Renga in Blue   Interactive fiction and the All the Adventures project

(Continued directly from my previous post.)

Before getting into the action — and there’s a fair amount to report, given I missed a section of town last time — I want to discuss the game’s parser, which tries to model itself after Sierra On-Line but is more dubious.

The chart above shows the result of my testing every verb in the game. DIG for example has the game respond WITH WHAT? Typing THROW has the game respond DROP WHAT? For anything not understood the game says YOU CAN’T DO THAT HERE! This is true even if you put in absolute nonsense words.

The game turns out to allow locations with “bespoke verbs” that only are acknowledged in the right place to use them. This might seem like it theoretically works with “you can’t do that here” on wrong commands but the end effect on the player is to make feedback muddy and for parser messages to end up being deceptive anyway (not being able to do the verb “kick” in a particular place, for instance, implies it ought to work elsewhere).

The other oddity is the “WITH WHAT?” response. This response has been with us in both Scott Adams and Roberta Williams games. Essentially, you are asked to do some action, and the game asks “with what”, and so you type WITH NAMEOFITEM as a response. The side-effect here is that you can — depending on the system — sometimes skip the initial command entirely, and type WITH NAMEOFITEM straightaway. This a.) saves a turn (which was important for the ending of Time Zone) and b.) allows lawnmowering through using WITH on every object held, like a point-and-click adventure where you try every single item on an obstacle.

The sum effect of the items above has been for me to wander around certain spots trying WITH X on random inventory items rather than thinking in terms of a regular text adventure.

Last time I had mentioned in passing a jewelry shop that was shut tight. I had a hat, a brick, a gas can, some peanuts, and some stamps (a treasure); there was also a nearby sledgehammer at the Pawn Shop where the owner said I was allowed to “borrow” it. This requires the full command BORROW HAMMER.

The sledgehammer and the jewelry store went together, but the end result was not what you might think.

Using WITH HAMMER twice (no need to say BREAK) you can get the window busted open and an alarm to sound. I asked in my last post what the standpoint of the police is, and what would cause them to care about a crime; apparently, setting off an alarm at a jewelry shop (or at least this jewelry shop) did not cause them to care. No police ever show up.

The sign says “jeweler has jewels”. The store has already been cleaned out! You might think, “oh, they were just taking their stock and fleeing”, but if you are responsible and return the hammer quickly (just smash the window and go back, check out the vault after) you get rewarded by the pawn shop owner.

He gives you some “jewelry”. This implies not that the jeweler took everything thinking the vault wasn’t safe enough, but had to pawn everything in order to escape. This isn’t just idle plot-theorizing — I need to know if there’s still a puzzle ongoing. For example, the bank that mentions the teller (which I still haven’t been able to summon) might have jewels in a safe-deposit box if I pretend to be the jeweler; or, this may be entirely a closed thread and I shouldn’t even be thinking in terms of the vault leading to another puzzle. I’m about 50-50 on the possibilities; at the very least, this is a game that implies some very bad things have happened in the village causing both shopkeepers and the postal workers to flee.

I mentioned not being able to resolve the bank; I did manage to figure out the hardware store with the cutters.

The sign says that wire cutters are in Aisle 2 but none of the regular directions work. I finally hit upon GO AISLE where the game prompted me WHICH AISLE. Some more struggle led me to GO 2. Hence I could finally pick up the wire cutters.

A second aisle implies the existence of a first, so I tried GO 1 and found a crowbar.

No aisle 3+, sadly.

I immediately thought this was great and there so many places that could use either item but … I haven’t been able to use either yet. The antique store showcase, for instance, implies a crowbar to me, but no dice.

The hardware store was next to a kennel with a guard dog; normally food is needed to befriend/distract in such a case, but here I just needed to PET DOG.

You can now TAKE DOG. The guard dog is an inventory item!

That leaves the Picasso, the hi-fi system, and the gas station to deal with in the areas I’ve been in; I’ll also toss in the gutter I mentioned where if you LOOK GUTTER the game says you see something but is not specific what that something is.

But that’s ok, because there’s a whole new area to talk about! I had some slight issues in room placement which led me to missing some exits at the car lot.

Trying to take the *Corvette* at the lot suggests you need some keys, and nearby there is a dealer office. The sign on the desk says DAVID SMITH but I have not been able to provoke Mr. Smith or get any car keys from him.

Huzzah for more janky-looking people, though! I know you’ve been missing this.

Near the auto dealer is another gutter (LOOK says there’s something there, nothing I’ve tried works) and the jail, where just walking into the jail gets you imprisoned into it (again much like Urban Upstart).

South from the gutter leads to another new big chunk of village (possibly the last, although I suspect there might be a sewer system to dive into in our future).

First comes a “Blacksmith’s Office” with a Blacksmith inside (not abandoned!) who has a sign about cleaning while you wait. I don’t have anything to clean.

Not far from the blacksmith is a glass shop with a *chandelier* too high to reach.

Also near is a “ship lot” with a boat trailer. Trying to pick up the trailer implies it is too heavy, and PUSH, MOVE, and other verbs I’ve tested have also had no effect.

In addition to the boat trailer there’s an actual boat next to a lake, or rather a *boat*. You need to steal a boat! I think that’s a first; I’ve never had a boat be a treasure.

As there’s the lake mentioned to the south, it may be the trailer is a fake-out and you somehow need to move the boat to where you need it. DRIVE BOAT mentions you need keys.

You might notice the name “Howard” there. Nearby there are three residences. One of them is the “Hughes” mansion hence I assume it is a Howard Hughes reference; I haven’t been able to break in. The same applies for Mr. Smith’s house (Mr. Smith was the auto dealer).

There is one house you can go into right away, and that’s the domicile of Mr. Jones.

He has a *T.V.* and the asterisks mean you need to steal it. If you just try to take it you will die (the only death I’ve found in the game).

MR. JONES DOES NOT LIKE THIEVES, SO HE SHOOTS YOU BEFORE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE AND THEN CALLS JOLLYVILLE MORGUE.

There’s one last place I haven’t mentioned yet: an insurance office. It includes a memo pad with a note about repossessing the television set. If you take the note over and then get the T.V. he’ll think you’re there on valid business.

So this is a little more grim than our standard treasure hunt? I at least appreciate what the authors were trying to do by adding thematic heft. The parser and graphics aren’t quite matching the ambition, but I’ve also still got more game to go so we’ll see how things shake out.

To recap, my obstacles are:

• Getting the Picasso without alerting police
• Getting the stereo without alerting police
• Getting the jewels, if any still even exist
• Getting the chandelier that’s too high
• Opening or at least getting the thing from the gutter
• Breaking into the houses of Hughes and Smith
• Stealing a car and a boat (likely the houses need to come first)
• Possibly doing secret things at the bank or electric company or city dump

Oh and one last treasure! You can LOOK HAT (the hat you start the game with) and find a GOLD PIN which nets you 3 points on your score straight off the bat. I only have the stamps and jewelry and T.V. to contribute extra so there’s still a ways to go.