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About the StoryA short murder mystery set aboard a space station.Game Details |
Awards
37th Place - 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2015)
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: ![]() Number of Reviews: 2 Write a review |

This was an IFComp 2015 entry. This is a mid-length Twine game with an interesting format: each page is written somewhat like a play, listing the location and people present, each in their own color. Then dialogue appears a line at a time, each in the color belonging to the person.
The game is set on a space station. You are a computer, and there has been a murder on the station.
I enjoyed the story, especially the 2nd and 3rd times I played it. Most of the interactivity is found in selecting the order of presentation. I am beginning to become a fan of dialogue-only games, like this and Birdland.

This game chose a couple of unusual engine options - setting out dialogue with a speech (no speaker tags, but colour coded), and using real-time delays (very gently, eg someone took a few seconds to fetch something).
The colours were a bit distracting - with my memory, I'd rather have had the standard script format of
Bob: Hello Jane
Jane: Hello Bob
etc
but I actually didn't mind the timing thing this time. I'm a linear storyteller myself, so it was surprising that I enjoyed walking from room to room to get the different bits of the story. And then I... wasn't entirely sure what the ending actually meant. So that wasn't good.
But luckily there's a "back" button, and from discussion I know that my impression of the ending was correct.
Playing as a computer, I felt my human-PC bias kick in, but the computer was more interesting than I'd have guessed.
If you enjoyed The Insect Massacre...
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Polls
The following polls include votes for The Insect Massacre:For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible innovation uses of 2015 by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
This is for suggesting games released in 2015 which you think might be worth considering for Best Use of Innovation in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not...
For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible PCs of 2015 by verityvirtue
This is for suggesting player characters from games released 2015 who you think might be worth considering for Best PC/Best Individual PC in the XYZZY awards. Leave the name (or namelessness) of the PC (or PCs) in the comment on your...
For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible settings of 2015 by verityvirtue
This is for suggesting settings from games released 2015 which you think might be worth considering for Best Setting in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not...
This is version 3 of this page, edited by Jason McIntosh on 16 November 2015 at 9:46am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item