Hello,

I'm not judging the game, so I feel like I can offer some playtesting feedback. This is intrinsically critical, but only to help you resolve the issues so that judges don't encounter the same issues (if they haven't got to your game yet).

1. Sometimes reading signs does not work.

I imagine that you put some messages in the msg="" field inside an object, or in a : if_examine "sign" or : match "examine sign" place, but the natural instinct is to READ SIGN. You probably want the examine message to be the same.

There are multiple methods to deal with this, but the easiest way is to add a verb alias for EXAMINE so that READ will trigger the examine handler. This only works if you don't want READ and EXAMINE to have separate event handlers.

Anyway, use the vocabulary section to create aliases.

start_at = my_location
locations {
   my_location : location "You are in a room." ;
}
objects {
   sign : scenery "sign" msg = "NO CATS!" start_at = "my_location" ;
}
vocabulary {
   : verb / aliases = [examine, read]
}

2. You need more responses to be handled around the VALVE.

I tried

TURN VALVE, SHUT VALVE, USE VALVE, OFF VALVE

and it supplied the response

WHY WOULD I DO THAT?

I also had the wrench in my hands and it doesn't seem to make a difference, when I would expect it to make a difference. With the wrench in hand I tried:

USE WRENCH, WRENCH VALVE.

TRY A MORE SPECIFIC ACTION.

WHY WOULD I DO THAT?

3. Trying to open the door to the singing house should have a response

OPEN DOOR

DOESN'T WORK.

Should probably be something like.

IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE!

4. It's possible when you talk to the MAN, that the game asks you if he should complain before you examine him to understand he's not happy with his burger. Maybe use a boolean and the on_describe {} block to print the man's examine message when you first enter the restaurant to guarantee the player knows the man is not happy with his burger before you talk to him.

5. I tried typing "APPLY JOB" after the clerk quit, but there is no response for that. Maybe the game doesn't need that, but would be good to have a response.

... that's it for now. 

I solved opening the gate so far, that's about it. No treasures yet. Looks like a fun concept.

Good luck in the jam.

Hi Adventuron! Thanks for your input.

I was aware of many of these issues, but simply ran out of time to implement solutions. I know that you've said elsewhere that people could keep working on their entries after the deadline, but that felt a bit unfair to me. Still, since you're explicitly advocating it to me here, I'll work on the game some more today. I want to make a few responding comments though.

1. "READ SIGN" etc.

Yes, I completely agree. Unfortunately, in order to save time I just crossed my fingers and hoped that players would EXAMINE everything. Also, I didn't know how to define aliases, and didn't have time to write a bunch of extra "match" statements. It seemed unusual for a text adventure system not to support aliases, but it wasn't mentioned in any of the documentation that I was able to find. Now that I know, this will be a quick fix. Is there a comprehensive reference document somewhere that I've missed? I've found some more since the deadline, but still no full manual.

2. Manipulating the valve.

The majority of the inputs that you listed are actually recognized by my program; the response "Why should I do that?" is specific to that puzzle, and not a canned response. Shutting off the valve is part of a longer chain of puzzles, but neither the game logic nor the story make sense if you shut off the valve before performing some other actions. I managed to do some rough playtesting with a couple of friends last night, and they both made similar complaints. I've thought of a better way to block this action until it's appropriate, and I'll implement it today.

3. Non-vital inputs.

There is plenty of room for improvement in this regard! I hardly covered any of these at all.

4. Customers at BurgerCorp.

Yes, that's a good suggestion. I'll add a message on entry to the location.

5. Applying for a job.

More non-vital/guiding input.

Thanks for all of your suggestions!