Chronicle Play Torn

               written for the Annual IF Competition -

                     betapersei at freemail dot hu

 

 

1. The Game

Two of my favourite IF games are Anchorhead (by Michael S. Gentry) and

Wishbringer (by Infocom), so if this game reminds you to those, it is not

entirely accidental.

 

Chronicle Play Torn was designed to be easy, but grew a little big over the

time. I can only hope that you will finish it within the two hours, and

you will find the game amusing. In any case, please send me your comments

to the address above (replace `at' with the `@' sign and `dot' with `.').

 

2. Puzzles

The puzzles should be easily solved even by beginners, but the spirit of the

game is touched by the ancient ones, as it is evil within its heart. It is

possible to die, or get into an unwinable state, but the program gives you

warnings if you try to do something risky, so beware of them (and save often

to different files). Just like in Anchorhead, "search" and "examine" are

different verbs, so be sure to use both (you won't be able to win without

them). If you get stuck, you may use the hints built into the program, or

even the walkthrough (both of them are accessible from the "help" command

within the game).

 

3. Bugs

Now a few comments about the dark side of the game: its testing was done

in a hurry, it is very likely that you will find irritating bugs in the prose,

and the working of the game.

 

I'm somewhat innocent in the former one; I'm from the non english speaker

part of the world, and thus writing prose for me is like walking without

light in an Infocom product: I never know, when does a grue find me (and

if it does, I don't even notice it).

 

Sadly, I can't say the same about the bugs in the inner workings of the

program. I didn't had the time to do proper beta-testing, but I hope, that

you will help, and send me bug reports. It will help me to release a more

polished game after the competition.

 

4. Thanks

This program was written using the Inform compiler of Graham Nelson, and

the menu system of Khelwood.