Our previous attempt was not that successful since I decided to play boozer detective who drinks whiskey at the crime scene. I lost the game after a few minutes. Let's try to play a good cop now.
So,
"Homicide. One Jack Draginam, accountant. Married, no kids. Stabbed. Yadda yadda, blah blah. We got the call from the maid - geez, who has a maid? Apparently she wanted to stress there's a lot of blood."
"Oh, Inspector. Word is, if you don't crack this one, you're out of a job."
The glove compartment is closed. Sat on the passenger seat is a whiskey bottle.
>> check the bottle
"Uncle Stan's Golden Malt"; yeah, it's bargain bin liquor at 80% proof and 80% off. Your body's crying out for it. To slip back, let the whole goddamn world ride all the way to the glass at the bottom. Oh yeah.
Let's take it
Your fingers shiver on the glass as you lift it.
Shit! Let's maybe check the house now.
A nice enough place, a nice enough area. Two storeys, maybe some attic space on top. Relatively big kitchen out back. Some of the gardens have sheds and conservatories.
Time to examine the kitchen.
>> go kitchen
(opening the black chevy first)
You open the car door.
You clamber out of the driving seat.
Wow. I was still in a car.
Broken Top Boulevard, Outside No. 15
The boulevard is lined with ash trees, thick trunks casting shadows and gnarled roots mangling up the sidewalk. Your car is parked too high up the kerb; just outside the gate to No. 15. Just an ordinary house. With a body inside.
There'd better be some faces too: you need the slam. What did the peep at the station say? Inspector, the only case you cracked open last year was the Michaelmas liquor. He has a point. If you come up blank (or facedown in a gutter) you'll be off the payroll. And then you'd really have a problem.
Down the street there's a dog, running about.
(opening the front gate first)
The gate swings creakily.
You step into the porch.
Front Porch
A tasteful little porch; white painted wood strapped onto red-brick building. The front door is north, and through a small diamond of frosted glass you can make out nothing of the wood-panelled hallway inside. Your neck is sweating; sunlight hides behind the trees to the south.
A hanging basket with a couple of petunias in is attached just to the left of the door.
A lot of text. Thanks god, we like to read. Well, I love flowers (not as much as Nero Wolfe likes orchids but still)
>> check the petunias
The flowers are pretty limp; the basket hangs where most of the sunlight doesn't hit it.
>> check glass
Red frosted glass. On the other side you can make out someone, moving around.
Time to go inside
After a short wait the door opens, Angela's face appears, then the rest of her. She looks just like she should considering, no time to do her face. "Yes, hello? Oh - " and you follow her eyes, which have noticed the whiskey bottle in your grubby paws. "I've no time for drunks now. Goodbye." The door is slammed.
Damn bottle.
>> put the bottle on the ground
You set the bottle down carefully. Don't want to break it now.
>> go inside
You knock a smart rap on the door. Perhaps a face appears behind the red glass, but there's no answer.
-- "knock-knock" isn't a recognised verb.
Well, that's strange, game didn't recognize this simple command.
Let's try to just knock
(on the front door)
You knock a smart rap on the door. Perhaps a face appears behind the red glass, but there's no answer. Somehow, it seems like you've managed to screw up the entire investigation before even starting. Impressive.
>> knock again
(on the front door)
You knock a smart rap on the door. Perhaps a face appears behind the red glass, but there's no answer. Somehow, it seems like you've managed to screw up the entire investigation before even starting. Impressive.
It doesn't work. Maybe I can talk to Angela?
>> lady?
(--> lady)
-- "lady" isn't a recognised verb.
>> I am detective!
-- I only got as far as wanting to inventory.
>> open the door!
You knock a smart rap on the door. Perhaps a face appears behind the red glass, but there's no answer. Somehow, it seems like you've managed to screw up the entire investigation before even starting. Impressive.
Not so much freedom I have in this game...Let's show it who is the man!
The door's such a hard-wood that even trying to kick it down comes out as nothing but a smart little knock. Perhaps a face appears behind the red glass, but there's no answer. Somehow, it seems like you've managed to screw up the entire investigation before even starting. Impressive.
>> shoot
(--> shout)
-- You're not making any sense to me.
>> shoot the door
(--> shout the door)
(to yourself)
There is no reply.
>> shoot the girl
(--> shout the girl)
(to yourself)
There is no reply.
>> shot
(--> shit)
What? You made a mistake somewhere down the line? You knew that fifteen years ago.
So, here are the features of the game we noticed during the second attempt of playing it:
- Game has some pretty strict boundaries and rules.
- If you break the rules, you lose. In a very unnatural way sometimes.
- Game tries to 'fix typos': shoot -> shout, shot -> shit. Probably it does it based on the current game context in which there is an ability to shout, but no opportunity to shoot.
- Still it's not that flexible: knock is allowed, knock-knock isn't.
- We lost the game again because of the bottle.
These features are very common for text based games: boundaries, rules, small dictionary. You can't do what you want and then just suffer the consequences.
Next time, I'll try to play this game without any bottles.
Cheers, DarkForestCrow.
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