I.A.G. Alpha

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	I.A.G.-Alpha.zip Archive file that is playable with an INSTEAD interpreter. https://instead-hub.github.io/en/ This game requires an interpreter program - refer to the game's documentation for details.
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I.A.G. Alpha
by Serhii Mozhaiskyi

Science Fiction
2018

Web Site

(based on 6 ratings)
2 member reviews

About the Story

You may think this game is about a post-Soviet Research Institute. About an experiment that went out of control. You may think that the initials "I.A.G." are somehow related to the Institute. You may think this game is unfinished. You may even think that the game ends exactly as the author tells you.

But then you will figure it out -- these statements are not entirely true.

* There are two endings in this game.

* Credits roll at the end of the game.

* If you do not see the credits roll, you haven't reached the end of the game. Yet.

Game Details

Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: October 1, 2018
Current Version: 1.0
License: Freeware
Development System: INSTEAD
Forgiveness Rating: Merciful
IFID: Unknown
TUID: erj212utudi2kltv

Awards

18th Place - 24th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2018)

Editorial Reviews

IFComprehensive

All the different interfaces are well done individually and combine into a coherent whole. The conceit of reviving an earlier buggy game is charming, and the missing graphics and author notes throughout the game are excellent touches.
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McT's Interactive Fiction Reviews

Truly meta, in the best possible sense, this little puzzly choice game is a delight. It is anything but incomplete, this game. It is a completely polished little gem. <...> The only ding this game gets is for its length. I’m thoroughly enjoying it, then it ends. I do get it though – this must have taken quite a bit of implementing.
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The Breakfast Review
On the whole, I found this to be an intriguing little gem of a puzzle. The writing was fairly terse, which I found to be a relief after some of the wordier offerings so far. It felt to be just right for what the game was. And the Soviet complex setting did seem very suitable to the mechanics of the game, though of course they're technically unrelated; so did the general visual presentation of the yellowed drafting paper background. Very nice.
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Member Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Rating:

Number of Reviews: 2
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Brilliant meta game, November 23, 2018

by Spike

I.A.G. Alpha was my favorite game from IFComp 2018, and I played all of them. An English translation of a work originally written in Russian, I.A.G. Alpha appears to be an unfinished game about a guy working at a post-Soviet research institute. Its opening text consists of a note from the author explaining that he never finished writing the game but decided to release what he had written anyway. On the second screen there are comments like "TODO: finish the scene on the roof" and "TODO: comment out the debugger." And, sure enough, there's a DEBUGGER command in the upper right corner that lets you peek into parts of the game's source code. After a few scenes the author stops the action once again, this time to say that he thinks the introductory text is too long, to detail what his original plan for the game was, and then to explain more about why he never finished it.

You play a little further, and you eventually come to realize that the "unfinished" aspect of the game you are purportedly playing is entirely intentional - in fact, it's a setup for the real game to pull what I think is the most genius meta move I've ever seen. I really don't want to spoil it by giving it away, but it's so simple and yet so fundamental. And that's what makes it work so well.

An absolutely brilliant game.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A brilliant choice game with a meta narrative and text input, February 3, 2019

by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 1 hour

This is a well-done IFComp 2018 game.

It runs in ITCH and is primarily choice-based. The conceit is that the author wanted to develop a big, fun sci-fi fi puzzle game, but didn't succeed.

Instead, he leaves the frame of his unfinished game alone, and adds author commentary. As the game progresses, the protagonist has more and more power to affect the game itself.

The styling is excellent, with several beautiful images and switches between different interfaces. The music is lovely and appropriate.

This is a game made with love, and it shows.

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The following polls include votes for I.A.G. Alpha:

Games where the interaction is really cool and clever by Isa
I'm really interested in games which put a new spin on the mechanics. I'm thinking of a specific one where the narrator is really mean to you and is its own character in the game, but I'm really interested in any games which are...

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