Trap Cave
Emilian Kowalewski (2009)
After seeing the Node-X client last year I was really looking forward to
Trap Cave, but when I ran the program I found that the English translation wasn’t finished and it would be better to use the German version. I wanted to quit right there, I don’t speak German, and I don’t want to get half way through a game only to find the story stops because I didn’t understand the language.
I ventured forth anyways, and the first thing I noticed is it took a long time to run the NXI file. The author says something about needing UPX to pack the client, but I don’t see the need for a small executable on the client side unless the author is trying to hide his code. Look at Gargoyle, it’s a big file and everybody uses it.
When I did load the game it didn’t take long until everything was in German, I got one room description along with choices that were in English. So I can’t rate this game. It might be good, a quick little romp with clear choices, maybe with not a lot of replay value, but fun.
Since it’s in another language I can’t experience it. Hopefully the author will take the time to translate it even though the competition is over. I’ve always thought that Node-X had some real possibilities, with the ability to affect the simulated world. Now I’d really like to see something in action.