Recent reviews by JiFish

Very pretty update of a classic. I would say they don't make them like this anymore, but apparently they do.

Edit: The developers have now removed multiplayer entirely. What a joke.

Ask anyone what the best part of Gloom the card game and they'll tell you it's the cool stories you make up with your friends while playing.

Excited for the digital version I bought 4 copies for me and my friends and we got on Discord to tell some stories. Red flag: even the maximum turn time limits are very tight. We could live with that. However the real issue is what happened when one of our games crashed. They were AUTOMATICALLY REPLACED WITH A BOT WITH NO OPTION TO RECONNECT.

Completely ruined the game and the product as a whole. Not recommended unless you enjoy playing against the computer.

I've been playing ADOM for some time now - long before it was available on steam. I love the game, but it is bloody merciless. This game will kill you for making a single mistake, it can kill you due to a single poorly timed attack, you can die from pure bad-luck. Heck, the game slowly kills you _just for playing_. And this is a rouge-like game. Once you die, that's it - character's gone.

Of course, this is how it's supposed to be. This game is designed for the kind of person who will not be stopped by repeated failures. Someone meticulous enough to painstakingly construct a winning strategy and execute it perfectly... Or you can do what I do: use the cheats that come along with the steam version to disable corruption and allow reload on death. :)

Thomas Biskup has delivered an extremely deep and engaging experience, polished over years. Highly recommended.

PLEASE NOTE: Originally, Ozapell Basic was advertised as a beginner's language. Since then the description has shifted to describing it a retro hobbyist language. I welcome this change and feel it is more appropriate.

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Ozapell Basic is a retro-styled programming language. It is advertised as both an educational tool to learn the basics of programming and a game development tool for simple retro games.

I was really, really torn on the final verdict of this review. I've actually enjoyed playing with Ozapell Basic quite a bit. It's fairly simple to pick up and play with. It took me back to my youth for a few hours and that was worth the money to me. But it's also flawed. So would I recommend it? Not to the audience it seems to be aimed at...

Using this as an educational tool seems a bit like teaching someone to drive in Ford Model T. The principles may still apply, but it lacks so many modern conveniences that I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile task. There's no IDE here and therefore no syntax highlighting, GUI, contextual help etc. This isn't a complaint as such - it is what appealed to me in the first place. I just take issue with inflicting these archaic limitations on a beginner. Something like Mu ( https://codewith.mu/ ) would seem to be a much better choice. It still has much of the simplicity and immediacy of Ozapell Basic, but lacks the artificial outmoded limitations. As an additional bonus, since it is python-based, much more help is available.

The syntax is "inspired by JavaScript, with BASIC keywords." And it's certainly unusual. For example, this if-then construct:


I would have thought the need for the RESULT keyword was a odd limitation of the interpretor. Others might call it horrific. But it's apparently an intentional design choice:

Originally posted by Ozapell:

PRINT 1+1 won't work because it combines a subroutine call with a mathematical operation. To keep Ozapell Basic as simple to read as possible, they must be separated
In [other] languages, you're allowed (encouraged?) to crunch as many operations together as possible on a single line of code. While it can be convenient for veteran programmers, it results in nearly unreadable code. Ozapell Basic was designed with simplicity as a primary goal.

I'm not an educator. This may well be a good way to learn. But I remain unconvinced it should be enforced by the language. If I'm honest, I have to wonder if this is in fact less of a design choice and more a limitation of the way Ozapell Basic is implemented.

So what about as a game development tool? Ozapell says "It could be fun for someone who wants to program or make retro style games but doesn't want to learn a complicated modern language." You certainly could develop complete games with Ozapell Basic and it could be fun, but I think only in a 'what can I do with limitations' kind of way. If you want to develop something without learning a complicated language. I'd recommend Game Maker Studio instead. Anything you wanted to make with Ozapell Basic, you could make with Game Maker in a fraction of the time. It would be much easier to pick up and learn too. Plus you can delve deeper in to code if you wish. Game Maker is also great for children.

So, how would I recommend it? If you're an oddball who can see past it's eccentricities, I say go for it. Ozapell Basic is quirky, sometimes esoteric and feels very hobbyist. It can successfully transport you back in time three decades and is charming and unique as it does it. Maybe it shouldn't try to be more than that.

I'll finish with the classic "99 bottles" example in Ozapell Basic.

Ron Gilbert's triumphant return to adventure games.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It's truely a love-letter to adventure gamers in both story and mechanics. Any adventure gamer from the early 90s will feel at home in Thimbleweed Park. Ron's trademark humour is still as sharp as ever.

The LucasArts games, particularity Ron's, were always meta and self-referential. This game takes that trend to new heights. Maybe a touch too far. For that reason this might be one for enthusiasts only. I'm not sure I could recommend it to somebody looking to newly get in to classic-style adventures.

I backed this game on Kickstarter. It seems Zeboyd have delivered what they promised with style. Tight battle system, intresting and unique characters, well written dialog and difficulty settings to suit all.

A breath of fresh air in the era of micro-transactions - there are none to be found in this game. Collect every card and build a wide variety of intresting decks. Presented in a amusing setting with fun characters. Highly recommended.

Probably the funniest RPG ever made.