I was enjoying this until I got to the area with the glowing grubs and the 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' themed rooms, then it all sort of fell apart. I think I need some hints. I have six treasures (ruby broach, crystal skull, diamond ring, gold key, jade dragon and jewelled dagger). I can see the huge ruby, but can't get it. I'm missing two other treasures.

How do I scrape the moss at the rocky outcrop or reach it on the ceiling in the small alcove?

How do I catch the glowing grubs? Do I even need to? If I do, I suspect I need to put the moss in the empty cage.

How do I create a distraction, presumably at the narrow crevice or tapering tunnel (which now has a big hole)?

How do I extend the rock bridge or find a suitable projectile to throw at the huge ruby?

Is it possible to go underwater or drain the submerged passage?

Is it possible to peel the paint or descend the steps in the square room?

What's with all the hot air and vents and lava and platforms and suggestions of worshipping a fire god? Is this meant to mean anything, or is it just for atmosphere?

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In the meantime, here's some comments on what I've found so far. Very few major issues, mainly cosmetic.

I played version 1.5.3.

On the title screen, "A Adventuron Treasure Hunt..." should be "An Adventuron Treasure Hunt..." or just delete the "A".

Couldn't CLEAN/WIPE/WASH/DUST TABLE, even though it's dusty.

Couldn't REPAIR/MEND/FIX/ASSEMBLE/REASSEMBLE POTTERY.

"Moldy cheese" in response when found should be "mouldy cheese", as that's how it's spelt as an object.

Multiple exclamation marks should be single exclamation marks and go easy on the extensive use of exclamation marks. You only need to use this when it really is an exclamation.

Missing full stop at end of sentence when you X DOORWAY, X LEDGE (2nd time), X DAGGER, X POTHOLE and possibly others.

"Strange motif's" should be "strange motifs", i.e. plural, not possessive.

X DOOR (when raised): "Its" should be "It's", i.e. contraction of "It is", not pronoun.

You can examine most of the rooms. This is a good thing, but if you try to GET or do various other actions, it says "Not here.". You can avoid this by creating a dummy object for the room with conspicuous = "false". Then it will give a more sensible response such as "Can't get.".

"metalic" should be "metallic".

"strangely shaped skulls" should be "strangely-shaped skulls".

"gold painted tat" should be "gold-painted tat". (What the hell is a tat, anyway?)

GET SKULLS (after crystal skull is found) says "Not here.", but it is there.

WEDGE <OBJECT> is a bit obscure. I had already tried PRY/PRISE/PRIZE/LEVER/JEMMY/LIFT SARCOPHAGUS/LID. Can you make the others synonymous actions? Once a crack was exposed, I tried the same actions again, plus using the pole, all to no avail. I thought it was reasonable to use the long and wide pole (or even the sturdy shovel) as a lever.

X PLINTH tells you there are carvings, but EXAMINE CARVINGS says "Not here."

X INDENTATION: "It rotates, there's..." should be "It rotates. There's..."

X PLINTH (when skull's on it): Skull sits perfectly on the indentation.
GET SKULL: Not here.

"Has sixteen sides all mirrored." should be "Has sixteen sides, all mirrored."

Don't use "?!". Please. It's one or the other.

You haven't overridden system HELP in a number of rooms such as the underground chamber, high waterfall, craggy rocks, narrow ledge and many others. This results in a response of greater than six words.

"fast flowing currents" should be "fast-flowing currents".

"Allsorts of..." should be "All sorts of..."

"Lengthy, heavy but..." should be "Lengthy, heavy, but..."

"No, too much, stuff." should be "No, too much stuff."

"Too many, heavy, really heavy!" should be "Too many. Heavy, really heavy."

X WATER (in areas with water such as large cavern) says, "Not here.", but it is there.

DRINK WATER is not understood.

Can't WEAR RING or WEAR BROACH.

Large rat has trailing exclamation mark in object description, so it appears as "I see: Large rat!.", i.e. two terminators. Remove exclamation mark.

"You need and small sharp tool." should be "You need a small sharp tool."

