Chris's Game Showcase

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c_nordlander
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Chris's Game Showcase

Post by c_nordlander » Sun May 24, 2020 11:43 pm

Hi folks! I decided to make a thread for any games (mostly text adventures and interactive fiction until I learn the mysterious skill of artwork) I may make in the future, just to keep them in the same place.

There is definitely no obligation to play any of these, they're just for whoever's interested.

Kicking this off with "The Game of Setanta", playable here. My first full-length text adventure game that's any good. A fantasy game about escaping from a house while facing increasingly escalating obstacles. My love letter to the kind of game I wanted to go home and play when I was thirteen.

Can be solved using solely the following verbs: TAKE, OPEN, DROP, PUT [thing] IN [thing], TALK TO [person], HIT [thing] WITH [thing], ENTER, EXIT, PUSH [thing], GET OUT, plus compass directions and up/down.

So... it's reasonably long, and puzzle-heavy. It can't be rendered unwinnable in the sense of "you lose an item permanently if you leave it behind" or the like, and in *most* situations you can only get yourself killed by doing something deliberately stupid, but there are a couple of "timed" events, in one of which I guess you might lock yourself out of victory if you waste your turns going off to do the wrong things. A hint for what I think is the most difficult bit:
Spoiler
If anyone plays, bug reports (and general comments on puzzle/writing issues) are very welcome.

Walkthrough here.


Interesting (?) tidbits about the conception of this game below:

When I was a kid, I saw screenshots in PC gaming magazines advertising an adventure game called Tir Na Nog. It had a Conan-looking Cú Chulainn (yes, I had to look up that spelling) as a hero and beautiful hand-painted backgrounds and I thought it looked *great*. A year back, I decided looking to see if it could be bought or downloaded, and found out that it was never actually released. Which is freaky, given that I'm sure I saw it in a shop once, but never mind...

So yes, this game is my attempt at recreating "Tir Na Nog" as I imagined it. Later, I found out it was actually a remake of an Amiga game (also titled Tir Na Nog, which *does* exist, and which was nothing like the surreal object puzzles thing I imagined. Shucks. My title is a bit of a hint towards the inspiration: Sétanta was Cú Chulainn's birth name. My game isn't actually based on Irish mythology though because research is hard; more general European folklore and some stuff that's straight out of my own head.

imagine these graphics when you play

EDIT: Bragging for a moment: it scored a shared 1st place in a small game competition. Not to oversell myself: there were only five contributions to the competition, and the number of ratings was barely double digits. Still.
Last edited by c_nordlander on Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by SirMustapha » Thu May 28, 2020 2:02 am

I played a little bit of the game, and I intend on playing the rest soon. I already like the set up, and I confess I had to check one solution in the source because I was stumped. Hint for everyone: always look at everything!
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by c_nordlander » Thu May 28, 2020 11:08 am

You warm my heart, Fernie. :)

And yes, it's one of *those* games.
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by SirMustapha » Thu May 28, 2020 10:00 pm

I just finished the game, Chris, and yeah, I think it deserved that 1st spot! (... though I haven't seen the competitors to make a fair comparison, but really, you deserved that shared win, so congrats!) I got stumped in a few more places, but I think I could've solved them myself if I had tried long enough without looking at the walkthrough (easy to say that in hindsight, huh), but I was surprised with how much I was able to progress on my own terms. The puzzles were all very fun, and I enjoyed the surprises and the story arc along the way. That was some solid work!
Spoiler
EDIT: side note, I only now realised how these text games can force me to look up the meaning of words, especially those that I had seen before but was too lazy to look up, e.g. "rushes" and "trough", so thanks for that too. :)
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by c_nordlander » Thu May 28, 2020 10:33 pm

Well thank you for the earworm. :D

That's a lot of high praise; thank you so much for playing to the end and being so positive. I've been working on this game on and off for quite a while. Totally agree that it's quite hard, and I'd probably need to take a look at the walkthrough myself if someone else had made it. There are probably things that can be improved as well (and which I will improve in the future).

I just had so much fun coming up with surreal obstacles and enemies and piling up the stress levels.
Spoiler
Like I said before, it's a massive tribute to the kind of puzzly, atmospheric adventure games that I would rush home from school to play. And yes, they were often unfairly difficult with puzzles that made very little sense, but I still love them, and now I feel I've created something that thirteen-year-old Chris would enjoy, too.

Glad I could help increase your English vocabulary!
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by c_nordlander » Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:36 pm

A new text adventure, The Light Prince. You are a young prince, cursed since birth with being completely weightless, which poses you unending dangers when in the open air. Your godfather has taken you to his lands under pretense of searching for a cure, only to lock you in a remote tower. Now you need to escape and return home, while avoiding the dangers posed by even the slightest breeze.

The premise is loosely based on George MacDonald's 1864 children's novel The Light Princess. It's a good story, I recommend it. My game doesn't really use its plot, though, other than the basic premise of a weightless royal child.

In terms of gameplay, it's shorter than "The Game of Setanta", and probably more straightforward in terms of figuring out what you need to do. Can be solved by a couple of different routes. Shouldn't be possible to put in an unwinnable state (unless there's a bug); on the other hand, it's got quite a few insta-deaths. Walkthrough is here Can be solved using the verbs LOOK, INVENTORY, EXAMINE, TAKE, OPEN, CLOSE, PUSH, PULL, HIT [thing] WITH [thing], TIE [thing] TO [thing], WEAR, FILL [thing] WITH [thing], EAT, DRINK, compass directions + UP/DOWN.

Con-crit (both in terms of technical stuff and writing quality) is always welcome. Hopefully it's a good experience; I am quite pleased with it.
Attachments
light prince cover.png
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
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Re: Chris's Game Showcase

Post by c_nordlander » Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:15 pm

Sword's Story.

Born from my old musings about all those RPGs where cursed weapons and items latch on to the user and cannot easily be removed. I started thinking: what's in it for the cursed item? Is it that they are sentient and need a host to be able to experience the world?

Shorter than my previous games, but may be difficult (there is one bit that's an insta-loss if you haven't done what needs to be done, but only one). Remember that you can interact with immaterial things. A couple of different endings of varying happiness.

Please report any bugs or things that could be improved, if you find any.

Can be played with the commands EXAMINE, TAKE, HIT, INCREASE, DECREASE, LIGHT [thing], WAIT, plus compass directions and up/down. Walkthrough here.
Attachments
swords story.jpg
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
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