IntroComp 2005

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The Amazing Uncle Griswold

by David Whyld

All you have to do in this game is open the front door for Uncle Griswold after he arrives. In the meantime, you can look around. There seems to be some confusion whether the front door is north or east of the Hallway.

Front Room

>info. x me. x tv. x video. push button. x cassette. x stereo.

>x books. x shelves. w. x sofa. x chair. e.

Hallway

>u. x stand. x dresser. x door. open it.

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Deadsville

by William McDuff

My apologies to the author for not writing this up sooner. This is a more minimal walkthrough than I'd like. There's a lot you can do in the graveyard that this walkthrough doesn't cover. Be sure to read the author's "amusing" comments when you're done.

Graveyard

>x man. x spellbook. take spellbook. hit goth with spellbook. [+2 points]

>x goth. eat brains. open skull.

>x grave. x corner. take corner. take it.

>x stone. hit goth with stone. [+2 points]

>x brains. eat brains. [+6 points]

>xyzzy. [+1 point; "the last lousy point"]

>n. [win with 13 out of 13 points!]

Top of Doddsville Hill

>amusing.

>diezombiedie.

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The Fox, The Dragon, and The Stale Loaf of Bread

by David Welbourn

In this walkthrough, we shall choose to agree to all pleas of mercy and not kill the creatures on the path. However, you should know that it is permissible to kill them and subsequently eat them. Unfortunately, there are some game killer bugs that prevent you from winning the game should you choose to kill one of the titular characters.

Also, if you kill the fox, you will never meet the dragon or bread, and likewise, if you kill the dragon, you will not meet the bread. Whether this will make winning the full version of the game impossible or just very difficult remains to be seen.

Mountain Trail

>about. x me. i. x stick. x knife. x purse. x sack.

>open purse. x coins. open sack. x box. open box.

>x lute. play it. tune it. x bag. open it. x spices. taste them.

>close bag. x mountain. x trees. d.

Tall Pines

Note that you must attempt to kill the fox before you can try to free it. Also, instead of "free fox" you can be more explicit and say "pry trap with stick".

>x fox. x trap. x cap. kill fox.

>>yes

>free fox. x trees. d.

By the Firepit

If you kill the fox or dragon, you will want to light the kindling in the firepit with your tinderbox, then cook the meat before eating it. However, this walkthrough will just look at the pit without using it.

>x pit. x twigs. x boulder. sit. stand. d.

Jumble of Rocks

Note that the knife may be used instead of the stick to manipulate the trap in this puzzle.

>x dragon. x nail. take nail. kill dragon.

>>yes

>take nail. put trap on nail. open trap. drop trap. open it. take it.

>put stick in trap. take trap. x it. put trap on nail. pull stick. pull trap.

>d. d.

Bend in the Road

>x bread. take bread.

>>yes

>s.

Scenic View

>x birds. throw bread. x cliff. x lake. x island. x waterfall. x village. n.

Bend in the Road

>x boulder. se.

Foothills

>x weeds. x flowers. x trees. x stumps. se.

Farmlands

>x field. s.

North of Bridge

>x bridge. x river. drink water. put stick in water. s.

South of Bridge

>x road. s.

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The Hobbit

by Serhei Makarov

Note: This walkthrough somewhat glosses over some of the exploring that's possible to do, particularly at Pit Ledge and Dead End Room.

Darkness [Dim Cave]

The game begins in darkness, but you may assume you are at Dim Cave. You also have a headache which somehow prevents you from checking your inventory. You can do nothing much about the noises as yet.

>x me. i. x headache. listen. e.

Darkness [Wet Tunnel]

>listen. d.

Darkness [Stream Chamber]

CAUTION: Do not drink the water. You'll catch a fever and die a few turns later.

>listen. touch water. [+1 pt]

>i. x sword. x sheath. unsheathe sword. u. w.

Darkness [Dim Cave]

Thankfully, the noises stop when you find the ring. You can then unsheathe the sword, which glows, and thus you can finally see some of your surroundings.

>w. [+1 pt]

>x ring. unsheathe sword. [+1 pt]

>xyzzy. su. nw.

Scree Room

>x arrow. touch it.

