The Tower of Rowena

TOWER OF ROWENA: 98%

SHOULD I READ THIS?
Yes, absolutely, especially if you’re fond of discovery-based puzzle games.
Preview: You go around the tower in an open map, coming up with solutions to various problems that will let you get the treasures. Much of the game is exploring the tower, and fiddling with different objects and activities as you search for the treasures.

=SPOILERS BELOW=

RATINGS:

Basic Plot & Coherence: 3/3 (usually 5)
As an open map exploration game, this game doesn’t really need a nuanced plot. The plot that does exist works perfectly, and provides an intriguing and engaging frame for the exploration of the tower. Rowena’s tower was filled with a number of fascinating details that fleshed out the feel of exploration and discovery. Even after finding all 17 treasures, I was left with the lingering feeling that there was more to explore, which is exactly the mood a really good puzzle game evokes. Kudos to the author!

Characters & Development: 2/2 (usually 5)
Again, as a puzzle game, the characters don’t really need a personality, yet though character was by no means the focus of the game, I thought the author did a good job fleshing out the thief’s character. I really got a sense of the main character’s personality through the narration and the phrasing of the choices.

Grammar: 5/5
No problems here.
Mastery of Language: 2.5/3
I quite liked the use of language here. Though there was nothing special about it, the narration in this game brought just the right humorous and lighthearted mood to it.

Mechanics & Coding: 5/5
The coding allows for an open-map exploration game, and all the items are coded excellently. The bag of holding mechanic allows the player to easily review their progress.

Branching: 0/0 (usually 3)
This isn’t a traditional story, and doesn’t have branching.

Player Options/fair choice: 3/3
All of the puzzles had fair, and retrospectively logical solutions. The player always had options for things to do and places to search, and there were no obvious solutions that you weren’t allowed to try. I really felt like I could do anything I wanted in this game, which I don’t usually get from storygames.

Nitpicks: Were we supposed to be able to find a way to free the prince? I never found a way to do that.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Creating an exploration-and-item based game for this site was something I had been seriously considering doing myself in the past few days, so finding one that’s already been done so magnificently made me both awed at how masterfully this was constructed, and irritated someone else beat me to it. Oh well, I may make one anyways.
I found all 17 treasures. I thought the mechanic for getting to the roof was particularly clever. I kept falling off the tower and dying because I thought my strength potion would let me climb better. I particularly liked the way the log was used to solve both the first and last puzzle of the game.
I could just be because I'm a fan of puzzle games, but this may be one of my favorite games on the site.

CONCLUSION: 20.5/21 = 97.62%

Wow. Clicking something on the new storygames list and then actually wanting to say nice things about it is such a foreign experience for me I almost don't know what to do, but I had a ton of fun with this.

The open exploration and all the little details when poking around the tower were appreciated, and the writing style was consistent with a sense of humor and just the right amount of blatant anachronism. I don't think I've ever played a CYOA that has so strongly evoked the feeling of a proper text adventure, it kind of makes me want to fire up ADRIFT again.

In the end I sadly didn't manage to get all of the treasures, only fourteen. If there's a way onto the roof I didn't find it, nor did I figure out what to do with the pond or how to break the spell on the prince. (assuming that's possible.) So, a replay may be in order.

The only suggestion I have is regarding the treasure index. Trying to examine several at once requires a slightly annoying amount of clicking. A 'go back to index' link on each one would have been appreciated, or since the descriptions are all pretty short, you could have put them right on the same page with the name of the item.

Anyhow, congrats on your first game, and I'm hoping there are more like this to come.

One of my favorite games of the site!

I was able to collect all 18 treasures. What a wonderful game!

Seriously, the author did a marvelous job. There were so many funny jokes. The author also snuck in some really clever ways of hiding the treasures from the seeker.

I really enjoyed just the exploration part of the game. This is one of those games you can play for hours, sipping a hot beverage and clicking on every link. Even the most seemingly useless activities hold a clue to the treasure.

The key to this game is to have fun and explore as much as you can of this world. Look up words in the dictionary, make a cup of tea, the world is your oyster.

I especially loved the clever trick with debugging the site to find the last treasure.

This was a wonderful game to play

Great story!

I spoke too soon! Didn't see the "read all comments" button at first; browsing through them led to just enough of a hint, finally, to finish. I do think a hint somewhere in game about the jewelry box would have been nice. The answer didn't feel intuitive or logical to me at all. It felt like "try everything everywhere" which does tire me out. Other than that, I love your work here! Cute and believable endings. Thanks for a great game definitely 8!

An outstanding game! Smart, witty, and fun. Unfortunately I couldn't find the last treasure. I read the hint in the earlier comment, and went back in to try everything again. But after half an hour of the text equivalent of pixel hunting, trying previous dead ends cboices over and over again, I'm no longer enjoying it. And I can't think of anything else to do that I haven't tried several times, including using objects all over the place. I found a couple obscure (?) uses for the log, yielding nothing; never got the junk jewelry box to do anything at all. I tried to do several things that made sense to me, but the options didn't seem to exist. Such as emptying a drawer of seeming junk into the junk jewelry box. Things on that level. With 16 treasures, I'm calling it quits. It would be lovely if there was a hint system or walkthrough, if only so a stumped player like me can enjoy the rest of your writing which is phenomenal. I'll leave with one quote from the game, a treasure description: "Sapphire stud earrings as blue as two drops from a tropical lagoon. Set in white gold." If that isn't a clever, subtle little nod to Blue Lacuna, I'll eat my hat. :)

That was fun. 13 out of 17? not bad I think. I can't imagine where the rest were hidden, except in the suit of armour, and I couldn't see how to change the frog back into a prince.
Very cleverly and entertainingly written!

That was fun

this was well made and I thought the puzzle to get to the last treasure was particularly clever. People trying to get that last treasure, remember that everything in the game was put there for a reason, including messages that might be kind of meta. So don't discount anything and be willing to try everything no matter how stupid it might seem since it took me a while to get through that because I had already gone through the mechanism but you have to do it after trying and failing

I now have a fear of windows. 7/8