welcome to camp telophase

Just putting links to these games here so I remember them:

1000 Blank White Cards

Otherfoot: Only Pen and Paper Required

I've just finished playing through part I of PassionFruit Games' Tiger Eye, based on the paranormal romance of the same title by Marjorie Liu. I shall avoid doing extra work by stealing rachelmanija's quick description of the plot and pasting it here:

Dela is a psychic who opens a magic box. Hari is the ancient shapeshifter who pops out of it after being imprisoned for thousands of years as the slave of the owner of the box. The novel avoids accidentally creepy power dynamics by having the characters realize how creepy and horrible Hari’s situation is, and do their best to free him. Sexy and sweet. (Her original post here)

The game is, as they say, for the casual gamer, which is pretty much the sort of person who sticks to Bejeweled and other Popcap-type games, and who likes solving puzzles, albeit not fiendishly difficult ones.

The gameplay works pretty much like this: you get a cut scene that advances the plot a little, then the screen shows a location, which is seeded with one or more puzzles to solve - find the hidden objects, or click on an object and solve a puzzle associated with it. Once you've solved the puzzles, the plot advances a bit and you get another cut scene. Sometimes there are little purple question marks floating in a scene - you got a bit of bonus dialogue if you click on one of those. Puzzles range from cryptograms to rearranging blocks to form a picture to matching words up. They're not significantly hard - none of the fiendish puzzles from the Professor Layton games here - and there are hints available and you can skip puzzles if you give up and just want to get on with the story.

And much like Professor Layton, you get the niggling feeling that this city is full of completely incompetent people who need the heroine to solve all their problems for them before they can do anything, but I suspect that's pretty much the nature of games that try to integrate puzzles into the plot. :)

You also fill up a "psi orb" throughout the game, which allows you click on it and reveal a hidden object if you can't find it. If you manage to let it accumulate 50 hints, it unlocks the Extras area in the Main Menu, which gives you (highlight to read if you can't stand not knowing) a paper-doll Hari you can clothe in various outfits, and access to some preliminary art from the design stage.

You can also purchase a deluxe version with a strategy guide - it's not a complete walkthrough, but gives you hints and short descriptions of cut scenes - and the soundtrack. I went ahead and got that version, betting that I'd probably like the music, and I do - I'm not going around humming it, by any means, but I'll drop it onto my iPhone and use it when I need background noise.

The art ... well, it's adequate. But I'm kind of a snob about art, as you know. :) The plot follows the plot of the novel, and if you're interested in the romance, I'd suggest you read the book first, because you don't get to spend much time in the heads of the characters in the game, so you're not as invested in them. At least, I assume you're more invested in them in the book; I haven't read it. :)

So: if you like easy to middling-hard puzzles, recommended. I'll go ahead and get part II when it comes out because I like these sorts of puzzles. I like Professor Layton puzzles too, at least when I'm not screaming at the DS, trying not to throw it against the wall, and stalking over to the computer to Gamefaqs it. I ran into a few puzzles in Tiger Eye where I resorted to a hint, but I never felt hugely frustrated.

Stick with it after the credits roll; there's a little cut scene after that.

Rated PG-13 for minor violence, light innuendo, and cartoon manbutt.

ETA: What I completely forgot to mention is that about 4/5 of the way through, I hit something that caused the main screen to freeze up right after I completed a game. I reported this to the company, who responded very quickly, and had me e-mail my saved game file to them so they could investigate. Turns out it was a bug, which I was the first to report (although he said another report came in 30 minutes after mine did!), and they've fixed it and it will be in the patch they release in a couple of months. He also re-set my saved game to the proper point and sent it back, and I was able to continue without incident from there on out. So I recommend the company because of the extremely quick responsiveness and how nice they were! My judge of the worth of a company isn't whether or not I encounter any problems, it's how they respond to it, and they pass with flying colors.

I don't know the details of the bug, but I assume that if it hit *everyone* they'd have learned of it prior to now, so I suggest going ahead and buying the game now if you think you'd like it, and just contacting them if you run into it.

ETA2: Oh, well, in case you want to know, it's available from the site linked above in download form only, for $6.99 for the most inexpensive version with no extras, up to $12.99 for the version with the strategy guide, wallpapers, and soundtrack. Currently PC only, although they're coming out with a Mac version later this month. You can download a free demo and play a bit of the beginning of the game, if you want to try before you buy.

I have just created Mellotropolis in the country of Nepal. If you click on the link, the city will get improvements. :)