Fleeing From Goblins (on Bombur)

You must tell Bombur about the brook, otherwise he won't know to jump it.

>x bombur. x brook. x gandalf. tell bombur about brook. z. [+1 pt]

Scree Room

>touch arrow. se. ne.

Goblin Road

Note that Gandalf's hat won't be here until you've gone through the flashback 'Fleeing From Goblins'. I have no explanation for what's written on the parchment. The parchment does help establish that the hat is a container, however.

>x hat. take it. look in it. take parchment. x it.

>x statue. touch it. listen to it. [+1 pt]

>sw. s.

Dark Space

You won't be able to visit here until you gained courage by listening to the statue. Also, forgive me, but I can't help but think of the second Harry Potter novel when putting hat and sword together. Bilbo can now use his new lightsabre to find the passage to the northeast.

>listen. put sword in hat. [+1 pt]

>ne.

Vast Space / Darkness

>e.

Lake Shore

>x pool. x lights. z. z. z. z. x gollum.

>kill gollum with sword. hit gollum. [+1 pt]

Stream Chamber (inside a riddle)

>amusing.

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Negotis: Book 1

by Robert DeFord

Enter your game name: David

Crash Landing Site

It is particularly important to use the "about" command to learn about many specialized commands like "analyze (object)", "sneak past (creature)", "wealth", "ask about products", and "topics". You'll also learn that there is no "undo" command, which I'm sure you'll find rather unpleasant should you continue to play.

>about. x me. i. x pants. x shoes. x shirt.

>x stick. take it. x smoke. x trees.

>x ground. x sprouts. x pattern. x silver circle. x indigo circle.

>x plaque. read it. x cave. x sky. x pod.

>ne.

Rocky Path

Don't try to do anything with the snake just yet. Despite the fact that it's old and asleep, it's still far more dangerous than it has any right to be.

>x snake. x pile. x pole. take it.

>sw. n.

Area Outside Landing Pod

>x pod. x crack. look in crack. x knapsack.

>x end. x hatch. x depression. touch it. smell it. x streaks. open hatch.

>pry hatch with pole. pry crack with pole. in.

Interior of the Pod

During your explorations, you'll eventually hear a Zaaapp! from the clearing. Don't worry about it; it's just Harkan teleporting in.

On an unrelated note, you'll probably start to notice that you can't refer to things just by their adjectives. And that descriptions of readable items are always "It's a (whatever) with writing on it." Which, of course, is ever so helpful.

The PAU lets you analyze many objects in the game to determine their stats, value, and a broad idea of their game usage. This adds to the 'RPG-ness' of the game but damages mimesis.

>x knapsack. take it. wear it. open it.

>x gtc contract. read it.

>x sti contract. read it.

>x pau. take it. wear it. read it. analyze me.

>x cotton shirt. x walking shoes. x hemp pants.

Here we start to work with multiple identical objects. Unfortunately, the game is not very clever with them. It would be nice if the five lines of "Gold Certificate: Taken" were compressed into "five Gold Certificates: Taken". It would be even better if we could redeem them all at once instead of one at a time.

>x gold certificate. read it.

>take certificates. redeem certificate. g. g. g. g.

>x bulkheads. x cracks. x debris. x chair. out. s.

Crash Landing Site

TADS 3 implements "a (topic)" as a short form of "ask (nearby actor) about (topic)". You should learn to take advantage of it.

>x harkan. x robe. topics. ask harkan about harkan. g. g. a island. a crystals.

>a smoke. a pod. a nexus. a cult. a indigo cult. a silver cult.

>a moons. a silver moon. a indigo moon. a negotis.

>a products. a indigo pearl. a book. a plaque. a cave. a snake.

>a favor. tell harkan about depression.

We have 500 gold to our credit, so let's buy a law book. We don't learn the going price until we start negotiations. Unfortunately, if we start negotiating and don't buy—if, for example, because we don't have enough funds—then we'll be penalized at further negotiating. Counteroffering lower can also result in penalties. Buying at the offered price (or higher) will reward you with better deals in future negotations. In short, Harkan is a jerk, and you should buy stuff at whatever price he asks. There seems to be no incentive to haggle.

Oh, and even though we called it a book, you can't. It's a "guide".

