Player Comments on The Donner Party

Knowing the history of the Donner party, and knowing the history of Will11’s games, I am prepared to be mortified, disgusted, and depressed by this story! Then again, it may be much nicer and appropriate for this site with good inferences only. Surely this will have some good historical data as well.

I like the setups and the descriptions. The author really puts you in the story and you get a feeling of being on the adventure with the rest of the group. I like the details and accuracy, too, with the individuals clearly named and at least a little described as you venture into the story and down the path.

I also really like how the author really gives great choices in a game like this with a historical basis. You would think that you’re just going to read a history lesson, but with the choices you can see the history lesson from different points of view. You get to decide which parts you would choose and then see how those choices would have likely ended up if you had been in that situation so many years ago. I also really like how it includes such detail that give reasoning to what happens – it is not random and it is clear that the desert is taking a toll on the party when you go through it.

This was an absolutely excellent story and great addition to this site. It tells this story in a very good way and still allows the reader lots of options during the story, making it a great CYOA story as well. Excellent job, Will11, thank you for sharing this story with the site!

I keep telling myself I need to read more of the featured stories here, so I started with this one.

The Donner Party really is one of those morbidly fascinating little snippets of history and so it was a good choice to base a story on it. Though the writing style was a little dry--not helped by the problem with this kind of historical story, being that since it so closely follows actual events you know going in that nothing you choose is going to change anything, which is a big part of the appeal of a CYOA in the first place. (I've actually considered writing a 'game' about the Legion Valley Massacre because Matilda Friend has always been an inspirational figure for me, but ran into the same issue...)

So instead my character got to tag along with various real life people and take a completely hands off approach just observing a straight reenactment of events. Which to be fair, are interesting enough in their own right.

I ran into a couple issues with how some of the links looped (PMed you about the biggest one where the char somehow teleported from California to Nevada), but there were a couple of other minor issues, like the game assuming my character had been with party and resorted to cannibalism when in fact, the first time through I sat out pretty much the entire thing chilling at Sutter's Fort.

But all in all this was well worth a read, especially considering the scarcity of decent historical writing on this site.

Honestly, the Donner party game was not as dark as I thought it was going to be. I did try to avoid the Donner party so I wouldn't get eaten obviously, and I'm happy with the paths that I chose, it was an interesting game. It is sad that the people who were left stranded resorted to cannibalism.

did I win

hello my name is billy bob jr

This game is goated fr fr. Loved this fr but its kinda concerning they monched on kids

It's fun

good

gog

This game is fun but also hard I died the first time by an Indian shooting me through the head it was so had

This game was crazy and gave me anxiety.

Nice game with a very rich education for kids who choose to play it although I would like it if it was a more fleshed-out game you can contact my email if you want a female coder. <3

It was good

I just clicked on random ones and won.

It was so mid I wouldn't say I liked it but I enjoyed playing it.

good job not bad for school work

i don know

it is good but you want to stay far away from the donner party not the game

Informative, lets you see and feel like you really are a part of the Donner party, and it lets you explore different paths too :)

“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

so funsss

I did in 5 sec's

ThE dOnNeR pArTy Is stUpId

great job!

It was fun. Though I am upset that there weren't any more selfish options. I'm just kidding I believe an option to live at the first and never leave would have been better though.

Eh, it's okay, but it could be better.

this game sucks

this was fun as hell

i died :)

nice game

its fun i guess

it was fun!

this was very fun and honestly i enjoyed playing this litte game. good job!

it was a lovely experience

IT was fun just make it like a cartoon and many more will LOVE it . BYSBB

i loved it but a lot of reding and ther should be alest 3 pkthchers

grammer issues

any% speed run 3 hours fight me

It was good dog

phenomenal

is good to be honest

its pretty good

go clean your room or youre grounded from the video games and the chatsnap, ARE YOU DOING YOURE HOMEWORK. Is this what kids call a vape or something? whatever my baby boy wouldnt do drugs

HORRIBLE

i clicked through the answers and got lucky.

