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August 22nd 2014, 02:41 AM
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CocoMonkey
Bard He/Him United States
Please Cindy, say the whole name each time. 
151: World of DinkC Author: Simeon Release Date: May 5, 2003
"Can't you see, it's DinkC Philosophy.."

REPUTATION NOTE: This DMOD is part of the select group with a score of 9.0 or better (9.1) on the Dink Network.

As I've said, I played this one back in 2006. I gave it by far its worst review, a 6.0. The next-lowest rating was over 8.0. Now that I've played the DMOD again, I think that I was too harsh eight years ago. I still don't think it's a great DMOD, but it's a pretty good one. What really let me down the first time I played it was my expectations.


Funny, the game usually just crashes when this sort of thing happens.

"World of DinkC" is a DMOD about a scripting error that creates havoc in Dink's world. I found this concept immensely exciting. I expected a crazy game full of simulated glitches, maybe a tear in the world through which you can see the code like in "Crosslink." I expected the DMOD equivalent of Strong Bad's virus email (which this predates). What I got instead was a mostly ordinary Dink adventure that uses references to DMOD authoring to drive the plot. In my disappointment, I became bored quickly. I now realize that it was unfair to judge the DMOD on what I expected it to be rather than what it was.

First, a note about the length: I hate to bring this issue up again, but if this is an "epic," I'm the Queen of England. I was a little iffy on a few other "epics" that took around three hours; this one took around two. It is clear to me at this point that the distinction is either really about the number of screens (over 550 here), or it's completely meaningless. I'm leaning toward the latter explanation.

There are a lot of NPCs in this mod, but most of them don't have anything interesting to say. A lot of the dialogue is of the dull, laconic "Hi. I think this place is nice" variety, and in some cases, dialogue is repeated. Still, there are some funny lines here and there, and some interesting bits concerning the central premise. The idea of "DinkC Philosophers" amuses me. It is fun, particularly for a DMOD author like me, to see the characters talking about how DMODs are made. The game walks a strange line by talking constantly about DMODs, scripting and so forth while still having the characters maintain that their world is real and not a game. It seems like a contradiction, but I think it actually makes the world more interesting than it would be if you were to tear down the fourth wall completely.


A DinkC philosopher ponders one of the most vexing mysteries of his universe.


I wonder if there are even this many copies of the physical reference in total.

The story isn't developed a lot further than the basic concept. The plot keeps moving, but events don't really build on each other very well. A lot of bad things happen and are presumably caused by the script error, but the exact mechanics of the error's fury are rarely clear. Fireballs appear, people turn into monsters, and lots and lots of people die, but the world seems rather stable overall. We do eventually learn that the Error has been caused deliberately by the efforts of some rogue goblins who have found a way to screw up the code using spinning-globe machines. At least the game is rarely confusing and almost everything makes sense, which puts it ahead of many DMODs.

There are some cool ideas here, but most of them don't feel fully realized. For example, Dink must retrieve an artifact called the "DinkC Amulet" that allows one to re-script the game from inside the game world. That is a really interesting idea, but - and this is a good example of the way this game's plot just sort of meanders around - although you spend a large chunk of the DMOD obtaining the amulet, it's never really put to much use. It certainly doesn't fix the problem - you eventually do that just by shutting down some machines, which is a lot less interesting than a device that alters the very DNA of the world around you.


"Amulet?" How would you even stand up with that thing hanging around your neck?

To find the amulet, Dink must talk to a DMOD author and enter his DMOD. The idea of a DMOD within a DMOD is also really intriguing, but not enough is done here to separate that segment from the rest of the game. It just feels like another area. A fake title screen of some sort would have gone a long way. Still, it's clever, and there's an amusing moment where Dink gets confused about which plot he's supposed to be following.


One thing I really liked is that there are a couple of puzzles that provide a new interface, which is a nice change of pace.

There were a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Eagles tunes in this DMOD (boy, would The Dude hate that juxtaposition), and I got to thinking once again about the pervasive influence of the 376 MIDI pack. A few songs were a bit misplaced here, but I've seen a lot worse. Sometimes I wonder how many of the authors who put these songs in their DMODs may not even have known what they were.

"World of DinkC" is a solid Dink adventure. Nothing about it is really bad. The map design is fairly good throughout, and although the game is generous with powerups, it doesn't feel unbalanced. The long sequence of bosses at the end is very challenging, but not unreasonably so. The final goblin boss still has some control over the Error when you fight him, and he uses it to spawn a lot of monsters.


Cleanup on aisle everything.


On my second try, the final boss, realizing he couldn't win, used his mighty glitch powers to put an end to the universe.


If it's that simple, couldn't you just go ahead and set &damage to 0?