The Legend of Blackbrook Village by OurJud

Review Something Moving Under The Bed

This one is a real shame - It has a lovely style & interface, including great sound & other effects enhancing the atmosphere (though sound volumes seem to differ a lot). The writing is good (despite some spelling errors) and the story seemed genuinely intriguing leaving me really keen to see what was going to happen...

I like the way the author doesn't feel it's necessary to describe *everything* in room descriptions, just the impression pertinent to the story. Although, it could do with more descriptions of objects that can be examined, to make immersion richer. They have attempted to get away from using n-e-s-w directions, though oddly only for indoor locations.

Sadly though it has several game-breaking errors. In some places the directions seem to break leaving you unable to progress. Some players couldn't even get past the car at the beginning; I tried the browser and downloaded versions, and from comments on several sites couldn't find anyone who had been able to progress further than the village garden.

Less seriously there are some errors where you can answer the same phonecall twice or 'open' doors already caved in; error messages appear for some unexpected commands and it reacts very badly to commands like 'look in'. It's also VERY picky about which verbs work- For a sheet over an object you cannot 'take' 'pick up' 'look under' 'move' or 'lift' the sheet - though you can 'remove' it! Other situations are the same.
Some room descriptions are different the second time you enter with different directions available, which the game doesn't respond to... whether this is intentional and part of the eventual storyline I can't tell.

A lot of time was put into what seems like a really engaging story; but as it stands it's sadly a tragic testament to the importance of error-testing afterwards... I hope someday a version comes out where it can be played fully!

Comment funkyspunk90

I also seem to be stuck in the garden.
I broke in ok, but the room description doesn't mention anything I can examine/interact with, no directions work, and if I type "look" it says I'm in the cellar again...

Comment PurpleKiwee137

Well, I read the text on the flat stone in the garden, but now I can't move forward! I've pressed various keys and hunted for text-entry hotspots but....nothing. Is this a bug or the end of the game?

Comment KennedyM

Another error in the cellar and you type"
"break door with axe"
Error running script: Error evaluating expression 'Eval(this.defaultexpression, params)': Error compiling expression '"Cant't break" + object.article"."': SyntaxError: Unexpected token ""."" <STRING_LITERAL>; expected one of <EOF>Line: 1, Column: 40

Comment KennedyM

Error when in the bedroom and you type
"look in drawer"
Error running script: Error evaluating expression 'Eval(this.defaultexpression, params)': Error compiling expression '"Cant't look in" + object.article"."': SyntaxError: Unexpected token ""."" <STRING_LITERAL>; expected one of <EOF>Line: 1, Column: 42

and another when in the cellar and you type
"knock on door"
Error running script: Error evaluating expression 'Eval(this.defaultexpression, params)': Error compiling expression '"Cant't knock on" + object.article"."': SyntaxError: Unexpected token ""."" <STRING_LITERAL>; expected one of <EOF>Line: 1, Column: 43

Too many objects lack proper descriptions and just use "It is what it is." or "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Comment OurJud

I think this is a bug with certain browsers. It works fine for me in firefox, but for the record 'e' / 'east' should take you to the next location.

Comment Enigmen

Assistance Needed: How does one drive the car? I'm in the car, the car is started, but I can't pull out of the driveway, nor can I go to Jacob's House which is east of my place. I can't go in any direction at all. Any ideas?