Renga in Blue   Interactive fiction and the All the Adventures project

This continues from my previous post.

From the Museum of Computer Adventure games.

I’ve revealed enough of the map that it is time for an update. Last time I left off on entering the mansion depicted on the title screen.

Unlike, say, Windmere Estate, there’s not many rooms at the house itself; the underground is where most of the rooms are. The game also seems to keep up a fairly high room-to-important-object number, and I have to add the “seems to” because there’s details in the room description that the parser technically recognizes. That doesn’t mean anything will happen with them, though!

Just to illustrate the inherent issue, here’s me attempting to get something to happen in the hallway with stairs and a statue:

On the map I marked a chandelier in a drawing room just because it was the only item in the room of importance, and in the parlor I zeroed in on the picture (GET PICTURE: “I CAN’T REACH IT”) but I’m just guessing here. This is the inherent problem with having a game where manipulatable objects fall in the room description; because the parser isn’t going to handle any of the “non-working” objects with more than default messages the amount of effort it takes to find a secret gets multiplied.

Also, there’s a burger in the abandoned kitchen full of cobwebs. It is safe to eat (“THANK YOU! IT WAS DELICIOUS!”) although it might need to be used on an obstacle.

Upstairs there’s a “small bedroom” (SLEEP BED: “I HOPE YOU’RE RESTED NOW!”) and a study with a ladder that can be climbed.

The ladder leads to a trap door with rusted hinges; the oil can from out in the shed can be used to OIL HINGES and go inside.

The cupola is where the treasures go. Once again we have a scenario with a “Treasure Hunt” where it feels more like the player is redecorating rather than scarfing for profit. (The type-in Spelunker from 1979 remains the only case I’ve come across that does actual currency conversion even though treasure gets hawked in CRPGs all the time.)

In order to get underground you need to visit that suspicious stump outside I mentioned last time, but first, an attempt at using the parachute, back at that elaborately-described chasm.

I don’t know if we’re intended to fix the parachute — no verbs I tried had any effect — or if this is all a big red herring. (Or, alternately, there’s a place later where the parachute will open properly.) While I’m at it, here’s the verb list as I have it so far:

DIG, CLIMB, READ, BREAK, OPEN, DRINK, EAT, LIGHT, UNLOCK, LOCK, SIT, FEED, JUMP, PRESS, PUT, PUSH, PULL, TURN, ROTATE, MOVE, SLEEP, CLOSE, EXAMINE, LEAVE, KICK, KNOCK, STAND, PLAY, ENTER, PICK, LIFT, EMPTY, MELT, PRY

Noteworthy, KICK but no other method of hitting things (no SMASH or KILL or ATTACK), both SIT and STAND, LIFT (which is often its own isolated thing to find secrets), and MELT. None of these suggest repairing a parachute even with the right items.

Back in the forest there was a stump that didn’t react to any of my commands, but I hadn’t tried it on the shovel yet. DIG does not work on its own; it needs a target. It also isn’t a single-use item because I’ve already used it twice more, so I’m now keeping constant lookout for sandy and/or unstable ground.

The underground is designed along the lines of long tunnels rather than dense interconnections. Starting from the bottom of a long hole, headed north there is an intersection, and essentially three different routes:

a.) east past some GOLD TOOTHPICKS to a Quarry. The quarry has a pickaxe (which I haven’t put to use yet) and a large boulder, but it is possible to push the boulder out of the way…

…revealing another room with treasure (a small chamber with a necklace) which appears to be a dead-end.

b.) down to a place with many passages where you are invited to “choose at random”; this does the Crowther/Woods trick of sometimes having an exit loop you back to the room you’re in rather than a secondary destination.

From here, one side passage just leads to a “cubbyhole” with a rare painting, but three others are or seem to relate to puzzles.

To the northwest, there is a compass on the floor. With it in hand, you see it start spinning as you get closer to an electric generator and a computer. The HARD DRIVE found outdoors is suggestive but I haven’t been able to find any verbs that use the two together.

To the southwest, there’s a furnace with a red dial. I have not found any way of interacting with the dial.

To the west, there’s a venus flytrap. Not much to say here; I probably need to feed it.

Backtracking to the junction near the start, going north isn’t a full-fledged route because of some quicksand in the way. It could be a puzzle but there’s a room later that might just be the other side. I’ll still keep it in mind if any obvious traversal methods arise.

c.) Going west from the starting junction first passes through a “frozen ice” room with a giant icicle (I’m guessing MELT comes into player there followed by a “jade ring” and a long hall of ugly art.

Is this purely for atmosphere? I have found no way to refer to the body of the artist.

Heading farther in, there’s a bearskin rug in a “fur trapper” room, and two curious rooms dedicated to a “music student”.

The piano can be played (“IT IS VERY OUT OF TUNE”) but I haven’t otherwise been able to interact with either room past picking up the platinum record (a treasure). The iron panel to the northwest is particularly curious as it seems like it ought to be hiding another exit but again none of my verbs have been much use. Out of anywhere I’ve seen so far here I’d expect it to be a magical effect (playing some sort of instrument? … but not the piano, which can’t be moved).

Also near this route is a “white sand” room which can be dug into using the shovel, revealing a magazine. The magazine’s description is esoteric enough I think it might be intended to mirror the magazine in Crowther/Woods (which was intended for use with the “last lousy point”).

Moving on to the last area I’ve explored:

The most memorable room here (for me, in terms of description) is of a dead explorer in a corner with a crowbar. I have yet to find a use for the crowbar although PRY is a verb.

This is followed by a mostly linear sequence of rooms, although off one branch is a “wall of lava” which may or may not be traversable, and there’s two more fissures where you can jump to your death if you feel so inclined.

Following all the way down there’s a dead end and a pit. You can dig into the pit and find a tusk, which counts as another treasure.

I think this is the end of the line here.

That was a big chunk, so to summarize:

I have, gathering from above and below-ground, a CAN OF OIL, RUSTY SHOVEL, BRASS LAMP, HARD DISK, RUSTED PLIERS, SMALL PARACHUTE, SMALL METAL CROWBAR, and COMPASS. I now have a variety of treasures (including some GOLD DOUBLOONS in a CHEST I neglected to mention) and none seem like the sort of item to be used a puzzle; I should still test them for magical effects. (However, there’s no WAVE or other verb that would naturally seem to apply! Maybe everything is “realistic” barring the giant Venus flytrap.) As far as obstacles or at least rooms of interest go, there’s the just-mentioned Venus flytrap, the computer with generator, the furnace, a weirdly decorated corridor, some quicksand, a cold room with an icicle, and a couple places that can be jumped into (currently resulting in doom, but I need to test the parachute out more). I also should do another pass on the mansion as surely something like the picture will shake loose a secret.

The game’s manual implies this is a game about finding hidden things, perhaps more than overcoming outright blatant obstacles.

CRYSTAL CAVERNS is subtle, complex, and devious. Imagination and persistence are your most valuable tools. Pick up anything that looks vaguely useful. Move, dig under or open anything that appears suspicious…or rattles.