Hey I like This game its so fun it is like would you rather I enjoyed it keep it up.

Feels like a choose your adventure book

giving this thing a little mwah mwah

this is the worst game ever

i was too nice and died

It was a great experience to be a part of the expedition.
To not know what you will encounter or how you will feel about your decisions is like everyday life. This was so much more exciting.

bruh I always die. this game stinks

It was cool, that's all I have to say.

i try making good decisions that's how i survived also if i stayed with the Donner party i would of died so i took off on my own to sutters fort

This is good but at one point the choices to survive are easy and there is way to much reading

You guys could maybe add more options because it is very short and boring

it was easy

We made it!

I think the experience was quite lengthy. It was mainly a trip back and fourth over and over. I’d rate the experience a 5 because yes I believe all groups were trying to get what they wanted to accomplish, accomplished. However it wasn’t efficient and a bit messy, but you’ll eventually succeed.

scary

Action packed but too much reading

GOOD JOB!!!

No

Good.

I Can Snap My Fingers And Half Of The Party Would Cease To Exist

thanks for letting me play this game, i had a lot of fun playing and somehow survived without dying

It was fun

it was too easy and it needs more levels also the boss is to easy to beat

I was forced to play this game. There is way to much writing and reading. I just clicked on a random choice and luckily I survived.

So cool!

it gud

it was a super awesome experience

This was fun. Its better than doing anything else in class! :)

this game sucks i died

Can you make it longer?

There were some grammatical errors. Add some commas.

loved it

Really short game in my opinion. Although its historical value may be worthy. :)

This actually helped me with my history final, Thanks!

This was really fun. i thought i was going to die half the time but i didnt.

If you would do it with pictures and do it more like Oregan Trail it would be better

it was alright

i loiked it but i didnt read all of it lol

very cool and accurate I know because I descend from them

Cool. I finished this really fast, and knowing very well the history of this made that easy.

Didn't give dimension for the length of the situation.

Unnerving...

I did NOT expect the Donner Party to end up like it did. When food cannot be put in the stomach, man ultimately ends up fueled by the saying "when there's a will, there's a way", and unfortunately the Donner Party found a solution to provide "food"...

In short, the story is just gripping, wording is near pitch perfect, and details are plentiful (thankfully not so much in the food parts). Yet another great story from the great architect...

Worth the cents! 6/8.

its cool :)

Enjoyable story. I wish there were a lot more choices. Fun. Worth playing. Thanks for the gameplay!

Nah it was funny. I liked it

A bit dry, but good for someone who is familiar with the story. Very well-researched.

Kind good

I survived. Yay. :/

great historical story, I must admit, it wasn't as interesting as other stories, simply because I am more in to fictional tales, but this was great.

Morbid... amazingly Morbid.

very very boring

enlightning!

As always Will, you surprise us with different themes of all kinds. Thumbs up!

Very interesting---and horrifying.

cool

Pretty good...

I would consider this very good for a normal story, but for an Edutainment, this is excellent. Well worth reading.

I LOVED IT, VERY CREATIVE.

It's worth every cent!

Stupid

the Donner party become so well known because they ended up have to eat each other to survive THIS SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THAT

I clicked on a few choices and it ended surprisingly short.

A good story, for the most part, but I feel that the lack of profanity really disrupts the immersion.

Wow I'm impressed! Not a lot of people know about this! BTW, did you base this off of the comic book?

This is an amazing story about sacrifice and hardship--I nearly started crying at some points when I had to desert people and leave them to die. Great job, this was a very realistic and sort of true story!

I could not find a flaw in the grammar or spelling in this storygame, but it gets more and more boring the further you go through it and sometimes the deaths don't even make me 'feel' for the dead. Aside from that, it felt cinematic at certain points although some points were bland.

Way better than the other games i have playes

The grammar needs work but other than that it is pretty good

I guess it was alright.

Lots of great research.

Well written, well made from what I saw... I can't honestly see any really notable flaws in this thing. Granted, I'm running on four hours of sleep and typing this after a nine hour shift at work, but ... yeah, good work, man.