Unknown Sender

This was great! Good work on the story and the way it was presented. Scary stuff! I really felt for the main character.

I really enjoyed. It was a solid game made from simple and yet effective ideas. The dialogue was well written and the small touches like the items on the desk were done really well.

The presentation is great and the phone interface, while done before in more detail, fits well.

It's the story that I have some gripes with.

The good first. The unknown sender going from an obvious faker to a genuine blackmailer works. I expected to be able to troll the spammer, but then it got grim!

Problem is the exploding phone thing. The extortionist already had the facts, proof that the protagonist is guilty. This could have led to a simple effective choice: give yourself in or pay up. The exploding phone gimmick totally throws away the weight of that choice, because it is obviously going to happen in the end no matter what you choose.

If you can cause any phone in existence to blow up then why even bring up the crime? Why not threaten some celebrity? Or hold the whole world at ransom? This baddie is thinking small...

Lastly, there's the interactive storytelling aspect. Why tell an interactive story if the interactivity amounts to nothing at all?

(Markdown breaking down inside the spoiler class is annoying, btw)

In short: well made, but the interaction design is lacking.

Better late than never, so thanks @bradur @Naetharu @HuvaaKoodia for your comments!

@HuvaaKoodia You've definitely exposed the limits of the game :)

There weren't any really meaningful choices due to a lack of time mostly. The explosion at the end was super gimmicky but cool, so I'm fine with having it as a bad ending, but I do regret having it happening whatever your choices are. After thinking about it more, maybe if you give the money the phone could have just "bricked" itself to delete evidence - not as spectacular but still a satisfying ending.

In the game there's a small hint showing that the bad guys may have had physical access to the Mom's phone (and by extension the hero's). If they could attack anyone the whole story would be weird indeed! The hint may have been too subtle though.