smolZINE - Issue 41

eZine lover (@eZine)

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smolZINE

· 1 month ago

smolZINE - Issue 41

2024-04-04

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Introduction
Hidden (and not so hidden) Gems
Emanations
Recreation
Community Contributions & Discussion

Introduction

Long time no see geminispace. Ok, I've been around just not in smolZINE. As promised these issues are coming out sporadically and when I get around to it. Life and priorities are ever changing and meatspace things have been rather time consuming of late. No promises on when the next one will come but I hope you enjoy this rather short one for now. If you'd like to see issues published more frequently, encourage yourself and your friends to submit hidden gem picks or essays/articles for a future issue. More information on submissions at the end of this issue.

Hidden (and not so hidden) Gems

Brainsocks

The brainsock er...brainchild of Istvan and what a literal gem this capsule is. No really, Istvan is an actual gem cutter. There is a lot to enjoy here but I would point you towards a couple things in particular. First is a textart converter for creating ASCII art to use on your gemini capsule. Second is some rare novel translations made available in gemtext.

=> gemini://brainsocks.xyz/ Brainsocks

Beetledjuice's Spacial Bungalow

Beetledjuice is currently trying to settle a new region of geminispace called Oriean Space. But that's not all. You'll find more neat things in this capsule such as a gemlog, mixtapes and a MUD that they are developing.

=> gemini://betelgeuse.oriean.space/beetledjuice/ Beetledjuice's Spacial Bungalow

Emanations

Retro Game Mini Reviews

No Mess (Palm OS)

A puzzle game that was released as shareware sometime back in the early 00s and not quite like any other puzzle game I've played before. You have a 10x10 grid and 4 different symbols placed randomly on the grid. The goal is to keep the board from filling up by moving symbols in order to line up 5 or more in a row to clear them. The line of symbols can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal. The catch is that every time you move a symbol and don't clear a line, 3 more symbols are placed randomly on the board. Also, there must be a clear path to the open space you want to move your symbol. Meaning, it is possible for symbols to get blocked in by other symbols and thus unable to move.

Essentially your task is to judge where to move your symbols and prioritize the order to keep clearing symbols and prevent the board from filling up. It is a pretty simple concept but requires enough thinking and planning to be fun. Some other things I like about No Mess are the ability to customize what symbols are used, good animations when moving and clearing lines, and adjustable difficulty. NoMess is a nice slow paced puzzle game that I find to be worth the precious 39K of space it occupies on my Palm Pilot.

Snake and Rhino in the Sketchbook (MSX)

This excellent puzzle game was released just 6 months ago as an entry in the annual MSX homebrew contest MSXdev23. The two main characters, Snake and Rhino, are plopped into isometric levels in the pages of a sketchbook and they both must reach the exit to get to the next page. Snake and Rhino have different movement characteristics however that make that trickier than it sounds. They even have to work together to accomplish this.

The gameplay is great and really forces you to think pretty hard on some levels. Switching back and forth between Snake and Rhino, moving them along the correct path and in the correct order to reach the exit can stump you quite often but is oh so satisfying once you finally crack it.

Equal to or even exceeding the gameplay is the visual style of this game. The way the game presents characters and levels as drawings in a sketchbook, the colors and the subtle animations are all gorgeous. An impressive achievement on an 8 bit computer to be sure. Highly recommend checking this one out.

Recreation

Stinky Pinky
by kelbot

To play Stinky Pinky you will need to read the two descriptions below. They each describe a word and the two words rhyme. Example: 1. Smelly, 2. Finger; Answer: Stinky Pinky. Get it? You can email your answer to the address found at the bottom of each smolZINE to confirm if you are correct. The first to answer wins...uhhh I haven't figured that out yet so my congrats will have to do for now.

Clean vigorously
Insect larva

Community Contributions & Discussion

Please consider taking part in making this zine better and more diverse by contributing your thoughts and finds. If you are interested in contributing a short article or capsule picks email me at: smolzine (at) cyberbot.space.

If you have any feedback or just want to discuss anything related to gemini or smolZINE hit me up at the above email or ping me on the fediverse at kelbot@retro.social and/or use the #smolZINE tag.