Hi there!
My name is Ewald Bal from The Netherlands.
I've always loved text adventures or Interactive Fiction nowadays. And I am proud to bring you a brand-new and totally free game called “Beached!” An oldskool text adventure with modern-day touches.

In Beached! you play a stranded, cocky castaway roaming a deserted island in the Caribbean Sea. Help this poor guy survive the island, using nothing but it’s natural resources, which is easier said than done, of course.

Beached! Is a small game, as it is the first in a series to come. Survival is your main goal in this first part, escaping the island will happen in later episodes. I hope you’ll enjoy Beached! For its atmosphere and crazy sense of humor if you force the protagonist into wacky situations.

Play Beached! at: https://beached.000webhostapp.com/ or find in the 'Comedy' Category of this site: http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/atodxbi5nu_knu_m0c5t0q/beached.
It’s a totally free game with NO advertisements.
Please, post feedback if you enjoyed the game (or not...).

Greetz,
Ewald Bal
mail: [email protected]

Here is my feedback.

1. I like the layout. The pictures and sounds are not overbearing and a nice touch.
2. For English not being your first language you had a pretty good go at it. Just caught a couple typos in my quick play.
   2a. plains should be planes (I think when on the beach? "No ships, no plains..."
   2b. somewhere in there you had tot instead of to
   2c. Several instances you had to instead of too
   2d. should be "...but there are small ledges..."
   2e. x shells --> "...remind you of...
   No big deal, just thought I would point them out.
3. I had a difficult time figuring out what I needed to do - I NEVER would have come up with the shell, water, berries combo thing. Perhaps I relied to quickly on the built-in walk-through?
4. I think the game could have done well with some subtle hints nestled throughout. Short, but descriptive comments suggesting what my goal was. I eventually understood that I was to set up camp and cook food and I think eventually signal a ship?
5. All-in-all, this is much better constructed than most of the stuff that gets published here. I tend not to make comments on games I don't respect or see promise in.
   I will be glad to give this a full go once my head is cleared. It's been a long couple days and I'm trying to relax... may not be the best time for a TA! =)

Good luck and I hope you continue working on games. I think they have good promise! I'll be back in a couple days to give another go at it!

Thx for the feedback XanMag!
The typos will be corrected asap, thx. My spelling checkers did some amazing work, but for example knows no difference between 'to' or 'too'. So I'm glad you've pointed them out!

I've been too scarce on hints and I've been reminded several times on the forums. To avoid rewriting the entire game, I added the walkthrough. A lazy solution, I know. And I would have rewritten Beached! if part 2 wasn't already under construction. Sorry for that.

My game is a bit different from many other games posted here, because it's written in javascript rather then Quest or Squiffy. This means I have probably more developer tools at hand. Some of the other games may seem a bit less decorated, but might have much better puzzles or a bigger sense of humor or atmosphere. It's a personal thing.

I Hope you'll enjoy Beached! some more and will look out for part 2. All the feedback given on the many forums will help make part 2 a more complete and enjoyable game.
So thanks for your compliments and feedback!

I've had a decent play now, but can't get past the boulder in the cave.

My thoughts.

I'm not keen on images in TA. I think this stems from my excitement (and subsequent disappointment) back in the 80s when I got hold of my first ever graphic adventure (Twin Kingdom Valley). It was then that I realised my imagination could conjure up the locations far better (and quicker) than any computer at the time could. I know there's no such delay these days and you're using photographs, but I'd still rather use my imagination. I didn't fail to notice they can be turned off, so full marks for that.

One glaring error, though (and I apologise if I'm missing something here) but when the cave is reached, the narrative switches to first-person (it had been the traditional third up until this point). This was a total immersion breaker for me.

To be honest I'm not very good at TA - never was as a kid either - so not being able to get past the boulder began to frustrate me a little. I used the hints but still couldn't figure out how to do it. I accept this is probably just me being not very good.

But I'm intrigued. I now want to get past the boulder, and that's a good thing becuase it means I'll go back.

Thx for your feedback, OurJud.

Surprisingly many players enjoy the 'graphics off' button. Personally, I would never turn the graphics off, but a few blind players on the audiogame.net forum (using interpreters and narrators) mentioned that idea. Ever since many players mention the option in their feedback. So, way to go, forums!

And there you have it! You're the first to mention the terrible error I've made throughout the game. Yes, I did by accident switch from 1st to 3rd person a few times. Even worse: I noticed this only after the game's first release. And if I wasn't programming part 2 already, I'd probably take the time to locate and rewrite those parts of the game. So if you're going to play again, you'll be put off a couple of times by this mistake.

Spoiler ahead:
Drop the sand from the beach on the floor by the boulder. Then use the stick from the muddy beach on the boulder.

Thx again and keep playing!

Thanks for the hint. I'd never have got that o0