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If I Wasn't Shy

by Joey Jones profile

Episode 14 of Apollo 18 Tribute Album
2012

Web Site

(based on 11 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

"I kinda just sit at the checkout, and the place isn't even all that busy. So why'd you want to play a game about my life? I mean, it's not terrible but it would be so much more if I wasn't shy."

(Part of Apollo 18+20: The IF Tribute Album)


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Number of Reviews: 2
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Revisiting after several years, I "get it" a bit more, May 8, 2016
by Andrew Schultz (Chicago)

It's always a treat to uncover something you missed. I missed it while I was beta testing. I thought I tried everything. But looking here and seeing the author had an alternative ending in mind, I--well, I sat down and found it, and what's more, (Spoiler - click to show)it makes sense in the context of its sequel All Alone. And it's very satisfying, and I don't want to spoil it if he doesn't.

But the characterization is very good, and if you only get the default ending, you'll have a few laughs and sympathy for the poor trapped character waiting for the grocery store to close so he can do...well, something, he guesses. This is all done without too much weighty angst, as the cashier observes other people who are probably about as unhappy as he is. In fact it's fun to unlock his frustrations.

I'm not going to rate this, because it feels like a conflict of interest as a beta tester. However, it is one of those games with a hidden ending that may not be quite as raucous or jolting or "a-ha" as The Ascot, but--it makes sense, and it made me smile and replay the sequel, and if you're an author, you may hope to do something like that for your readers.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A teenager store clerk makes a big decision, February 14, 2016

In the Apollo 18 Album, this game has you play as a teenage boy working as a store clerk. A lot happens around you, and you can look and examine, but you can't do much.

Or can you? On my second play through, armed with knowledge from the mini-sequel Fingertips: All Alone, I tried something else. And this is where the game shines; your attempts to do something unlock a lot of your real feelings.

I felt like this game captured a lot of the feeling of a teenager. Although it is short, it managed to meet my criteria of being polished, descriptive, having interactivity that draws you in, and affecting me emotionally.

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If I Wasn't Shy on IFDB

Recommended Lists

If I Wasn't Shy appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Apollo 18+20 by Teaspoon
Interactive fiction games, with one game per track on the album Apollo 18 by They Might Be Giants. The regular tracks are generally short games. The Fingertips tracks are one-move games (however the authors interpreted that). The games...

Polls

The following polls include votes for If I Wasn't Shy:

PC's personality integrated with the story by JasonMel
I would like to be able to recommend to someone many examples of interactive fiction in which the player character is far from a cipher or an everyman or everywoman, but is instead a character with a definite personality within a game...

The most underrated game you've authored by Anya Johanna DeNiro
Interpret "under-rated" however that means to you. Perhaps it's one that's simply not played very much for whatever reason. Or it's a game you consider flawed but still worth playing, or an early effort that you are fond of.




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