The rule about no pollution suggests that you shouldn't litter. But I don't remember seeing any trash cans or recycling boxes in the game. It's a fact: carrying large piles of trash increases one's Quality Of Life (QOL).

One more thing: teleportation is so expensive that it's a big money maker for Indigo mages, and Silver mages would rather go by boat between the islands than pay. But every transaction or "wealth" check requires that some Negotian bookkeeper teleports. Twice.

I guess one shouldn't think too hard about this.

>wealth. buy from harkan. 2. 48. x guide. read it.

>e.

Dry Cave

Because theft is a crime, one should use the PAU to make sure what you pick up isn't owned by someone else. Luckily, that doesn't seem to be much of a problem in this intro version of the game.

>x walls. x dust. x crystal. take it. x marks. x alcove.

>analyze scroll. take it. read it. analyze statue. take it.

>x machine. x hopper. x crank. x left crank. x right crank. x chute.

>w.

Crash Landing Site

Harkan, as an Indigo mage, isn't going to buy Silver items. And, y'know, I bet these silver and indigo crystals are chunks of rock from their respective moons. The moons must be major sources of these crystals. Why don't we just teleport (or use a spaceship) to go to the moons and pick up a few tons of these crystals? Oh dear. I'm thinking too much again, aren't I?

>show statue to harkan. a statue. sell statue to harkan. sw.

Base of Cliff

>x vines. moves vines. in.

Lower Elevator Room

>take all. x indigo crystal. x planks. x rungs. climb rungs.

>redeem certificate. g. out. climb vines.

Wet Cave

>x rock. x holes. x white thing. move rock with pole.

>x stain. take all crystals.

>x pipe. x trough. x undercarriage. listen.

>x dome. x alcove. analyze indigo statue. x it. take it.

>e.

Upper Elevator Room

This room lets you know about the Lower Elevator Room, but you can't go down from here. Not without dying. Don't try to use the rungs; you'll fall to your death.

>x ledge. x hole. x rungs. x shaft. w. n.

Damp Tunnel

>x scum. u.

Cliff Top

Every turn, some creature will fly, scamper, slither, or crawl past you. Ignore them.

Cliff Edge to the east is a place you can jump to your death from. I suggest not jumping.

>x pod. x hookey. x boulders. x island. x hole.

>e. w. d. d. d. ne.

Crash Landing Site

Let's buy a healing scroll from Harkan. We're going to do a few dangerous things, and we'll want a scroll since every injury, no matter how slight, is a delayed death sentence until cured.

>buy from harkan. 1. 290. read healing scroll. save. se.

Sandy Path

Look, Watson! A clue! Shame you can't "analyze" it to find out whose footprints they are.

Oh, when you go southeast from here for the first time, you'll be attacked with a fireball and any shirt that you're wearing will be ruined. Feel free to remove your shirt or strip naked to prevent this. No one will notice or comment on your nudity.

>x sand. x footprints. se.

Pretty Cove

Okay, you've been hurt. I'm going to ask you to ignore your attacker and all the goodies here (for now) so we can attempt to sneak past the snake on the northeastern path. If the snake bites us, we'll take damage, but hopefully we can use the healing scroll to heal both injuries at the same time. If it doesn't work out, restore from your save position.

You could try hitting the snake with a weapon, but that way seems doomed to failure. Your weapons are too weak and the snake is as strong as you are. Pushing the snake out of the way with a pole or stick ought to work, but I'm guessing the author didn't think of that possibility.

>stand. nw. nw. ne. sneak past snake.

Hill Top Clearing

Because you're slowly dying, I'm going to skip examination of the surrounding scenery. Except for the stump, which is important.

>x stump. x hole. look in hole. take bag with stick. sw. sneak past snake.

Crash Site Landing

>heal me. tell harkan about footprints. x bag. open it.

>x napkin. x core. x wad. read it. show it to harkan. se. se.

Pretty Cove

Note that you can swim in lagoon, expose up to three new shells, take them, then swim again to expose more shells. You can get many pearls this way.

>read sign. take paper. read it.

>x flotsam. x shell. take it. open it. x pearl. take it.

>x apple. take it. x pit.

>swim. look. take shells. open them. take pearls.

>x sailboat. x lagoon. x plants. x rocks.

