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1. This is my very first review.
2. It's also just a reading review. I haven't had any opportunity to play this game.
3. Finally, this is our primary rival in the Indie Game Design Company Challenge. Our rivalry has been good natured, and I am fairly certain that no bias enters my review.
Introduction: "Out There" is a GM-less game designed to emulate TV mystery dramas in the style of X-Files, House, Monk and CSI. It's episodic, with a closed format where a mystery is introduced and solved.
Production Value: This game is available for $1, as per the terms of the contest. What you're getting for a dollar is a 15 page .pdf, including the cover and title pages. There are 4 quality pieces of interior black and white art which are evocative of the mystery genre, but do not specifically support the text. The .pdf is bookmarked and links from the table of contents, which is a nice feature. The layout is clean and readable, albeit rather simplistic, with single-column justified paragraphs and center-aligned art and play example blocks.
Text: The text is easily readable and clear. It is easy enough to understand what to do at any given time, and with the clear sub-headers, it should work as a good reference manual during play. The television quotes that start each section of the game are appropriate and amusing, leading me to believe that the default style of play is fairly light, though the examples point toward more serious themes. The text does have an occasional tendency towards repetitiveness, such that I'm left saying "Okay, I get it already" or in some cases, wondering if I'm actually NOT getting it. This is particularly noted in the examples of play, which take pains to inform you that they're all referring to the same players and the same episode.
Content: The game itself looks like it should be pretty fun to play. I'm left with the impression that I could gather the needed materials and the players and sit down and play it without a lot of scrolling through the book or pre-work. The mechanics of the game are mostly a method to distribute narrative authority, placing a big emphasis on allowing the players to make statements about what contributions they feel are interesting by rewarding players who contribute good ideas, and adding narrative strength to ideas that intrigue you. One impression I get is that the game seems to require a group of people who are all capable of narrating strongly and freely, with little constraint from the system, or even your fellow players. This is a tendency with many indie games, and isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely self-limits its audience. One area where I feel the game is weak is that it seems to leave an awful lot of "design" choices in the hands of the players. The pacing of the game is wide-open. it looks like you could wrap it up in a few scenes, or drag it out for hours, and it gives no guidance for situation and setting beyond mentioning a few TV shows it emulates.
Overall, I think it is a balanced product. It has some areas where I believe it needs some work, but it makes up for it with a solid scene setting mechanic and an evenhanded method for distribution of narrative power. The art is quite good and evocative, and the writing, while not perfect, is clear and easily understand. If the team behind "Out There" should decide to polish this further and re-release it in hardcopy, I would be strongly tempted to purchase it again, depending on whether or not I had an appropriate group of players. All in all, I feel I more than got what I paid for with my $1.
