.
Berrost's Challenge: Sounds rather conventional, but Enchanter-like spells are still fun!
Buried In Shoes: Er, I don't know. Strange title, and not a very explicit blurb — but these are not necessarily bad things!
Channel Surfing: I don't know if it's about sports (But is surf-riding possible on channels? I thought it was on seas...) or about Internet chat channels.
Cry Wolf: Horror story. The writing is perhaps a bit overdone, but I like the fact that it apparently isn't a parody.
A Date With Death: The story seems really similar to several other ADRIFT games. Maybe it's a sequel to another game by David Whyld?
Dracula's Underground Crypt: Parody of horror/vampire stories. I like the punch-line (the last sentence) in the blurb. I'm not sure I like the subtitle that much, though.
Escape from the Underworld: A sequel to
Hell: A Comedy of Errors (which I never played, by the way)?
Everybody Dies: "Ever see a shopping cart in a river?" Er, no, I don't think. Is it that frequent in Canada? But anyway, the blurb is rather good: I'm curious about what happens in the game, which is a good sign.
Freedom: The blurb sounds
really boring. Let's hope the game is not, and the blurb is intentionally boring just to surprise us when we actually play it!
Grief: A sad story, I suppose.
The Hall of the Fount of Artois: Sounds interesting, but "You have one night..." suggests that there might be an irritating time limit, and the word "distraction" suggests that it might be a short and superficial game.
LAIR of the CyberCow: It seems to be a wacky parody, but the blurb suggests it might be actually funny.
The Lighthouse: Advice to competition authors: never,
never put sentences like "This game is very short and also is my very first game!" in your game blurbs. It's
not encouraging. Also, don't put obvious spelling mistakes like "foucus" instead of "focus". It's
not encouraging, either.
The Lucubrator: The title reminds me of the French word "élucubrations", which would suggest very crazy and improbable ideas. But according to my dictionary, the word "lucubrator" (I didn't know it) seems much more serious than that. A game about a writer?
Magic: Maybe another game with Enchanter-like spells, like Berrost's Challenge. I find the title a bit too obvious and generic for a story about magicians.
A Martian Odyssey: The subtitle is too detailed and complicated. I hope "interpersonal communication" isn't just a fancy way of saying that you can talk to one NPC somewhere in the game
. But the blurb isn't too bad.
The Missing Piece: "GUI text-based CRPG game"? But is it parser-based, at least? Otherwise, I'm not sure it's appropriate for the IF Comp; or, at least, I wouldn't be too interested.
Nerd Quest: A computer program written by a nerd for nerds. I also suspect it's just a poor game written mainly as a demo for the author's own homebrewed programming language.
The Ngah Angah School of Forbidden Wisdom: Wacky (and a bit silly) parody of fantasy stories, or of Harry Potter?
Nightfall: The name of the author (Eric Eve) suggests it'll probably be a very good game, and the blurb doesn't ruin that impression. The subtitle suggests it'll be shorter than
The Elysium Enigma.
Opening Night: A love story set in the 1930s or 1950s, perhaps?
Piracy 2.0: The title suggests it's version 2.0 of software for cracking copy-protected games, but it's obviously not true. The blurb says it's about pirates and the subtitle says it's in space, so I guess it must be about space pirates (brilliant deduction, isn't it?). Apparently, it begins in a prison from which you must escape, which isn't the most original beginning ever.
Project Delta: I like CYOA-style adventure gamebooks, but I never liked too much CYOA as computer games... And the words "short prequel" suggest it's just a teaser, or a game the author couldn't finish in time for the IF Comp.
Recess At Last: Sounds like a somewhat superficial story about a teenage boy.
Red Moon: Is this a remake of the Level 9 game?
Riverside: Not a bad title, but I just can't guess what the game's about with it.
Search for the Ultimate Weapon: Historical game about ancient China in which half the words are in Chinese. Might be interesting anyway.
Snack Time!: Seems to be a simple and unambitious game.
Trein: I suppose you mean "paying their taxes", not "playing their taxes"? Otherwise, the blurb's not too bad.
Violet: A story about a guy who has to write a story? Doesn't sound very fascinating, but we'll see.
When Machines Attack: A clichéd science fiction story about robots rebelling against humans?
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