For this analysis of a specific interactive fiction game I decided to look at a Twine game that was published on the Interactive Fiction Database. Although I have played some of the games made by my peers, I was intrigued by the idea of playing a game that was created by someone I didn’t have any connection to. Someone who maybe thought out a beginning, middle, and end of the game without the goal being for a grade. I ended up finding the game Nootropic Wonderland, by Sasha Lea Griffin through the Interactive Fiction Database. I did see a review of this game before playing through the options, so I knew the game would be related to Alice In Wonderland. I wanted to see how far I could get before the game gave any hints to the story line.
Even without reading the reviews, the very first option of this Twine game lets us know that this is a variation of the story Alice In Wonderland. We know this because the first option says “Wake up, Alice.” The narrative of each option was very descriptive and only had minor grammatical issues. I sometimes felt lost in the story, as though not enough was explained before it was thrown at me. There were quite a few names being thrown around. The rabbit makes an appearance because this wouldn’t be Alice In Wonderland without the white rabbit.
All in all I love this idea of a metallic wasteland that Alice lives in. When the original story was created, there was no way to know that there would be such advances in technology that we have today. The idea of a young woman who makes robots in a beaten down and decrepit world is interesting, and I would have loved to have seen how she became a master in robotics. Unfortunately, this Twine game was not as long as I thought it would be and ended after only two options. Actually I’m not sure it ended because Alice’s last words were “It’s him. It’s Ace.” But there were no more options that were given. I would give the start of this story a 6/10 mostly because we jump right into a story that seems as though it was half way though, and leaves us on a cliff-hanger.