Renga in Blue   Interactive fiction and the All the Adventures project

(Continued directly from my last post.)

So I unstuck myself from the parser issues, had reasonably smooth sailing, then ran into more parser issues.

The first thing I tried was test something Voltgloss theorized, that HELP was not just a “meta” verb but an essential one. We’ve had, for instance, absolutely essential information given by the HELP command but not by the “proper in-universe” portion of the game.

Having tested enough times, I’d say it is more the traditional meta-shtick, although the game does a pretty good job of customizing the message for the location.

Typing HELP here says THAT SAND MIGHT COME IN HANDY.

Trying to go east and typing HELP again, though, indicates otherwise:

This is enough to indicate to me this is a “you got trapped” gag, not an actual puzzle.

Up next is the second hole, with the magic word AYUDAME. I was unable to get out of the hole while holding the rope, as I was trying things like THROW ROPE and the like, and just going UP didn’t work. The key was simply to be going UP while holding the rope and the game would let you use the rope automatically (mind you, I not sure what specific action the avatar is really taking).

From the HELP in this room, which led me to suspect I simply needed the right verb and the magic word was saved for later.

I had already marked on my map there was a tree where an attempt at using CLIMB failed because I lacked climbing equipment. With rope in hand I immediately tested CLIMB again (this time, not UP — yes, the parser is inconsistent) and was able to find an oil lamp hanging out on the top of the tree. Where they often tend to be found.

The result of trying HELP here. This is honestly where the flavor of the game is, it’s otherwise fairly straightforward sci-fi-fantasy blend.

The magic word AYUDAME, incidentally, I started testing in each and every room, marking as I went, before hitting paydirt in an entirely random place: the front of the cave immediately after getting bitten by leeches.

I knew I next needed to resolve the antiseptic bottle (the one where OPEN and APPLY and so forth didn’t work), and finally resorted to poking open the source code (or rather, in this case, the machine code file that needs to be run before the BASIC one). Here’s what I’ve come up with (this includes some information from later in this play session).

NO, SO, EA, WE, UP, DO, (directions)
GE, (get)
DR, (drop)
CH, (chop)
TH, (throw)
CL, (probably clean?)
SP, (spray)
RE, (read)
EX, (examine)
SAY, (say)
PU, (push)
SH, (shoot)
WI, (don’t know)
SM, (seems to be also open?)
OP, (open)
LI, (light)
UN, (unlight)
SAV, (save)
HEL, (help)
IN, (inventory)
SC, (score)

So the bottle is simply a spray bottle!

This is hence not so much guess-the-verb as guess-the-visualization.

Using the key (and making sure I had a lit lamp) I was able to find and enter two locked doors in the cave. One led to a TRS-80 with the message PRESS THE BUTTON TO FIRE MISSILE.

The other contains the actual button to fire the aforementioned missile. The funny thing structurally is I pushed the button first and found what it did after.

No idea where the rocket is and what happens if you don’t destroy it.

Exploring around a little more I found a rock with the message DING-A-LING; saying DING revealed a *ring*, one of the treasures. I also came across a bigger rock blocking my way, some oars, and a boat at an underground lake.

Historically, text adventures have been awful at boat control, and this game is no different. I had already dumped the verb list and nothing seemed close to helping, until I finally realized the boat was portable enough I could just pick it up, and walking NORTH into the lake while holding the boat was considered equivalent to using it.

Just a bit past that are a LASER PISTOL, some BATTERIES (needed to operate the pistol), and a *SOFT PILLOW* (another treasure).

I was able to to take the pistol back to the large rock blocking my way and shoot it.

Now, though I’ve found myself stuck in the room immediately after.

HELP gives a message about there being a hidden switch in the hole, but I have no item that seems to help with the cause of pushing it (or at least none that the parser will recognize; you’d think the sickle has a long end so you could flip it around to push whatever’s in there). Given how arbitrary the magic word use was I suspect I’ve missed a hidden object and I need to comb back over the rooms I’ve been in.

From a Jan. 1983 Micro 80 ad for CHROMAtrs.