Cheet Sheets 1996 October/CHEET44.ZIP/1DVENT.TXT

Text File | 1995-10-07 | 8KB | 171 lines

~Adventure Games

On The Subject Of Adventure Games...


By Lu Richardson


FOREWORD

Way back, in the infancy of the PC, when screens were monochrome or
at most CGA (golly gosh!), the games available were either simple
arcades or text adventures - there just wasn't the capability for
anything else.  Players were divided into these two camps, and what
motivated them to choose one of them is a question which would
probably keep a batallion of psychologists in business.

Basically, you either liked visually direct action, mostly pretty
aggresive,  or you preferred a spot of peaceful escapism with a side
order of intellectual titillation.  In spite of the explosion of the
computer games market and the incredible variety which covers just
about every taste in entertainment nowadays, I suspect that a large
number of people still enjoy the quiet thrill of the adventure game.

You see, it's like entering into a new world, where everything is
strange, sometimes scary, sometimes funny, but always fascinating.
What's behind that locked door?  Where is the key?  How do I get
that shinny thing at the bottom of the river?  What will I find in
the dark cave?  Curiosity drives you on relentlessly.

Of course, some games have an interesting plot and you have a clear
cut goal - but in others, you start off by knowing nothing at all
and have to learn what gives as you go along.  You'll be led quite
a dance in the process, I can tell you.

HOW TO SOLVE THEM:  FIRST STEPS

So, how do you go about playing adventure games, whether text,
graphic or animated?  Well, rule number one is to read whatever info
comes to the game to put yourself in the picture, as it were.  These
days, you also get an intro to tell you more or less what's
happening or what has to be done.

Once the game starts, it is a good idea to try a "dry run"; that is
to say, visit every location available and pick up anything not
nailed to the floor and start trying various things.  If anything
goes wrong it won't matter; and it's no good trying to solve a
puzzle in one room when the thing you need is three rooms on.  Once
you've got all the available information, you can go through the
whole thing more methodically from the beginning.

LOCATIONS

To take things step by step, you should examine carefully every
location you come to.  See if anything is hidden behind something
else.  If, for instance, there is a grandfather's clock in the room,
don't just say, oh, all right, there is a clock here.  Examine it,
attempt to open it, try to move it, change the position of the
handles; that sort of thing.  Sometimes, the mere act of examining
something will give you a clue.

MAPS

Since adventure scenarios tend to be necessarily limited, and the
shortcomings of such a small world tend to be made up by endless
visits, backwards and forwards, to the handful of rooms available,
it is always a good idea to make a map if the game itself does not
provide you with one.  It needn't be anything complicated:  just a
square per room will do, with lines representing roads, corridors or
passages coming out of them, at the right points of the compass, and
leading to other rooms represented by other squares.  You could also
write a number as a reference in each square and again on another
piece of paper and, beside it, what there is of interest in each
room.

ITEMS

Next, pick up anything that can be picked up in the location you are
at.  Examine each object you pick up, since that will give you a
clue; also, objects can sometimes be opened to reveal something else
inside.  For instance, a box might contain not one, but several
items - so that, if you look inside and find something, don't stop
there.  Look again, and again, until it is declared to be empty.
Some items are a clue in their own right.  For instance, if you find
a banana, chances are there will be a monkey hanging around
somewhere.

CONVERSATIONS

Some games are livened up by having people standing around who will
willingly engage in strange conversations with you.  This I
personally dislike, since they tend to be "padding" and rather a
waste of good playing time.  However, it cannot be helped.  Always
talk to everyone you meet and pursue conversations till people start
repeating themselves.  Sometimes, embeded in all the nonsense,
you'll find a clue.  Come back when you have gone further into the
game, to see if they have any more information to impart.  Not that
those characters are only there to chat you up - sometimes you have
to give them something to get something else.

THE PUZZLES

Since the primary object of an adventure game is to explore the
environment in order to get from A to B, where pressumabily the
whole thing will be resolved, one easy way of putting you on your
mettle is to block your progress at every turn.  You will find
locked doors aplenty, and paths obstructed by an assortment of
difficulties, such as gorillas, deadly spiders or tax collectors.
To get past these hurdles you will need certain items and a great
deal of imagination.  Most puzzles are about doing just this.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once you've gone as far as you can, identifying the obstacles and
collecting all the items available, the time will have come to try
and overcome the said obstacles.  Some solutions will be obvious:
for instance, if you've found a banana and a gorilla won't let you
climb an interesting tree, you'll know exactly what to do.  So, the
first thing you do is to try the easy options.  If none of the items
you have will allow you to progress further to other locations in
the game, then you must try the not so obvious approach.  For
instance, if the key you have won't open the locked chest but you
have a crowbar, try that.

On occasion, the solution will be slightly more complicated.  Say
that a couple of roughs are guarding a gate and they are drinking at
the same time - if you happen to have a sleeping potion about your
person, you'll get an pretty good idea about what to do.  Only, of
course, it won't be as simple as that - before you can put your
potion in their drink, you will have to distract them, and that
could be a complicated business.  Especially if you don't have a
cat, a piece of string and a tin handy.

Having exhausted all the logical possibilities, and you must indeed
imagine what you would do in real life with the items at your
disposal, then you'll next have to try a spot of lateral thinking.
For instance, you could try combining the objects you are carrying.
A rope and a metal bar could be combined to form a makeshift
grappling hook; that is to say, some combinations will be fairly
straightforward.  When they are not so, the only thing for it is to
simply click with each item on every other item in your inventory
and see if anything happens.

Finally, bear in mind that the whole point of an adventure game is
to make life difficult for you (no sense in writing an adventure so
easy that it can be solved in a couple of hours).  There will be red
herrings galore to distract you and puzzles which look logical but
are not:  sometimes the answer will be subtly connected with what
you would indeed do in real life, if not quite, and sometimes it
will be quite outrageous and utterly far-fetched.  This I consider
rather unfair, but I guess even game writters get off days.

GETTING STUCK

Sooner or later, everyone gets stuck - don't get an inferiority
complex about it, the brightest and best get stuck.  It's just a
question of how determined you are not to be beaten.  The thing to
remember is that there is ALWAYS a solution, no matter how
intractable the problem might seem.  In my experience, the reason
people get stuck is because they have failed to spot a vital item
(because it has been so craftily hidden) or because they haven't yet
left off thinking logically.  So, if you get really stuck, go over
all the locations yet again, searching them thoroughly; if no new
item appears, then go to your obstacle and try improbable things
with the items you do have.

And if the worst comes to the worst, there is always Cheet Sheets...


Copyright (c) 1995 Eurowave Leisure Ltd.