In addition to USE NET, consider CAST/DRAG/THROW NET. The use of USE as a verb is normally frowned upon.

"Ornate door, it's unlocked." should be "Ornate door. It's unlocked."

X STAIRWAY: "They lead deeper underground." should be "It leads deeper underground."

Why can't I scrape the moss with the jewelled dagger? That's a small sharp tool!

If you CRAWL POTHOLE without the lamp (to see if the next room is dark for mapping purposes), you can't get back again. You could normally CRAWL HOLE, but it now says "You're fumbling in the dark?!", making the game unwinnable, which is contrary to jam rules.

"Tappering tunnel" should be "Tapering tunnel".

"You breakthrough..." should be "You break through..."

"Carved rock doorway..." should be "Carved-rock doorway..." (if it's meant to be a compound adjective) or "Carved rock-doorway..." (if it's meant to be a compound noun). I suspect the former.

"Well carved doorway..." should be "Well-carved doorway...".

Can't PEEL, SCRAPE, PULL, REMOVE, FLAKE, STEAM, WASH, SCRATCH, PICK, LIFT PAINT, yet there's supposed to be something behind it. Guess-the-verb problem? Or wrong response earlier?

"Some steps lower the central area." I've no idea what this means. Perhaps, "Some steps descend the central area." or "Some steps in the central area." I can't work out what to do here, if anything.

"You can't it's too far away." should be "You can't. It's too far away."

"You need a more precision projectile." should be "You need a more precise projectile."

"What you do on your belly?" should be "What you do on your belly."

"Sand is black but quite fine." should be "Sand is black, but quite fine."

"...gold leaf work" should be "...gold-leaf work".

This is a really expansive adventure! Some of the puzzles were real head-scratchers for me; I played on and off for a few days before I finally reached the end, and even then I needed some hints that I found in this thread. I think that there were only two places that I felt were a bit unfair.

First was in the water-filled passage in the bottom level. I could only enter it by SWIM PASSAGE, or GO PASSAGE, but not SWIM WEST even though to get out you need to SWIM EAST or SWIM WEST. And just plain SWIM didn't work, even though that will happily get you drowned in a couple of places earlier in the game.

Second was entering the pothole, again in the bottom level. Neither GO POTHOLE, ENTER POTHOLE, nor SW worked, so I tried for quite a while to enlarge the hole. It was only when I read Garry's comment above that I discovered how to get into the crevice.

Other than those two small points, this felt like a pretty difficult but fair game to me.

At long last, I've finished. Here's some last-minute comments from the end game.

"...chisel, breaks..." should be "...chisel breaks...".

"...grubs put in cage!" should be "...grubs, put in cage."

There are about seven rooms with glowing grubs, but you can only drop the moss in one of those rooms for the grubs to eat it. That's pretty mean. If it doesn't work in the first room you try, why would you expect it to work in any of the others? It should work in all grub rooms.

Moving west from the submerged passage was pretty mean. I had tried a dozen different ways of swimming, diving and entering the water, but SWIM PASSAGE? Give me a break. You don't swim in a passage, you swim in the water that is blocking the passage. You really need to allow for some alternatives here. If the player's intent is clear, then allow it.

Why is it that you can SWIM PASSAGE from the sloping passage, but you can't SWIM LAGOON from the craggy rocks? They should both take you to the same place, but the latter says, "No way! It's too cold now, brrrr." Are you going to try and tell me that the water is a different temperature depending on which direction you approach it from? You need to be consistent here, or remove the exit to the west of the submerged cave.

"I can't walk in those directions!" should be "I can't walk in that direction."

"...clasped around it's head!!" should be "...clasped around its head.", i.e pronoun, not contraction of "it is".

Boy, this is one hard game. I enjoyed it, but it sure is cruel. I doubt there's too many people out there that would have as much persistance as I have. Good luck with the enhanced post-jam version. I'm really looking forward to those graphics. I just hope that it's a bit fairer.

Hehe, yeah,  I got the sand..  I thought it would be something similar, but was looking for a pedestal...  I'll try the plinth later :)

Cheers Gary!