A short multimedia-enhanced hypertext game about perpetual cycles of displacement and violence, as seen through the lens of a child. Takes about 15 minutes to read/play, and no gaming skills are required.
Ishmael debuted at the 2017 Spring Thing interactive fiction festival, was selected to be showcased at the PixelPop Festival in St. Louis, was nominated for the "Best Social Impact Game" award at BIG: Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, was an IndieCade Finalist, and was shortlisted for the 2017 New Media Writing Prize. In 2020 the game was aquired by the British Library as part of their "Emerging Formats" project.
Ishmael is also available on Steam.
Discussion and Reactions: IFDB, Newgrounds.
Some kind words:
Magnuson is extensively familiar with the history of interactive fiction, including parser IF… That craft and theoretical groundwork are on display in Ishmael (Emily Short, creator of Galatea and Savoir-Faire).
A powerful piece of interactive literature. (Nathalie Lawhead, creator of Everything is Going to Be OK and Mackerelmedia Fish).
This is really, really well done (Math Brush, interactive fiction author and critic).
On the flip side:
I would never call something I made with Twine a game in any sense of the word (Newgrounds review).
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