Castle Companion
I'm really glad this is on here and that somebody made this. It's a triumphant semi-autobiography that uses all of the tools of twine engine at its disposal to impact the reader. Particularly I think the use of pop-up text to guide the reader and the low res image backgrounds to guide the physical space of each moment in the autobiography is very effective and I haven't seen done before. That being said the tone carried throughout is at least for me almost unbearable. The whole piece is a series of frantic excitable self realizations and then monologuing them to the reader in a form that might be able to grasp. It's not that I'm trying to tonepolice a semi-autobiography, I think it 'works' in a certain sense of it accurately portraying how people who are repressing or unaware of their plurality are. There's a deep insecurity that you are a stereotype or you are fighting with your own urges when you are plural but can't express it. People begin to expect a set of behaviours out of you and you often feel like you're stressing to meet them. It threads the needle for how this feels really well but can make reading through most of it feel uncomfortable since by design finding your sense of self is spasmodic process.
The most awkward bit here is the lack of external reference points you can latch onto. Contrast this with madotsuki's closet (2021) or Me And The Matrix (2021) which have familiar pop culture metaphors that help anchor the reader. The only cultural anchor that exists here is Discord application, in all its frantic cramped glory. It's not so much to say this work is 'bad' or 'unacceptable'. It moreso gives me an appreciation for why when I was doing my english degree in college the ciriculum would be framed in a certain way. There's a certain 'ramping' of information where you need other introductory monikers before going further in, and this would be featured towards the end of the class, not as much the beginning. I emphasize this point because I think the tangential reader-response 'reflection' posts do not fit with a work like this. I feel it would be ultimately disrespectful in the sense that it displaces the voice of somebody who did a lot to present their story. For instance as seductive as it is, if you tried to utilize a piece like this to talk about what it means to be 'terminally online' you would be doing a great disservice I feel.
The only formal aspect I am critical of is the use of all caps without warning about it early on. There's a good ground on the content in more other cases but missing the specificity of this one is a huge whiff as emphatic caps causes a real and felt fatigue to the point I've actively had to tell people close to me to knock it off because it upsets me. So just know there is that one section right after she gets her ear rubbed by her friend where that happens. Other than that I think it's ultimately effective and self aware. This is probably twine used at its best because while the tone of the piece is quite loud, you the reader can move at your own pace. Text adventures are assisted in large part by their lack of self locomotion. Whereas in most games you have to pause to stop, twine and text adventures generally are always on pause, you have to crank the wheel yourself.
Even if you aren't that interested in the subject matter it's very brief and the formal use of twine as an engine and its upper bounds is so strong that I think its worth checking out when you're in the proper mood. Just, make sure you are in actually in that mood first.
I'm really glad this is on here and that somebody made this. It's a triumphant semi-autobiography that uses all of the tools of twine engine at its disposal to impact the reader. Particularly I think the use of pop-up text to guide the reader and the low res image backgrounds to guide the physical space of each moment in the autobiography is very effective and I haven't seen done before. That being said the tone carried throughout is at least for me almost unbearable. The whole piece is a series of frantic excitable self realizations and then monologuing them to the reader in a form that might be able to grasp. It's not that I'm trying to tonepolice a semi-autobiography, I think it 'works' in a certain sense of it accurately portraying how people who are repressing or unaware of their plurality are. There's a deep insecurity that you are a stereotype or you are fighting with your own urges when you are plural but can't express it. People begin to expect a set of behaviours out of you and you often feel like you're stressing to meet them. It threads the needle for how this feels really well but can make reading through most of it feel uncomfortable since by design finding your sense of self is spasmodic process.
The most awkward bit here is the lack of external reference points you can latch onto. Contrast this with madotsuki's closet (2021) or Me And The Matrix (2021) which have familiar pop culture metaphors that help anchor the reader. The only cultural anchor that exists here is Discord application, in all its frantic cramped glory. It's not so much to say this work is 'bad' or 'unacceptable'. It moreso gives me an appreciation for why when I was doing my english degree in college the ciriculum would be framed in a certain way. There's a certain 'ramping' of information where you need other introductory monikers before going further in, and this would be featured towards the end of the class, not as much the beginning. I emphasize this point because I think the tangential reader-response 'reflection' posts do not fit with a work like this. I feel it would be ultimately disrespectful in the sense that it displaces the voice of somebody who did a lot to present their story. For instance as seductive as it is, if you tried to utilize a piece like this to talk about what it means to be 'terminally online' you would be doing a great disservice I feel.
The only formal aspect I am critical of is the use of all caps without warning about it early on. There's a good ground on the content in more other cases but missing the specificity of this one is a huge whiff as emphatic caps causes a real and felt fatigue to the point I've actively had to tell people close to me to knock it off because it upsets me. So just know there is that one section right after she gets her ear rubbed by her friend where that happens. Other than that I think it's ultimately effective and self aware. This is probably twine used at its best because while the tone of the piece is quite loud, you the reader can move at your own pace. Text adventures are assisted in large part by their lack of self locomotion. Whereas in most games you have to pause to stop, twine and text adventures generally are always on pause, you have to crank the wheel yourself.
Even if you aren't that interested in the subject matter it's very brief and the formal use of twine as an engine and its upper bounds is so strong that I think its worth checking out when you're in the proper mood. Just, make sure you are in actually in that mood first.