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Classic Text Adventure Jam

Hosted by DigNZ
8
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A jam submission

Spiders from Inside the MoonView game page

Eight-legged aliens are coming for you!
Submitted by DigNZ — 39 minutes, 53 seconds before the deadline
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Spiders from Inside the Moon's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#13.7003.700
Humour#13.5003.500
Use of items#14.0004.000
World#14.0004.000
Story#14.5004.500
Gameplay#52.5002.500

Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

cmd16Submitted2 years ago

I like this game, especially plot and the NPC! Unfortunately, I've definitely found some points of frustration. 

It's not clear to me which verbs are supported in this game (you can see in my game I made a menu where you can see all the verbs I used, which helps reduce the annoying activity of trying to guess what's acceptable). 

It's good that you have some version of in-game hints, but they aren't easy to find. I eventually figured out I needed to mix stuff from the hint after turning the transmogrifier on, but it took me a long time to think of turning the transmogrifier on. I kept trying commands like hint and help and they didn't work. I did eventually think to ask the professor about the rocket, but that was hard to think of. If you want to stick to interactive hints, maybe look at the "acting confused" example in Inform 7 documentation?

The descriptions are a bit lacking: some things are missing descriptions entirely, and some things are described as being in the room yet when I try to look at them I'm told they don't exist (so flavor text doesn't translate to actual items).

I'm stuck now. I picked up everything that could be picked up (including stuff to the west (I got the key)) and I headed back to the lab. I told the professor about the spider person and he wants me to make the stuff to fend off the aliens. All that's left is something to run the countdown, but it says he's not interested in the watch yet. I tried waiting, but he's still not interested. I tried giving the transceiver to him, but he just gets all concerned and nothing changes as far as I can tell.

Submitted
An Unconventional Interview
Reply
DigNZDeveloper2 years ago

Fair feedback - It turned out to be more challenging than I thought to learn Inform AND make a game in the time I ended up having available. Lesson for me is more getting other people's eyes on it earlier to find those tricky situations and missing verbs and descriptions.

There are loads of good recipes in the Inform 7 documentation but from about halfway through the jam I ended up adapting the puzzles and scenes that I wanted to do to what I knew how to do at that point. Next game I'll experiment with a more features and get more external play testing in!

There is a (too?) subtle clue in the description of the watch for what you need to do. Hope that helps get you unstuck!

Reply
cmd16Submitted2 years ago

Still confused:


>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show ten past two.

>x hands

You can't see any such thing.

>take hands

You can't see any such thing.

>take hand

You can't see any such thing.

>x hand

You can't see any such thing.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show eleven minutes past two.

>take time

You can't see any such thing.

>look back

You can't see any such thing.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show twelve minutes past two.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show thirteen minutes past two.

>take best thing you have ever owned

You can't see any such thing.

>take best thing

You can't see any such thing.

>i

You are carrying:

  a watch (being worn)

  a signalling mirror

  soap

  an elaborate brass key

  a communication transceiver

>drop watch

(first taking the watch off)

Dropped.

>look

Laboratory

You are in the laboratory of your boss, Professor Herbert. The dusty room is filled with strange equipment, placed precariously on heavy wooden tables. Spider webs adorn the solid stone walls, lit by dim amber light bulbs and flickering sparks from several humming machines.

A door to the south leads out of the laboratory.

You can see a watch, a Transmogrifier and Professor Herbert here.

>take watch

Taken.

>give watch to herbert

He's not interested in this, yet.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show nineteen minutes past two.

>take nineteen minutes past two

Only four of those are available.

>take minutes

You can't see any such thing.

>take minutes past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take four minutes past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take two

You can't see any such thing.

>take four

You can't see any such thing.

>give watch to herbert

He's not interested in this, yet.

Reply
DigNZDeveloper2 years ago

You need the watch to be counting backwards instead of forwards. There is an item in your inventory and a device in the laboratory that can change the watch to work how you need it... I hope that helps without being too much of a spoiler!

Reply
cmd16Submitted2 years ago

Ok, I got that far and now it's saying I need a companion? Lost again.

Reply
DigNZDeveloper2 years ago

Having examined the crashed spaceship in the lake try:

> Ask professor herbert about dead spider

It might help, it might just get trickier from there! 

Reply
cmd16Submitted2 years ago

Same result as when I asked herbert about spider person. I've seen that text before. I think the issue is I need to get the corpse onto the rocket with me somehow, but I don't know how.

Reply
DigNZDeveloper2 years ago

The Professor can help if you give him the things he needs.

Reply
cmd16Submitted2 years ago

I gave him everything he's willing to take. All I have left is soap and a key. Nothing happens when I put them on the transmogrifier, and the professor won't take them.

Reply
DigNZDeveloper2 years ago

I don't think its a bug... (famous last words).

Look at what he asks for when you ask him about the spider people, then make sure you have given him all three things.

Reply
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