>nw. nw.

Crash Landing Site

You can only sell one thing to Harkan at a time, and you cannot haggle when selling. Analyzing anything you're selling will reveal that he's ripping you off, but he's the only buyer available, so what can you do?

>show paper to harkan.

>sell pearl to harkan. y. sell pearl to harkan. y. sell pearl to harkan. y.

>sell pearl to harkan. y. sell pearl to harkan. y. sell pearl to harkan. y.

Let's buy a teleportation scroll and then a second healing scroll. Annoyingly, the menu numbers aren't constant.

>buy from harkan. 1. 360. read teleporation scroll.

>buy from harkan. 2. 240. save.

>sw. climb vines. n. u.

Cliff Top

The magic ring will provide you with a bit more gold if you use the magic word "abundance" when one of moons is rising (see the status line). (Oh my. Has it been that many years since I started playing?)

>heal hookey. x ring. take it. read it. wear it.

You can now use the teleportation scroll to get to the other island. Or, you can try teleporting something else. Annoyingly, the snake is magically protected against teleportation somehow. And most (but not all!) scenery is not teleportable. It'd be nice if you could teleport the knapsack from the pod to solve that problem, but you can't do that since Harkan doesn't show up until you visit the inside of the pod. Does Negotis have something against multiple solutions?

>teleport me. b.

Central Island Nexus

There's nothing much you can do at the new island; the game sorta peters out here. Each of the four gardens has flowers and a bench, each slightly different. As at Cliff Top, you can't interact with any creatures you see flitting about.

>x cardboard. read it. x pattern. x tiles. x plaque. read it.

>nw. x flowers. x bench. se.

>ne. x flowers. x bench. sw.

>sw. x flowers. x bench. ne.

>se. x flowers. x bench. ne.

>quit.

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Somewhen

by Bryce J. Rhaiz

Unfortunately, there is no point in trying to write a walkthrough for Somewhen. The game only includes a default PC and nine locations. There are no objects to pick up and examine. There are no puzzles to solve and no tasks to accomplish. The prologue text suggests that the PC should have a recorder, but that object isn't implemented. All you can do is walk around the hotel and quit. Really.

Is it worth pointing out that the four non-corner sides of the hotel are pointless?

>nw. nw. sw. sw. w. e. se. se. ne. ne. e. quit.

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Weishaupt Scholars: Prologue

by Michael C. Martin

Lecture Hall

The game begins with a prologue with Janet as the PC. In the lecture hall, you don't have to do anything in particular, nor can you make a mistake. After a few turns, the lecture will end.

>x notes. x professor. x students. x whiteboards. x me. i. x pager.

Lecture Hall Foyer / Talking to Jason

Choose replies as you please from the menu options while talking to Jason:

>1. 1.

Once out of the menu, you can try to ask him about stuff, but there's not much to say:

>x jason. ask jason about himself. ask jason about professor.

>ask jason about class. 2. ask jason about scholarship.

Saying bye or leaving in any direction ends the prologue.

>kiss jason. kill jason. bye.

Outside Lecture Hall

"Episode 1: Slack Attack" stars Benj as the PC. Benj's goal is to leave the building without "them" capturing him. There are two ways to do this: either escape through the underground tunnels, or divert the opposition to the wrong side of the building. Here's the underground solution:

>x me. i. x card. xyzzy. d. d.

Basement Stairwell

>e. u. s.

Building Administration

Note that you need to learn that your card doesn't work before you can ask the admin about it.

>x admin. ask admin about card. n. d. e. e. e.

>rewind. y. (to try the other solution)

Outside Lecture Hall

In the second solution, let yourself be seen by "them" from outside one window, then *quickly* escape through the exit on the opposite side of the building.

>w.

Back Lounge, Second Floor

>x window. e. d. e. e.

>continue.

Foyer

"Episode 2: Princess of the Universe" stars Janet as the PC. Not much to do except examine your fellow co-conspirators and try to ask them questions. To end the episode, simply go in any direction.

>x hal. ask hal about hal. ask hal about conspiracy.

>x benj. ask benj about benj. ask hal about cultists.

>ask hal about subgenii. ask benj about conspiracy. ask benj about smile.

>xyzzy. n.

>endnotes

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